Tuesday, August 26, 2008

5th Audi MedCup event


Ian Roman/AUDI MEDCUP
Report from Paul Cayard - Day 1

Today was the first day of racing here in Cartagena, the 5th Audi MedCup event of 2008.
Perfectly blue sky with 15-20 knots of wind and a nice seaway welcomed the fleet to this historic maritime city. The city was founded in 227 BC by the Carthaginian General Hasdrubal. Since then the Romans, Byzantines and the Muslims, and finally the Christians, have all ruled the strategically located city. Anyway, it is older than California, so I am trying to read a bit about the city and go for walks around all the ruins to learn something before leaving on Saturday.

Back to the racing. Two races were held today. The race committee attempted a third race but they could not get their anchor to hold in the 90 meter water with the then rough sea. Onboard Desafio, we had two very good starts today. Unfortunately, right at the start of the first race the traveller broke and that hurt us a lot at a very critical time.

We battled around the course and finished 9th. In the second race, we sailed fast and were always amongst the lead group to finish 4th. We are currently in 7th place, tied with Platoon for 6th.

The points are all very close as is always the case after the first day.

In the first race Bribon went the correct way on the first run and second windward leg to go from 8th to first. In the second race, Quantum got to the first mark first followed by Platoon, Bribon, Desafio Espasol and Mutua Madrilena. We all held our positions around the four legged course.
Three races are scheduled for tomorrow and the forecast has a bit more breeze than today. The waves will no doubt get a bit bigger overnight.

1. Bribon 42. Quantum 63. Matador 84. Mutua Madrilena 115. Artemus 126. Platoon 137. El Desafio 138. Caixa 149. Audi Q8 1510.Synergy 20

For complete results go to http://www.audimedcup.org/

Cayard Sailing Website