2006-05-09

Above: Disagreeing with the way that the fleets were split at the skippers meeting.

Hello everyone from a sunny windless Portugal. It was another beautiful warm day in Portugal except with no wind. Here and there it would start to come in and tease us a bit but would quickly recede back out to the ocean leaving us to search for shade.

So not to much to report on. At least I brought my sand wedge golf club along so we played some golf on the beach to pass the time. Now it is time to head back to the room cook some pasta and relax in front of a movie for the evening. Check back tomorrow for hopefully some on the water action……

Above: sliding for the soccer ball.

It was a long day on the beach for all the competitors as another day passed and the wind failed to fill in. Some were out in the sun working on their tan while others hid from the sun in whatever shady places they could find. A lot of the competitors also spent the day playing a variety of beach sports. A group of us matched up in a few soccer matches earlier and then later on as well, battling it out for the ball in the sand while knocking each other around pretty good. Some of the other competitors spent hours on the volleyball courts while we also took turns playing beach paddle ball as well. So while the wind failed to get us on the water we still had a lot of fun and getting a quite a bit of exercise on the beach in the sun.

The forecast is showing a possibility of 9-14knots after 4 pm tomorrow. We can race until 1 hour before sunset which is between 7 and 7:30 pm. So we will hope for 4 or more races so that we can move on to the Gold and Silver fleet racing as soon as possible. So stay tuned tomorrow…..

Above: playing a little golf out of the sand.

It was another long day at the beach here in Portimao, Portugal. It was warm, sunny and windless. A few of us played some beach golf and then a few rounds of beach volleyball while we waited for the wind to turn to the proper direction for the good wind to pick up. Around 4 pm the wind finally turned to the right in the proper direction but it wasn’t as much as predicted. They were calling 8-13 knots on the start line but I could see most of the people slogging around out towards the start line. I slogged the whole way to the start line and just made the start of the race with less than a minute in the start.

Port was favored but I couldn’t make to that end of the line in time. But that didn’t matter as halfway through the race it was abandonded for lack of wind. The committee immediately started us again in pretty bad conditions. They were obviously desperate to get some races off. I started on Starboard but wasn’t doing so well around the first lap sitting in about 7th or 8th with Gonzalo. I couldn’t get planing again after my tack and eventually missed the mark. Then I slowly slogged my way up to the mark and downwind for about 200 meters. So that cost me about 10 places dropping me back deep in the fleet. Ross was going well in the extremely light winds and took the bullet. Antoine was struggling a bit to quickly get back on a plane out of the tacks and jibes and had to settle for 2nd and Woijtek rounded out the top 3.

The wind was dying away during the race and was quickly gone completely forcing the committee to send the Yellow fleet back to the beach finally at about 7:30 pm. So with just one blue fleet race in miserable conditions we were done for the day headed home to get some rest for a 7 am skippers meeting the next morning as the forecast showed a little hope of something early on. So stay tuned….

Above: An early morning.

Good morning from Portimao. It is very early in the morning and there isn’t as much wind as the race committee was hoping for when they decided on the 7 am skippers meeting so we will be on hold now for some time. It is unlikely that we will race this morning. The forecast is the same as yesterday for this afternoon calling for 9 knots at 4 pm and 15 knots at 7 pm (which by the way didn’t happen yesterday). So stay tuned…..

Above: Still entertaining ourselves on the beach with some soccer.

Today was one of the longest days that I have ever spent at the beach. We arrived at the race site at 6:45 for skippers meeting at 7 and finally left the beach to go to dinner at 8:30 pm. So that was a 13 and a half hour day at the beach. The wind didn’t show any sign of life until after 4 pm. So we played volleyball, soccer, golf and hung around waiting for something.

The wind finally shifted over hard to the right around 6 pm and we got on the water for a 6:30 start for the yellow fleet. In the first Yellow fleet race Pawel took a suprising bullet in front of Steve and Jesper. The women then ran their 2nd race and then we got to start our 2nd blue fleet race.

Race #2 Blue Fleet: I set up in a great spot down the line in front of Woijtek but I made a timing error and didn’t leave myself enough room in front of me and ended up being pushed down agains a few guys forcing me to duck about three guys which dropped me well down below Woijtek. I tacked close to the layline back behind Wojtek. Julien tacked on top of me but I had better speed and angle and pulled out in front and up. Antione had a great Port tack start and rounded windward in 1st just in front of Woijtek. I rounded back in 5th. Antione then proceeded to sail to the leeward mark for the outer loop while we were doing the inner loop. So this handed the lead over to Woijtek who held it for the rest of the race. I jibed passed the layline which allowed Ross to jibe inside and move into 3rd behind Hubert. I passed Dennis as he went even farther before jibing as he followed Antione. We rounded the next windard mark still in the same positions but then Gonzalo got a great gust from behind giving him the chance to catch up to me and Ross. Once Again I went passed the layline leaving the door wide open for Gonzalo to pass me and race Ross to the finish. So Woijtek took the bullet, Hubert 2nd, Gonzalo or Ross 3rd and 4th, and I rounded out the top 5.

After two more general recalls with a lot of guys getting overearly’s like Steve, Arnon, Alberto, Miguel and more the yellow fleet got their 2nd race off at 8 pm. Jesper took the bullet, Wilhelm took 2nd and Pawel 3rd.

Now we have to get up extremely early for a 6 am skippers meeting with a 6:30 first possible start as they are hoping for about 9 knots then. Uff that is miserably early after such a long day today. Now they will also resplit the fleets for the next races which we are very happy about as it was a rather unfair split which made the Blue fleet much harder than the Yellow one. So stay tuned for one last day of action tomorrow….

Above: not much action but at least one action start.

It was another long day at the beach. We arrived before 6 am for the skippers meeting with a 6:30 first possible start. Unfortunately the race committee was not prepared on time and the yellow fleet didn’t start till after 7:20. By then it was to late and the wind died halfway through their race. The race committee then moved the course to the windiest area but then that was to late as well. Then with the wind gone and barely breathing an offshore direction we slowly made our way back to the beach. It took me an hour and a half to get back to the beach. So finally we could go have breakfast.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out waiting to pack up our gear but at 3:30 the wind showed some signs of life and we were sent to the water. Both fleets had to be started by the 4 pm deadline. It was ridiculously light and only about 15-20 guys per fleet were able to even make it out to the start on time. More arrived late and raced as well. The race committee was desperate to get in the 3rd race to make it a valid championship.

3rd and final race. I started on port with Gonzalo and barely made the committee boat as I got stuck on the anchor line. It was so light that halfway towards the layline I just stopped planing and tacked and parked it there for quite some time. That gave me the chance to be a spectator for a while I finally got some wind again and got back on a plane. By then I was very deep, and that was it for me for the race finishing me well back in the fleet. Steve took the bullet with Ross in 2nd, which gave Ross the European Championship title. They took quite a lead over the rest of the fleet.

In the blue fleet, Jesper had the lead but tacked to early for the last mark forcing him to slog to the mark losing 4 spots and taking away the European title from him. Miguel took the bullet ahead of Julien and Antione. Woijtek took 4th to just edge out Jesper for 2nd place overall.

The final top three results was Ross 1st, Woijtek 2nd and Jesper 3rd. That last race dropped me even farther back to 23rd overall for the event. Not a very satisfying result for me but it was not really a real competition with raceable conditions. So I’m not so disappointed with it.

Now we are preparing for the prize ceremony and then I have a 6 am flight out tomorrow morning to head back to San Diego. One more early morning. They keep getting earlier every day. My next competition will be the US Open in Corpus Christi Texas in the end of May. So check back then for news on that competition….