Princess
Sofia Trophy - 470 Final Report
Hello
Race Fans,
The final day of the Princess Sofia Trophy, an
annual Good Friday affair, was not very good to
the US 470 squad. The wind finally arrived from
the northeast with some rain and cool temperatures.
The velocity was in the mid teens for most of
the day with a few lulls plus lots of shifts and
velocity changes. In short, it was very difficult
racing, but excellent conditions to get a lot
of races and the race management did just that
with both men's and women's fleets having four
races.
Katie and Isabelle had a good, but not spectacular
day with 18, 16, 2, 20 finishes. Obviously the
2nd was the highlight. They had only average speed
and only found the rhythm of the shifts in the
3rd race. In the second race the capsized on the
second run after a very solid beat, losing al
their gains and more. Fortunately, the second
discard kicked in after ten races so the girls
were able to get rid of both alphabet scores from
the first day, but still had to eat the 28th from
the race when they ripped their spinnaker.
They moved up to 13th for one of their best overall
finishes. Given the bad luck of ripping their
spinnaker and having two races abandoned when
in the top 5, the result looks even better. They
aren't satisfied and shouldn't be, but now know
that they compete with the best.
The Greeks, consistent, if not as dominant as
last year, won easily. They had no firsts, but
counted only one race below 5th and that was a
12th. The Russians were second, 25 points back
with the Spanish third just four points astern.
The defending Gold Medalists from Australia had
a big final day with a 16,1,1,6 to finish 4th
closely followed by the Dutch with a more impressive
1,2,14,1.
Paul and Kevin had a tougher time. The first race
was a respectable 13th, but things went downhill
from there with finishes of 30,22,27. Nothing
was going right. They dropped all the way to 15th.
It just wasn't their day. They will rally and
be ready for the French Olympic Week in Hyeres,
France in two weeks. The top British team were
very impressive in these conditions, as they have
been in the past, and moved all the way to first
from 10th with a 3,22,1,3. Their effort was just
just better than the Swedes who moved all the
way from 14th to second with a 6,4,2,11 finishes.
The Argentineans, who had lead for the entire
event, held on for third. The top six teams were
separated by only 10 points. The men's 470 fleet
is ferociously competitive with more than 25 teams
that can win any given race. It is terrific racing
and not in the least bit forgiving. That's why
it is so good.
We are all home for a few days to recuperate before
heading back to France to meet our new boats and
confront the competition a the French Olympic
Week.
Stay tuned.
Rollin "Skip" Whyte
US Sailing Team
