|
|
|
The 411 on the 470 Princess Sofia Regatta Day | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final | Rollin
"Skip" Whyte It has been nearly five months since my last report, but the US 470 team has been busy in the interim. After a much deserved rest in December the troops were back in action in Miami in January testing sails and regaining their competitive edge. Paul and Kevin headed to Athens in February for a brutally cold training and racing session. Many days were lost due to snow, excessive wind and lack of wind, but we learned a lot anyway. Katie and Isabelle chose a different and significantly warmer option and headed to Vilamoura, Portugal for a 6 weeks of training and racing where they sailed in three small regattas with elitecompetition. The sailing was awesome with terrific waves and a great variety of conditions. We left wanting to return asap. We were all back together for April Fools Day in Palma de Mallorca, Spain for the Princess Sofia Trophy, the first major event of the spring European season. There are 71 men's teams including all of the Olympic medal contenders and 36 women of equivalent stature. This is a terrific event. Fifteen races are scheduled over five days giving all of the players plenty of opportunities to strut their stuff. The men are sailing in two groups with three days of qualifying while the women are in a single fleet for the duration. Racing got underway yesterday with three tough races in a 7-9 knot Palma seabreeze with typical left side biases. Paul and Kevin opened up with a solid second, losing a tight battle with the Argentineans. The left was good in the first race and the boys went decisively left from the pin after the start only to find themselves outside of a right shift. Left was still good, as long as you were right early. They weren't and rounded deep, but rallied to a 17th at the end. They had a fair start, mid line in the third race and got to the top in 9th and started a methodical, very impressive rally to third. They were fast and smart on all points of sail and finished the day tied for fifth with two other teams. It is early and very close, but Paul and Kevin have shown that they are ready to challenge for the Gold. The Argentineans are leading with the #2 French team second and an unknown British team third. The day started brilliantly for Katie and Isabelle. They won the pin and held an early lead up the first beat, but let too many boats get to their left and rounded 6th. They got pushed right on the next three legs and lost two more to finish 8th for a good, but slightly disappointing finish. They set up for a conservative start on the second start above the big crowd at the pin that was punched out at the start. Unfortunately, they were visible and over early. They raced around the course to finish around 12th, but had to settle for an OCS. The breeze was trending right before the third start and Katie and Isabelle responded with a perfect start at the committee boat and assumed and early lead from the right. They were going fast and racing well, but the left came back and they rounded 10th at the top. They got stuck in the low lane on the top reach and dropped five boats and their edge. The race didn't improve from there and they dropped out on the bottom reach. It was a rough day. The Danes were the best for the day with three top 6 finishes. The Slovenians are second with the Greeks third. With twelve more races on the schedule anything is possible, but there is no more room for alphabet scores. We are expecting another light seabreeze today and hoping for a bit more than that. Stay
tuned.
Princess Sofia 470 Day Two report Hello Race Fans, Day two of the Princess Sofia was a near carbon copy of day one in almost every way except the results, and today was much better! Same quiet morning minus the fog. Same postponement, same direction and velocity: 6-9 knots from the southwest with lots of sunshine. Paul and Kevin were in the first group today and had a decent start not far from the committee boat after a few general recalls. They held their lane, but weren't the fastest and arrived at the top in 12th or so. The top and reach and run were good, moving them into 8th. They moved up one more to finish 7th. It was a solid beginning and many good teams had bad results. They had a similar start in the second race, but under the Indian team that was OCS in race one. They were OCS again but did not draw Paul and Kevin over with them. Good restraint on their part! The boys worked the middle right and rounded around 8th with the Argentineans leading big from the left. They moved up steadily to finish 4th. Once again many top players had poor finishes. Despite good race management, small shifts kept creating general recalls at the start of race three. Paul and Kevin held back on the first two and went for it after the black flag went up for the third start, ending up in irons at the pin. After taking many sterns they found themselves in nice pressure going right and it got better from there with a shift and more pressure. They rounded third behind the #2 Spanish and a Hungarian. They passed the Hungarians on the first run but the Spanish were tough and held on to finish first, but were one of seven boats Black Flagged at the start giving Paul and Kevin the win, the best combined score of the day, and a very nice second position overall, four points behind the Argentineans and nine in front of the #2 French and British teams. With 9 races remaining on the schedule it is far too early to read the results too intently, but it certainly is better to be in the front. Katie and Isabelle needed a big change in direction today and got it. After a general recall they got a nice, but not awesome start near the committee boat. The second men's group was sailing downwind to their inner loop gate as the women started and created a huge obstacle in the middle of the course. It was better to be right, but Katie and Isabelle were pinned to the left side and found themselves stuck outside a big shift and rounded pretty deep and totally immersed in the men's fleet sailing back upwind to their second weather mark. The massive traffic jam limited options until the second beat with the men now out of the way. They moved up a few on the beat and turned it on on the run to pass five more boats for a very nice 12th. For the second start the fleet was jammed near the committee boat. Katie and Isabelle weren't able t hold their lane off the start, cleared right and found something good to round about 5th at the top.t down the run and moved briefly into second before overstanding the gate and dropping to third. It was very close between five boats up the second beat and Katie and Isabelle ended up on the short end of the stack at the top in 5th. Once again they turned it on on the run and moved decisively into second and held it to the finish. Things were looking better by the moment. The third start was pin favored and the girls got a very nice start one up from the pin, but were not going great (they later discovered that their jib halyard had slipped several inches). There was an individual recall and no no one returned, but Katie and Isabelle were confident they were clean. They were pretty deep at the top then moved up a few places on the run. The fleet was pretty tightly grouped so there was lots of potential to move up. They sailed a terrific second beat to round in the top ten, then disaster struck. Their spinnaker was fouled where the jib halyard exits the mast. As Isabelle attempted to free the snag the spinnaker ripped just below the head patch and landed in the boat. They were forced to sail two reaches and a run with no spinnaker with predictable results. They beat one boat over the line, but there were 8 OCS, so they salvaged a 28. They stand 21st and are moving up fast. With three poor finishes in 6 races a podium finish is only a distant possibility, but their performance on the water was very solid, particularly the downwind speed which has improved after a few refinements from the pre event training. Greece, Spain, Russia and Denmark are the current leaders. Tomorrow's forecast is for more of the same, but we will see. Stay tuned
Princess Sofia 470 Day Three report Hello Race Fans, Day three in Palma was memorable for it's many faces. We left the harbor after a short postponement under bright skies in a rapidly building northwester of the fruit fly variety. It was predestined to die quickly. Six knots became 15 before the start and everyone prepped for big breeze, but it began fading before the start. Our guys were in the second group and finally got going after a recall. Paul and Kevin were in a pack pushing hard for the pin end start which got away under an individual recall. They faked left, then went right, looked great, got greedy and finally arrived in 7th at the top. They lost a few up the second beat as the breeze rapidly faded, closed on the lead group in the last gasps of the breeze to finish 9th, only to learn that they and four others in their vicinity were over at the start. None of yesterday's leaders had a good race. The women started next in less breeze than the men. Katie and Isabelle had a solid start near the boat, held for a perfect lane to the right, and found the perfect one. They sailed beautifully to round fourth at the top as the breeze faded a bit more. Down the run they ghosted into third, hit the next shift and crossed everyone about a minute before the race was abandoned. They had sailed well and knew it, but had nothing to show for their effort. The skies were still bright and the cumulus began to form inland and soon the seabreeze filled with some punch. The committee rotated around their current position which put the course pretty close to the shore on the left side. The women, now a race behind, started first. Katie and Isabelle won the pin and were off. As predicted, there were left shifts and they hit them perfectly and were launched. They extended for a huge win. It was sweet! Most of the players were deep. Even sweeter! The guys were watching and all of them wanted to go left. Paul and Kevin tried for the pin but had to jibe out and were forced right. They made out reasonably well to round in the mid teens and moved up nicely to finish 9th with a little help from a few OCSs, including the race winner. By this time a bank of dark clouds were forming inland and gradually moving towards the race area. They didn't look like seabreeze clouds, although they were in the right place. The women were first to start once again and this time the line was favored to the right, which spread the traffic effectively. Katie and Isabelle started near the boat in a decent lane, but were just a touch too far back and could not hold their lane. After several clearing tacks they were far right and looking really bad. They made the bold move to cross all the way to the left for the last part of the beat, a move that has often been rewarded here. It worked really well can got them back into the middle of the fleet. The fleet went high an the reach, they went low. It was another great decision and they picked up five or six and gained lots of distance. Down the run, which was very close to shore, they jibed away from traffic in a lift, took the header to the other layline and jibed back for another huge gain. They were now 8th and then the approaching clouds took over and the wind slammed 100 degrees left. They were well positioned for the shift, moved into fourth, then the race was abandoned. Katie and Isabelle were disappointed but no one could argue the decision. They had sailed beautifully once again and they knew it. The same shift forced abandonment of the men's race that had just started. Everyone added layers to try to stay warm in the dramatically colder air. The committee shifted position after an unexplainable delay, appeared ready to start another race as it was still fairly early, but finally gave up and sent us in. At the end of the day the guys had two races to count and the women only one. We had seen northwesters, southwesters, and easterlies and many different clouds. We had sailed in 2 - 16 knots. At least the rain held off. Katie and Isabelle had just had their best day of racing of the international careers. It bodes well for the future. While they were only able to score the first, it was truly a great three race day. They have moved up to 16th from 21st. and closed the point gap on the lead group, most of which struggled yesterday. This was the final day of the qualifying series for the men. Paul and Kevin are now fourth and still only 4 points out of first. However, the top group is now much more closely spaced. There is a pack of hounds barking at their heels. The second US men's team, Stuart McNay and Arthur Kinsolving, just missed the cut and will start the final series at the front of the Silver Fleet. For Paul and Kevin everything becomes much more difficult. Everyone on the starting line will be fast and smart. They will have to be even smarter. They have often demonstrated that they are. Stay
tuned.
Princess Sofia 470 Final Report The final day of the Princess Sofia Trophy, an annual Good Friday affair, was not very good to the US 470 squad. The wind finally arrived from the northeast with some rain and cool temperatures. The velocity was in the mid teens for most of the day with a few lulls plus lots of shifts and velocity changes. In short, it was very difficult racing, but excellent conditions to get a lot of races and the race management did just that with both men's and women's fleets having four races. Katie and Isabelle had a good, but not spectacular day with 18, 16, 2, 20 finishes. Obviously the 2nd was the highlight. They had only average speed and only found the rhythm of the shifts in the 3rd race. In the second race the capsized on the second run after a very solid beat, losing al their gains and more. Fortunately, the second discard kicked in after ten races so the girls were able to get rid of both alphabet scores from the first day, but still had to eat the 28th from the race when they ripped their spinnaker. They moved up to 13th for one of their best overall finishes. Given the bad luck of ripping their spinnaker and having two races abandoned when in the top 5, the result looks even better. They aren't satisfied and shouldn't be, but now know that they compete with the best. The Greeks, consistent, if not as dominant as last year, won easily. They had no firsts, but counted only one race below 5th and that was a 12th. The Russians were second, 25 points back with the Spanish third just four points astern. The defending Gold Medalists from Australia had a big final day with a 16,1,1,6 to finish 4th closely followed by the Dutch with a more impressive 1,2,14,1. Paul and Kevin had a tougher time. The first race was a respectable 13th, but things went downhill from there with finishes of 30,22,27. Nothing was going right. They dropped all the way to 15th. It just wasn't their day. They will rally and be ready for the French Olympic Week in Hyeres, France in two weeks. The top British team were very impressive in these conditions, as they have been in the past, and moved all the way to first from 10th with a 3,22,1,3. Their effort was just just better than the Swedes who moved all the way from 14th to second with a 6,4,2,11 finishes. The Argentineans, who had lead for the entire event, held on for third. The top six teams were separated by only 10 points. The men's 470 fleet is ferociously competitive with more than 25 teams that can win any given race. It is terrific racing and not in the least bit forgiving. That's why it is so good. We are all home for a few days to recuperate before heading back to France to meet our new boats and confront the competition at the French Olympic Week. Stay tuned. Rollin
"Skip" Whyte
|
