Report from Brain Cramp – Race 1 and 2. Tthe team: Bobby Bryant, Curt Barnes, Jon Faudre, Ernie Ferullo, and myself.

Yesterday the Race Committee had a hard time getting off the first start. Everybody is so hyped up that they just could not hold back. So they resorted to scoring penalties called Z flags, then to throwing people out –Black Flag! When all this was sorted out, there were 10 Black Flags and over 30 Z flag penalties. Fortunately we we did not get any of those penalties. Unfortunately, only one of the teams that we feel is a serious competitor got one –that was the “Geiko” team from Japan.

Race 1 was a little bit light, and the left side seemed to pay. We were left of most of the fleet, so we hung in there getting around the top mark in around 10th –which is about where we hope to be first time around. Things were spread out, so there were no major losses or gains from there, but we were able to pass a few boats and finished 7th.

Race 2 was blowing about 14 Kts, and the fleet was much better behaved after receiving all the penalties in the first start. We were just a little too conservative (not wanting to get penalties) and did not quite get on the course as well as we would have liked to. But we saw one small opening out and bobbed and weaved our way on port tack through the fleet –which was hard since we were on port with no rights. It could not have worked out better and we were going very fast. The right came in just enough that we were able to get around the top mark in first place. The Dolphins must like the leaders because they darted around our boat for most of the downwind. Mark Hillman capitalized on one mistake and were going very well and ended up nosing us out at the finish to take the win with us 2nd.

The defending world champion Brazilian team had 3rd in both races and although we have not seen the official scores, they should be in the lead with 6 points. We have 9 and should be in 2nd, followed closely by the team that won the Mexican Nationals, Ryan Cox.

Race 3 and 4

The locals call the large mountain range to the south the Jungle. The small valley before it was packed with low clouds and we had not seen that before. We are not sure why, but that made for very unstable winds today. After about an hour and a half of the Race Committee chasing the wind through 30 degree shifts, they finally got a race off. But it had shifted significantly again and we found ourselves in big trouble. We were going fast and Bobby made some good calls and we were able to claw back to 16th.

The 2nd race steadied out a little and picked up to about 12kts with big chop. This was tricky, but we were going well anyway. We had another mediocre start and had to claw our way back again, which we did well and by the end of the 2nd lap we were in 8th. But we went the wrong way and lost 3 boats on the last beat. It's tricky sailing here!

All in all not a terrible day, most of our competitors were inconsistent and had some bad races too. But the Brazilian team continues to do well with a 1st and an 8th. Chris Snow from North Sails had a 4 and a 2 to take our 2nd overall from us, and Ryan Cox who was only one point behind is now a few points ahead. We are in 4th tied with the team from Argentina.

The sponsorship at this worlds is over the top, they say they raised $600,000. The hospitality shows, but after spending 7 hours on the water yesterday we had to skip the party on the beach and we came back to our place and I slept before my face hit the pillow.

The event web site seem to be working again. I hear the on the water tracking does not work as well as advertised, but they just sent me an email that they think they have solved the problem:

03/07/07