Things have been a bit hectic in Sydney of late. So many people are in town and there is so much going on. You cannot go anywhere near a sailing club without bumping into another Brit. If I was still in the UK, I would be wondering where everybody was!
First off, after no more than 24 hours to recover, our "drunken sailor" was back on duty as we headed out for a photo shoot with the iShares VX40. The 18's were represented by Rag and Famish and us, with Cameron stepping in as sheet hand for the evening. Also out to play were 2 Tornado's, one of which had Darren Bundock and Carolijn Brouwer on board, so there was no doubting the quality! Against a background of a thunderous sky, the VX40 showed us all who was the Daddy! I think they had to slow down every 800 metres or so and wait for everybody to catch up.
We all knew that the VX40 would be quicker, but what about the T's against the 18's? Well, downhill there really wasn't anything in it but upwind, the T's had an edge. I didn't think it was that much, but talking to Carolijn a few days later, she commented that she was a bit disappointed with the 18's upwind. That told us! However, looking at the photos, the 18's looked by far the most spectacular, 3 guys on the wire and the front half of the boat out of the water.
We had a practice session on Thursday in which we tried a few new tricks that Cam had shown us and we were ready for Sunday. The usual wait in the boat park was made even more tedious with the "which rig" debate. The forecast called for wind and little rig, the conditions on the harbour said big. In the end, all but 2 set out with No2 rigs and were slightly under powered while the other 2 were slightly over powered. How we needed our new square headed No2 main, but it wasn't ready.
So, we hit the race track with little idea of how the boat would go or how to set the rig. A bit more aggression at the start saw us just on the front row, third from the pin. It was actually easier than trying to do a safe mid line start. Speed seemed OK and we played the shifts to round the top mark in the top 10. We sailed around fighting for between 10th and 12th until the last beat when we simply got it wrong and dropped back to 15th, under huge pressure from behind.
At the last gybe, we were fighting to save us from the lower regions of the results sheet. The closest of fetches was all that was left and we had to fight, not just for our place but to get to the finish. Ahead we saw everybody struggling and a capsize gave us a chance of gaining another place. But to achieve that, we had to hold the kite, sailing the boat on its ear while ensuring we didn't leave a passing lane for those behind.
Sometimes, age has it's advantages as with age comes experience. While the others kept sailing fast and getting driven off low, we kept high and slowed enough to keep the apparent wind behind enough to reach the finish, in 14th place and with a bow hand whose arms were now half a metre longer! So, the improvements continue!
During last week, everybody was arriving for SIRS, the grade 1 Olympic classes regatta hosted in Sydney each year. This year was especially significant, as it is the first showdown between Ben Ainslie and Ed Wright for the GBR Finn spot at the games next year. Ben looks as large as I have seen him and still has the most wonderful, modest way about him - easy to talk to yet there is no more determined sailor on the water. If he does have a sense of his place in sailing history, it doesn't show in his manner. Admire the sailing achievements, but admire the man as well.
On Friday I organised a little foiling for some of thge visiting sailors. One was Paul Campbell-James, which was a bit of a strange feeling as I used to race against his parents before he was even a twinkle in their eye! Another was Graham Biehl, who is crew in the USA 470 that is going to the games. Clearly a talented helm in his own right, his reaction said it all "that is the coolest ting I have ever done!" He's in town a bit longer so I am expecting a call for a repeat performance as soon as SIRS is over.
Of course, the Moth is just a distraction from the real thing and Sunday was on us again. The forecast was for "Light and Shite" followed by a Southerly storm so it was with some in trepidation that we set off with big rigs. If the forecast was wrong by an hour or two, we could be sailing in 25 knots with the big rig (again!). The light winds, a tide underneath the fleet and some really poor discipline saw the fleet get away at the 5th time of asking, under a black flag. And the black flag caught out 4 of the top boats, which made our job easier. Our own starts were "educational", including our own attempt at taking out a section of the fleet on the second attempt to get the fleet away.
With a boat biased line, we lined up a bit off the line, ready to accelerate into any gap while making sure we were where we needed to be so as to tack off into the favoured tide. And sure enough, right next to the committee boat, a gap opened and we accelerated for it, only to have another reach down into the same gap. Now, we could have taken them out, but we would have been in a worse mess than starting behind them.
So we tacked off into the tide and made our way up the one sided beat. We were doing OK and seemed to be with the leading bunch but it was hard to tell exactly where we were, more so when some of the leaders were pulled out of the race for their early start. With a 4 lap, windward/leeward course, we began to find our position down the first run and we were up there, really up there. By the bottom mark, we were 3rd and we worked our way up the next beat to take the lead at the top.From there, we managed to maintain our spot at the front and led at the last mark.
However, we got it wrong. Under pressure from DeLonghi who suddenly tacked underneath us just before the mark, we should have gybe set which would have won the race for us but I got it wrong. We should have managed a slicker hoist, but things went a little pear shaped and we should have gybed earlier, but we didn't settle. So 2 boat gybed before us and it was a straight race to the finish line, with us in the cheap seats. We tried. We gained some back but it wasn't to be. We were 5 seconds behind the winner and 1 second from the next boat. Still, 3rd was a great result and we know there is still more to come.
And no sooner had we finished but the wind started to pick up and then the rain. The front had arrived and for a brief 5 minutes, we were sailing in 20 knots and driving rain. No sooner had it arrived and it was passed leaving a gentle 12 knots to sail home with.
So that is the 18's done for the year. The next race is on the 6th January, which gives me some time for some much needed TLC to the boat. And with the rest from the 18 comes a little time to go foiling.
If I don't post before, I would wish all my friends a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
First off, after no more than 24 hours to recover, our "drunken sailor" was back on duty as we headed out for a photo shoot with the iShares VX40. The 18's were represented by Rag and Famish and us, with Cameron stepping in as sheet hand for the evening. Also out to play were 2 Tornado's, one of which had Darren Bundock and Carolijn Brouwer on board, so there was no doubting the quality! Against a background of a thunderous sky, the VX40 showed us all who was the Daddy! I think they had to slow down every 800 metres or so and wait for everybody to catch up.
We all knew that the VX40 would be quicker, but what about the T's against the 18's? Well, downhill there really wasn't anything in it but upwind, the T's had an edge. I didn't think it was that much, but talking to Carolijn a few days later, she commented that she was a bit disappointed with the 18's upwind. That told us! However, looking at the photos, the 18's looked by far the most spectacular, 3 guys on the wire and the front half of the boat out of the water.
We had a practice session on Thursday in which we tried a few new tricks that Cam had shown us and we were ready for Sunday. The usual wait in the boat park was made even more tedious with the "which rig" debate. The forecast called for wind and little rig, the conditions on the harbour said big. In the end, all but 2 set out with No2 rigs and were slightly under powered while the other 2 were slightly over powered. How we needed our new square headed No2 main, but it wasn't ready.
So, we hit the race track with little idea of how the boat would go or how to set the rig. A bit more aggression at the start saw us just on the front row, third from the pin. It was actually easier than trying to do a safe mid line start. Speed seemed OK and we played the shifts to round the top mark in the top 10. We sailed around fighting for between 10th and 12th until the last beat when we simply got it wrong and dropped back to 15th, under huge pressure from behind.
At the last gybe, we were fighting to save us from the lower regions of the results sheet. The closest of fetches was all that was left and we had to fight, not just for our place but to get to the finish. Ahead we saw everybody struggling and a capsize gave us a chance of gaining another place. But to achieve that, we had to hold the kite, sailing the boat on its ear while ensuring we didn't leave a passing lane for those behind.
Sometimes, age has it's advantages as with age comes experience. While the others kept sailing fast and getting driven off low, we kept high and slowed enough to keep the apparent wind behind enough to reach the finish, in 14th place and with a bow hand whose arms were now half a metre longer! So, the improvements continue!
During last week, everybody was arriving for SIRS, the grade 1 Olympic classes regatta hosted in Sydney each year. This year was especially significant, as it is the first showdown between Ben Ainslie and Ed Wright for the GBR Finn spot at the games next year. Ben looks as large as I have seen him and still has the most wonderful, modest way about him - easy to talk to yet there is no more determined sailor on the water. If he does have a sense of his place in sailing history, it doesn't show in his manner. Admire the sailing achievements, but admire the man as well.
On Friday I organised a little foiling for some of thge visiting sailors. One was Paul Campbell-James, which was a bit of a strange feeling as I used to race against his parents before he was even a twinkle in their eye! Another was Graham Biehl, who is crew in the USA 470 that is going to the games. Clearly a talented helm in his own right, his reaction said it all "that is the coolest ting I have ever done!" He's in town a bit longer so I am expecting a call for a repeat performance as soon as SIRS is over.
Of course, the Moth is just a distraction from the real thing and Sunday was on us again. The forecast was for "Light and Shite" followed by a Southerly storm so it was with some in trepidation that we set off with big rigs. If the forecast was wrong by an hour or two, we could be sailing in 25 knots with the big rig (again!). The light winds, a tide underneath the fleet and some really poor discipline saw the fleet get away at the 5th time of asking, under a black flag. And the black flag caught out 4 of the top boats, which made our job easier. Our own starts were "educational", including our own attempt at taking out a section of the fleet on the second attempt to get the fleet away.
With a boat biased line, we lined up a bit off the line, ready to accelerate into any gap while making sure we were where we needed to be so as to tack off into the favoured tide. And sure enough, right next to the committee boat, a gap opened and we accelerated for it, only to have another reach down into the same gap. Now, we could have taken them out, but we would have been in a worse mess than starting behind them.
So we tacked off into the tide and made our way up the one sided beat. We were doing OK and seemed to be with the leading bunch but it was hard to tell exactly where we were, more so when some of the leaders were pulled out of the race for their early start. With a 4 lap, windward/leeward course, we began to find our position down the first run and we were up there, really up there. By the bottom mark, we were 3rd and we worked our way up the next beat to take the lead at the top.From there, we managed to maintain our spot at the front and led at the last mark.
However, we got it wrong. Under pressure from DeLonghi who suddenly tacked underneath us just before the mark, we should have gybe set which would have won the race for us but I got it wrong. We should have managed a slicker hoist, but things went a little pear shaped and we should have gybed earlier, but we didn't settle. So 2 boat gybed before us and it was a straight race to the finish line, with us in the cheap seats. We tried. We gained some back but it wasn't to be. We were 5 seconds behind the winner and 1 second from the next boat. Still, 3rd was a great result and we know there is still more to come.
And no sooner had we finished but the wind started to pick up and then the rain. The front had arrived and for a brief 5 minutes, we were sailing in 20 knots and driving rain. No sooner had it arrived and it was passed leaving a gentle 12 knots to sail home with.
So that is the 18's done for the year. The next race is on the 6th January, which gives me some time for some much needed TLC to the boat. And with the rest from the 18 comes a little time to go foiling.
If I don't post before, I would wish all my friends a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
1 comment:
Haha,found you!!! Sounds like your having fun. Keep it up.
Best wishes
Mel
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