Two old sayings were once again verified in today's races, second day of the Alicante Trophy. First, consistency pays, as proved by Dean Barker's Bribn and Terry Hutchinson's Quantum Racing. Second, don't count out the new boats and there is no better proof than the 62-year old Peter de Ridder who helmed the brand new Mean Machine to two victories out of three. Wind conditions varied, getting better as the day progressed. The initial start was given under cloudy skies and a breeze of around 6-7 knots. The first sun rays had started poking through the clouds and the breeze built up at 10-11 knots when the second start was given. Finally, the 16-strong TP52 fleet went off the starting line for the third time under sunny skies, choppy seas and 14-15 knots of southern breezes. Read below the report and photos from each race. Peter de Ridder, Skipper and Helmsman of Mean Machine Yesterday we were pretty disappointed and we had a good chat about our strategy and tactics, and tried to do better today. We were already very happy with the 5th and it got better with two firsts. We had a good start and we liked the right; that gave us an edge on the other boats. Most of the time in that situation you just stretch ahead, and we were clear, so were comfortable. I think picking the right, the tactical decision was important; it wasnt boat speed, but a better strategy plan executed. Nothing changed boat handling-wise it all came together thats all. Alicante Trophy / Provisional standings after 5 races Race 1 It looked as if we were about to go through a repeat of yesterday's scenario but it fortunately didn't turn out to be that way. The race committee fired the starting gun right on time when there were 6-7 knots of southern breeze. The fleet opted for the pin end with CAM and Desafo crossing the line early and getting penalized. The right hand side of the course paid off handsomely for the boats that chose it. Despite a mediocre start, Bribn, helmed by Dean Barker, managed to work its way up the fleet and lead at the top mark. Platoon, the German boat crewed by sailors of the America's Cup German challenger, squeezed in at the top mark between Bribn and Matador. The right side of the course remained the favorite one throughout the race and the top 3 leadership was not altered. There was an intense battle between Artemis and Mutua Madrilea in the fourth spot, but last year's champions prevailed in the second beat. Vasco Vascotto's boat opted for the wrong side of the course and slipped 5 positions.  read more »

The winning streak continued for Peter de Ridder and his Mean Machine boat. Fresh from yesterday's two victories, Mean Machine won Wednesday's coastal race, after having crossed the scoring gate ahead of the fleet. Still, with Quantum Racing and TAU Andalucia just a couple of points behind them, the Alicante Torphy is open for grabs. After a short-lived postponment ashore, the race committee had to go further to the south in order to find some stronger breeze. The starting gun was fired with just a half an hour delay and the 16 TP52 boats went off heading southeast towards the first mark. The right side of the course was the favorite one and Mean Machine, TAU Andalucia, Quantum and Artemis opted for it. In what was probably the worst tactical decision that cost them their leadership, Bribn decided to go furthest to the right, getting trapped in less pressure. Dean Barker tacked just twice in the first leg, resulting in a 14th place at the first windward mark. It was game over from that point for the then leader. Mean Machine rounded the top mark first, closely followed by Quantum. Peter de Ridder's boat was able to hold on to its lead while behind them, Artemis and TAU Andalucia were fighting with Quantum. After rounding the leeward gate the TP52 fleet started a long upwind race to the island of Tabarca. Again the right paid off and the four leading boats sailed well, aided by the breeze that had picked up, reaching 12 knots. There were hardly any changes in the order they crossed the first scoring gate. When the fleet went behind the scenic island, Mean Machine had a third consecutive win in the pocket. When the fleet reappeared and started a long downwind stretch to the "Butano" buoy nobody could expect what was about to happen. Half way through, the breeze started dropping and shifting noticeably and the problems sprang up for the tacticians. At the buoy, the race committee was signaling a 60 degree shift that would cause upheaval in the fleet. The dying breeze was nowhere to be found except as close as possible to the coastline, unless of course you were Caixa Galicia. While Mean Machine, TAU Andalucia, Artemis and Quantum racing almost entered Alicante's port in their search for the slightest puff, Caixa Galicia found more pressure as far as possible from it and managed to climb from 8th to finish 3rd. The rest of the fleet that chose to go in between stalled, especially Matador and AUDI Q8.  read more »

It is a tough choice deciding who to congratulate after the last race of the Alicante Trophy. Should it be Mean Machine, winner of the event with five consecutive bullets, or Bribn, helmed by Dean Barker, that finished second, just a mere point behind, and sailed an excellent final race?  read more »

In the new rule book (RRS 2009-2012) the old rule 18, about rounding and passing marks and obstructions, has been split into two rules: 18 dealing with MARK-ROOM and 19 ROOM TO PASS AN OBSTRUCTION. I have had some inquiries and comments on what the effect will be of the new wording in rule 19, particularly for boats on the starting line. Let's first look at the rule(s): Rule 19.2(b) States: 'When boats are overlapped, the outside boat shall give the inside boat room between her and the obstruction, unless she has been unable to do so from the time the overlap began' Definitions: Obstruction; An object that a boat could not pass without changing course substantially, if she were sailing directly towards it and one of her hull lengths from it.  read more »

Leeward and Windward A boats leeward side is the side that is or, when she is head to wind, was away from the wind. However, when sailing by the lee or directly downwind, her leeward side is the side on which her mainsail lies. The other side is her windward side. When two boats on the same tack overlap , the one on the leeward side of the other is the leeward boat. The other is the windward boat. First of all leeward and windward have been in the rules from the almost the very first draft. They are both words in use since the wind was harnessed to propel a boat. Every sailor is well aware of how the wind hits his/her boat. It is the force behind propulsion.  read more »

Perfection. That could be the best way to describe Mean Machine's performance in today's difficult conditions that resulted in their fifth consecutive win in the Alicante Trophy. They have a fast boat in stronger winds, their starts were flawless, crew work was great and tactics perfect, calling correctly all three major wind shifts. The low pressure hanging over most of eastern Spain produced a nice strong breeze of around 14-15 knots, forcing teams to change their sails before the start. Still, the breeze was sifting and it took the race committee some time to establish a course. After the postponement flag was lowered, the fleet opted for the pin end of the starting line but a general recall sent the boats back to zero. After another postponement, the race finally kicked off at 2pm. Mean Machine had an excellent start and zoomed to the right, together with Artemis and AUDI Q8. On the contrary, Bribn, Desafo and Platoon opted for the left. Still, Mean Machine lead from the beginning, rounding the top mark ahead of Artemis, Desafo, Platoon and Bribn. AUDI Q8 and Mutua Madrilea could have had better luck but they were squeezed out around the crowded buoys. The downwind leg didn't see many changes in the top positions. During the final approach to the leeward gate, it was already visible there was less pressure around the course. After half of the fleet had rounded the leeward gate, the breeze began to radically drop to the point of leaving CAM completely stalled. The race committee was left with no option but to shorten the race course to three legs and establish the finish line at the windward mark. Once again, Ray Davies, tactician aboard Mean Machine, worked his magic and called the wind shifts. After heading to the right and holding on for 5 minutes, Peter de Rider's boat tacked in order to follow the left shift that would happen. Not only were they able to fend off any possible attack from Artemis, they increased their final lead to over 1 minute. Artemis and especially Desafo, second and third consecutively, had a very good day. The Spanish have a fast boat but their performance left much to desire in the first three days. They finally seem to have corrected their major weakness so far, the poor starts. Mean Machine has a 6-point advantage over Quantum that in turn is just two points ahead of Bribn, without forgetting TAU Andalucia, another 2 points behind. With two races scheduled for Saturday, and given the ups and downs in performances, the Alicante Trophy is still up for grabs.  read more »

Reading a posting in the VillageSoup of Knox County, about a pending court case between the owners of a classic New York 30 yacht Amorita and a 94 foot Ketch Sumurun, something struck me as very odd. Why was this in court? Didnt a Protest Committee sort this out?  read more »

Today another readers question from AndraZ. He wrote me in a mail:

Hi Jos!

I was umpiring a MR grade 3 this weekend when a debate between the umpires started about the meaning of "when are the boats approaching to start", as mentioned in 18.1(a).
Call UMP 13 covers the situation to an extent, but a statement from one of the more experienced officers (an ex IU) did not match my interpretation.

His words were, that the boats are approaching to start only when coming from the pre-start side to ste starting line. That the rule 28.2 says, you are approaching the starting line from the
pre-start side to start. In other cases the rule 18 applies with no exception. If an overlapped, inner boat, is between an outside, leeward boat, and the starting mark (race committee boat), she is entitled to room, even if only 5 seconds are to the starting signal and the boats coming there were sailing in a straight line for last 30 seconds.  read more »

First part on Winging can be found here.

During the rest of the pre-start the wing boat has limited possibilities to be of use. Generally the boats move so fast, circling and changing course, that it is impossible to be always in the right position. The best a Wing can do, is to be in position for a couple of crucial calls. That is if they have enough insight to anticipate where boats are going. The Wing stays to windward of the boats and will try to disturb the water as little as possible. They do call when a boat gybes, at the moment the boom passes midships with "boom" and when the mainsail is filled with "complete". And of course the overlap or clear, if they are in a good enough position to see.
In the final minute when boats will sail back to the starting line, the Wing takes a position to leeward of the boats to call the overlap. Mainly to inform the umpires of a possible hook-up, near the starting line.  read more »

Shown above is a typical starting line for a small, mixed fleet of boats racing on handicaps. The orange pin buoy (buoy shown larger than to scale)is on the left end of the line and the committee boat, shown as green, is to the right. Each square represents 10 feet in this illustration.

The line is longer than the sum of the lengths of the boats, which allows more boats a chance of a good start, and reduces the risk of collision or fouling. The line should be relatively long when a variety of boats sizes and types, and crews of widely different experience levels are starting together. If the line is not square to the wind, it will give an advantage to boats starting at one end, but a longer line will still help to relieve congestion and the chance of collision. The line can be proportionately shorter for a large fleet of maneuverable one-design boats managed by expert crew.  read more »