|
Day One Castellon 7-5-2006 |
 Transpac52 start in Castellon
Today started a seven race series for 19 Transpac52 here in Castellon with a breeze which varied from 10-12 knots in the morning, around 15 for the second race and died off at the end of the day. There were three races sailed today mainly because it was important to get races in while there is enough wind. The most notable news of the day was how much the fleet was mixed up in each race. The starts and first beat were key and no one boat could be counted on to finish at the top.
 Bribon takes a win
The first race of the day was carried by Platoon from Germany followed by Warpath skippered by Dean Barker and his crew from Team New Zealand. They were the most consistent but closely followed by Mutua Madrilena (Mean Machine). Lexus remained in the middle of the fleet despite the big names of Paul Cayard and Russell Coutts on board. It is quite impressive how close the boats are especially in any kind of breeze. By best estimate, most of the fleet rounds a mark within a minute and a half in a breeze.
In the first race, all the Spanish boats were in the back of the fleet but in the second race they seemed to get warmed up and excel in the lighter conditions. Still, you couldn't count on any one boat finishing in any kind of order.
 Large Transpac52 fleet
The key to getting around the windward mark and not lose a million boats, was not to come in on the port layline and have to duck the rest of the fleet. For the boats that tried it, they typically would have to duck four or more boats before getting onto the starboard train. By then they were dead slow and the leaders could jump out even more.
The course was pretty one sided as each race was dominated by a left hand shift which seems to be caused by the mountains and coastline on the left. This was the case downwind as well. Left upwind, right downwind. Only the guys with nothing to lose would try any other route.
There was some derision of the race committees' idea of finishing a race within the harbour itself with the finishline only 10 boat lengths in front of a habor wall. A clear incentive to get the kite down in time!
For all the news, go to : www.medcup.org
|
