Audi Med Cup - Alicante - Race Day 2

© Th Martinez/AUDI MEDCUP

[By Paul Cayard] - A big day of racing today with Races 3, 4 and 5 held in 10, 12 and 14 knots of wind, respectively. Course number one (windward, leeward, windward, finish) was used for all three races. Mean Machine had the best day with a fifth and two firsts, while Bribon is in first place with just 15 points.

Onboard Desafio Español we had an up and down day but we are definitely winning the prize for the most boats passed. We shot ourselves in the foot at the start of Race 3 by going over the line early without any real pressure from the boats around us. So, after restarting we passed nine boats and finished 7th. In the second race of the day, we had a good start but went left and that was not the place to be.

We stumbled hard at the leeward gate, getting really slow there and just did not sail very well, so we finished 11th. Just prior to the start of Race 5, we had a string on the tiller break that caused me to lose control of the boat and we went beyond head to wind and fouled Tau. So right after crossing the line, we had to do a 360 degree penalty. Needless to say, we were well in last place. But the boat was fast up and downwind in the 14 knots and we managed to pass 11 boats to finish 5th!

So, the summary for us after the first two days is - the boat is fast and we have just got to stop getting in its way. I am very happy the way we have tuned this boat up, working very diligently on the rig tune, which is the critical element to getting these boats to sail fast through the wind range. Our North Sails by Sandro Benini are good too.

Tomorrow is the coastal race. There will be a scoring gate half way through the race which should be about 30 miles in total. Hopefully, we will have the 12-14 knots of wind that we finished up with today.

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

2008 Acura Miami Grand Prix- Final Race Day

Photo Credit: Stuart Hartley Checkout the guy on the first spreader!

2008 Acura Miami Grand Prix- Final Race Day: From Paul Cayard

Short story:
Warpath won the day and we finished third, 1 point out of second and 5 points out of first.

Long story:
The wind was very shifty today. We played the shifts very well and worked through the fleet in the first race to win by a healthy margin. In the second race, we were over the start line early, started last, and got in phase while amazingly most of the fleet was out of phase and we marched through to finish 5th!

It doesn't get better than today. Looking forward, we have to eliminate the two bad races and keep our top 6 consistency and we will be in good shape for the World Championship next month.

Running for the plane. Out. - Paul

Cayard: Day 1 2008 Acura Miami Grand Prix

Photo by Ken Stanek
By Paul Cayard onboard Farr 40 Warpath
The day started with a postponement due to lack of wind. This allowed Howes, Ed Reynolds and I an opportunity to discuss the program and our planning for the Worlds in April. So for and hour and a half we sat a "Big Pink" eating waffles and talking about airplanes.

The committee sent us out at 1030 and we finally got race 1 underway around 1300 after a one hour wait on the water. The wind direction for Race 1 was 170 at 10 knots. We race right off the eastern shore of Key Biscayne. The Golf Stream current runs north at a couple of knots just 2 miles off shore. So when going to windward in a southerly wind, one would think that going to the right in the shallower water would be good.

Well the winner of both races came out of the left, and it was the same boat, current World Champion, Mascalzone Latino from Napoli. Barking Mad which is from the USA sailed well to get two 2nd's. Nerone, another Italian boat, from Rome, (southern Italian boys can sail!) Got a 7,3 I believe. Onboard Warpath, we managed a 5, 6 so we are in pretty good shape so far.

The rest of the fleet was more up and down with their results. The competition if very tight. With 30 boats in the Farr 40 fleet, small mistakes on the first windward leg cost a lot.
It was a mild day with the wind maxing out at 12 knots about 1500. It was also pretty stable.
We are happy with our consistency and our new boat.

Tomorrow will be a different day with winds in the teens and low 20's.
You can see all the results at: premiere-racing.com

Paul Cayard on Miami SORC

The Farr 40 class has landed in Miami this week for the second regatta of the spring. Thirty boats will be competing over four days, from March 6-9 with ten races scheduled. The fleet is extremely competitive with several new boats launched this spring. We just got our new Warpath and yesterday was our first sail. So far, things feel pretty good so I am optimistic that we will have a little bump in our performance over Key West.

There is a lot more to getting a new boat ready to go than just ordering one. Dave Armitage, our mainsheet trimmer and sail designer, has done a really nice job getting all our Quantum sails built in time and they look very good. The boat has a new Southern Spars rig and Even Evens has installed the new B&G H3000 instrument package onboard. Brad Fitzgerald and his team at Fitzgerald Racing have put the perfect bottom on the boat (nice bottoms are good in sailing too). Chris Cantrick and CT Olander who work for the Howes, did a great job preparing the boat. The crew has been working on all the details here the past two days and it will continue for a while until every detail is perfect.

So here we are, ready to roll, heading toward the world championship in April. The Farr 40 World Championships will be also in Miami so we are getting plenty of time on this race track and should feel very comfortable with the weather here by then.

Tomorrow's forecast is for a very light day with possibly up to 10 knots in the morning and then dying through the day. So we are docking out at 0800 with the Barking Mad crew to get some early sailing in with our light air sails.
We had the weigh in today so now we are off to dinner which should be a bit of a feast. - Paul Cayard

Too Much Wind at KWRW

Too much wind again today. The Race Committee postponed ashore until 1130 then all fleets were sent out. The wind was in the low 20's. But as we sailed out to the race areas, the breeze built to 30 knots plus.

At 1300, the scheduled start time, the race committee's for all four courses abandoned racing for the day and sent the fleet in. Since it was a five mile beat to windward for the Farr 40's, we used the sail in as an opportunity to train in the heavy air. We sailed in race mode with Peter de Ridder and his Mean Machine team as well as Joe Fly from Italy.

We all had our coach boats following us, observing who was doing what from a sail trim standpoint and who was going better. We sailed on both tacks and even switched sides to see if there was any geographical influence on the results. As we approached the harbor the wind had moderated to 25 knots so we set our fractional spinnakers (Farr 40's can have masthead spinnakers now) and went ripping down wind. It was good to get a few gybes in those conditions when it didn't count. It was pretty exciting but we did not do any serious damage.

We got back to the dock about 1530, had our little debrief on what we learned, bailed the water out of the boat, hosed off the wet weather gear, loaded the dehumidifier onboard, fired her up and headed back to the house. - Paul Cayard

Medcup Day 2

Two races today for the MedCup fleet. The wind struggled to find stability and we did not start the racing until 1500.

The first race of the day was held in a light seabreeze from 240. The wind generally went right except the left paid because of pressure. CaxiaGalicia won the race with Artimus second. We on windquest finished 6th.

For the second race, after another sizeable delay waiting for the wind to stabelize, we had 15-18 knots from 315. Smooth seas and sun made for another spectacular race. Mean Machine used their patented committee boat start to jump out to a big lead that they held to the finish. Bribon was second and Christabella third. We managed an 8th after getting bounced around (boats tacking on us) up the first winward leg. We are happy with our consistency. We would like to move a bit higher up the top 10 list. Still a long way to go this week.

We are now 7th overall on Windquest.

Tomorrow is the coastal race which will be two series of windward leeward legs joined in the middle by a 4-5 mile reaching leg. - Paul Cayard

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

TP52 update from Mr. Cayard

Photo ThMatinez

Photo Diego

TP52 Portimao, Portugal

We had three races today in 16 to 28 knots. Top speeds of 22 knots were seen by all boats on the runs. With the offshore breeze, the sea was flat and the sky was clear and sunny. It was a beautiful day for the 19 boats here in Portimao.

The winner of the day was Valle Romano-Mean Machine with a 7th and two firsts. Second of the day was Artemis with Russell Coutts as tactician with a 2, 3 and a 5. Third was CaixaGalicia with John Knostecki as tactician with a 3, 4 and 10.

It was important to keep the boat upright during the gybes and almost everyone broached at least once. We had a decent day on Windquest with a 10, 7 and 8 for 25 points, 8th overall. The fleet is tightly bunched in scoring with Siemens/Matador in 6th with 24 points and Stay Calm in 9th with 27 points.

It was a long day with the third race finishing at 1800. All the teams are still on their boats drying out the insides, folding sails, checking the rigs and it is 1915.

It all starts again tomorrow with the first warning at 1300. The forecast is for a bit less wind.
For complete results go to http://www.medcup.org/

CAYARD AND TEAM WIN COPA DEL REY MEDCUP

Photos martin-raget.com

Copa Del Rey 2007 - MEDCUP
Alberto Roemmers' Argentinian owned, Spanish sponsored Siemens clinched the overall title in the 22 strong grand prix TP52 class at the 26th Copa del Rey Camper Audi today on the Bay of Palma.

From Paul Cayard: We Won! Siemens/Matador won the Copa del Rey today on the bay of Palma with scores of 4, 5. Never did we finish out of the top 5 in an inshore race!

The boat was fast and when we were back in the fleet we were patient and found opportunties without taking big risks.

Very satisfying for the whole team. For Matador owner Alberto Roemmers this was his first win in the Copa del Rey. It is a pleasure to see a man of his experiences especially yesterday in 22. Knots of wind. Then for the Parada brothers, (Guellermo helmsman and Mariano strategist) lost their father on this day two years ago, Siemens, our great sponsor, won this regatta last year with Patches so two in a row, and for me, I won this regatta 20 years ago on I'll Moro di Venezia with my friend Raul Gardini.

Winning isn't everything but it sure is fun! - http://2007.medcup.org/

Cayard the Spanish Conquistador

America's Cup update

Leading Mallorcan yachtsman Pedro Perelló is hoping to put together a well funded syndicate to make a second Spanish entry in the 33rd America’s Cup. Perolló, whose TP52 Siemens is, currently, 2nd in the Copa del Rey, has been in discussions about the project for about three months and has Paul Cayard & Guillermo Parada in mind for the roles of skipper/tactician and helmsman.
Ideally, Perelló would like to have his design team led by Juan K, who was part of the BMW Oracle team for the 32nd America’s Cup and designer of the two ABN AMRO yachts for the Volvo Ocean Race. The problem is that the Argentinian already has several offers on the table from other potential challengers. -BYM

We believe this to be the begining of a Spanish/Argentine sailing team funded by Alberto Roemmers’ Argentina’s number 2 richest business man.-SK

Though day for Paul Cayard MEDCUP

Copa del Rey, Race Day 3
Tough day on the Palma Bay for us on Siemens/Matador. The race was a windward - leeward - windward, followed by a tour of Palma Bay with a long reach, then upwind and finally a long downwind fetch. The wind was anywhere from 165 to 210 degrees, in different parts of the bay.
We had a top ten race going until the last upwind leg. I went too far to the right... along the coast and there was much more wind out in the middle of the bay. Vasco Vascotto, with local Nacho Postigo as naviator, went the right way on every leg and won the race.
There was also a mid point score, where we were 7th.
So we slipped to 2nd overall, with Vascotto's Mutua Madrilena in the lead by 10 points (they got a little help from the jury last night). Bribon, the boat on which King Juan Carlos sails, moved into third place.
The points are very tight and there could be as many as five more races, so plenty of opportunity to go either way on the leader board.
Complete results can be found at http://www.medcup.org/.
Sorry for the typos in previous days. - Paul Cayard