2007 Bacardi Cup

Race Five Report

Another great day out on the racecourse. Forecast was for 5 to 10 it ended up building while we went out and it ended up being 12-18. Mateusz won the race but Hammish Pepper and David Giles where second and currently hold a six point lead going into tomorrow's final race. We can only hope that the weatherman is wrong about the forecast again and we get another day of crews over the side.

We didn't have a very good race going after the first two legs but were able to buckle down over the final three legs and pick up a bunch of boats to end up in 37th. I learned today that the word "starboard" in German translates to "cross" . We had to crash tack up the first beat in order to avoid a German port tacker. Then the German in me came out as I said some words the translate well in any language and told him to do some circles. He did the circles prompted caught back up to me to give me the courteously of informing me that he did his circles and everything was good. We both sailed on.

Some other sailors were not as fortunate. Roberto Bermeudez back of his chartered boat had a giant on the deck were I assume a port tacker trying to duck didn't duck enough. I took a photo and will try to get it posted.

After the start my crew wondered why I gave this boat such a large duck . I ducked early and as far away from the boat as possible. I told him that this is Afonso and although that would make a great story for folks to read on the race report there was not way I was going to hit my new boat with my old boat. After the race Afonso told me that he restarted just in case he might of been over. This crossing was a few minutes after the start. He was moving well we were not.

One race to go to crown the 2007 champion.

Race Four Report

Another great party tonight. It says a lot about the class when the loudest cheers during the awards tonight were for Jock Kolhas and Larry Scott. I'll be posting pictures from the party next week.

Winds today were from the east about 6-12 mph. Two general recalls before we got a clean start. John Dane and Austin Sperry got the win. The fleet separation was alot less then the previous two races especially at the first mark.

Jose Oti gave me this bit of wisdom after the race." If you are going to ask the Italians whether to tack or cross when you are on port, make sure you ask in Italian." Jose asked in English and after a 720 was much the wiser.

Alot of contact on the course today. At least four boats on the sailing center side were repairing damage tonight including Hammish Pepper.

Maurice O'Connell the race one winner hurt his back and had to sail off the course after the first recall.

Supposedly Marzarri was DNS today because his crew quit.

Freddy Loof was back sailing a Quatum main after sailing the first three races with a different brand then the big two.

Maybe this is just the rum talking but I find it funny when I see Steffano Lillia out on the racecourse sailing Jon Vandermolens's boat decked out with Nascar stickers and "Ricky Bobby" on the boom.

Fried Elliot is down here and has taken photos of races 3 and 4. See the photos at: http://www.friedbits.com/PhotoBits/Sailing/Star/

Race Three Report

Just got back from the party tonight at Cielo so I apologize if my memory today is a little fuzzy. Great party tonight at Cielo, Tito and Julio were there and we thank them for the support the give this great regatta.

Today's race started with about 10-12 mph out of the north. Except for individual recalls the fleet got off clean. We managed to carve a nice hole to leeward for Rohan Lord to fill with about 15 seconds before the start. Rohan dhad a great start, we did not. I said to Chris, my crew, " I think we are 74 right now," Chris wanted to know which boat we were actually beating. He had a good point . We worked right on the first beat and actually managed to pick up some boats. The left was definitely not the place to be we probably rounded in the high forties which was a miracle after that start. The was a lot of contact on the course today. Several times I heard collusions and the associated yelling in multiple languages. Some of the contact could have been avoided. My tip for the day is that if you are coming into to mark on port with boats heading downwind you might want to look around and see if anybody is going to hit you or if you are going to hit anybody. The wind continued to build throughout the day. We finished 41st after that bad start.

Hammish Pepper continues his remarkable run in the class with another first today. Hammish and David Giles are holding a 6 point lead over Freddy Loof and Anders Ekstrom. The Australians have been very consistant with a 6-5-6.

Some random observations:

It seems like there are several more boats sailing North sails then the the past few years. Most the of the boats sailing North are Europeans.
It looks like the Polish are sailing a Folli. Not sure if they are chartering it or what. They are a little more stealth around the racecourse since they don't have the blue boat.

Race Two Report

Before I tell the tales for today's racing. I forgot to mention the pile up at the start line yesterday. We started at the committee boat and will about 30 seconds to go luffed up above it because about 10-12 boats where on top of each other and piled on the committee boat. I waited about 10 seconds before realizing that the pile up wasn't going to clear out and ended up reaching down and around the boats. I'm sure that several of those boats ended up OCS. It was quite the spectacle to see this many boats tangled on the committee boat.

Today's racing was out of the North at around 10-12 mph and the result was one that found surprising but nevertheless enjoyed being discussed at the clubhouse afterwards. Some of the story I can tell firsthand. We started near the pin end with Reynolds and Kolhas and worked out to the left. Halfway up the beat we started looking pretty good sailing a lefty with really good pressure. As the beat the left kept getting better and better. Jock Kolhas was the farthest left and ended up reaching in along with Reynolds and ourselves. We ended up rounding the first mark 7th. Just in front of us was Chris Museler and Erik Lidecis. Chris is chartering a boat and sailing the star for the first time as part of writing an article for a sailing magazine on the Bacardi Cup. We ended up picking up a few boats downwind to round the leeward mark in 4th. Just ahead of us was Jock Kolhas and Larry Scott. Jock got to the right of us and the rest of the fleet as a righty with pressure came in. That is the last we saw of him as he got out to a big league. We lost about 20 boats because of the righty so I can't really tell you what happened with Jock after that. What I do know is that Jock and Larry held on to beat Freddy Loof in a photo finish. Sitting at the bar at 5:00 I looked over to the sailing center and saw the Jock was still wearing his hiking pants and had a grin from ear to ear as he finally got around to pulling out his boat. Larry was sitting at the club looking pretty tired with a permanent smile on his face. Congrats to the both of them on a great effort. Chris Museler ended up finishing 8th in the race. Congrats to Chris also with a great finish on a tough day of racing.

Race One Report

Forecast today was 10-15 from the North building to 15-20. They were kind of right. We starting in about 5-10 with an emphasis on 5. The first two starts saw the AP flag right before the start. The third race saw the black flag get about 23 boats (this is supposed to be a Bacardi Cup record). The wind started to build on the 2nd beat and was probably up to 18 when all was said and done. Congrats to Maurice O'Connell from Ireland for the win. I won't bore you with the details of how we got 39th place. I will say that I do like sailing with alot of weight on the boat. It is fun to be sailing upwind in 18 and not having to touch the upper.

Some random observations from the day:

Quote of the day: I asked Magnus Liljedahl who he was crewing for this morning and him responded. "George Szabo is skippering for me"

The Chinese boat is sailing 7784, an boat from my days of sailing in Peoria IL on the Illinois River. This boat was owned by Fred Bally. I don't think Fred ever sailed the boat with a Sobstad main with the short upper battern so I'm not sure where they found this set of sails.

Spent an enjoyable evening with the team from Netherlands, Sander Jorrissen and Erik Veldhuizen. We saw alot of each other on the racecourse today. They introduced themselves and let me know that them referred to me as the "General" on the racecourse. For example we are crossing in front of the "General" or the "General is not going to cross us. The "General" refers to the fact that I have blue chevrons on my sail.