Salsa Update #4
Tuesday July, 21
"Over the hump"
Five of nine races have been completed as of Tuesday afternoon. Team
Salsa results are 12,9,20,2,17, current position is 11, in a 65 boat
fleet. Racing has been very close, with seconds seperating each position.
We are finding our boat speed to be a bit off the pace of the fastest
boats in the stronger wind conditions. Everything up to 15 knots is a
good range for us, in this range we can go as fast or faster than anyone,
the second place finish came in a 12 knot breeze.
Race synopsis: Race1-See previous report
Race2: 15-25 knots.
Had a tough time
getting off the starting line, we were around 30th at the first mark.
Steadily worked our way back into the lead pack but once you're that far
back in this fleet it's unrealistic to get back much further than the top
10 and even that's a battle, we wind up ninth.
Race3: 20-30 knots,
Another tough start same basic scenario as race 2 only not as good a come
back, we wind up with a 20 plus a 20% penalty for a foul commited at the
first mark. Not great results but a fun race to sail in near survival
conditions. A few boats lose control with spinakers up and a couple
dropped out.
Race4: 10-15 knots, A decent start in lighter conditions, we
basically sped past most everyone and were catching the leader at the
finish, wind up second.
Race5: 15-20 knots, Probably our most
disapointing finish, we had a good start but didn't really have the speed
to take advantage of our position. We were 15th at the first mark and
really couldn't get any closer to the leaders.
So at the half way point we are doing worse than we had expected, with
four races to go we will have to sail very well the rest of the way to
get a top 10 overall finish. At this point we are a bit down and
disapointed, but determined to keep on pushing it!
Overall results so far 1. Brun 13 USA, 2. Hutchinson 22 USA, 3. Larson 35
USA, 4. Grimaldi 37 Arg, 5. Gonzalez 41 Chi, 6. Zaleski 46 USA, 7.
Baquerizas 55 Arg, 8. Whittemore 57 USA, 9. Willets 68 Can, 10. Wijsen 69
USA, 11. TEAM SALSA 73 USA, 12. Snow 78 USA, 13. Kerst 100 USA.