Paul Cayard at the 91st Bacardi Cup - Day 4 Report
by Paul Cayard 9 Mar 2018 17:10 AEDT
4-10 March 2018
Bacardi Cup - Day 4 © Tim Wilkes /
www.timwilkes.com
After Wednesday's race was postponed due to thunderstorm activity in the area, Thursday featured a double header. The wind was 12-18 knots from the northwest, which is always shifty here and makes for challenging racing.
In race one of the day, there was a big left shift off the line and Mark and I were not out in front enough to tack on it. That lasted three minutes and then the wind shifted back to the right. The boats that were able to play that first shift were the race leaders. Robert Scheidt and Brian Fatih held the lead at mark one and stretched on every leg. Jim Buckingham and Craig Moss had a great race as did Elvind Melleby and Josh Revkin. Mark and I had a great first downwind leg to get back in touch with the top group and even had a shot at second in the last quarter mile of the race. Unfortunately for us, the pack to our left surged ahead in the final meters and we came away with a seventh.
In race two, I really couldn't do anything right. We went the wrong way on every leg and just got further behind. We finished 24th. Hopefully that will be our discard. I had a bad day today and sometimes that happens. We just have to shake it off and come out firing on all cylinders tomorrow.
Eric Doyle with Payson Infelise crewing led at the first mark followed closely by Jack Jennings and Frithjof Kleen and then Diego Negri. In the end, Jennings Kleen took the win followed by Doyle and then Negri who is putting together a very consistent regatta. Lars Grael is also coming on strong after a 37 in race one, he has 3 fourth place finishes. Yesterday's second place team of Diaz/Prada had a tough day and dropped to 13th overall. Melleby Revkin still lead with a 3, 8 today.
Mark and I now lie in seventh place. After tomorrow's race, the discard will come into effect. This will tighten up the scores and may shuffle some of the positions.
Two more races are on the schedule so still room to move up and down the board.
For complete scores go to www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=4517