USA's Duncan Leads After Qualifiers
(Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy)- After waiting for three straight days to go sailing in the spectacular venue of Port Cervo, Sardinia, J/70 sailors from twenty-four nations were certainly chomping on the proverbial bit to get out on the water and test their months of training and competing in many regattas leading up to sailing in the AUDI J/70 World Championship, hosted by the famous YC Costa Smeralda.
For four straight days, sailors had to contend with the infamous “mistral” conditions, when a huge Low/depression forms over central Europe and the incessant High pressure pushes on the bubble to create a phenomenon that generates powerful west/northwest winds across the archipelago of Corsica and Sardinia in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.
As sailors went out for practice on Sunday, the mistral began to develop, producing 20-35 kts winds by late afternoon. A number of boats that practiced ended up blowing up practice spinnakers.
For
the next three days, it was a mistral condition that refused to quit.
Most mistrals last two, maybe three days. On Monday, the day of the
opening ceremonies and the only “practice race” for competitors; it was
all but blown out by 30 to 62 kts winds in the Porto Cervo Harbor and
gusts to 85 kts in the infamous Straits of Bonifacio between the
northern tip of Sardinia and the southern tip of Corsica.The next two days produced more of the same, with spectacularly clear skies, dotted intermittently with torn-cotton clouds flying across the horizon, creating dramatic perspectives of boats, the islands, and “white-out” conditions offshore. The sailors endured two days of postponements while waiting at the beautiful YCCS facilities, both Tuesday and Wednesday ending in “AP over A” flags, symbolizing the end of a long frustrating day for both sailors and the race organizers.
Finally, on the third day, Mother Nature cooperated with more moderate breezes on a spectacularly sunny day with moderate temperatures in the upper 70s F. After the Skipper’s Briefing at 0930 hours, sailors just about ran to their boats to get rolling for the day, in high anticipation of a full day’s of racing offshore. It was quite a sight to see 163 J/70s all departing the beautiful Porto Cervo harbor as they headed out to sea.
The racing for the day was challenging for all. The forecasts showed westerly winds varying from 260 to 300 degrees- a wildly fluctuating breeze is normal in a waning mistral. Sure enough, “local knowledge” that said “go left” in an offshore breeze was good advice. Most of the top boats in the first two races played the left side of the course upwind and, conversely, played the middle to left downwind. The principal factor driving decisions downwind were the crossover between “planing mode” and “soak mode”; dramatically different tactical considerations as each is governed by “VMG made good” downwind. In a big puff, those who pushed “planing mode” would scream away in 12-14 kt bursts for several hundred meters, then stop as they ran out of wind! Others would try to push hard downwind in “soak mode” and make it work, or not!
From a tactician’s point of view, it was a nightmare. Going left paid off, but not all the time. Going into the left corner was “death”. Those that faired best-played shifts going left upwind. And, conversely, the same downwind as the fleet struggled with what tactic/ strategy worked best, minute-by-minute, and often at the finish line second-by-second! And, in the third and last race of the day, boats that had played middle-right upwind made significant gains! So much for "local knowledge"!
It
was fun, challenging racing for all and there were several impressive
performances from a number of top teams. The qualifying series for the
Gold and Silver fleet was finally completed, with three flights (six
total races) taking place over a unique “trapezoid/ windward-leeward”
course format. The first flight sailed the outside/left course and the
second flight sailed the inside/right course- a simple way to keep the
large fleets separated from each other.In the end, the top five qualifiers for the Gold fleet saw USA’s Peter Duncan skippering RELATIVE OBSCURITY into the lead with a consistent 3-1-1 for 5 pts. Continuing her success in top-level events, Italy’s Claudia Rossi from the host YC Costa Smeralda, helmed her well-known PETITE TERRIBLE #AUDI into second place with an equally impressive scoreline of 1-4-1 for 6 pts. Sitting in third place is Italy’s Franco Solerio driving L’ELAGIN to a 2-2-7 tally for 11 pts. Just behind them in fourth place is Spain’s Gustavo Martinez sailing FERMAX to a 5-6-2 record for 13 pts. And, lying in fifth is Argentina’s Sebastian Halpern’s CEBOLLITA with a very consistent 5-5-5 for 15 pts.
All scores count for all teams, so these crews will carry forward their points into the Gold Championship round to compete for the 2017 World Championship title. With two days of racing left, the weather forecasts indicate the fleet will be able to sail at least five more races. Sailing photo credits- Kurt Arrigo & Max Ranchi. Follow the AUDI J/70 Worlds on Facebook here
Facebook Video interviews and race action here:
Jonathan McKee interview- https://www.facebook.com/J70Class/videos/875658612585826/
Qualifier 1- https://www.facebook.com/j70italianclass/videos/378790425873234/
Qualifier 2- https://www.facebook.com/j70italianclass/videos/378899059195704/
Regatta updates and perspectives here
https://youtu.be/EHkCeq4jvWc
https://youtu.be/zXQMDoqIiDo
For more AUDI J/70 World Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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