Trainings in Slovenia (part 1)

Capt. Jaroslaw Kaczorowski and his crew Marek "Goly" Galkiewicz travelled to Slovenia to train with their Slovenian friends, who are experienced Mini Transat class sailors.

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Capt. Jaroslaw Kaczorowski:

Portoroz, Slovenia - 7 May 2006
As usual, we are overworked, preparing the boat for sailing. We are still having problems with the power and the autohelm. We have already noticed that this instrument seems to be the biggest worry of all in the Transat 6.50 class. Our Slovenian friend Krystian hasn't managed to put it back together yet.

Krystian wanted someone to sail with, so I left everything and went with him. It was a very instructive training session. Krystian told me some things which are not normally done on crewed yachts. For example, when sailing single-handed upwind and you want to set another foresail e.g. reacher, sail off the wind in order to prepare everything in more favourable conditions. You lose distance to other competitors but can save some energy doing it this way. Another ingenious thing is throwing the spinnaker's halyard over the stern before collapsing it. It slows the boat a little but the halyard definitely won't tangle and the spinnaker comes down with some resistance (it won't fall into the water completely and it won't sweep behind the stern).

On Sunday we'll be sailing to check how all the things which have been installed lately are working and how one of the two autohelms we managed to repair is doing. At the beginning of the week I should get permission from the class federation to do a 1000-mile qualification from here to Rome and I'll be waiting for the weather window. It would be just great if bora wind came.

10 May 2006
I got the permission from class federation to do the 1000-mile solitary qualification from Fiumicino in Italy, passing Sicily on the right. But time is short. According to the weather forecast, a huge anticyclone is going to work its way up to southern Europe. In such conditions covering 1080 miles alone (distance from Portoroz to Fiumicino) could even take 12 days. It would mean being late for Marie Agnes Trophy and not doing the qualification for the Azores race. Thus, I decided we should train here for the next three days, then return to Poland for a while and go to Brittany for the first regatta. I'm going to do the 1000-mile qualification between Fastnet 6.50 and Demi-Cle or after Demi-Cle, depending on the weather.

Translated by Anna Greczuk, consultant Joan Harris

Trainings in Slovenia (part 1)
Trainings in Slovenia (part 2)
Trainings in Slovenia (part 3)