2013 Chronicle #4 - Final Practice Week

Here is the third of our chronicles for the F-18 World Championships in Grosseto, Italy.

Thursday, July 4 – Definitely the best day for practicing with a lot of boats so far. We started by doing upwind speed testing with the boat from Oman and we continue to be able to hold even with them. We then had about 25 boats doing practice races on a fairly short course twice around. This was great practice for what the races will be like. One race we finished in top five and for the rest of the races we were in the top half so we were feeling good. The wind was building from 10 kts to 18tks as the afternoon went on. After the last practice race we sailed about five miles upwind and then did a long downwind spinnaker run with about 6 other boats in 18 kts of wind. It was a great spinnaker run where we held even with boats from Australia, France, Italy, and Hungary amongst others.

More boats are arriving and the parking areas are starting to get very crowded.

Matt and I then went back to our little apartment and cooked hamburgers and hotdogs to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Friday, July 5 – Got down to the club the earliest so far because it is the first boat measurement day. They are well organized and even gave us appointed times for the boat to be weighed and inspected for class rule adherence. Our appointment was for 11:24 but Simon who we are chartering our boat from had a 9:20 appointment for his other boat (a Capricorn) so we wanted to be there to see him go through the process. Surprisingly the process went very smoothly with no problems with the boat. The boat is 1 kilo underweight so we have to carry one kilo of lead but this is good. Also, eating a lot of pasta and gelato and drinking the good Italian beer worked because Matt and I made the minimum crew weight so we don’t need to carry any lead – and we even had 1.5 kg to spare. Once we were done with the measurement process and had the mast back up it was mid-afternoon. The wind was very light so Matt and I decided to take a lay day – first day in the last 13 that we did not sail. It was the hottest day in Grosseto so far about 95 degrees (35 Celsius), so we cooled off by going swimming. Once it cooled down Matt and I spent the rest of the afternoon polishing the boat with the Hulkote provided by Sailing Supply. (Luckily TSA did not confiscate it from us.) We also had a problem with the head of the jib starting to pull out so Simon took it to a sail maker that did a great job on fixing it. We are all set for our final two days of practicing before the races start on Monday.

Italian Red Cross setting up for the regatta – American competitor Matt Whitehead was first person to utilize facility with a banged-up knee

Saturday, July 6 – Today the wind was blowing off-shore. This is the first time we have seen this wind direction in the two weeks we have been here. The wind is very shift (40 degree wind shifts) and varies in speed from 6 kts to 15. It was very difficult sailing conditions but we are glad that we experienced it in case it happens during the worlds. We did only one practice race because it was not very well organized and then did our own training in the shifty wind conditions.

Beach area starting to fill up with the 180 F-18’s

Sunday, July 7 – The day for the practice race before the official racing starts tomorrow. Though the race was scheduled to start at 2:00 we went out around 11:30 to get some practice time in beforehand. The wind was off-shore just like yesterday so again trying conditions but we were more used to it. The race started a little late and in windy conditions, it was interesting with around 150 boats on the starting line. We were on the line too early so bailed out and gybed around the leeward end and worked our way through the fleet on port tack. One hole was created by a capsized boat on the starting line. We managed to get a clear wind lane and started working our way up the weather leg. We had a very good spinnaker set passing many boats including one that had just capsized. Overall we sailed very cleanly and finished in the top 25% of the fleet. Matt and I were very happy with the race and feel ready for the real racing to begin tomorrow.

Now that we have finished our training sessions here are some interesting statistics that we took off our GPS:

Total distance sailed in 2 weeks: 541 miles
Maximum speed achieved: 24 mph
Average maximum daily speed: 20.8 mph
Total time on the water: 61 hours

Sunday evening we had the opening ceremony which consisted of a parade through the entire town of Grosseto with each country carrying their flag. There were thousands of spectators watching the parade.

Opening parade along the Grosseto Boardwalk

Matt parading through the streets of Grosseto

Opening Ceremony – 27 countries participating

The two USA teams in front of the Grosseto Sailing Club – Matt Whitehead, Taylor Reese, Matt and Steve

What's Next

Races start tomorrow, Monday, July 8 and complete on Friday, July 12. Three races are scheduled per day with the first race starting at 1:00 pm. Races start so late because the best wind is typically from 2:00 – 5:00 pm. Right now the weather forecast for the first two days is light wind (5-10 kts) but Wednesday is forecast to be windy (18 kts). Matt and I are feeling good about our boat speed in any type of wind condition so it does not matter to us what the wind is. The first two days decide which boats compete in the gold fleet versus the sliver fleet for the final three days of racing.

Thanks to all our supporters and we hope you are enjoying this newsletter.

Here is the web site where you can find race results and the race real time tracking and replays:

http://2013.f18worlds.com/

We probably won’t have time for another newsletter until the regatta is over, but will send one at that time so get real time results off the internet.

Ciao

Matt and Steve