Day 3 of Racing

Day 3 was even a bit lighter than Day 2. Winds continued to be from the east around 5-6 knots. Current remained a factor, particularly in the latter portion of the day. Team Interstate 95 didn't sail particularly well. We started the first race of the day pretty well, maybe at one point in the top 15. However, our upwind speed and pointing was poor, and we finished somewhere in the bottom 10 again. The second race went a bit better, as we caught a few boats towards the end of the race, but with pretty much the same result.

Boothe and Bixby continue to represent the US and are doing well, with another bullet and a third. Howie Hamlin won the second race of the day. Buttner and Ramsey continue with top ten finishes. I haven't talked to them since yesterday morning, but Buttner's probably too tense to formulate words. Maybe I'll bring up the damn success of the BoSox to calm him down.

Worlds measurement begins today, and more teams have showed up. Doug McKeige and his helm Tom Golsch have arrived, and Olav Schulter (Andreas' cousin) arrives today. They should all be out for at least one race today.

2 races today followed by a layday tomorrow. John and I will be spending part of it working on the centerboard.

Dinner last night, as usual, continued to be an adventure. We ended up driving back towards the house and after about 30 minutes of driving around the small towns out there (this is 25 minutes outside of Palermo proper), we ended up at another quaint family-oriented place. There was a 10 year old's birthday party ongoing with about 20 kids (boys at one end, girls at the other) and one poor mother trying to supervise this mess. Needless to say, there was lots of pizza and Coca-cola. I'm also wondering when exactly Italian children sleep. We left at 22:00 and the party was still rolling on. They had just brought out cake.

We also drove by a bar (note that Italian bars are quite a bit different from the US version) labeled "Bar Renda." We may return soon for a photo and to look for longlost relatives.