Princess
Sofia Trophy - 470 Day Four Report
Hello
Race Fans,
Today was full of anticipation and very short
on action. For the men, the first day of the Finals
is always a huge challenge. The qualifying is
tough enough, but the intensity ramps up four
fold as all of the best sailors are crammed onto
the same starting line. The women were not facing
such an obvious transition, but with half of the
remaining racing on the schedule, today was full
of opportunity. The forecast was for light to
moderate easterlies and that is substantially
what we got. The problem was that the definition
of easterly included everything between north
and south with velocity just as arbitrary.
Before the start the puffs and lifts on the right
seemed like a sure bet, but the mark was far upwind
in a different geographic zone. The righties might
not last. Paul and Kevin tried for a start near
the boat but didn't get off cleanly. After a few
clearing tacks they took the best available option
to the left and continued on starboard looking
for a good option. They waited and waited and
waited while the right continued to look like
the place to be. Near the top the left came in
big and took them to the mark with several other
boats from the left. The Argentineans rounded
first with Paul and Kevin fourth. Not bad! It
was close down the reach and run with several
boats in hot pursuit. They were in a three way
tie for fourth at the leeward gate and set up
shop on the right side of the group. They looked
great after the first small right shift, but then
were outside of a long leftie that took them into
weak pressure with no escape options. They lost
huge distance to the leaders and a number of boats
to round around 12th. They battled back on the
run but overstood the leeward mark to lose their
early gains and finished 13th with the Argentineans
winning big.
The conditions remained unstable for the second
start, which finally got underway under a black
flag on the third attempt. Paul and Kevin almost
had a terrific start, but a subsequently black
flagged Japanese team stole their lane and forced
them to tack and tack and tack. It was ugly half
way up with the right lifted big. Paul and Kevin
decided to cut their loses and went almost all
the way right from middle left, hooked into the
expanding right shift, and recovered to 12th at
the mark. At the top the many boats stuck way
left were treated to a last minute left shift
and some approached the weather mark with spinnakers
up. There were BIG shifts. Paul and Kevin held
about even down the reach and run, worked the
left side of the group into a left shift and had
moved up a few when the race was abandoned. We
waited for an hour watching a stronger breeze
offshore hoping that it would fill to the course
area, but it didn't.
At the end of the day Paul and Kevin stood third
overall behind the French Bonnaud brothers who
had moved up after their fifth in the first race.
The previously second Japanese were deep, as were
the previously third Brits. Tomorrow is the last
day with three races scheduled, but no races can
start after three, so we will likely have only
two. Anything can happen There are many teams
close behind and the leaders are well within reach.
Katie and Isabelle were in a tight pack fighting
for a start near the committee boat and didn't
get of the line. They were back early, but were
optimistic about passing lots of boats in the
numerous shifts. The competition wasn't willing.
They sailed well, but were not able to find the
few dominant shifts that they needed to make a
big move. They finished 21st to remain 16th overall.
They never started a second race so they remain
one race behind the men. They need three races
tomorrow to get a badly needed second drop. It
isn't likely, but more wind is forecast and we
are hoping.
Stay tuned.
Rollin "Skip" Whyte
US Sailing Team
