After great racing in classic conditions for the 52s yesterday, the sea breeze is expected to be just a little lighter, peaking at around 15kts for the two races which are scheduled for the 52 Super Series at the Trofeo de Vela Conde de Godo.
Several crews, not just in the 52s, were slightly surprised that the wind built as much as it did as early, peaking at 22kts during the second race yesterday, but the conventional wisdom around the dock at the Real Club Nautico de Barcelona is that it will be slightly quieter.
The intensity of the racing has been no surprise. It was impressive to see Audi Sailing Team powered by ALL4ONE get straight into the mix considering that this was their first day on the 52 with no training and they have a high percentage of new crew this season. Spain’s Gonzalo Araujo – who previously steered Bribon – is on the helm, with Manuel Weiller calling tacticcs and Germany’s Boris Herrmann navigating.
Stephane Kandler (FRA) runners and team co-director Audi Sailing Team powered by ALL4ONE (FRA/GER) explains this morning:
We have a new crew, 70% new for this event. We had technical problem during the delivery so we could not train and so yesterday went OK for a training day! So with 20kts we were happy with the speed of the boat. We made some little mistakes.
The idea is to bring in new blood, and so the likes of Boris Herrmann is young and a fast learner, the fact is the programme is open to anybody. Boris knows the electronics and is very calm, a very quick learner and also our tactician is quite young. We are aiming to promote young talent from anywhere, mainly from Europe. We try to sail with a European crew and have many Spanish here – we have many Bribon crew – so it is good mix of good guys. So we are happy after yesterday because it was no fun waiting on the dock for four days. That was the first time the team sailed together, so we are pretty happy.
The European team showed good pace in the breeze and at no stage did it look like the wheels might fall off.
If their programme is just taking off for the season, the Rán crew are maybe seeing the benefit of starting early, and running two consecutive programmes, the 72 foot Mini Maxi as well as the 52. And they have a few race and training days on the baby Farr 45:
Ado Stead (GBR) tactician Rán (SWE) reveals:
We started off early with the big boat in Key West and doing the Caribbean 600 and now it is in the shed and will be ready to race at the Copa del Rey in the Mini Maxi Class. There is a lot of sense having the continuity between the boats, that works really well, and partly that is why I came across to Rán because it is great to all learn together particularly where we have back to back regattas. We have also had four days of Farr 45 sailing on the Solent, we did some match race training in them in March and the Spring Series and a Big Boat series the weekend after Palma Vela and so we have all done a fair bit together so far this season. I think we do about 100 or 110 days on the programme this season. That is probably about the same as last year with two less 52 regattas, it works well. We can focus on the good stuff. Palma Vela I think Quantum, Azzurra and Gladiator all enjoyed Palma because it is such a good warm up, you some here knowing a but about what to expect, it gives us a chance to have the boats up to speed, and a chance for the team to work.
