TP 52 Update

We managed to finish 5th in the last race of the Castellon TPO 52 regatta. It was a good placing, the only shame of it was that we were second at the first mark and should have stayed up there. We finished 9th over all out of 21 which is not what we had hoped for.

We struggled all week with the speed of the boat and earlier in the week with our tactics and starts. The fleet is very competitive and that makes it a good challenge. Getting a few key thing just a little be better will make our performance go up dramatically. We have a list of things to work on for the next regatta, mast tune, sail shapes being the biggest. We got two good starts and in the last two races and finsihed 5th in each of those races.

Warpath, which is our sistership, finished second in the regatta so we know we have the equipement to get there. The winner of the event was a boat called Siemens with Ian Walker and Dee Smith onboard, sponsored by that company, then Warpath which has Team New Zealands crew onboard sailing for Fred and Steve Howe, followed by Mean Machine which is steered by her owner,Peter De Ridder with Vasco Vascotto, skipper of Cap Italia onboard as tactician.

You can get all the results at http://www.transpac52.org/home.htm

The next regatta is in Porto Portals, (Palma) in about 10 days. I am not racing in that one. Gavin Brady and Russell Coutts will be in charge there. I will race the susequent event, Copa del Rey, also in Palma, in place of Russell.

Paul Cayard

Cayard Sailing Inc.