Race Report

The Outlaws
We are pleased to be at the Portugal Match Cup. It is a real privilege to be invited to an event of this stature the first Grade 1 of the 06-07 Tour with a lineup that includes Dickson, Gilmour, Holmberg etc. I have with me a team that represents four different AC Challenges - Matt Cornwall who does the bow for K-Challenge, Charles Nankin the mast on Shosholoza, Piotr Przybylski trimming from the Chinese AC, and Henrich Walderei from Victory Challenge on the main, who sailed with me when I won the Swedish Match Cup.

The way I run my team when I'm not a part of the Cup program is that if I have an invite to an event such as this, the guys pay their own way but I share any prize money equally.

Frankly, at 54 and a grandpa twice, it's great not only to be invited but to have guys of this caliber who want to sail with me. However, it's always going to be tough as the guys only met the morning of the practice day and we only had 2 hrs practice. We lost the first one to Richard on the start, totally my fault but in my defense, Richard came in from behind and there was a double collision that was green flagged, the umpires later admitted that had they seen the collision it would've been a penalty on him.

In the second match of the day my old friend Thierry Pepp (who I call affectionately Napoleon) led up to its billing. We'd just won the start or so we thought, then he got a right got a shift and caught me at the top mark port and starboard, however, we squeezed round ahead of him, with the umpires green flagging an incident where he luffed to go inside of us. We were all over each other downwind, then split round opposite gates, this time we had the right, and I used it hitting him as hard as I could up the beat, but he was still on my tail at the top mark, I took him wide down the run on port and thought I had him locked out but he threw in a jibe at the last minute and as the rules prevent me from altering cause in that situation to prevent a giveaway boat from keeping clear (he was jibing from port to starboard across my transom). I felt that if I went with him I'd cause a collision. He must've missed me by the length for of a French Gualoise. I then luffed him, he rolled us and got his gybe in to beat us! Another typical day of the French versus the English. But, just remember Waterloo!

Final race of the day, Dickson and his 100,000,000 Euro programme got us easily but I did get the right off the line and thought I had control of him,but we obviously hadn't.

So, we were 0 and 3 for the first day

This morning, Peter Gilmour got the right off the line and held us to wind by a couple of lengths which gave him 3rd spot in the qualifying group and hence a direct ticket into the quarter finals. We then had the race of the day against the girls from Denmark who'd just won last weeks' Grade 1 Match racing women's event here in Portugal.

Boy are they tough. All doctors, lawyers, working mums and who invited them to the men-only event anyway? If they are allowed to come and play in our game how come I'm not allowed to enter a ladies event? Even if they gave me an all-female crew?

Ok to the race, I wasn't being polite in the pre-start, somehow they wriggled off the line and I couldn't cross them port-starboard half way up, they tried one more time and tacked too close and got penalised. Thankfully Charlotte the only female umpire was umpiring our match so there could be no chat afterwards. But, they didn't give up, we were level at the top level and at the bottom. They passed us upwind again!

Still locked together at the second weather mark, we got down inside them but they out-gybed us and frankly nearly got a penalty at the finish but it was green flagged!

Thankfully that gave us our first win so we're 4 -1 and finish 5th in Group A

So, we're now into the repechage round with the girls and Richard from France in our group and I guess the local Portuguese team the Polish rookies, maybe Ian Williams depending on how he goes this afternoon. The top two go through from the repechage.

Great game this, it's one of those 'happy to be alive days', glorious sunshine, well-run event, good boats SM40's the best umpiring team outside the AC, 5* hotel, BMW at the airport and my girlfriend is arriving at the weekend. Life ain't bad for a grandpa.

Live, laugh, love.

Chris Law,
The Outlaw

07/21/06