Kapsejlads
Nilaya tog andenplads med Bekking og Dolmer
112 fods Baltic vejer 90 ton og der er mange sejlskift om bord. Stævnet på St Barth i Caribien er slut. Blog fra Bouwe Bekking.
Taktiker på 112 fods Baltic-båd, Bouwe Bekking, skriver fra St Barth i Caribien:
The last day of the St Barth conditions were again very light and the forecast was for a dying breeze, but the race committee still send us on a relative long course.
This race was probably our best of all: we had a super start on full speed to leeward of the pack, who were all tangled up with each other and sailing relatively slower.
Rambler got slowed down as well, but squeezed out from the rest and hung on our hip.
We sailed towards the lay-line as a we expected a big header once coming close into the island, one advantage of being earlier on the water than most of the other teams is that we always can sail the first beat before the starting gun.
Ramler accellerer langt hurtigere
The header came and we tacked simultaneous with Rambler, but they accelerate so much quicker than us, that they gained a 3 boatlenghts within a minute and then of course being in a strong position coming back on starboard to the mark.
When they tacked we had to make a small dip and then tack right on their hip. The boys up front did again a super hoist, which was followed quickly by two gybes, where we tried to stay in the pressure and avoiding bad air from the boats who started in front of us.
Skiftede ned til fok
We could see a transition in the breeze ahead of us and nailed the spot for crossing, with hardly losing any speed and in the mean time changing to a jib.
Rambler was very late dropping their kite and lost out, but where still just ahead of us, it is nice to have superb boatspeed to cover mistakes in that sense.
A short beat followed in a dying breeze and then a long run, Rambler sailed away from us, sailing lower and faster on the run.
2. plads overalt
The race committee shortened the race at one of islands and we saw we scored a 3rd on handicap today and finishing 2nd overall.
A very happy owner and crew, as we were the first real cruiser-racer. For this event we lived with 12 people onboard, which says something about being a real cruiser, but once on the water this Baltic 112 is a wolf in sheepclothes, a great concept.
