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Race Report Real
Deal We've clearly got a crack team on board but of course we're more used to sailing against each other rather than with each other. We had some problems yesterday. The French guys speak English but it's a little bit hard to understand with a thick accent, especially when there's a lot going on. It's hard for them to recognize immediate words or recognize me when I'm asking them for something. As a result we started out with a bit of confusion on the Thursday but then we really cut down the vocabulary with all of us just to keep everything really, really specific. We also had to ask Pierre to talk a little louder as he's so quiet! The following day was much better in that regard. It's great - he's doing a great job. I know he's a great sailor but to have him come in and call tactics is really good. I'll be more worried about it next time we race against each other because I know how good he is. I know he's a helmsman but he's just a great sailor. The nice thing about this set up is that you've got a lot to learn from them and they've got a lot to learn from you. We've been exchanging ideas and little tricks that we do and sharing a little bit of information but, I don't think it's going to be everything! But they're good guys. We've had to work on starts. Originally there were just too many people talking to me and then we got some of those other voices just to shut the hell up. We changed things so just Pierre and I were working together and it went OK. I have to say that I was shocked on the first day of racing. We got thrown out of a race and it turned out that we were protested by a guy that we were a threat to for second. If that hadn't happened we would have been in second. It was really a non incident. It was at a weather mark. There were other boats involved that we were just a hair's breadth from! The level of the class is something else. I like Louis Browne (new European Mumm 30 Champion), he's a very nice guy. It does kind of bug me that he doesn't drive. They're a good crew and they always sail really well. They're good competitors and we like racing against them. I know a lot of the French teams from the tour. Some of them I've remained friends with and there's a little, I'd call it courtesy on the race course. There are some guys that I don't know and they don't know me. Then there's not much courtesy happening and you get the impression that it's just the French way of doing things. We let this guy finish in front of us today to make amends. I was just laughing. I thought I just can't believe I'm sitting here at the finish line luffing my sails waiting for this guy to finish. And then as soon as that happens he rolled up his little flag like everything's OK! I was not happy. I was just like, I don't care, just finish. For the most part though I think they're a great bunch of sailors and a lot of them don't have much money to go by. Some of them have sails from the tour 3 or 4 years ago and they just love sailing and I really appreciate that. They know that they can't win because it's going to be really tough with sails that have got that many miles on them. They've been sailing with these sails for every regatta since 2002 and here they are at the European Championship with the same ones and I love them for that. They love the sport and that's really cool. Sailing here I think it's the most relaxed I've been in a long time. I don't know why but I feel very comfortable with French sailors and you might think that should be the opposite because of the partial language barrier and stuff but I'm really enjoying sailing with them. There's no negativity and no egos which is nice. To make Deauville International Week as successful as say Key West you'd have to pour something else at the bar other than beer. Rum would be great. Easier access to the bar would help too! For a regatta on the Northern coast of France in June it's certainly treated us well with the weather. I'd have never expected this in a million years. Right now it's rather like Key West. Sailing around in shorts and shirt, terrified if the deck was wet. It's been gorgeous. The race committees are doing a great job and I think for their first year this is a pretty good start and I'm pretty sure it will continue to grow. In Key West they have one great big tent and here they do things with a little bit of a different flair with little individual tents but at least you can get in in the morning and get a coffee and that's nice of them to offer. The only thing I think that's different are these finishes with a dog leg. We're used to just going straight through the finish line but here you have to round the mark and reach over to the committee boat. It doesn't really make things more difficult as it's just another maneuver but it can certainly make finishing interesting because you've got everyone coming to one mark for a reach and it gets pretty thick and there's some great entertainment going on at that point. I don't really see any reason to make doglegs. I'm not quite sure what the rationale is. I think they do because having so many boats finishing at the same time is quite difficult and this just spreads the fleet out a little bit. To attract more American sailors over to Europe you'd have to get them to spend some money. Particularly in the Mumm fleet, so many of the owners don't want to travel out of their backyard. The last few events we've done, Key West, Miami were extremely disappointing and that's why I'm here. What's the point if there are six boats. I don't know what it's going to take to change that but I've got some ideas I'm working on. Anyone that enjoys sailing Mumm 30's and has a month of free time should come over and do Deauville International Week and follow it up with the Tour de France a la Voile. The Mumm's are great boats for both event and the Tour is a perfect blend of everything: inshore, offshore, drama…it's all there. A lot of Americans have asked me about it. A lot of owners have dreams about doing it. It is a logistical nightmare though coming from the States. It's really hard to push it if you don't know anybody over here. It's quite a task but in the end it's really worth it. Sailing in
France really is great and I agreed to do this interview for Sailing Anarchy
to publicize that and because at Sailing Anarchy there are a great bunch
of people that follow the site and provide information to it that you
can't find anywhere else for the most part. The part that I really enjoy
is having this group of people in the forums that are located all over
the world that are ready with their cameras and their text messages really
giving us live information. The Volvo website has just been so pathetic.
It's been a lot of fun. I feel like I know these people! There are a lot
of interesting people with weather information and routing data. I think
I've copied every single weather site - it's all on my computer. When
I'm traveling and checking all the info so thanks to those guys! 06/13/06 |
