Portimao Formula World Championships '08     by :  Gonzalo Costa-Hoevel  ARG-3

 

After finishing the event it took me almost a week to write or think something about it. I had a sour feeling all this days but i guess being 2nd in the world can't be that bad..!!!

 

Preparation for the Worlds:

 

After Leba Europeans, I had decided that i needed new fins, new trim sails and change my style a little bit. I went back to cold Argentina after Turkeys PWA to reload some energy and "stamina". After couple of weeks of girlfriend, family and good food i took off to Virginia, USA, to see Dave Kashy. I spent three days there testing. We had one good day and then we had to hunt for the wind the other days but those 6hs we spent at the beach THAT day was more than enough to understand what i needed on my new boards. After that key trip at Dave's place i left to Portugal. My plan was to get there at least 5 to 6 days before first day of racing. My light wind setup to middle winds was almost ready after leaving USA. So my mainly concern was high winds.

 

Portugal trainnings before the event:

 

I got there on the 3rd of September. I knew Wilhelm Schurman BRA999 was already there and local Miguel Martinho POR5 too.   Wilhelm is one of the most constant fast sailors i know so hooking up with him was very good. We had 3 straight days of onshore light winds, 7 to 15 knots. I double chequed all my fins and sails adjustments for this conditions and everything was working very good. My speed downwind that wasn't that great in Leba had improve a lot. Upwind i was a little bit faster than Wilhelm most of the time. Miguel had told me that the wind was going to be like this at this time a year but the forecast was looking strong from a different direction and this was getting me worried..

 

Two days to go:

We had put all our equipment at the tent and we were ready for our last adjustments with BRA999.  Many guys had arrived so training was a little bit more interesting. I like to sail with some other guys to have a glimpse of how they are going. The forecast was being very precise, the wind turned from southwest to northwest. The famous offshore termic wind from Portimao. The water got smoother and the wind got gusty but stronger.  The light to middle winds was ok for me so far. I sailed with Ross Williams, Jesper Vesterstrom, Arnon Dagan, Hubert from Poland and my speed seemed to be very good.

But still that strong forecast wind was there and it was getting me very nervous..decitions had to be taken to register stuff and i was not sure what to register for that high winds.  I tried my 70 that i had used on the last high wind races in Leba and a 71 but it seemed that the 71 was absorving the chop better. I didn't have a chance to sail at all on heavy winds with my new board and this made me have a weak point.

 

Equipment Registered:

Sail 1: 10.7 for extremely light wind,  Sail 2: 10.7 middle winds, Sail 3: 9.8, Fin 1: K78-70 XS, Fin 2: K72-70 XS, Fin 3: K71-70 XS    Board: obvious..

 

1st Day of racing:

 

One fleet, middle winds, 1st start, no black flag: 4 general recalls.  The side offshore winds made it clear that close to the beach the wind was stronger so everybody wanted to start close to the boat. I had a good start near the boat. There were two guys on top of me that i felt were ahead of me.. maybe OCS i thought at that time (DEN111 was OCS).  Anyways after a glimpse it seemed that we were all going very similar but getting close to the layline i chequed back and i saw everybody had fallen in my wake. I went a bit more and tacked on the layline to the mark. I rounded on first with NED13 and DEN111 behind me. At the first downwind i went through the middle which was a mistake so when i started the second upwind DEN111 (OCS) was right there with me.  My speed and angle on port tack going to the beach was very good. I could point very high without loosing speed. I had this advantage all week, the board was performing much better than anything else.

I open the lead on that tack and then i just stayed on top of Jesper when he tacked. I kept the lead to finish on first.

 

2nd Day;

 

The wind was at  the same direction but came in earlier. We started the first race and similar tactics payed off. I had a very good lead but at the downwind crossing all the guys that were coming up i almost crash with one guy and had to go in the water. This put me on 6th at that moment but manage to come back to 3rd at the end of the downwind.

Going upwind to the beach on port i started climbing on Ross and some other guys putting myself on 1st again. On the very end of the upwind fighting with Ross and Arnon, i suddenly see someone coming through the beach with a hell of a gust..it was POL10 that was on 10th at the bottom mark and got that gust. I chose the outside for the downwind which made me loose to 4th pos.  The next two races the wind was stronger and Wojtec outraced me. Speed was very close but he was on it. I made some small mistakes like overlaying. The last race of the day i came back to 1st, POL10 got a 4th so we were fighting for the 1st place. At that point i knew POL10 was flying in the stronger stuff and that i would have to work the next day hard..the forecast was getting stronger.

 

Provisional results

1st  Gonzalo 1 4 2 2 1,  2nd Wojtec 10 1 1 1 4,  3rd Ross 3 2 11 6 2

 

3rd Day:

 

Strong winds were expected, so far 10 -17 kts picking up. Went out on my 9.8 and my 71 to train, but it felt i was missing power so i decided to go on 10.7 but my extender broke when getting in the water. So i took 9.8.

I was leading but in the second upwind i came too close to the beach and the wind wasn't that strong yet. Lost two places, got a 3rd. The next races i went with the 10.7 and manage to win the last one of the day. Not much had changed from the day before, POL10 was going very quick and I wish i had register my 70 KXXS.

 So far:   Fighting with POL10, one more day of strong winds to come and two more days of middle to light winds. The rest were not very close. I decided in my mind to stay as close as posible and wait for POL10 mistakes to take a bullet each windy day. So far it payed off.  He had an BFD, a 4th and a 10th as discards and i had two 3rds and a 4rth. I was on 2nd but still close to him.

 

4th Day:

 

After a night of thinking and thinking, consulting with my pillow and feelings i decided to go out with my 9.8.

I arrived to the beach and the wind was very strong and more offshore. I rigged everything and went with 9.8.

Went off and it was windy..30 to 35...i got slammed when started going up and my backend broke. I had to sail back, changed it and went back out. Ross and Wilhelm came out and i was very quick against them..

It took a long time to race because they were scared of security issues. So we had the sign in and out security system.

There was no activity with the boats and marks, and the wind started to drop.. So when we actually went racing i was on my middle winds setup again. This race it felt it was key. I started at the boat and POL10 was stuck behind me. The gust came through the middle of the course and i could see DEN111, Ross and Pol16 quite ahead of me. On the last half  of that tack the gust from the right filled in and i started climbing on them so it seemed i was clear on first when tacking to port.

BUT unfortunatly when i was getting close to tack to the layline i saw POL10 right behind me..he had climbed out of my line with that  good gust..and was right there again. I rounded on 1st, POL16 behind me and POL10 on third. His determination put him on 2nd...

 

The girls went out and then the wind kicked in stronger than ever from the NW. Again hard conditions and i went with my 10.7 because my sweet 9.8 that i had tried on the morning training session had broken my mast...

Got 3rd and POL10 first.

 

5th Day:

 

5 points behind him, and two more days of racing to go with light winds forecast. Better discards than him were giving me hope for the title but the forecast was wrong. The middle to light winds dissapeared.  We made one attemp of race that i was leadind after the first upwind and Wojtec was on 5th but the wind  run away and we couldn't finish it.

 

Last day of the event:

no wind..

 

 

My feelings:

 

After I've changed boards last month I felt it was gonna be a challenge to be top 3 again at the worlds just because there was not much time left. I sailed as much as i could and got used to it very quick. I didn't sail at all on stronger winds as it prevailed at the worlds. The board is fast, easy to trim, better acceleration when hitting gusts..is just feeling really good.

 

I felt i improved a lot my speed in light to middle winds compare to my old boards. At this event I discarded two 3rds and a 4rth. Very consistent, and i had not done that for a while. POL10 was on it. Racing very good and the conditions mach his style. Shame we didn't have a couple of races in light wind to see how he would perform but still i want to congratulate him for his outstanding performance, he was clearly the best guy out there last week. I am very glad that i have to race on this board all next year specially when i've only sailed on it a couple of weeks and the board is performing so good!!

 

Now i am waiting for Sylt, hanging out with my ARG mates from EL MATADOR which are racing the last stage of the AUDI MED CUP TP52 here in Portimao.  Hope to see you in Sylt,

 

BR, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel ARG3.