After two days of informal practice of Cagliari’s Gulf of Angels it is time for the 52 Series fleet to make their final tune up prior to Wednesday’s start to the Region of Sardinia Trophy. The official practice race for the Region of Sardinia Trophy starts at just after 1300hrs local time when it should become clearer if the changes that different crews have made will bear fruit.
Crews carrying the sails after training - Photo Pedro Martinez - Audi MedCup - Region of Sardinia Trophy 2011
Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson (GBR) is here in her role as anchor for CNN’s Mainsail programme and the Region of Sardinia Trophy feature on the global sailing series is scheduled to reflect the daily life of three key figures this week. Today Quantum Racing’s America’s Cup winning skipper-helm Ed Baird has Shirley and the CNN crew as his constant shadow throughout the day, from the moment he got out of bed to the time he slips back beneath the sheets tonight. Also scheduled will be a life in the day with one of the Audi MedCup Circuit directors Nacho Postigo or Ignaci Triay, and a day in the hot seat on the race control boat with Principal Race Officer Maria Torrijo (ESP).
Boats head back after training - Photo Pedro Martinez - Audi MedCup - Region if Sardinia Trohphy 2011
Today’s practice race is likely to see between five and 10 knots of sea breeze picking up to 11-12kts maybe. And through the week there does seem to be a very good mix of weather, from brisk Mistral tomorrow to sea breeze days, as Olympic Star class medallist Ross McDonald (CAN), the tactician, Bribón (ESP) concurs:
“It looks like the daily conditions for the event are going to be different every day. Today, we are expecting a weather system to come through later in the day. For us, today brings a good opportunity to test some of the changes that we made with the sails and the rig. We seem to be going on nice trajectory, getting better slowly, and hopefully that´s going to continue. Winning the race is not our goal today, the goal is to race the best we can. When the Mistral blows here it can blow pretty strong and so far, for what we´ve been able to see, our boat likes strong winds. It´s a strong boat in terms of structure and it also has good speed, so that could be good for us”.
