Day 5 - Maximum Carnage, Maximum Fun

[MR.CLEAN]

Starting this one early to make sure the link is live. It's gonna be a busy morning tomorrow...

Thank you all for checking out our live report today, and all week, sponsored by Ullman Sails.

Here's yesterday's report. Today is gonna be a lot bigger, I think.

 

[Sharky UK]

Morning Mr Clean..Mer,...whats the weather up to ??

sunny and windy ??

shark

 

[bootsmax]

Morning Mr Clean..Mer,...whats the weather up to ??
sunny and windy ??

shark

from http://www.melges24worlds2008.com/

Live from the sea 05/06/2008

05/06/2008 - 09:50

Good morning. The competitors have been divided into the Gold and Silver divisions with 57 boats in each. The race committees are on station in the race area. Course A reports winds of 260 to 265 degrees at 16 to 18 knots. Course B reports wind of 270 degrees at 20 knots. The first race today will be race 7.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Thanks 13o, we're on our way to the course right now. Sky is partly cloudy, some high haze, with the Mistral lulling a bit right now. When we woke up at 7 or so, dogs were flying through the air, but around 9:30 the wind calmed down to under 20 where it remains now. EXTREMELY puffy though, as I look around I see very dark patches all over the place. We will be spending all of our time with the Gold fleet I think. THere are too few races left to waste a half hour going back and forth between the courses, though we may try to get a little of the Silver fleet tomorrow if there are some good battles for the lead over there.

Considering how hot the battle is for top ten, we're going to be where the action is, of course.

That very hot Rachele, the Italian news editor I interviewed yesterday, told me last night her mother or mother-in-law or something called her to tell her that someone had called her "tasty" and put an interview on the web. At least no one wants to kill me like that dude in Puertoi Vallarta whose wife I called a MILF.

 

[Sharky UK]

MILF.....pissing myself laughing....was she though ??

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Restaurant Review:

We went out to Orange last night - one of the tres chic restaurants overlooking the sea just a half mile from the Marina. The view and decor were awesome, the prices were nosebleed high, and the appetizers were wonderful, but the three main courses I tasted were bland and uninspiring.

One of the crews told me they had dinner for five in the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, the hosting club. 5 dudes, one dinner, 1700 Euros. A diet coke is 8 Euro I think.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Dunno if Rachele has any kids, but she's damned hot.

Course 4 posted. 275 degrees, 2 miles. Long damn beats, but the sailors say that it's necessary or the first weather mark would be a lot worse than it is already.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Warning horn just went off. Wind is steady 15-18. As a little aside, Bill and Simon were talking last night about how much help the Velocitek start line pinging thing has been. Bill said they tested in on the Farr 40, and the Vtek was more accurate and quicker updating than the Deckman, and the bow guy holds the velocitek for the start. When buried in the middle among two dozen other Melges, they've found it gives them last minute certainty and lets them punch through the midline sag.

This isn't a sponsor plug - in fact, the exact quote was "when it works, it's amazingly useful" and I think Sevenstar SLAM's crew will work with Vtek to make it better. Rockbox also has this feature, though I haven't tested it yet, and I will in a few weeks when we go to Detroit.

Luigi over the radio: "You guys who are over the line, get back where you belong so we can get this race off."

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Good strong start. Sweaty Betty over early, Eurovoiles as well. Hoochy Koochy wins the boat, just a bit late though. Top boats went left, the boat end was not very crowded.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Here's the start. Had to jump off the bow to keep from getting doused. Wind is back up to 20ish.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Top Rounding:

Terra Whatever

Riverstone (went up on rocks yesterday)

Gullisara

Altea

Marchingenio

Wolfpack

Uka Uka

Eta Beta

Westaway Sails

Sevenstar SLAM

Blu Moon

Pilot Italia

Alfa Spider

Brantolo

Alina Helly Hanson (event leader)

Monsoon

Joe Fly

Barbarians with a shocker - first a 350 and then had to gybe away from traffic, probably lost 15 boats on that rounding easy. Full Throttle also buried, my spotter tells me in twentieth. Pic uploading now and we're doing 30 knots to the leeward mark.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Shorten course to 1.6 NM. They want to get the races in badly, and don't need to splkit the fleet so much.

 

[Anto]

Hello Mr. Clean and all the others, it is gonna be a long day of racing today!

I want to thank a lot Mr Clean to do all this. This is the best way to follow a regatta in realt time from far away.

I think it must be rather difficult to send messages, pics, videos and look at the regatta in a boat in a rough and windy sea. I am wondering how you can do all that!

Ciao

 

[MR.CLEAN]

start

full on top mark

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Full-on Top Mark

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Top Corinthian boat Bourgyes Telecoms blew their spinnaker to bits at the set - it's on the video. ALso, Henri Samuel on ZigZag was in good position, and we didn't see him at the botom mark, though we saw him coming back to the start line under main alone.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Hello Mr. Clean and all the others, it is gonna be a long day of racing today!I want to thank a lot Mr Clean to do all this. This is the best way to follow a regatta in realt time from far away.

I think it must be rather difficult to send messages, pics, videos and look at the regatta in a boat in a rough and windy sea. I am wondering how you can do all that!

Ciao

It is not easy, but it is very fun. Glad you're enjoying it.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Bottom Mark

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Terra Whatever

Joe Fly (+15!!)

MRCHIngenio

Woldpack

Eta BEta

Alina Helly Hanson (360)

Gullisata

Algfa Spider

Westaway

Pilot ITalia

Riverstone

Sevenstar SLAM