Bad Vibe
jfunk battles on at the 505 Worlds…
Day 2 of the SAP 505 Worlds was a one race day and conditions were a bit milder. Actually they seemed positively calm compared to Sunday’s blowout, probably 20kn with gusts up into the mid 20’s. It was also a little shifty early on.
Off the start line, the fleet spread, there were top contenders to the middle, right and to the left and it was out of the left came Mal Higgins and Nick Johnson. I told you all these guys were fast and were one to keep an eye on. Unfortunately, they have had rotten luck, losing the back 2 foot of their boat in the pre-worlds and dropping a side stay in yesterdays first race. Today, they were angry and came out fighting. At the top mark, they led by 45 seconds from the usual contenders and they held this lead till the reach, till a wave wiped Camel off the side and onto the tiller, causing them to hit the drink.
The top three were Martin and Nelson, Holt and Smit and Nicholson and Smith. Again the top two were super fast, but interestingly, Nicholson and Smith were going quicker uphill, but didn’t have the legs downhill. Martin/Nelson eventually went on to win by 45 seconds. All three are very consistent and without breakages are the likely place getters.
Yes, Cayard was out there yesterday, dressed in skintight black everything, he looked like a cross between a Mexican porn star and the David Niven cat burglar character from the Pink Panther movies. He and Howie were DSQ’d when they arrived back at the beach, but after protesting, were re-instated. They apparently had a run in with the pathfinder. They started only a couple of boats above us on the line and I didn’t see any of it. So I don’t know what happened.
As for the Funkmobile, well I have always felt whenever you sail a regatta, you get a vibe of how things are going to play out. Sometimes stuff falls your way and then there are regatta’s you have to pay for all the good luck you have had. Going into the Oz champs, I just knew everything was going to go my way. Going into this one, I knew it wasn’t going to be a great one and race 3 proved it.
We have pretty good pace in the pressure, we just lack a little height, but once we get a clear lane, we are fine. We sailed a pretty good first beat and were in with the front runners. Lining up on the starboard lay, we looked set to round between 6 and 10, then the port jib turning block pulled off the deck. A quick tack and some lashing and we were on our way again, but we had dropped 30+ boats. We worked hard on the run, gained some places and started charging up the second beat. Then a block in the mainsheet system pulled off the boom. Another bit of lashing and we were underway again. A little despondent, but it was great sailing conditions, so we just decided to enjoy things. Unfortunately, on the next beat, we ripped the main ratchet block and cleat off the boat. We tried continuing on, but it wasn’t possible, so we sailed home. On the way home, two more blocks blew up in the jib system. I told you some of these boats were under spec’ed for San Fran conditions!
Today looks to be more of the same, windy and cold. Two races as well!
Photo by Christophe Favreau.
