Kevin and I are in Barcelona, Spain, getting ready to compete in the Barcelona Olympic Regatta. It wasn't easy getting here. Something is messing up the international flights. My flight to Paris was delayed by two hours from DFW, and then we found out my flight from Paris to Barcelona was canceled. I got a flight from DFW to London, but the London to Barcelona flight was delayed a couple of hours also. It was a nice flight, though, and not very crowded. I got a whole row to myself. Well, I finally got there and after a 1 1/2 hour drive I found the sailing team and the hotel. I arrived at 9:00 pm Thursday. Kevin had been here a day helping to unload our boat off the container ship that came from Miami.
Friday - Got a good night's sleep last night. Not too much jet lag. We did boat work all morning trying to get the mast set up to accommodate a new type of mainsail that has one inch less prebend. We got sailing around noon and did a lot of tuning to try and get the rig set up just right. This involved tightening our shrouds, raking the mast back, changing spreader angle, changing outhaul, changing main and jib Cunningham. In addition to this, the conditions were very difficult with leftover chop from the 45 mph winds of yesterday and swells going upwind. Anyway, it was interesting and fun.
We did not go very fast in the tuning sessions, but we did win the two makeshift races we had. We seem to be better at picking the shifts than speed testing. A tiring day, though. With the waves coming from all directions, we were full out hiking one second and sitting as far in as possible the next. We sailed till about 4:30, and by the last tuning session we had we decided to change our spreader angle again. When we do this, Kevin stands up on the boom and turns the spreader adjuster. This is kind of precarious with the waves, and we hit a bad one and were on the way to tipping over, so Kevin leapt off the boom and into the water to save the boat. He was a little cold after that--good thing he had his dry suit on.
Well, that's it for today. I think we have decided not to use the new sails. They are too different from what we are used to, and we do not have enough time to figure if they are better or not. We would rather have fun and race with what we know. One more practice day tomorrow, then it's racing on Sunday.
Paul and Kevin
Subject: Day 2 Report
Saturday 5 April 2003 1:13 p.m.
Olympic Class Regatta, Barcelona, Spain
Dear Race Fans,
Day 2 on the water in Barcelona was beautiful. First, Paul was able to keep Kevin in the boat the whole day. The breeze filled in at 12:00 noon, and the day was sunny and warm. We headed out through an extremely crowded boat park filled with trailers, cars and boats. Ullman Sails dressed the rig, and we were back to our old selves again. Boat speed was very good, and we led in all of the practice races and boat tuning sessions. We are looking forward to the first race tomorrow. It starts at 2:00 pm because the race organizers want to wait for the breeze to fill in. Our boat, bodies and minds are ready to rumble in the Med! Until tomorrow . . .
Sail fast, Paul and Kevin
Subject: Olympic Class Regatta
Sunday, 6 April 2003 2:04 p.m.
Barcelona, Spain
Today was the first race day. There are 60 men's teams here from all over the world: Greece, New Zealand, Australia, China, Croatia, Spain, England, Ireland, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, and the USA; and I'm sure I missed a few. Oh yeah, Japan. Most have been very friendly and have not talked about the war at all. Only Russia and the Ukraine have been giving us the cold shoulder.
Well, we got split into two fleets for racing. First race was to start at 2:00 p.m., but the wind did not cooperate. They kept us on shore waiting for a sea breeze. We went out and tried to get a race in at 5:00 p.m., but the wind was too flukey and the race committee was not brave enough to try one, so we all headed back in. A boring day. We did get some boat work done, fixing our spin halyard block, cleaning the bottom of the boat, and replacing the tiller extension universal. Hopefully, we will have a report for tomorrow.
Paul and Kevin
Subject: Olympic Class Regatta
Barcelona, Spain
Monday, 7 April 2003
Team 2004 friends,
We were the first down at the boat park, and it was looking like a light air day. There was a lot of cloud cover. We waited on land for the signal to go out racing. While we were waiting, the wind kept increasing. The sailing committee sent us out in 15 knots of breeze and building seas. We sailed reaching to the starting line and were blasting along.
Sometime between leaving the dock and reaching the course, we damaged our centerboard gaskets, two Mylar flaps that seal the centerboard in the centerboard casing. The gaskets reduce the flow of water that comes into the centerboard case. Water started to pour out the top of the centerboard case and into the boat. On top of that, the Mylar flaps had split in different locations along the case and increased drag below the water line. Paul thought that we had run over a fishing line. Our coach, Skip, thought that the Mylar was too thin. Kevin thought the cold water made the Mylar brittle so that it split on impact when crashing off the wave tops.
We were very slow from the first start of the three-race day. It was disappointing to have this happen, but we stuck it out for the three races and have fixed the problem. Looking forward to a better day tomorrow.
Paul and Kevin
Added Note from Carrie:
Unfortunately, these three bad races did not allow Paul and Kevin to qualify for the Gold fleet; they will start sailing in the Silver fleet tomorrow, Tuesday. Paul was very disappointed when I spoke to him on the phone today. He said the waves were big and from all directions. The wind built to around 20 knots. It was like trying to sail in a washing machine. Many teams capsized, including Paul and Kevin. A coach boat even flipped over when the stern of the boat rose too high on a wave past the point of balance and flipped over sideways. A USA girls' team "pitch-poled" today. That means the stern came flying over the bow. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Tough day, but Paul's not one to hang back for long.
Subject: Olympic Class Regatta
Barcelona, Spain
Tuesday, 8 April 2003 3:56 p.m.
Today the wind died down quite a bit, but there were still waves left over from the previous day's winds. We were in 40th after yesterdays adventure, so are in the Silver Fleet :<(
Again today, they postponed on shore for no apparent reason, and we were not allowed to go out until they tell us to. We finally headed out at noon. It's pretty cold, so we are all wearing dry suits and most of our warm clothes.
After a bunch of general recalls, we got a start off and did an inner loop. The wind was puffy, 5-10 and oscillating about 10 degrees with leftover swell and a lot of confused chop. We started near the boat and had good speed on all those around us. We played the shifts up the middle. We kind of got out of phase during the middle part of the beat but found a last shift to round third at the weather mark.
We passed the two boats ahead on the run by being faster, hit most of the shifts on the last beat to gain more and then extended our lead downwind to win by quite a bit (first place). Good practice.
Race 2
Another good start near the boat end of the line and good speed had us gaining on those around us, but the right was favored this race and a few boats got launched way ahead, led by a Russian Boat.
We played the middle left as well as possible and rounded the first mark about sixth. Had a good run, got up to fourth and went into third at the first part of the next beat. We were heading left, and the wind was going right, so we lost position again on a 20-degree lefty. We still rounded the top mark in sixth and went down the run.
We finally made a gain on the run at the very end when a puff came in from behind. We found good speed and got the inside at the last mark before the reach to the finish. We ended up 4th. Pretty good, considering we missed the progressive shift to the right.
They tried to get another race off but had a general recall, decided it was getting too late in the day and sent us in. We checked the boat on shore and our new gaskets are looking good.
Last day is tomorrow. Hope we get some racing because we need the practice.
Paul and Kevin
Subject: Olympic Class Regatta
Barcelona, Spain
Wednesday, 9 April 2003
Good wind today, 10-15 knots out of the south with large swells and chop. No current.
Race 1, We started near the pin wanting to go left since we thought the first fleet had gained on the left. We won the pin and jetted away, then tacked and crossed to lead the left side. But the right side was favored, and we rounded the top mark in about 10th. We jibe set on the run and gained a few boats rounding the bottom mark in 5th.
The next beat we were going well but did not go far enough right, so only caught one boat. On the run and reach to finish, I think we passed two boats to finish 3rd (not sure of that--too many races today).
Race 2 We decided to go right and got a bad start at the boat but tacked right and reached through. We were going fast and got out in front on the right and were winning but over stood the mark by way too far and ended up rounding about 7th. We passed boats again all the way to the finish for a 4th, I think.
Race 3 Had a bad start down from the boat, and on our clearing tack Kevin went swimming. We got going again, though, and were in 8th at the first mark. We passed boats on the first run and were up to 5th at the leeward mark. On the next beat, we caught two more boats and were in 3rd. On the last run, we passed another boat, and at the finish we were overlapped with the leader but were just a couple of feet too late.
That was the last race of the day. We raced in to clean and de-rig the boat We packed it on a trailer and will see it again in two weeks in France for French Olympic Sail Week.
Kevin and I fly home tomorrow morning and go back to work. We really benefit from the races and get a lot better each time we sail, but we still have a long way to go.
Thanks for your support. See you at home.
Paul and Kevin
Note from Carrie:
P.S. Paul and Kevin finished 2nd overall out of 30 boats in the silver fleet. In talking with their coach, Skip Whyte, today, the race committee really regretted setting up the race course too close to a seawall on the first day when so many boats flipped over. The choppy waves and wind combined with waves bouncing off the sea wall back into the race course really made conditions difficult for everyone, sailors and race committee personnel.
Also, Skip said Paul and Kevin's centerboard gaskets are now made of a material that is too flimsy and prone to tearing. The manufacturer, MacKay, has not been using this material very long when building their boats, and apparently it is sub-quality compared to what they used to install. Skip said several MacKay 470 sailors would be letting MacKay know about the problem. It definitely isn't fast to sail with a boat full of water around a race course like Paul and Kevin did on day one.
Finally, Paul said that a hole in the seat of his sailing gear leaked today and he had a case of
cold-and-wet butt on the race course! However, he and Kevin sailed their best day yet, so maybe
wet butt is fast?