Bissell Racing

To keep honest to the reporting I have to write about the painful day we had even though I’d rather not.  Only one race was completed in about 3 knots and we finished 39th overall.  ouch.  Not the way we wanted to start, but it happens and we’re moving on.  In six races there will be a throwout, but many people are having doubts they can get 5 races in the 3 days we have left of racing.  There is just no breeze and the forecast doesn’t look any better.

 Hey, Wha Happened?!?!  So, how did we manage a 39th?  Well, our pre race strategy turned out to be wrong, and our tactics could have been better.  Let me explain….

First off, our Portuguese coach (hired for his local knowledge) tells the whole team before the race to GO RIGHT, emphasizing with english phrases he knows like “for sure,” “absolutely,” and “without a doubt.”  Then we go upwind with our tuning partner Henry and the right payed off pretty well.  And last but not least, the wind was blowing from the same direction as the PreWorlds and it was a game of who could get to the right first.  With all these factors adding up, we decided to start near the committee boat and tack soon for the right.

Well, a big lefty ended up coming in and we had made some big sacrifices to get to the right.  It was a game of catch up from that point on and we actually caught about 15 boats to finish in 39th. 

Other American teams faired much better.  Tomas Hornos and Enrique Quintero won the race, very impressive for the youngsters.  Augie Diaz finished 7th, Jerry Thompson placed 8th and Peter Commette landed in 15th.  The rest of the team was back with me. 

Danny and I are down but not out and we still believe we can make something happen.  Hopefully I will have better news for ya’ll tomorrow.