The last few days we have been in Monaco sailing the Primo Cup, which is the biggest race for the J/70 class during the winter, at one of the most prestigious sailing clubs in the world: the Yacht Club de Monaco. 72 participants from 15 nations. This was the first race that the semi-new J/70 team sailed together. Emil Forsgren is new in the trim position and Tomas Movin is new in the tactician/mainsheet position. Remaining from the previous season is Thomas Tennström on foredeck and of course Patrik Forsgren as helmsman. The race was meant to be a run-through before the season and to feel the waters before the World Championships in October.
We arrived on Wednesday, launched and had some great training sessions on the water. Much needed when Tomas had only spent one day in a J/70 before. Already now we realized that this would be a tough regatta given the light, shifty wind in combination with the extreme wave size.
Day 1 of the regatta offered light winds from the east-southeast, which later in the day shifted to the south. And BIG waves from a slightly different direction than the wind direction that made it very difficult to keep the boat moving. The first start we started close to the starter and got off to a good start and were able to pick our own track. Despite the difficult conditions, we felt we had okay boat speed and were hanging on well at the top. But we messed up at the first cruising mark and lost about 15-20 boats. The wind died down, the course shortened and we finished 46th. The second race of the day we started on the leeward side and got a very good start and were able to beat the field. We rounded the first tick mark in 15th, made a good leg and sailed our way up to 10th place. The second leg we did almost even better than the first and rounded fifth before the last leg. During the last leg the wind dropped again and we unfortunately dropped to 15th place. But now we knew that if we get away well at the start, we will catch the top boats. Very good feeling.'
Day 2 is spent almost all day on land. And then the Yacht Club de Monaco is a very nice place to be. At the end of the day, the race committee sent us out on the water and two start attempts were made before the AP over A flags were raised and we were sent ashore again. In the evening there was the regatta dinner, "Pasta Party", where we were served a pasta buffet, charcuterie buffet and dessert buffet with highlights from the Italian and French cuisine.
Day 3 We managed to get three races together with a good wind from the north, even though the forecasts predicted almost no wind at all, which was great fun. The first race was our worst sailing of the regatta with a bad start and going to the wrong edge. 51st place at the finish. In the second and third races of the day we finished 20th and 17th respectively after relatively good starts and smart route choices.
We finished the competition in 30th place out of 72. A good result considering this was our first competition together and that the best in the world were for training for the World Championships. We would like to congratulate the winners and thank the organizers.
During the competition, robot badges were used, which we thought was a bit cool. Also a very funny sight when 72 boats are chasing and trying to ping for the starting line's lane mark as it drives away after a button press on an iPad on the starting ship. Now the boat is heading back to Saltis but already next week Thursday the team flies to Montenegro to sail the Montenegro Sprint Cup.
To be continued
