Pete

A coastal day – no more windward leeward! Lightish airs and we have the first start. Good start at the pin end of the line, and shortly after the start with a shifting breeze, put up a reaching chute, which came as a bit of a surprise at the sharp end of the boat! We almost made the rocks but had to do a quick change to jib and back again – light air and we’re already multiple sail changes…

12-15 knots, blue skies and warm(ish) water greeted the Swan fleet this morning as it headed out a few miles to the race area. To add to our challenge, we were scheduled to do 3 x windward leeward races today – there was going to be plenty of crew work at the corners. 4 starts went ahead for the classes doing coastal races, then it was the turn of the Swan 42s and Swan 45s, and finally our start –…

A forecast of “fresh to frightening” had the race committee delay the start of racing, and then every half hour extend the delay until the inevitable happened early afternoon – abandoned. Wind in bomb alley was gusting 50 knots, and a steady 30 in the marina. We had managed to go out earlier and try out the big spinnaker flying off the bow now that the sprit had been removed – it all worked fine so we are hoping our…

The Mistral was howling as we headed outside the harbor at Puerto Cervo ready for the long-distance race. A 6-8 hour sail round various islands was the course for the day, and the team was pumped with the anticipation. We tuned up early and rolled into the first start of the day with the other Swan 60s and 601s. At the one minute gun we were stacked up at the committee boat end, with two boats looking to shut us…

Day 2 continued…. Crew met at the boat at 3pm as the sea breeze finally built. Headed round to “Bomb Alley” just off Cannigione, where 18-22 knots was in action as a prelude to Thursday’s forecast Mistral. Big grins from the helm as we sliced upwind, and then we moved to doing laps of the bay. Plenty of sets, gybes, douses, and tacks were thrown at the crew, and we continued to learn from the foul ups. Dousing a 400sq…

No wind….. So after a long wait on the dock, all back to the villa for lunch and a swim. Will try and go out later for a practice if the sea breeze fills in.  

TV crew arrived to film either a yacht race or Sardinian version of Big Brother – not sure.

Day 1 of the Swan Rolex Cup started with a postponement for several hours to allow competitors to finish their cappuccinos, and talk to their brokers. Team Ottantacinque headed out to the start area, and started the process of raising sails, pinging the line, and looking cool. The cool was shortly shattered as two powerboats with cheering girls headed to us – ah yes, the wives dressed in their team red shirts. Other teams looked on enviously – first blood…