Arrived in Italy after 15 hours of fly-time and settled into a very nice villa overlooking Porto Cervo. It was an interesting affect to look at a 100' boat and call it small.

 

Four out of the five races where shore to shore, generally around 30 miles, not the most favorable to Chippewa but we hung in there with the top of the fleet. Our finishes went as follows: 5th, 4th, 4th, 5th, then 3rd. The third place finish was what made it happen for us being that it was a 3 mile leg windward/leeward race. Chippewa is a light-air machine. A new concept for me compared to Pied Piper in that it doesn't plane at all, and we really used our momentum to an advantage as the wind died out. During a leg through the regional islands we ran into a "parking lot" and literally coasted right by the competition.

 

We were consistent and placed within 3 minutes or less from 1st every race. Tight competition. As far as the actual sailing of the boat went it was pretty similar to the SC 70. We flew an A-sail for the majority of our downwind legs. Chippewa has another 20 ft to its rig than Pied Piper does and uses 149% mast head jibs. They are huge! Two Lewmar pedestals and four guys cranking on them, its quite fun. It took a little bit of getting used to not be able to tackle third gear by yourself, but once I got used to the rhythm and matching three other guys it was very cool. Having four big guys not be able to move the pedals in second gear because of the load is shocking the first time it happens.

 

The interesting part to me was that we didn't go all out on speed as we do on Pied Piper; the call was made by Johnny, the grinder "captain", as to when to crank. We would "get it rolling" and then hit it, but not full speed. This type of boat required more power and less all out hand speed.  First gear didn't last that long either and we where lucky to finish a tack in second gear in anything over 8 knots. Spending 10-15 seconds in third gear wasn't uncommon. We also had a little competition as grinders to see how high we could keep the minimum boat speed through the tacks, the best being 6.96 knots. If you didn't get 1st gear timed well, or screwed it up, you payed big time for it. Letting the sail barely fill before you got it past the shrouds was a huge setback. Thereafter making second gear about 5 seconds long and third gear about 25 seconds, no joking matter when your trying to get upwind. We also jibed the A-sail on the pedestals. That was pretty intense, about 40 seconds all out in 1st gear with four guys. Gives you and idea as to how big the sails are when your grinding them in.

 

On another note, sailing next to the boats you see in the magazine's is an amazing experience. Watching Alfa Romeo scream past doing 9 knots in 7 knots of wind is breathtaking.

 

Overall a great week of sailing on a terrific boat with a great crew.  

 

Cheers,

Ben Biddick