Race 1 Worlds in Sicily

Madame Prez has asked us to write up the first race, and gosh, it’s hard to summarize. It was a very lucky day for us.

First, know that racing starts at noon, here at the Sicily Worlds. Time for a great breakfast and maybe a little pasta lunch. With the one hoist at the Circulo Velico, it’s okay to get an early start, and on this first day of racing, most of the 50 or so boats hit the water by eleven.

The conditions here are just too darn picturesque: blue blue sky, a cool, salty Mediterranean blue water, 14 knots of breeze out of the north with just enough oscillation to make it interesting, and some gorgeous islands on the horizon.

The starting sequence is 5-4-go, so we had two chances to get the time, but it didn’t help a bit at the start: Not much speed, and bad communication, and suddenly, we are second-, third-row seating. We are the pumpkin seed squirting out the back of the starting line. Larry MacDonald and our Argentine friends Hector and Hugo get a really smokin start and leave us like roadkill on the side of the road.

General recall.

This time, we get a completely clear start near the pin while most of rest of the fleet is duking it out at the boat.

There’s a right-to-left current as we head North to the first mark, and at the Euros/Masters here last week, the shallower right-hand side paid dividends in both point and speed. So of COURSE we are heading left at the start. Time to tack.

Clear air is beautiful: we sail a gorgeous loooong port tack in near solitude. We navigate some traffic at the weather mark, and then, as we pop the chute, the way--Red-Sea like—parted. Larry and Matt Fisher were both ahead, and both gybed away. Jeff had a clear sight of the mark and we just bore off a bit and sailed straight at it. The waves (rollers with miscellaneous chop on top) were favorable for surfing, and we had a rock-n-roll, wonderful run to the leeward mark with just a couple quick jibes along the way. After rounding the mark, we looked at one another, and said "Look, Ma, we’re leading at the Worlds!"

Upwind in the washing-machine chop, we held our lane against the big boys (Larry and Matt especially have awe-inspiring speed in these conditions), and held off the local-knowledge speedster, known as Super Mario, as well.

Another clear downwind leg (Bill Faude coming on like a thunderstorm, Super Mario right there too.) Another moment of mixed surprise and happiness to have won another mark at the Worlds, and then we sailed up the right-middle to the finish and the bullet.

What a lucky race! A restart, clear lanes, a lucky break at the windward mark, and holy smokes, we won a race at the Worlds!

We’d like to use this chance to thank a few people, including our training partners (especially Bill "Top 10" Mauk), Jeff’s partners, our families, and especially, one big giant grazie mille to Fortuna, may she smile some more…

Amy Smith Linton
Jeff Linton
Mark Taylor

By Bill Faude

I’m sure Amy Linton will report how amazing the day looked from the front of both races.

I just want to report that team Linton looked pretty amazing from behind in both races. They were awesome!! The competitors hope they get zero sleep tonight worrying because the way they went today it might be our only hope!

In this piece, there won’t be any, "We tacked, went 40 yards and then tacked back" stories for two reasons: 1. Because it’s very dull reading unless you were right there on the race course and 2. Because we never went 40 yards between tacks—we sometimes went about 2 miles between tacks!

With the wind from about 340-355 in line with the current and 2.2 mile legs it meant that we spent a LONG time on port tack. I don’t think we’ve ever felt so worked over sailing in 13-16mph of breeze. For those of you who have sailed there, the sailing was much like sailing in Miami in the sea breeze direction. The races took about 1 hour 45 minutes and with the windward-leeward-windward-leeward-windward course we spend about 1 hour 15 minutes of that time going upwind. Add short chop and puffs to the mix and there are many opportunities to hit something and stop the boat. Then figure that we lost to Ched in the second race by 5 seconds and I know we left at least that much time on a wave somewhere.

Right now, all the competitors are carefully washing their boats. The Med is impossibly clear and blue here, you can see the bottom mid-course in about 25 feet of water, but it is also about 20% more salty than say, Biscayne Bay so you have to wash everything.

I can’t thank our hosts enough for the fun we’ve had today. You will see that with the exception of Team Linton which is looking pretty strong right now, there is a log jam near the top. Our team is happy to be up there and we’re glad that we’ve got two more days to do this. Hi Julie! I miss you.

Cheers

NOT A PRETTY SIGHT

That was how my crew Brian summed up our last weather leg on the 4^th race today. After a nice start near Larry MacDonald who got a great start and a slow but steady first leg it all came apart on the last leg and we ended up 32^nd.

However any day like today out on the water with a nice 10-18 mph wind in bright sunshine and sailing amongst some of the worlds best sailors (and being able to read their numbers ) is better than a day in the office any time.

The 4th race got of to a slow start with a recall and a current pushing us back from the line. There was a sag on the line and only one boat was caught over early. Larry Macdonald punched out from the line and had a nice start leaving us in his dust. As for the rest of the leaders I have little idea what happened as I was trying to figure out to get the boat going. In the end Bill Faude won it with Nota second. I have no idea how they did it other than they were better than the rest of us at spotting the small shifts in a choppy sea and by sailing faster and smarter.

The racing is great with a relatively stable wind at least nothing like the shifty stuff most of us sail on in the inland lakes. Wind has been within 5-15 degrees all day. There is a current that seems to be quite variable in different parts of the course (that is why we managed to hit the weather mark – not stupidity on my part - honest).

It is wonderful sailing against people from all over North, South America and Europe. You hear a wide variety of yelling at the crew in a multitude of languages. Crossing a boat is a challenge when you have no idea if they are saying "go ahead" or "if you come across I will cut you in half". The joys of different languages! You just go and pray. Protests seem to have been few with most aimed at asking for redress.

The racing today finished with a sampling of local wine and sandwiches for all the crew while we waited to hose down the boats. All in all a great day despite the race results.

Dave Sprague

CAN 14174

The third day of the Lightning Class World Championship was supposed to be the conclusion. We were all in for some surprises. When we arrived at the Club there was a light wind from the south. The expectations were that this would die and the sea breeze would fill in form the northwest. Ched Proctor left the dock first at about nine thirty. The rest of us left between ten thirty and eleven. We had a wonderful time sailing around for the next five hours waiting for the wind to develop. Tom Allen provided some levity with his game of catching the rudder ball. I must have been quite await for the six boats who were still in contintion for the Championship.

The Race Committee finally decided to start the race and we were off and running. The boat was somewhat favored. We start in the middle of the line. Had a great start on the fleet and look really good. We were headed and headed and headed and after about 5 minutes decided to take advantage and tacked on to port. By the time we arrive at the windward mark the wind had gone left 45 degrees. Ched Proctor rounded first with Faude , Litton, Gonzales, and Elfman in contention. All of course coming from the left.The wind was still very light and still going left may be another 25 degrees. The leaders extended and it becomes a three boat race—Proctor, Litton and Faude. Finally after a very long day they finished us a leg short. Proctor crossed the line first, but there as no gun—OCS. Litton finished next with the first place gun and Faude finished second. Larry McDonald who started the day in fisrt place was way back.

This race sets the stage for the final day. Litton in first with two other boats in contention—McDonald, Faude. Good luck and may the best boat win. Great sailing, Bill Mauk