Back from Pantaenious Bohusracet, Veloce is now safely in its berth.
This year we had prepared well for this major doublehanded regatta and we gave it a real try. However, the gods of the wind abandoned us once again. Here is our report from last year.
We alternated positions within a tight group in changing wind conditions for the first 14 hours, often just a few boat length from each other. During the night, the wind died out for the first time and from here on it turned into a fight against current, no wind or very light air coming and going several time.
After 35 hours, we were still alternating positions within the same group. Tired, frustrated, with forecasted light or no air for the second night and an estimated 10 hours we decided to apply Bill Gladstone’s philosophy: “under 6kn, play golf”. After another hour with wind around 6.5kn, it finally died out again and we abandoned the race.
A tough decision.
We realised later that about a 100 of the participating 120 yachts abandoned as well.
Piri Piri, a modified Banner 28 Racer won our class and the overall regatta. Amazing performance, really.
In spite of the frustration and the result, it was a beautiful experience and we are satisfied with our performance: no major mess-ups, mostly right route choices, boat at target speed, rest and food strategy worked out well.
On the plus side, we worked out a preparation format that works well for us and we are eager to try it out at the next regatta.
