Final 2012 SudOpti wrap up

Day started bright with crisp air and a steady breeze of 18-20 knots. Two races were scheduled. Martin pointed out how important it is to finish strongly and make each race important in its own right. As expected Rory' size was an advantage in the bigger breeze and he had his best two races of the regatta finishing with a 7 and 8 for an overall place of 45. The stronger wind set Mikey back a bit finishing 29th in both races, he finished 54 overall and had a great regatta. Ceci again rounded the top mark of both races in a top position but couldn't hold it through the finish. She had a 21 and a 13 for an overall spot of 73. Chase, although the neck injury had begun to improve, with a long flight ahead and the stronger breeze, the decision sadly was to sit the last day out. He finished 112th. Benn did have better starts but his inexperience in large fleets was his downfall. It is much easier to read the course when it is occupied by 20 sailors then when sailing in fleets of 50+. He finished with a 38 and a 32 for an very respectable 122 for his first IODA showing.

USA dominated the results. Overall winner, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th and 11th as well as 1, 2, 3 in the Nations Cup. Peruvian Renzo Sanguineti was South American Champion finishing in 6th. Gold Cup sailor Odile Van Aanholt was top girl and 4th overall.

The Bermuda team did well. Definitely missed out on chances but Martin sees much potential in this group and is keen to see the sailors minimize the small mistakes so that the results will improve.

Outside of some unusual choices of music to accompany the awards, the Closing ceremony was quite beautiful set out on the lawn in front of the Club. A short reception followed then back to the hotel for the last bit of trading before calling it a night.

A nice tourist day in and around the city, one last delicious ice cream and off to the airport we go. Adios Argentina!

Bernews Article here

SA Champion and Winner of South American Championship

Closing Ceremony

Bumper boats

Lay Day and Day Four Racing

The lay day brought more sunshine after a thrashing evening rainstorm with hail and high winds that actually saw 15 deaths in the city and western part of Buenos Aires. A late night party ensued following the unusual mid-regatta prize giving for Team Racing. A bit of a bus mix-up, actually the drivers were on the dance floor, left us not back in our beds until close to midnight. So a lazy start to the lay day was definitely in order!

Once up and moving the plan was firmly established and a train ride to the Parque de la Costa along with the AHO team was set. A quick bite at a small cafe with 'submarino' drinks, hot milk with a melted chocolate bar! Delicious!! Not enough tourists so train was cancelled which was too bad as the train seemed to add to the adventure. Anyway the Parque was filled with tons of rides and all thoroughly enjoyed the day. It was nice to disconnect from sailing and run around and have fun. Bought churros filled with dulce de leche to close the day, there is no shortage of sugary treats here. Dinner at the Club and back for an early night.

Cooler temperatures and a bit more wind to start Day four. Wind was around 7 building to not much more than 12 by day's end. Organizers had scheduled two races for today. Conditions saw the current play a factor along with puffy breezes. Although the team's results were not terrible, they were however a disappointment as all the sailors did not capitalize on some very strong positions rounding the top mark. Both Ceci and Mikey rounded the top mark with top 10s which was a result of excellent starts and strong upwind legs. Ben struggled a bit to get in a good starting position which made it difficult for him to see strong races. Rory had a nice race one but struggled like the others to retain his position throughout race 2.

Chase has had an injury and sadly is unable to finish the regatta. He has seen a wonderful Dr here which was arranged by the organization and has a bad neck spasm which is causing him discomfort and some immobility. Such a shame as he was having a decent showing here.

Tomorrow is the last day and once again two races are scheduled. We are hoping that the strengths of today will prevail tomorrow.

Team Race Prep - Photos by Capizzano

Ceci

Team Bermuda place 4/5 in Nations Cup

Much to celebrate today! Team racing was a huge success! Wind was back and the breeze fluctuated throughout but was fairly consistent in the 8-12 range. Bermuda placed in the 4/5 spot which brought many smiles. One sailor said it was the first Team race win that they had ever had. First up was Ecuador 3 which was a good warm up and an easy win. Next USA 3, which BER controlled throughout and with one tactical slip, the lead was lost and the win went to the USA. Then a win over MEX pitted Bermuda over URU. A tough fight but BER came out victorious once again setting us up for another go at the USA. Unfortunately they gave us our second loss. When we left the venue USA had beaten CAN and all 3 USA teams were battling it out for the 1,2 and 3 positions. BER finished 3-2. The team was never thoroughly outmatched and could have easily been in the 1,2, 3 spot today.

The team sailed well and considering the lack of TR success recently and time working on Team Racing this group showed much promise. Even those who claim to hate TR were happy today. Another stop to the ice cream shop to celebrate, a well deserved treat. There are many great things about Argentina but the ice cream is one of the best!

Lay day tomorrow then two more days of fleet racing. Team will go into Friday with a bit more confidence after today as well.

Benn

Racing Day 3 update

Well....this was one of those days. Winds were light. No more than 4-5 knots all day. This makes for the third day of these trying and tricky conditions. The lack of concentration, which is so vital when the wind is light, was clearly evident and plagued the team today. Thankfully they only held two races.

Mikey had a solid first race. Chase made many mistakes in Race 1 and ended up 43rd. Ceci and Rory had decent first races and Benn remained in the 30s. The second race was an unfortunate one for Mikey who was OCS although the score does not reflect this yet. Ceci and Rory had terrible races and Benn who is capable of better again finished in the 30s. Chase seemed to hold it together in race 2 and finished in 7th.

Overall scores now see Mikey in 30 (pre OCS adjustment) Chase 58, Rory 60, Ceci 93 and Benn 117. Light winds forecast again for tomorrow for Team Racing then lay day and HOPEFULLY the last days of the regatta will have more breeze and the team can finish strong.

Race Day 3

Cloud cover, cooler temperatures and light winds greeted us this morning. Off to the venue at 8.30 to see the new fleet assignments. IODA has changed the format and sailors are divided into 3 divisions rather than 6 and stay sailing against the same fleet throughout the day. The organizers forgot to add the drop so fleet assignments had to be changed at the last minute once the drop was taken into account. As always the drop mixes things up. Sean Brennan and Romain from the US still dominate in 1 and 2 with 11 and 12 pts respectively. BER sailors for the most part benefited with the drop. Mikey is now in 25, Chase in 51, Rory in 61, Ceci in 79 and Benn in 117. Today Chase and Benn are in red, Rory and Mikey yellow and Ceci blue. There has been talk of only two races today but I am not sure.

Yesterday's sailing saw Mikey with two top 10s, Chase with all top 20s. Ceci improved her day with a 6 in Race 1 which brought a big smile to her face. Long days on the water! They have shifted dinner forward which is nice because sometimes it was a long wait between the end of racing until dinner. Kids usually head to the playground for about a half hour before coming in for dinner. Seems to be a nice way to forget the day and relax. We have also discovered a little place on the way home that makes empanadas to take out in a matter of minutes. These are a favourite of everyone on the team. They come in many flavours but the most popular are jamon y queso and carne or ham and cheese and meat. Kids devour these on the way home while making friends with neighboring cars on the way home.

Start of Race Day 3

Mikey

Chase

Racing Day One

Today was a good start for Team Bermuda!
Mikey was on fire! He finished the day in 19th with 2 out of 3 races in the top 10. Rory sailed very consistently, keeping himself in the top 25 all day. Chase had 2 good races and finished the last in the top 10 only to find an OCS once ashore. Benn at his first IODA event had two excellent races and was quite pleased as he should be. A scare of an OCS in Race 1 was merely a confusion of PER 1324 vs BER 1324. Ceci started the day with an OCS and ended the day with a disappointing last race. During the 2nd race she was top 10 but was caught on the wrong side of the shift.
Sailors were under the i-flag all day and started the day with about 8-9 finishing closer to 5 knots by day's end. USA dominated all day but also got caught out with a number of OCS. Argentina is also doing well showing hometown advantage under tricky conditions. Forecast today is for stronger breezes around 13-15 knots.
Bermuda-
Mikey 19
Rory 38
Chase 92
Benn 100
Ceci 134

Sailors heading out....

Benn raising BER flag

Fri/Sat

Friday...
Well rested after the lay day, Chase and Benn were especially eager to get out on the water and give their new sails a try before measurement. Wind was between 8-12 knots which is what is normal for this time of year. There has been no shortage of crisp blue sky and bountiful sunshine. Kids got a good but shortened practice in so as to prepare for the Opening Ceremony. As seen in the photos the location was very a beautiful spot overlooking the river. Sailors paraded alphabetically in Spanish, which is why Antilles Hollandes(Netherlands Antilles) started us off. A short walk through the vast property and everyone was seated around the podium. Mikey carried the Bermuda sign, Benn raised the flag and Chase accepted a plaque given out by Gonzalo Bisi and Nacho Varisco both Club Nautico San Isidro members and past South American Champions. The plaque given to each delegation contains a note written in the 1925 by Sir William Burton outlining the importance of sportsmanship. A massive cocktail style party ended the celebrations with all the sailors mingling and running about or hunting down the waitresses to get their fill of delicious empanadas and pizza. Early to bed although the Practice Race was not set to start before 2pm, breakfast was at 7.30 and it was time to get more used to the early start.

Saturday...
8-12knots again. Coaches briefing at 11am followed by launching at 1pm. A bit of scatter action for many today as final stickers were applied, last tidbits of measurement, a test trial for trackers and anchors were missing but the Race Committee finally did get off the race off. Seemed a bit chaotic. Normally the fleet is divided by number into odds and evens however there were three starts this time with the majority of the fleet in the third. No one pays any real mind to the outcome but the solid favorites today were clearly the USA with many sailors in the top.

BER has the 7pm dinner time alongside MEX, URU, USA and AHO. Again all the countries were mixed together and dinner was a very nice piece of roasted chicken, french fries and salad followed by jello with apple bits. Quick debrief with Martin and lights out at nine.

Big day tomorrow.....

Capizzano photos of the Opening Ceremony

Thursday

30 Flavours!

Dinner with MEX and AHO

Moving Out :(

Ice Cream!

THURSDAY
Today the light winds arrived. Actually it was forecast for 1-2 knots so Team Bermuda opted for a lay day. We had a lazy morning enjoying our last moments of luxury before checking out. Then off to a very large shopping center called Unicenter. It had three floors of stores, a movie theatre, bowling lanes and small arcade. We opted for a game of bowling then some time in the arcade. All good fun. The kids even convinced Martin to go on the "mini-samba" which I believe he may have regretted but the kids loved it. The ride was a large dish that shook and spun to samba music for about 3-5 minutes.
After the shopping center we found a fabulous ice cream place that had over 30 different flavours of ice cream that was then shaped into a long cone, dipped in chocolate and quickly frozen into a hard outer shell. You could pick two different flavours of ice cream for your cone as well. There was fruit flavours, assorted chocolates and a dulce de leche either super or plain but I did not manage to determine the difference.
Then it was time to head to the official accommodation Circulo Militar about 15 minutes from the venue. Quite the contrast to the hotel but clean and comfortable. The alternate accommodations at the Club have anywhere from about 8-12 in a room all in triple bunks stacked on opposing walls in a very small space with a shared bathroom. At Circulo Militar, we have two rooms. The boys are in a room which has two rooms in it. Chase, Benn and Mikey are in one and Rory and Martin in the other. Both rooms have tvs, ceiling fans and/or AC and they share a bathroom. Rooms are small but adequate. Ceci and I have a room to ourselves with a bathroom. However we have the hardest mattresses ever, honestly. It is only a smidgen better than sleeping on the floor with a yoga mat. My project today after the kids go out is to rectify this!!! On our floor is URU, USA, AHO and us.
Back to the Club for dinner, we luckily got assigned the 6.30 time as opposed to the 8 pm time and the kids shared a big table with MEX and AHO. Nice to see the teams mingling so easily. Dinner was very nice gnocchi with a pink sauce and a dish of ice cream, not that we needed more but all enjoyed having it again. We have table service as well which is nice as it affords the teams more socializing time.
Friday we will go out for practice, forecast is for about 5-8, warms temps and plentiful sunshine, then off the Opening Ceremony later in the evening.

Wednesday update

Another beautiful day in Buenos Aires, however the typical light breezes have yet to appear as today makes the 3rd day in a row of winds above a steady 15 knots and creeping close to the 20 knot mark. Temperatures rose as the afternoon wore on and there was no shortage of sunshine.
We were first up for measurement this morning and outside of a few minor hiccups we breezed right through. Everyone's boat but Ceci's was too light and organizers had 20 gram wooden blocks that could be caulked on the inside of the bow to make up for the shortage, boats ranged from 20-80g light. The venue is now all a buzz as more countries have arrived, for us being here early means we are already measured and settled into our surroundings which is great.
After some delicious hamburgers at the Club, the kids went out to train. There was a single race organizers had put on around 3.30 and BER sailed in that with a bunch of other countries. It was shifty and although all sailed well, it was Mikey that finished with a top 10. Martin has seen improvement from all each day as they become more confident with the understanding of the conditions.
Kids are loving the short ride home in the back of the truck each day. They wave and call out "hola" to everyone they see. Tonight sadly is our last night in the charming and comfortable Hotel Del Casco. There are mixed reports coming from those already ensconced in the official accommodation so we will have to wait and see what is in store for us!!
Tomorrow is forecast for lighter winds and warmer temperatures so far the only reliable info as been the temperatures so no one is sure when the seasonal light winds will arrive.

Tow Home

Heading Out