Post Race Report

It's bank holiday Monday and the boat has been delivered to the Boat Co. in Falmouth with no real problems other than a slight delay by Customs. I have posted the above photo so that we can all remeber just how nice it was in Hyeres. Fantastic weather, good accomodation and meeting up with a whole lot of great sailors. Most of whom were very friendly and helpful.

Unfortunately the National Championships have been cancelled due to a lack of boats entering from the UK. So the campaign for this year is over for now. I'm going to leave the blog up for a while and see what the plans are going forward for racing next year.

Thanks for looking in on the Blog. Cheers.

Ifor

Race Day 5

The final day and one race carded. Much better conditions with the sea flat for the first time this week. This meant a better sea state and finally the boat got going well. We finished in 31st place before any protests. This moved our overall ranking up to 66th. Not as good as we expected but better for the result today.

Race Day 4

A very hot day with light winds. Results race 1 - 64th. Race 2 - 72nd. Overall ranking 71. Corinthian ranking 27th. Frustrating day! One more race tomorrow and it looks like light airs again. The level of competition is amazing and I hope to have some photos uploaded soon.

Race Day 3

In similar conditions to yesterday we found better set up for the rig and improved upon our overall standing. We also stayed out of trouble and had no penalties or protests, and no damage to the boat. Results race 1 - 30th. Race 2 - 68th. Overall standing now 68 out of 92. 3 more races to try to improve once again but the boat is definately going better as each day goes by.

Race Day 2

Today saw similar condirions with slightly less breeze but still consistent from the East and South East. There were three races carded for the day with an early start. The first race saw a much improved main sail after moving the rig forward. On the downwind leg we hoisted the North VMG kite but it never really seemed to get us into the groove. A dissapointing race. The second race was much better with good height and speed and apart from a large sandwhich at the leeward make with boat contact both sides we performed well with the boats around us. The third race was not great with a port starboard incident after the start where we had to crash tack to avoid an Italian boat who did not duck us. We protested them and after the race the Jury found them to be at fault and they were disqualified. All this didn't help us as we lost our slot and got blown out the back for the race. Results were 73rd, 59th and 75th. Our standing overall is now 69th. Better luck tomorrow.

Race Day 1

Day one saw two races in the afternoon with around 15 knots of breeze from the East and later South East. Our results for the two races were 57 and 62 respectively. We were 22nd in the Corinthian class. Overall we lay 62nd out of 92 boats. The Italians teams being all at the front of the fleets with their big budget, pro campaigns. This event is truely Grand Prix on a large scale and so we have to work hard on our set up to improve for day 2.

Practice Race

Sunday saw the practice race onto the course and in a reasonably stiff breeze it was good to get sailing at last. Due to the large fleet there was an extended start line with a committe boat in the middle of the line. We chose the starboard end due to a big bias as did many other boats. With 92 boats all vying for the same area it was absolutely manic! After all the preparations and everyone was so keen to get going there were two general recalls. Our second start was better than the first and then the third start even better. The boat struggled to point up with speed but we set off up the track. There must have been a third recall as around half the fleet stopped racing and the rest of us carried on. We met the fleet that started for the fourth time as we came downwind to the gate on our first run. Lot's of boat dodging and shouting going on! We did the second roundig of the course which was simple windward leeward and finished not quite knowing where we were placed. Anyway it was good practice and we then spent some time tuning the rig and upping the settings to give us more power. The sea state was very choppy which was slowing the boat down. We also dropped the jib tack down to give more closure for the foot to the deck. All this seemed to help and once Tim was happy we put back into port. Today (Monday) is the start of the regatta with two races being carded, so a much better test today. More updates to follow.

"Lucky 13"

We were given our race number yesterday! Anyone superstitious?

Mad Day of Preparations and Measurements

Saturday 22nd August. After being given our "Lucky number 13" we were detailed to have the boat fully measured. This involved lifting the boat out again with the mast down and weighing her and then measuring the keel and rudder with templates. Luckily it went well and we re-launched the boat and put her on a mooring along with dozens of other Melges. Quite an amazing sight to see so many at once.

Now waiting for Tim and John before we can all be weighed for our total body weight. Tomorrow is a race practice day and although it was windy today the forecast is to go easterly and be lighter. However, the sea breeze always seems to kick in after lunch so fingers crossed as we need the breeze to stay in touch with the Pro's.

The hard work has been done so it is now about five days of racing fun. I will update the blog throughout the week.

Blue Arrives in Hyeres

After an epic 26 hour drive Blue arrives in Hyeres. Jonny and I drove overnight and prepared the boat during the day today (20th August). Looking around there are plenty of top flight pro crews also getting ready. Tomorrow we will polish the boat and get her in the water ready for Tim and John to arrive on Saturday. All's looking good, although the winds over the past few days have been very light. I will do an update tomorrow with some pic's and more news.