Friday review:
The opening day of fleet racing for the Invited Teams from Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden in the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup, saw Mother Nature ultimately dictate the schedule, but it was SailTeam BCN, the local heroes, who stole the headlines with a win in the day's only race.
Racing took place in marginal easterly ‘Llevant’ conditions on a day of heavy cloud cover and rainstorms and from the start it was all about who could stay on the foils the longest and execute tricky manoeuvres on the 0.5 metre swell. After some small delays for the weather to settle, at 1419 the fleet of six AC40’s got away with Andoo Team Australia, led by Cole Tapper, making an excellent start at the port end of the line.
Concord Pacific Racing from Canada, with Andrew Wood steering, joined the Australians on the initial drag race to the left boundary but with two pre-start penalties and then a third awarded for not taking their penalties in time, their race was always going to be tough.
However, this was a race where the tough survived and for those teams that could keep their patience, rewards lay ahead. The Swedish Challenge were the first to capitalise on errors elsewhere, and whilst many of the yachts fell into displacement mode, Oscar Engström’s well-drilled team stole into what looked like an unassailable lead, rounding the top gate almost 400 metres ahead of the chasing SailTeam BCN.
The first downwind leg on this shortened three-leg course, saw all of the yachts fall off the foils and huge separation of the fleet with the leaders almost a leg ahead of those still struggling to get around the first windward gate.
It was all about to change though, as Canada, Australia and Germany picked up some new breeze at the top of the course and came charging back into contention. For the Swedish and Spanish, who were almost half way up the final leg to the finish, they could only watch as slowly the back-markers ate up the gap.
Somehow SailTeam BCN managed to get foiling out to the left of the course, just as the fickle Llevant delivered a significant right shift which allowed the Swedish to point directly for the finish line – but still, frustratingly, in displacement.
The Spanish kept cool, nailed a foiling tack and came back to the middle of the course before just making it through a final foiling tack that brought them on the same line as the Swedish. Crossing the line at around 20 knots SailTeam BCN secured a brilliant win and 10 points to top the table.
For Sweden, it was heartbreak as what looked like a certain second place was snatched away when a foiling Concord Pacific Racing flew by right on the finish line, relegating the Swedes to third. Better days to come for sure for the Swedish crew who look to have wonderful boat handling skills and tactical nous in this division.
Speaking afterwards Martin Wizner, skipper of SailTeam BCN was elated with the win saying: “It was the best way possible to start the series, but we are disappointed we couldn't do the four races. We haven’t sailed so many days as a team on the AC40 but we tonight we can go to bed knowing that we are in first position and very happy with that.
"The worst part was when we were on the first downwind, near the leeward gate, and the other guys were on their foils coming to us at 20 knots and we were like five knots low-riding. That was quite hard to stay calm but after that we just rounded the leeward gate, got up on the foils and from there it was an easy one.”
Talking about just what it meant to be a local Barcelona team, leading the way, a beaming Wizner added: “A great sense of pride and I hope that the people in the city are watching and are happy and proud. It couldn't be a better way to start, and we'll come back for more tomorrow.”
Stepping ashore afterwards, Ludvig Lindqvist, helm for the Swedish Challenge, was remarkably composed after a tough day on the water. Seeing the bigger picture Lindqvist put it in perspective saying: “It’s the first race of the event, so obviously a lot of nerves. We have had a lot of training, we feel prepared, and we stayed calm all the way around the course, but obviously it was a shocker when we didn't get foiling on the last beat, it was just painful. We got away with it a bit getting a third and not a fifth, so that was some sort of positive in it, but obviously it hurts.”
Andrew Wood, the enigmatic skipper of Concord Pacific Racing was delighted with the Canadian team’s second place, saying: “Honestly, it was pretty surprising. I wasn't 100 percent sure where we were finishing within the fleet because we were putting so much time in focusing on just staying on the foils that it wasn't really a priority to figure out where we were.
"We just had our heads down trying to keep the boat up. The conditions were quite difficult because there were such big holes out there, you really had to try and connect up the pressure. Everybody fell off the foils, so it was about just finding that extra pressure and getting up as quickly as possible.”
An announcement after racing from the Race Committee confirmed that the Invited Teams will continue their series tomorrow, starting at just after 1400 CET.
Just one race today but for the local supporters, SailTeam BCN are the toast of Barcelona tonight. Plenty more to come in this fascinating series over the coming days.