This year saw the 40th anniversary of the Oyster regatta kick off in Palma. The start of the event welcomed sunny skies and light airs, which brought with it a waiting game as crews looked for the sea breeze to kick in from the southwest.
Firebird competed in Class one, and faced tough competition from other Oyster 885’s such as Bacchus and Lush as well as 825 Maegan.
On day one Firebird got off to a flying start getting 2nd place in the bag, this didn’t come without some hard work as tacticians had their hands full, calling the wind shifts towards the western side of the course.
The second day went less favourably for the Firebird crew as the day finished with a 5th place, following a protest from competitor Lush during a mark rounding. Once the penalty was awarded Firebird suffered a twenty percent place reduction, giving the boat what would turn out to be their worst result of the week. Speaking with the crew you quickly realised this didn’t demoralise them at all, if anything it gave them the drive to come back stronger the next day.
And come back stronger they did, as the crew grabbed second place on day 3 of the event, which proved to be another day of shifty winds and tactical prowess to find those elusive areas of pressure.
The final day of racing was certainly the most tense as a close draw with Bacchus made the chance of a win even tougher. Thankfully for the Firebird crew an amendment in the racing rules confirmed that in the event of a draw in points the boat that won on the final day would win the class. What a perfect day for Firebird to have their best day of racing yet, holding their lead throughout the day to take their first win of the regatta, and winning their class!
When not out racing, Firebird can usually be found cruising and chartering in the eastern mediterranean before heading north to run arctic ski and sail expeditions out of Tromsø in Norway. To find out more about how to get on-board Firebird and explore the arctic visit our ski and sail page.
