Mumms get one race in

Wind fades to leave lumpy conditions, resulting in five general recalls

General report from the organisers:

Competitors at the Mumm 30 worlds had lots of time in the morning to sip espresso in the cafes along the waterfront while waiting for the 35 knot wind to die down enough to set a race course. That may explain why they were anxious enough to merit five general recalls before finally starting the only race that was completed on day one of the world championship regatta. The third and fourth attempts at starting were under a Z flag (20% penalty after restarting properly without going around the ends) and the fifth trial start was signalled with a black flag, which kept seven competitors off the race course. The wind dropped to 12-14 knots by the start of the race, and continued to drop to around 8 knots by the end. The waves were not so cooperative, and the water was extremely choppy. Olympus tactician Tommaso Chieffi asked if the organisers could “make the bumps go away” for the next day of racing.

The young Swiss team on board Olympic enjoyed a great race in the somewhat unusual conditions to get the first win of the series, crossing the finish line three boat lengths before the next boat. A good start was credited with the success of Olympic, who rounded the first weather mark of the four leg course in third place. The breeze was patchy, and they found more on the left side of the course, and moved into the lead on the second beat by going that way.

It was a close race for second between Claudio Rechhi and Carla Umbertalli’s Italian entry, Cheyenne and Bitipi. They were catching waves in close succession, but Cheyenne was fortunate to catch the last wave to carry them over the line for second place.

Andy Nicholson reports from onboard Ovington Boats Like :

A fairly difficult day on the bucking bronco, Ovington Boats Like. Hanging onto the bow in big seas for five starts in a row was enough for me. The first start was quite funny as almost the entire fleet put their foot down 30 seconds early. Apart from being the first race of the championship, when everyone is pretty eager to get away, the lumpy conditions made it difficult to hold your slot in the starting grid – resulting in everyone going a bit too early.

Then the Z flag came out, if your over you have to come back and you get a 20% place penalty. This caught three boats out, but still caused a general recall. Then for the fourth start up went the black flag. This is a no discard series (half the reason is to prevent black flag starts), but again the fleet came back on general recall. Most bowman then get grilled by their crew, then wait anxiously for the committee boat’s verdict.

On each of the previous starts we bailed out quite soon when the recall was made, after sailing for a bit to see how you are going against the others around you. Getting back to the line quickly, and making sure it was the pin end meant we could double check my transits each time, while 30 odd boats aren’t in the way.

Seven boats were lobbed out. For the final start of the day we all got away clear. I always think that, providing you have rock solid transits, and a bit of space to leeward, you should push it a little, springing out a little early does mean you get seen but also means you can track your progress to the line accurately.

We got a decent start, front rank, but then just got spat out the back on boatspeed. We then tacked over onto port and crossed behind a lot of boats. A few tweaks were made to the trim and we seemed to be getting it together a bit more. We probably rounded the windward mark in the mid 20’s, which was not too flash. One thing for sure is we nailed it downwind. In the very tricky conditions, with the VMG up in 10 knots and eight foot swell, we put the hammer down. Tactically we were pretty smart too, working the left side down the run, and ultimately holding starboard advantage into the port bottom mark, taking several boat when rounding the mark.

Then over a wave, bang, the main comes down. The cardinal sin on the Mumm 30, with the main halyard jumping out of its lock at the top of the mast. The main back up, we then tacked a got a tangle on the primary. However, all was not doom and gloom as we worked the top of the beat very well, and we were pretty fast as we now had our number one up. With the lightening breeze we closed up the gaps on the boats in front.

The final run was a glam. A header of 30 degrees meant we sailed with a little extra pressure straight down the big swell. We gybed off before the right hand corner and did the tricky port gybe across the waves in clean air. Then one more gybe, spot on for the layline to the buoy end resulted in a fourteenth place for us, inches ahead of the gaggle of boats, (with some fairly hefty wage bills) trying to get there on port. To finish a day of in style I then put my hand through the kite when taking it down.

The breeze looks a little light for today, if the fleet can get away without five starts for each race we should get three- or maybe four races in.

1. Olympic SUI 303
2. Cheyenne ITA 13078
3. Bitipi MON 1999
4. Shining Jr ITA 318
5. Fiama ITA 3074