2023 World Bay Area Regatta Day 2
by Guy Nowell 16 Dec 2023 03:19 AEDT
14-17 December 2023
It is an incontrovertible fact, as Jane Austen might have said, that everything looks better when the sun shines.
This morning dawned bright and clear, and the breeze came along later. While the World Match Race Tour was doing its very best to recover a substantially behind-schedule set of qualifiers, at the same time PRO Simon James was waiting a little longer to let loose the world’s top sailors on the World Bay Area Regatta course. Steady breeze was the decider.
After a prolonged AP on shore, the Beneteau 40.7 class got away at almost 11.30, racing a triangle course intended to alleviate the ‘no-spinnaker’ dictat. How or why event organisers believe it necessary to prohibit spinnakers for an event billed as a contest between the best sailors from ‘Bay Areas’ around the world remains a mystery. Past experience suggests that the real reason will come to light one day, and will have little or nothing to do with spinnakers, sailors, or sailing.
8-10 knots is well sufficient for racing, and there were some spirited moments on the water. Sunshine helps absolutely everything, and there is no doubt that the Oh Bay waterfront and the urban development behind is spectacular. The Beneteau fleet completed three races within the tight confines of the race area – beat at 270° , 0.5nm to the windward mark – followed by two races each for the J/80 and Far East 23 divisions. A big wind shift of 40° left made for a pause while the course was reset, but otherwise operations were as smooth as.
Beneteau honours today went to Team the Way with three wins. Team Lucky collected the day prize for the J/80 class with two bullets, and a fast-charging Philippine Sailing Association were victors in the FE23 division.