VOLVO CUP II IN BARI
From Italian Class Secretary Natasha Avlijas - We had some great sailing again, in the Volvo Cup. This time it was our first event in the far south. Everybody here tried to make the best out of it: the organizing club, the race commitee, the assistance boats on the water, even the wind gave us a hand! With "only" seventeen boats on the starting line on friday, chilly but almost sunny, 20 and over knots of NW wind, 2 meters high waves, the action was impressive. Our photographer James Taylor said: "You have two years worth of class calendars out of todays pictures! I felt like a child, I keep looking at the photos going "wow"!!
Friday
The first start was just after one o' clock. Alina starts off easy, rounds the first mark second, then hoist the gennaker and waves everybody else goodbye... They were out there alone, while Mini Hotel-Musto, Ale Ali and a few others were fighting for second and third place. Ale Ali and Sogeti make it second and third. In the meantime, the waves are dragging the marks downwind a bit, and the race commitee has to move to a much smaller boat as the yacht it was on has lost it's anchor.
In the second run Celon takes the lead straight off, with Nautica, Alina and Golf Club Paradiso right behind him at the first mark. But the downwind rounding is somewhat messy, one of the marks has been dragged away by one of the Ufo22 boats (it happens, in these conditions!) and Alina takes control. AleAli makes up most of the lost groud, and finishes third, winning over Golf Club Paradiso on the last jibe a few meters before the finish line. Nautica is second.
The G flag is up, not many people are really happy about it, then a voice from the radio says: "I'm at the windward mark, over 30 knots and 3 meters of waves..." Ok, ok, we proved we can sail in wind and waves, let's head to the club!
Saturday
The sea has calmed down, the wind has shifted to NE, we had to wait for a while for the start. It will be Nautica's day, with two awful starts, and two excellent results: after a late start, they won the first race, beating Golf Club Paradiso and Sherekan, an almost local and a hometeam, at easy in the light and somewhat shifty wind. The second start is extremely agressive, the whole fleet is early. Recall, and black flag, no time to waste! Celon leads the race fron the start and wins over Sherekhan and Alina. Nautica is fourth in the second race, and at the end of the day they are even with Celon (AleAli) at first place, after four races, Aleali leading just because they have done better in last race.
Sunday
After NW and NE, the wind has decided to show us the full range: today it's E, shifting to SE. And it's blowing again, 18-20 knots again, but this toime there's no waves. Alina recovers from a "bad" day, and wins again. Their speed downwind in heavy air is impressive! Simoneschi on Nautica takes over Celon - Aleali and Sherekhan. It's still early afternoon, the wind shifts south, the committe moves the marks and we're off to a second race for the day. But as the boats round the first mark, the wind shifts by 30, then 60 degrees, then 30 back the other way. The Jury calls it off, this race is cancelled, the wind is too shifty and the time is up.
The boats head back to the port, with these final standings:
Overall - 1. Alina, 2. Nautica, 3. AleAli, 4. Sherekhan, 5. Golf Club Paradiso (12 boats following)
Corinthian - 1. Sogeti, 2. Conte of Florence, 3. Erma
We'll be racing again very soon in Cala Galera, 15-17 May.
Come join us!
Natasha Avlijas
Italian Melges24 Class Secretary