Artemis Racing’s Paul Cayard updates us on the very last regatta of the 2011 D35 season which started on Thursday in Antibes.
At the end of Friday the fleet has raced four races, all of them in very light winds. In the second race of Thursday we started in five knots of wind and finished in two knots of wind.
Onboard Artemis, we struggled yesterday in the very light winds and managed sixth place in each of the two races. Alinghi had a similarly difficult day while Zen, who usually is nearer to the back than the front of the fleet, was leading at the end of Thursday.
We discussed our performance, and did a bit of recon amongst the fleet last night and came out today with a bit different set up, more powerful, and we were more proactive in adjusting our trim as the wind velocity changed.
Today the wind was a bit stronger, six to eight knots and we were able to 'fly' the hull a few times. After a bad start in the first race we managed to finish second. Foncia won the race and Alinghi third. In the second race of the day, we did not have a great start again but we were going a bit better and although we rounded the first mark eighth, we managed to claw our way back to fifth just beating Foncia at the line. Alinghi sailed a great race, were very fast, and won the race easily.
With four races completed, the fleet gets to discard one race. Foncia leads the fleet with five points, Zen is second with eight points, and Alinghi third with nine. We are sixth with 13 points. So it is all very tight still.
Tomorrow's forecast is for winds similar to today so hopefully we will get 3-4 races in.
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