So far so good or maybe too good

So far, so good.  May be too good.

The first two days of the Port Cities Challenge, in San Diego are done and dusted.  A practice regatta for the big show, as the points don’t carry forward to the rest of the America’s Cup World Series.

Superstition has it that winning the practice regatta is bad luck.  Let’s hope not, at least this time.

A win for Emirates Team New Zealand should not have been in the cards. The sailing team got to San Diego the evening before the first race, after a 12-hour flight and three-hour drive to, and then down the west coast of California.

It was not an ideal build up, especially as the other teams had been sailing for quite a few days.  The game plan was to knock the rust off and be “good to go” by Wednesday when the real racing starts.  But there you go, sailboat racing is unpredictable.  Expect the un-expected.

Why did we win? By and large we started well, had decent speed, and a few breaks fall our way.  We realise and acknowledge the teams that did the training, have improved noticeably from Plymouth, and that would be all the other teams.

Still, if we improve with each day, we should be able to neutralise the lack of time sailing on the Bay.   Still winning the practice regatta…… all my years with the Italians has made be superstitious

On a personal note it a good feeling to see your children succeed.  Hannah works for the race management of ACWS.  Many of the boys say the race management works for her.  Certainly her organisational and people skills are working well for her (something Hannah got from her mother!) What is the bit disconcerting is the power shift.  America’s Cup is my world, Hannah has only been in it tiny fraction of time, yet Hannah is no longer my daughter….I am her Dad…..  The power shift is complete.

ROD