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.