D35-Antibes

Antibes

The final regatta of the D35 season started Thursday in Antibes. At the end of Friday the fleet has raced four races, all of them in very light winds. In the second race of Thursday we started in 5 knots of wind and finished in 2 knots of wind.

Onboard Artemis, we struggled yesterday in the very light winds and managed 6th place in each of the two races. Alinghi had a similarly difficult day while Zen, who usually is nearer to the back than the front of the fleet was leading at the end of Thursday.

We discussed our performance, and did a bit of recon amongst the fleet, last night and came out today with a bit different set up, more powerful, and we were more proactive in adjusting our trim as the wind velocity changed.

Today the wind was a bit stronger…6-8 knots…and we were able to “fly” the hull a few times. After a bad start in the first race we managed to finish second. Foncia won the race and Alinghi third. In the second race of the day, we did not have a great start again but we were going a bit better and although we rounded the first mark 8th, we managed to claw our way back to 5th just beating Foncia at the line. Alinghi sailed a great race, were very fast, and won the race easily.

With four races completed, the fleet gets to discard one race. Foncia leads the fleet with 5 points, Zen is second with 8 points, and Alinghi third with 9. We are 6th with 13 points. So it is all very tight still.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for winds similar to today so hopefully we will get 3-4 races in.

For complete results go to www.vulcaintrophy.com