Sorry I did not get to this sooner. Just a bit going on right now.

Anyway, the boys had a tough day on Sunday in Portugal and we ended up second overall to Team New Zealand. That’s an improvement over Cagliari where we were third. Our trend is headed in the right direction!

Next one is Cartegena mid September and we will definitely be looking for the top spot there.

On my way to St. FYC for day 3 of the 505 Worlds. Double header today! Get a quart of Advil and a couple of good masueses ready.

Another good day on the Artemis today! We got the bullet and moved into first overall for this regatta.

That is two “coastal” race wins in a row for Artemis now with this one and the win in Cagliari. They are nice to win because they count 1.5 times a normal race.

We had an ok start and went left for quite a while. It looked like there was more pressure to the left but we are always weary of the right shift upwind here. We got around the top mark 6th just barely but then got rolled by Bigamist right away. So that was our low point.

From there we battled back, first going all the way offshore on that first run to round the first gate 3rd. Matador had a nice lead and Audi Q8 was second. We held third up the second beat and onto a 120 degree reach. Team New Zealand was right behind us in fourth.

Up the third beat, Team New Zealand passed us by getting to our left. We rounded the third windward mark 4th but once again, we went the hardest offshore. We passed Audi Q8 and closed up all the distance on Matador and Team NZ.

Then the angle was up 20 degrees for 7 miles and they went with the Masthead Jib’s while we peeled to our A3 gennaker. We smoked through them to leeward and just hiked our butts off to blow through into first and make the mark. From there we just controlled Team New Zealand up the final 4 mile beat to the finish.

Obviously we are very happy with how things are going but we know this regatta is far from over. 4 races to go over the next two days and for sure we can expect less friendly tactics from our competitors.

I am leaving tomorrow night after racing as I had a previous commitment to race the 505 worlds. So Hamish Pepper, 2006 Star World Champion, and currently our strategist, will take over as tactician for Sunday. I will miss the last day of this regatta and the first day of the 505 worlds while flying home to SF.

For complete results go to 2009.medcup.org

Good day on the Artemis today! Finishes of 3, 4, 2 has us in second place overall after three races. Quantum is leading with 1, 1, 4.

The first race did not get off until 1400. The forecast had the wind in the southwest for the early part of the day but an eminent shift to the northwest was surely coming. Would it come during the race? Would it turn the race upside down?

Well, we got the first one in completely in the southwest wind. We had a good start, in the smooth water and 13 knots of wind. It was a matter of inches that made the difference at the top mark. We rounded third and then passed one boat on the run by choosing the proper gate. Held second up the second beat but Quantum tacked on us twice so we both lost ground to Team New Zealand and we ended up overstood. Down the run, Team New Zealand gybed on us three times and passed us while the both of us almost lost Matador.

The wind then died and quickly shifted to the northwest at about 16 knots. We had two races in this direction with the wind topping out at 22. So the boats were planing downwind and it was a lot of fun. Usually, it is all about the right in this direction but today there were gains to be had on the left especially downwind and fortunately we got most of it correct.

At the start of the second race we fouled Matador. So, after our penalty turn, we were dead last. But we kept chipping away and sailed heads up to finish fourth. This was a great come-back and probably the most important part of the day, definitely something that will stay with us for a while.

Then in the last race, we had a decent start, managed the first windward leg ok, but it was a decision to stay on starboard out of the windward mark on the run that got us to more pressure and we rounded the gate in 2nd to Bigimist (the locals). From there it was just about course management and we finished second. Quantum had a bad start in that one and did well to get back to fourth while Team New Zealand led at the first windward mark but gybed set and lost 6 places.

So we are pretty happy with that day and will sleep well tonight at least.

For complete results go to 2009.medcup.org

A little bit more wind today. 4-7 knots. Still very light. We managed 7 or 8 practice starts and two races. One went well, one not so well. Very difficult sailing in wind that light. It was good training all the same.

The guys played touch rugby this morning on the beach and I went to the gym to lift weights. I am still trying to gain weight for the 505 Worlds next week.

We docked out at 1530 and were back in at 1800.

Not sure that tomorrow is looking much better.

Paul

Just finished our first day of training over here in Portugal. Very light wind made it difficult to get much done. We checked our masthead genoa and a few light jibs and tuned the rig.

We are onto our weight checks too. It is fairly hot here, 30C, so you don’t want to have to dehydrate the crew on a race day if we get checked by the measurers.

The racing starts on Wednesday so we have three more days of training. Same crew as in Cagliari. We are making some small changes to or sails, rig and the way we set them, in an effort to make a small improvement in our performance.

The forecast for the next few days is light the decent wind on Wednesday. That will be perfect if it pans out.

Portimao is a nice small resort town on the south coast of Portugal. This is my third time here and I really like it. It is not as hot as Spain and Italy which is pleasant. The fresh fish is excellent. It is mid August in Europe so plenty of people here on vacation and at the beach. Might have to go for a look (I mean swim) later.