Day 01 report

About 45 sailors from Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, together with the large Argentinean fleet, all made it down for the Argentina Formula national ranking tour, which will have a total of 3 events, being Mendoza the first one, Cordoba the second and Buenos Aires with the final event.

Mendoza is a really nice place, situated just in the edge of the Andes Mountains; it’s one of the largest wine producers in Argentina. The people are really friendly and it’s amazing how the windsurfers are all very enthusiastic and put a big effort to organize what is being a great event. The event site is at Lake Potrerillos about 1 hours drive from town in the middle of some awesome mountains which produce perfect formula conditions.

I (Wilhelm Schurmann BRA999) arrived here a few days before, with Paulo dos Reis (BRA3333) and Mathias Pinheiro (BRA 5), to get some training and get to know the place. We sailed for 2 days in perfect 15-25 knots and flat water, the lake is so clean that you can just go ahead and drink the water from it.

Most of the guys arrived yesterday, for the Chillian sailors, its juts a 250 km drive from Santiago, while from Buenos Aires It’s about 1200 km.

Today a cold front came in and the temperature dropped quite a bit, with cloudy skies there wasn’t much hope for wind.

After registration we started to get ready, since you never know what the weather will bring, and sure enough the winds started felling in around 2pm. We are about 100 sailors in the water, since there is also Race board and RSX racing in which started first as we waited for more consisting winds.

We started our race with light but steady 8-10 knots winds, some sailors ended up being late to the start, including some of the top dogs like Sergio Mehl and Matos Bonomi (unfortunately Gonzalo ARG 3, who really wanted to be here, couldn’t make it down to Mendoza, due to photo shoot in Maui).

Paulo Dos Reis and I started on starboard close to the pin end and it paid off, since we manage to open a good lead by the first upwind. I rounded in first, followed by Paulo dos Reis and Mathias Pinheiro. On the down wind, I got a good gust and opened the lead; on the second upwind and then downwind again to the finish I stayed in the lead and took first place, followed by Paulo dos Reis BRA3333 in second, Marcos Galvan ARG 9 who had a big comeback, in third, then Federico Muller ARG1 in fourth and Mathias Pinheiro BRA5 in fifth.

That was it for the day and tomorrow the forecast looks promising.

I will try to get the full results and send it in later on.

Day 02 report

As we arrived at the event site this morning, it seemed that it was going to be a cold and windless day due to all the cloud cover. But as the afternoon approached, the clouds started to clear and a steady 10 knot breeze filled in. The first start was a general recall and on the second and good start, some started port and some starboard. I started at the pin end on starboard and saw Paulo dos Reis and Mathias Pinheiro going the apposite way across the other side of the course. When I tacked, it looked like Mathias was going to cross in first, but he got stuck in a small lull and Paulao passed him to the upwind marc. I rounded in first followed by Paulao, with Mathias close behind and with the new generation (18 years old) Federico ARG1 who is sailing really well few meters back.

On the downwind all remained the same and the second upwind as well, on the last downwind, were there is a small slalom in the end, the wind dropped and Paulao came with a gust and almost passed me, I pumped like crazy and manage to get planning and finish in first, he came second, Mathias in third, Federico in fourth and Galvan in fifth.

On the second race, Paulao and I started a battle to the pin for the start, he decided to tack and go port, Mathias, Galvan and I had a good start on port and had a really good shift. The wind picked up to about 14-17 knots and 11.8 was starting to get a bit big.

I rounded in first, followed by Paulao and Mathias. On the downwind all stayed the same and as we started the second upwind, Sergio Melh caught up to Mathias and started a close battle for third place. I rounded the second upwind in first and maintained the lead to the end, second was Paulao. Sergio had a big come back after having a terrible start and finished third followed by, Mathias in fourth and the experienced Raul Saubidet.

That was it for the day and for tomorrow we look to have great weather and winds, so hopefully we will get 4 races in and get 2 discards going.

This is the link for the event website, with pictures and full results: http://www.windsurfargentino.com/

Cheers,

Wilhelm