39° Primo Cup 2023 at Yacht Club de Monaco - Day 2
by Alexander Panzeri 4 Mar 2023 16:38 PST
2-5 March 2023
39° Primo Cup 2023 © Alexander Panzeri
39° Primo Cup 2023 ©Alexander Panzeri
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Thierry, the big boss of the regatta who I know for a decade, when we met this morning has been categoric: "Today we start to sail on Time!" And we did, 4 races today!
Already at 08:00UTC the wind was on place, the waves disappeared, and the breeze was confirmed by some paragliders flying from Mont Gros (a peak behind the ex Vistaero, now The Maybourne Riviera,...the exit of the motorway...)
So at the fist start of Smeralda 888 Class the wind was: 7-10[kts] from 210 degrees-220 degrees, temperature around 15[ degreesC).
With the long know-how the club has accumulated using the robot mark, the starting line was nearly neutral, still a bit advantage on the R.C. boat, but if some braver skipper would, it was possible to start from the pin on left tack, and try to take advantage from the shift made by the hill of the Oceanographic Museum.
Longtze Premier started immediately after while the J70 had bigger separation. I don't know if they needed more time (a.k.a. general recall or AP flag) however, they left the line just about when the gems were passing the downwind gate!
Just to understand how fast were Smeralda today (from my timecode of the camera):
First upwind leg: Departure Smeralda 11:04:54 Dog-leg mark: 11:17:50; YES, quite fast for an old lady... just to confirm me that Genoa and Spinnaker are not obsoleted and shorter routes (or better angles) can make old ladies competitive with modern CFD machines (beware: I'm NOT SAYING Spinnaker is more efficient than a Gennaker!!! But maybe, in particular upwind, it's time to re-think to have "narrow" TWA angle and to make boats sailable below 5-6[kts] not to start above 7-10[kts]).
Again in the second race (the wind dropped a bit for a while and also Longtze could bite some J70... sorry...)
The day has been also under the spotlight of the green life, for example SLAM team has inform me that since last time they are deeply on reorganising the materials chain of all theirs items trying to use more sustainable material, like recycled cotton and synthetic fabric. The other, my first time on a press boat motorised by electric power. I realised it only because during the day my eye dropped on the logo on the back of the rib: VITA.
Why I didn't notice the difference immediately? Easy on the lake in Italy 2 stroke piston engines are still common (a nightmare in all sense, smell, noise, vibration, pollution), so when I jump on everything more modern, it's a paradise for me...
The red 7[m] is very good in this condition, but the endurance for our job is not enough! Yes we can recharge quite fast, but we need at least ++5h endurance at nearly full power for 70-100% of the time, not 1h, so now you know why I cannot say a lot on the battle on the water.
However, this is the first step of the club, waiting for their revolutionary R.C. boat all zero impact!!! (covid-19 has slowed down the production).
The day has finished with the traditional Pasta Party on the 3rd deck of the club .
Forecast looks promising, only Longtze standing show real leader, the others 2 classi are still very tight, on the Smeralda it's also a royal family affair: Onorato (Vincenzo and his son Achille) are besieging Charles De Bourbon Siciles on top.
On J70, looks like again a G-Spot affair...
Forecast for the last day looks promising, but it's a roulette, so I don't guess any!
Full results available here.