RC44 Puerto Calero Cup - Day 2 for Artemis Racing

by Paul Cayard on 10 Feb 2012 The RC44 Calero Cup proceeded with the second day of racing competition which was forecast to be breezy and it was. There was just a single race held in 16-22 knots of wind. Artemis Racing's Paul Cayard brings us up to date on the crew's progress.

I am filling in for Morgan Larson this week as tactician on Artemis. It is a nice opportunity for me to sail with my boss, Torbjorn Tornqvist.

After a few delays due to difficulty in setting the line in the 150meter depth, the race got underway at 12:30 local time. We were sailing on the southeast side of the island so it was a bit shifty over there.

I opted to play the left on the first windward leg and this was not good. We rounded the first mark with just three or four boats behind us.

We sailed well on the run to pass a few boats and up the second windward leg we played the right. It wasn't as good as the first beat but we did pass my old mates on Katusha there.

At the top mark for the second time, the Dutch on No Way Back had a nice lead and we rounded in sixth just ahead of the local team skippered by Danny Calero.

We gybed early on the run, left the pack. A bit risky but we liked the pressure out that side. TT did a nice job driving us fast in the now steady 25 knots of wind.

We came into the finish line hot (the RC44's sail at 20 knots of boat speed in those conditions) and on starboard tack and managed to pass three boats right there and finish third right behind the French team, Aleph.

Good first day! Plenty more racing to go.

An earlier start time for tomorrow. The breeze is forecast to be strong again tomorrow then dropping a bit for Saturday and lighter on Sunday.

RC44 Class Association website
Cayard Sailing website