Artemis. Image copyright Ian Roman/Audi MedCup.
by Paul Cayard
We had another good day on the Artemis on Day 4 of racing. Three inshore races were planned but the wind got real wobbly after 1430 and we were only able to get a second one in and it was a bit marginal at that.
The first race was held in 10-12 knots of wind from 170. We had an excellent start and never crossed behind anyone. We led wire to wire, although there was a bit of a scary moment on the second windward leg when the wind went 10 degrees against us but we were patient, rode it out, waited for it to come back our way and ultimately extended our led. It doesn't get and sweeter than that out here in this fleet. Matador was second and TNZ was 5th. So, at this point we were leading the regatta.
Then the wind completely died. This was in the forecast for today. Many people thought that was the end of it. The boom tents came out at the temperature here today was mid 30's which is around 95F.
At 1630, an 8 knot breeze filled in from 080. It was not on anyone's forecast and no one expected it to hold. It held for about a half an hour so the race committee decided to bang one off. The first start was aborted for a 15 degree wind shift at 2 minutes to go. Ten minutes later another attempt.
The left looked to have better pressure and everyone was gunning for the left. We had another awesome start, with just one boat to our left. Team New Zealand and Matador had bad starts and were forced right. So, the foot race to the left was on and we have our beast going pretty well now Unfortunately, the wind went 20 degrees right. We found ourselves in 7th at the top mark.
With the wind 20 degree to the right of the course axis, we followed Quantum Racing into a gybe set. As we set the wind died completely. The lead boat who bore away got a 40 degree header just at this time and they were now laying the leeward mark. Things were a bit crazy at this point.
To make a long story a bit shorter were got firmly into last place at the leeward gate. We hung tough as a team and played a few shifts up the second windward leg. We closed right up to the group infront of us at the second windward mark and were in a position to make some moves. We did play a few more shifts and we passed three boats to finish 7th.
As bad as that was, we still finished the day with 8 points which is not bad in this fleet. Team New Zealand and Matador each had 7 points on the day.
So we are second overall, 4.5 points behind TNZ and 1 point ahead of Matador. The fourth place boat in this fleet has 12 points more than Matador so the three of us will most likely be fighting it out for the win tomorrow.
Cayard Sailing
Audi MedCup
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