Les Voiles d'Antibes at Société des Régates d'Antibes - Day 3
by Alexander Panzeri 19 Sep 2021 03:12 PDT
15-19 September 2021
Les Voiles d'Antibes at Société des Régates d'Antibes - Day 2 © Alexander Panzeri
Saturday has been the day, maybe today could be better, but strong winds are forecast so maybe there will be no race... However it has been a spectacular weekend!
A bit of delay with AP flag on docks to wait for the breeze. The track chosen this time has been no.4, so heading for the Bay of Antibes and Juan-Les-Pins, one of my favourites with an awesome background, second to l'Esterel!
There was match-racing from the beginning. For example P-13 Chips has chosen a really fast rout to get inside the bay, but later on the La Garoupe P-5 Corinthian overtppl and at the first mark the blues were already more than 5 lengths ahead.
But before them the show has been in the hands of 15mIR Class with D-3 TUIGA and D-1 MaARISKA, the last in the hands of the young lady skipper, who has escaped exams at the Politecnico di Milano just for this race!
The battle has been great, D-3 pushing left over the lay line, D-1 complaining in silence but already preparing jibs, then tacking, but because D-1 was a bit faster falling in to the dirty air downwind, loosing momentum, but again D-1 gained because the jib was already hoisted. At the end D-1 finished around one minute ahead.
On the second mark many other classes had a tight rounding, but no protests were on the board.
It is fantastic to see a lot of the public visiting the docks in Antibes again! A great sailing meeting, 70 boats, good sailing field and excitement in the evenings.
Today I'm off from the race, I'm still human (I lost the last race of qualification on Virtual Regatta inshore, but I'm qualified for the 3rd time in a row for the playoff), and it's already time to think to the Dragons in the next bay.
I can't wait until Les Voiles d'Antibes will be back in June next year!