ICSA - 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

Rollin "Skip" Whyte
US Sailing Team