“PATROKLOS – 2013″ – WHAT A DIFFERENCE 1” MAKES!
The weekend of May 25-26, one short offshore race from Voula to Patroklos Island and back was scheduled for Saturday and 2 x 2 windward-leeward races for Sunday, as the first event of the “Spring Cup – 2013” organized by N.A.O.V..
The Saturday race of 33nm took start at 11a.m. from the Voula Cove, with the west wind omnipresent in the Piraeus and Microlimano surrounding area all through the night and during the day, however out of strength in the area of the race off the south shores of Attica. The boats started all on a close-hauled starboard tack hoisting the spinnakers as they sailed past the mouth of the Cove. The larger OPTIMUM III and JINETERA took the lead chased by BOOKER and MELX II.
At that point the Saronic Gulf had a pleasant surprise for us; suddenly we got surrounded by a school of dolphins which stayed and played in our bow wake for quite a while!
As we approached Patroklos the race proved to be a fast one with the weather changing to southwest, meaning that on our way back we should be bearing away through a broad reach initially with the genoa barber hauled, then the Jib Top and finally the spinnaker -in that particular order- with three gybes in order to cross the finish line by the N.A.O.V. jetty.
Nonetheless, the official results did not do justice to our impeccable performance. In spite of beating all the larger boats and the well put together teams we dropped to the 3rd place of the ORCi class, only to lose to the smaller “J-24”s due to a sudden drop of wind as well as their superior certificates which they were taken to their advantage.
On Sunday, two windward-leeward races took place with the wind coming from a direction between 140-160 degrees at strength 8-13 consistently all day. During the first race the competition was fierce with BOOKER capturing 1st place leaving SUGAR, OPTIMUM III and MELX II struggling for places 2-4 with time differences of 2” and 1” respectively. In the second race we won a clean victory behind BOOKER, coming 2nd in our class and overall, together with two more of our competitors.
Next race on our calendar is the charity event organized by H.O.R.C. in co-operation with the “A Child’s Smile” organization on Sunday June 8, 2013.
We‘ll see you there!
Watch the video MELX II & THE DOLPHINS
RESULTS:
This Race