Author Archives: ole

And so … that’s a wrap! Wow, what an incredible week of sailing (and not sailing), tourist-ing, great meals, friends, and experiences. And to have one race day with three races and end up 28th in the World, well, that’s just special… Here’s a beautiful shot of the fleet out racing, with Monaco in theContinue reading “Wrapping Monaco – wow”

So this you will not believe. At all. The ultimate “how did I get here” moment… Today we did race – three solid races – and we did great, finishing 28th overall! Out of 90 boats … the best in the world. Wow. We also finished 3rd in the so-called “one pro” division! (Matti isContinue reading “OMG – 28th overall!”

And so in the “have lemons so make lemonade” category, after another day of not enough wind to race, I took off for Cannes! Unfortunately I didn’t have too much time – the Race Committee’s decision to give it a try brought us back in around 4:30 – but I tried to make the mostContinue reading “Cannes”

So today dawned bright and hopeful. Surely there would be some wind today? But … no! We ended up spending the whole day waiting … also wondering if it was going to rain, which yes it did a bit … A fun part of this day was a visit from the Prince of Monaco! HeContinue reading “Four lost days in a row!”

Okay, so no racing, boo, and onward to Italy, yay. All the Italians here said “don’t waste your time with Ventemigila (first city on Italian side of border), continue on to Sanremo”. So … I taxied to Sanremo. And found … nothing! I knew about Sanremo from the annual Milan-Sanremo cycling race – it looksContinue reading “Sanremo and Ventemigila”

Could you schedule a major sailing championship and have three consecutive days of no wind? Well yes, apparently. Today dawned with some meteorological optimism, but in the end again no wind, certainly not enough to race. Rats! Today we didn’t even get to go out and pretend, the Race Committee went out for us, andContinue reading “yet another day of no”

So … off to visit Cap Martin! (What does it say about this sailing trip that it’s been much more about the trip than the sailing, at least so far?) We tend to think of Monaco as being on the border between France and Italy, but actually there is some France to the East ofContinue reading “Cap Martin and Menton”

After three hours of delays waiting for wind, there was a breath of air – the flags started moving – wisps of cloud blowing overhead – and the Race Committee decided to give it a try. The whole fleet slowly made their way out on the water and motored out to the race course. WellContinue reading “Yeah, no”

Rats! It’s midday of Day Two of the Worlds, and still no wind. The competitor briefing was somber as the Race Committee and fleet contemplated another day of sitting around. They will make hour by hour delays until 1500, then call it for the day. I feel for the organizers you spend months indeed yearsContinue reading “Day two – more no wind”

On my way to Monaco I stopped by the delightful medieval mountaintop town of Eze, and tonight I had dinner there, at Chateau Esa. The meal was only just okay, good but overpriced, but the views where unbelieveable. I hiked up and into the restaurant at the perfect time for the sunset. Wow. In theContinue reading “dinner at Chateau Esa”