Bella Mente Racing in the Newport Bermuda Race 2012 (Photo Credit Billy Back)
Bella Mente Racing in the Newport Bermuda Race 2012 (Photo Credit Billy Back)
Newport Bermuda Race 2012: Photos
Newport Bermuda Race 2012: Great Start!
Bella got off to a great start in the 2012 Newport Bermuda Race. The boats started yesterday afternoon and, if the weather holds, are expected to break the course record. Follow the race on the tracker.
Go Bella!
Bella Mente Racing in the Newport Bermuda Race 2012 (Photo Credit Billy Black)
Newport Bermuda Race 2012: 2:30 PM Start
Tomorrow at 2:30 we will start our race to Bermuda. The forecast is for some fast reaching conditions with some light upwind work at the end. We are really looking forward to what this machine can do in those conditions. Conditions promise to be rough through the Gulf Stream and we will most likely have to move to boat preservation mode for a couple of hours. The team has been working furiously to get the boat ready over the last several days. A great many thanks has to go to the Fitzgerald Racing boys for helping us in getting tons of projects completed. Thanks Brad, Kyle, Kyle, and Mike.
We will be pushing hard for this race. Rambler, Shockwave, Wizard, and ourselves will all be going for the record. The systems are all online and going. We have a strong team of trimmers, grinders and drivers to make this race a sprint. Little rest is promised and plenty of wet gear is on the menu.
See you in Bermuda,
Doogie
158th ANNUAL REGATTA presented by ROLEX: Race day 3
We started the day again with an hour delay on shore and then several hours wait on the water. A big effort was made to lighten the boat and make some changes to the set up in order to speed the boat up in light air. We started to leeward of the Shockwave but Rambler did a nice port tack start at the pin. The boat felt better sailing upwind and we rounded the mark just behind Rambler and a few lengths ahead of Shockwave. We held our own downwind against Rambler, but Shockwave closed the gap on us by the time we got to the leeward mark. The rounding went well and the weather string drop was nice. The boys in the back did some nice work on the beat and we closed a little on Rambler and extended nicely on Shockwave.
The set seemed to be going fine but just as the kite was nearing the top of the rig, it completely tore. We quickly got our next kite up but not before Shockwave caught up to us. We finished that race in second, just beating Rambler by 11 seconds corrected.
Now we switch the boat to offshore mode and start getting ready for the Bermuda race.
158th ANNUAL REGATTA presented by ROLEX: Race day 2
One light air race was our treat today. We were delayed onshore for an hour and then set out for the ocean course. We waited a little longer for the breeze once we got out there and then had a 2 lap race. We started to leeward of Rambler with a decent start and were able to force them to tack off. Rambler eventually got around us, and Shockwave rounded right on our tail. We performed a Sambooka at the top (which is a gybe set but set up as a bareaway set). The other boats did a bearaway set and gybed a few minutes afterwards. They were able to carry more pressure to the mark and rounded ahead of us. We fought back for the rest of the race trying to make something work but to no avail. On the last run, there was a tear on the leech of the kite. On the last gybe of the run, the kite split in half meaning we quickly had to get our back up kite up.
So the finish was less than desirable but we are learning about how to sail our boat in the light.
More races tomorrow but with still a light forecast.
158th ANNUAL REGATTA presented by ROLEX: First race day
We raced around the island today. The race started in about 10-11 knots, and built to 16-17 knots by the time we sailed around and started coming back upwind.
We started on the boat end of the line, to windward of Rambler. After a few minutes of sailing upwind, we had to take a clearing tack. Once we found our mode we felt comfortable upwind but as we exited the channel, the Wizard (our old boat) had some more favorable current and got around us before the top mark. Both boats set overlapped with each other, sailing high angles to try and stay clear of the slower boats that had started before us. We gybed countless times all the way down the channel. Half way down, a small tear appeared in the bottom part of the kite. We kept a close eye on the tear and after a few more gybes, it started to get worse. So we decided to gybe peel to the next kite, Although the maneuver was a bit noisy as we are still getting settled as a crew on the new boat, it went relatively smoothly. On the whole run we kept trading places with Shockwave and Wizard. All the boats are incredibly close and the racing this weekend will be close, especially in the light air. On the long beat back to the finish line, we split from the fleet and made a very nice gain that won us the race. Rambler was first to finish, with us crossing the line in second but winning the race on corrected.
It was nice to win the first race but we are under no illusion that it will be easy. In the light air, our competition is very quick and will be very hard to beat. The forecast for this weekend is for light air so we are hoping that the sea breeze will fill in nicely.
Racing coming soon
This weekend is the NYYC annual regatta. Friday will be the Around Island Race, followed by 2 days of windward leewards on Saturday and Sunday. The last couple of days we have been working towards getting the boat ready for inshore racing. That means getting our string line system functional and all the little inshore systems sorted. We have been working on mark rounding’s, sets, pre start maneuvers… The team is looking forward to finally racing the boat and seeing how we line up.
Good day of breeze
Today was a good confidence builder for the team. We headed out in 20 knots and a very confused sea just outside. The breeze slowly built to 30 knots over the course of an hour as we sailed upwind to get enough runway to have a good run downwind.
We sailed hard upwind and took a reef as the breeze built to 26 knots. The reefing went smoothly and worked as we hoped.
As we approached the top we brought the A3 up on deck and began connecting it. That was a fun experience as we launched off a few good waves as the breeze built to 30 knots. We bore away, hoisted the A3, unfurled it, and off we went. Plenty of water came over the deck as we punched through some good sized waves. We sailed with this set up for a bit and then furled and sailed with the jib and main with the boat speed sitting at 20-24 knots.
After that, we called it a day and headed in.
Sailing again
We have been sailing for a couple of days now to continue our testing and training. The systems are starting to work and we are slowly starting to look at our crew maneuvers. Some of the sails are a handful, such as our A4. That will be a monster to hoist, drop, and pack. We are hoping for more wind in the coming days so that we can really stretch our legs and get the boat in some big wind and wave conditions.
2nd Session
The boat has been back in the shed for a weeks now getting finished and fixed from the last sea trial session. The list is long and it had been lots of work by Pirate and his team to get the boat going again. The current plan is to be sailing the boat again by this Sunday. We have quite a bit of stuff to do get the boat race ready. We have to build our confidence in the boat, get familiar with the angles and our sails, get comfortable with all the systems, and get the boat fully ready to race offshore. So stay tuned for a few updates in the coming weeks as we work up the boat and get it race ready.
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