24/08/2012
Copa del Rey 2012 – Palma de Mallorca
Posted on August 5, 2012 by alanren
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I find sometimes you have a string of things that don’t go right such as missing a flight from France and getting pick pocketted in Barcelona there is usually something good that comes from it. In the latest case I had to leave Barcelona a couple of days early and return to Palma. This put me in the perfect position to jump on as a crew member for the J-Sailing team in the J80 one design class of the Copa del Rey.
Copa Del Rey
John Horn set up J-Sailing as a new challenge to himself after 25 years of teaching sailing at both beginner and advanced levels in the UK on the Solent. The challenge he has set himself is considerable, to go from the tidal conditions he knows and can use so well in the UK to the Bay of Palma where there are effectively no tides and currents. Add to this the need to learn the wind patterns in a new location and where it bends and shifts, as well as getting used to the restrictions and the tight nature of one design racing.
John has Gus as the most regular crew member but it always takes a year or more to really settle into a reliable dedicated crew that can work truly as a team. Therefore myself and two others are making up the team for the 6 days of racing. The main objective of the regatta for us is to move up through the fleet and learn as much about making the J80 sail to its optimum potential. This is the leveling aspect of one design racing.
J Sailing by Jesus Renedo
John’s company J-Sailing is still in its infancy and doesn’t have the backing of wealthy sponsors to kit the boat out with a new wardrobe of sails however with the support of Baltic Ropes we at least had new strings. The Copa del Rey was the first real chance to sail against international competition, including current and previous world champions. It was a real opportunity to see what the top boats do in different conditions and with realistic expectations of battling it out at the back of the fleet whilst our last minute crew get used to the boat and each others strengths and weaknesses. Our crew came from a varied background indeed and consisted of John (20 yrs match racing, handicap racing and one design racing), Gus (sailing this J80 for a few months), Joy (maxi ocean racing), Olympia (accomplished dinghy racer at 18yrs old) and myself (weekend handicap racing and tall ship sailing). As you can imagine there were times we had conflicting ‘expert’ opinions.
The crew day 1
Each day there were two races and they were always windward (upwind), leeward (downwind) and back up and down again. Although at first I was a bit disappointed that there was no variety to the race track however by the end of the regatta I began to realize the benefit of this when doing one design racing. It really gives you the chance to concentrate on getting all aspects of sailing these boats more finely tuned as the week goes on. It also means you must reduce the errors to zero if you are to have any chance and hence the importance of a committed team that has been working together for at least a year.
By the opening race we managed to finish ahead of two boats in a fleet of fifteen which we felt was an ok start considering the factors mentioned above. The next few days however decided to blow up a good 15 to 25 knots of breeze which tested our inexperience on a J80 with optimizing boat speed being the main issue due to the large chop on the water surface and the normal upwind sailing dilemma; pointing into the wind for direction verses coming down for a bit more for speed.
Mapfre flying by Jesus Redondo
The downwind runs were exhilarating though with a bow wave higher than the deck, the asymmetric spinnaker flying from the retractable bowsprit and pulling us over the tops of waves and down the faces to speeds up to 13 knots. Even on these downwind runs because it is an asymmetric spinnaker you still need to constantly balance the direction to the mark verses speed across the water, because you cannot go down wind as much as if you have a symmetrical as on most cruising boats. Add to that if the wind is varying at all this will also have an an effect on the angle you can go. I know most racing yachties would already know this in depth but putting it into practice on a different boat with a new crew there will always be a lot of experimenting going on.
Even though they are a one design boat with strict regulations there is some tweaking to be done. The shrouds should be tightened for strong winds and loosened for lighter winds and there is a table that tells you how many turns either way relative to wind strength. We also had advise on bringing on the jib even tighter and all those tiny adjustments that is what sailing in races is all about.
As the week progressed so did our so did our knowledge of the boat and the other teams we were really competing against. There was Jade who we began to get the measure of on a regular basis and a few other teams that we were tussling with constantly. An all girl crew called Calimocho and a mostly girl crew on Akewuele both of which didn’t mind pushing the rules by coming in on a port tack to the mark at separate occasions whilst we were on starboard tack (right of way), forcing us to turn away to avoid a collision and despite raising the yellow flag to the referee in the rib he failed to enforce a penalty. This is mentioned only to highlight that the racing was pretty fierce even at the back of the fleet and there were always individual battles to be had
In this style of racing the referees follow the fleet, each one in a rib (rigid inflatable boat) looking for anyone who is breaking the rules and then they enforce a penalty for them to do a full circle or two full circles depending on the severity of the crime and although not everything gets picked up it is a good system as the fleet are all so close at least at the first couple of marks.
By the end of the regatta we were mixing it with a lot more boats for a lot longer after each start only to have things like a couple of sloppy spinnaker hoists and drops and other minor things that cost a second here and there, separating the hot crews from the rest.
One of the great things about any regatta is the people you meet and the other boats there to check out. At the Copa del Rey there is a total of about 110 boats competing in 7 different fleets and the ones berthed around the yacht club included TP52′s, Soto 40′s, X35′s and some mini maxi’s among others. After each race most crews return to the club for a few drinks and it is a chance to get to know people sailing on some of these other boats.
TP52 Aquila
One such crew is the guys from the TP52 Aquila which is made up with a bunch of Austrians who are all sailors in Austria and they get the opportunity to race on this fully blown race boat. They are all amateurs also and are in a similar position to us. It is nice to know that even in the larger boats there are amateurs and professionals competing on the same stage. From what they tell us their story sounds a lot like ours.
We get an extra connection with these guys as we manage to get Maria to fill in on our boat for the last three days when Olympia cannot make it. Maria is the wife of Rob who sails on Aquilla and she is an accomplished sailor in her own right and adds to our experience for the last three days.
Meanwhile the boys on Aquila miss a day and a half racing due to a crack at the top of the mast that is fouling the halyard. They need to get urgent repairs done before they can get back on the race track.
Over all the 6 days of the 31st Copa del Rey is a fun and educational experience and quite a different experience to the Antigua Classic Regatta. The Antigua Classics where I was sailing on a West Indian Carriacou Sloop (built on the beach on the island of Carriacou) allows for some flexibility to do minor modifications and of course you can always blame the handicaper. The one class racing is much tighter and hence better for improving your sailing skills. For me I just like any new experiences in sailing which I continue to look for.
