RC 44 Gold Cup-Dubai
Not a lot to report from Dubai. Unfortunately, the good wind of the last two days seems to have left a bit of a void here. Today the wind never got above 6 knots and mostly was 4 knots and under.
It wasn’t possible to race in these conditions. Sid Bensalah, the General Manager of Dubai International Marine Club, told me that today was the first race day they have ever lost for lack of wind here. I was also told that it is not uncommon after a couple of days of “shamal” (that is the name of the strong northwest wind here…cool name) there is typically a bit of a vacuum.
We made the most of the day by training in the very light conditions anyway. First, after the racing was postponed outside, we came to the inner harbor, alongside The Palm in order to find a little breeze. We trained inside for about an hour just doing a very short course of windward/leewards hoisting and dropping the gennaker, gybing and tacking. Then there was a little breeze out in the channel which goes out to the sea so we trained there for an hour or so. Then there was finally 5 knots of wind outside, but not in the race area around 1600 and we sailed for another hour. So we probably got 3 hours of training in which is good for Katusha. I steered for about half of it and Peaches steered for the other half.
Speaking of Peaches (Bob Little), I have gotten many emails regarding his nickname. So here is the real story. His Mom did not give him the name. It came when he was part of a delivery crew with my good friend Kimo Worthington and the young Curmudgeon, Craig Leweck. They were delivering one of the Pendragon’s up the coast from LA to San Francisco. Young Bob apparently did nothing but eat the canned peaches the whole trip. So it was Kimo and Craig that gave Peaches his name and it has stuck!
The Match Racing will be shortened due to losing today. So, we will race five matches each and likewise won’t race against everyone. It is kind of random as to who you sail. At the end of those five flights, the top two will race for the finals, second two for the 3rd and 4th places, etc. Let’s just hope there is wind so we can race.
Friday through Sunday is the fleet racing part of the RC44 Gold Cup. The forecast is improving for each day as we go forward so it should be all on by the weekend.
For more information go to www.rc44.com
