64th Nice Christmas Regatta at Club Nautique de Nice - Day 1
by Alexander Panzeri 28 Dec 2021 12:40 PST
27-30 December 2021
If yesterday was a red sunset and the day has been great, today the sunset is like red lava, so how will tomorrow be?
Yup the meteo forecast was totally wrong, it's Nice so it's normal that is better... the sky was mostly clear and we started with a gentle northerly breeze (around 5 kts), but some clusters still moving away changing the heating of the ground. The snow on the peaks created a robust easterly breeze (around 10 kts) and the long 1-1.5 metre waves have made the race course very energetic for sailors and the race committee.
The first race was classic with the start line giving an advantage to those at the pin end. The top boats, knowing the field, decided for a classic Z-shaped route, while others like the American team missed our a bit staying on the right side.
The second race on a new course, thanks to the dynamic mark (robot buoy) by MC Marine Concept was set up very fast. The fleet was better on the line and a better route was taken by the American team. At the first mark ITA-8567 Negri-Lambertenghi lead with, SUI-8539 Eckert-Melo (sorry, I missed yesterday another champion, European plus Olympic sailor) and USA-8570 Smith-Avellon very close behind.
Unfortunately in this race we have had four boat out with various failures and our safety rib helped them out. Also the Americans with a new Folli hull (about one year old) had a problem downwind on the rigging so had to be towed in and retired for today.
While we were in the port, the third race was started. We wait the fleet at the top marks and we followed them on the downwind leg. At the mark the "peloton" was compact, and the Monegasque boat had an incident just few metres out of the zone - BANG, and half their mast was down! Luckily no-one wa s injured, and we stopped shooting to help the crew to get back ashore safely.
At the end a good BBQ on the middle terrace of the club was held for all.
We will see tomorrow who will be brave to fight for the top!
Full results available here.
For more information visit www.nicechristmasregatta.com.