The Match Racing in Portugal is proving to be a great success with all 10 of the invited teams enjoying the fine hospitality of the Clube de Naval Cascais. On the water 15 of the designated 23 flights have been completed in a variety of wind strengths, as the huge waves roll slowly, yet powerfully in from the Atlantic Sea. Local hero Henrique Anjos has 5 wins as does a certain Martin Payne….. Meanwhile tournament favourite, Vincent Hoesch (3 wins) was heard talking to World Champion Tim Tavinor (1 win) saying “Ze mark hit me” to which Tim replied “what do you mean Vincie”? “well Timmy, we were going around the windward buoy and it suddenly moved and hit me”…. yes Camper’s I think the Alzheimer’s is gradually moving into the German superstar as he prepares on Weds, for his 54th Birthday……… Hoesch can still make the semi’s but he has his work cut out today. Martin Byrne (3 wins) still has a good chance of progessing futher, as does George Kingston (3 wins) who is quickly getting used to the feeling of helming these beautiful one design keelboats.
In fairness although we are racing very close to the club, hence protected from the huge sea’s, there is quite a bit of current which makes mark roundings more difficult. I did however once see a mark of the course move into a boat! but that was in Douarnenez and the culprit responsible was a Navy Trained Dolphin who used too play havoc around the bay in Northern Brittany. So anyway, back to the Match Racing… The Algarve Champion Fillipe de Silva has 4 wins so is also a strong favourite to make the semi-finals. With 8 more flights to sail this morning the top 4 places are still up for grabs, so lets see if the very best International Sailors like Anatoly Loginov, Tim Tavinor and Pieter Heerama can gain the extra couple of victories they will need to progress further in this extremely talented competition…….
Higher, Faster, Longer, … Stavros.