by Paul Cayard
A pessimistic forecast gave way to the best day of wind here in Crans for the Realstone Cup. Foncia, who finished 8th I believe in the first event two weeks ago, won this event easily.
4 races were held today in winds varying from south to north and 3 knots to 15 knots. Thats racing on these lakes.
Onboard Artemis Racing our finishes for the weekend were 5, 5, 6, 3, 4. Very consistent but just not high enough up for the win. We finished 4th equal with Alinghi but lost the tie breaker to finish 5th overall. The placing's were very tight at the end. At one point, just prior to the 3rd race, the wind came up to a solid 15 16 knots. I got my first taste of being scared in this boat. Bearing away is a scary moment as the leeward bow wants to dig in and cartwheel the boat. We avoided that but it was "hot" as the French onboard say.
We are continuing to get to know our boat, SWE 12, and the class. We have a little problem upwind against the fleet but we are very fast downwind. We will work to improve our upwind speed.
Back to SF tomorrow morning for some meetings with ACRM and the other AC competitors.
Artemis Racing
Vulcain Trophy
