Practice Days 3 and 4

The sun has set on the third and final day of practice here in Porto Cervo, and an eager calm has fallen over the team as we anticipate the trials of the next five days. It’s about 11:00 PM here in Sardinia, and half of the team has turned in for bed, with the remainder enjoying quiet conversation or boat repair before resting up for tomorrow, the first day of racing.

The last two days of practice have seen a lot of speed testing, which involves sailing in close proximity to another boat to gauge your relative speed. This activity allows a crew to effectively measure the efficacy of their combined efforts to get the boat through the water. It makes experimenting with technique, trim, and tuning more of a exact science than the confused alchemy that can easily result when determining the interrelation among the myriad variables that affect a boat’s speed through the water.

Yesterday, we took advantage of the fact that some Italian teams had set up a starting line in a bay not too far from the harbor and supplemented our speed testing with some practice starts. Confusion abounded as the starting sequences and instructions were given in Italian. On Argo debate quickly broke out as to whether the unofficial race committee was giving the time to the start or attempting to set up his niece or nephew with one of the strapping, single, and luscious Argonauts.

Practice culminated today with official practice starts and a practice race, where times and instructions (thankfully) were given in English as they will be for the remainder of the regatta. A series of back-to-back practice starts quickly revealed that this will be an aggressive fleet to compete against. In every practice start a good deal of boats were at least 10 meters over the start line, something that makes starting cleanly nearly psychologically impossible. It’s an extremely disconcerting thing to allow a good chunk of boats to get ahead of you at the start, but you allow it knowing (and hoping) that the race committee will acknowledge their transgression and call them over early at the start.

Though we’ve been soaking up the sights of Italy, the weather has done it’s best to shroud the beauty of our environs in clouds and rain. Practice today started in a constant downpour that turned into an off-and-on drizzle for the remainder of the day. Staying dry is sometimes nearly as important as sailing smart, so the crew would particularly like to thank Gul for their sponsorship and support. For over a year, Gul has provided the team with some amazing sailing gear that helps us stay on our A-game. Thanks guys!

Off the water, camaraderie and morale within the team and the fleet have been high. There have been at least two trips to Clipper, a local maelstrom (read: “pub”) for sailors and their entourages. No casualties of carousing to report as of yet (save for some rosemary bushes), though there have been some close calls. After tonight’s skippers meeting, the team enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and cocktails on the roof of YCCS, the event’s host, while trading salt stories with the other crews.

We’ve come to Italy. We’ve seen what we can do. Tomorrow racing begins. 13 hours until the first warning signal.


Applying Bow Stickers


The team on the way out to practice


Battle flag