To set the scene, can you describe the unique set of conditions that prevail in Cascais and why it is known as a predominantly windy venue?
The windy stuff is when they take us out to what they call the Alpha race course. It's just offshore. You come out of the harbor, and you take a right, and the further you go the windspeed ramps steadily up.
So the race committee had a huge challenge. They wanted to keep us in that quarter of 21 to 24 knots where it's not so out of control that you're not really racing, you're just surviving. Maria [Torrijo, principal race officer for the 52 Super Series] and her team did a really good job of keeping us in that space.
We did a three race day on the Saturday where we started at the bottom of the race course and it was in 17 to 19 knots of breeze, but at the top mark, it was 23 to 24. So you had these big pressure gradients from the top of the course to the bottom that were difficult to deal with.
How well do you know that venue personally?
We've sailed there a lot so I felt pretty comfortable. We took some good local knowledge with us for a couple of the training days and that gave Victor [Diaz De Leon, strategist] and Sarah [Stone, navigator] and myself a good reminder of what you do and what you don't do.
On the offshore course there's a lighthouse that sits on the corner of the beach. It's a great marker in that if you're aiming above the lighthouse on port tack you're in a pretty safe spot. If the bow is on the lighthouse or slightly to leeward of the lighthouse then know that you have to be really, really careful.
Cascais has that reputation for being a traditionally right hand race track. But how you get to the right hand side and pick up the geographic bend – that's where all the subtleties lay. We had a couple races where we won the beat from the left hand side and going right, but we only won it by a half a boat length. It was all within very subtle little margins. The subtlety in the positioning of how you approach the right hand side of the racetrack was pretty much everything. So when I reflect on the regatta, I can see where the wind gods were working with us in a lot of those situations.
According to reports prior to the event, as a crew you were a little concerned about lack of time sailing in big breezes. What was your level of confidence going in and how did you approach that challenge?
It's a valid point. I think our level of confidence going into the regatta in light and medium range conditions was reasonably high. The conditions for the regatta were traditional Cascais, so over the week we had several opportunities to sail offshore and in big breeze.
