Bissell Racing

Today was a light air day.  For most of the day there was no wind.  It finally filled in and we started the only race of the day around 4pm. 

Our coach told us that the far right might not be as good today because of some adverse current.  You could see it on the water.  The choppy water meant good current and the glassy water meant bad current.  The right side was still favored with the breeze, but the middle right was the best of both worlds because you didn’t get into the bad current but still got the good right shift.  We decided to start near the pin since it was heavily favored and try to get to the middle right from the pin. 

As luck would have it, we were able to execute our plan and it got us to the 1st mark in 3rd.  A couple boats to the right of us were able to cross us.  After the offset we decided to be the first to jibe and the left payed downwind so we could round the gate in 2nd. 

It was a Portuguese boat leading the race and we engaged them in a tacking duel.  Our tacks were far better and we gained about a half boat length in each exchange.  Right near the finish line they tried to cross us on Port and we were on a collision course for the middle of their boat.  They fouled us, didn’t spin (typical) but it was enough for us to cross the line in first.  I told Danny I didn’t want to win the race (my wasting bullets superstition) but he’s so competitive, he wouldn’t let me lose.

 Despite winning the last race we finished in 6th overall which I’m completely happy with because we know we are sailing well and not giving anything up in boatspeed.  Our boathandling is rapidly improving and it’s only Day 2 of our 16-day campaign here in Portugal. 

Tomorrow is a practice day with our coach and team and I’ll write up a report if anything interesting happens.  We haven’t gotten to the bottom of whether Danny can run 20 mph or not, so maybe we’ll have some results for you tomorrow.