Sydney, the place to be in December!

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.

What shall we do with a drunken sailor...........

We were warned. We decided to take the risk anyway and it led to an amusing day. Scott (bow) had a house warming party organised before we even started sailing the 18 so it had to go on. Jamie (sheet) went as well but left at 4.00am and managed a reasonable amount of sleep. However, when Scott arrived at the boat park, our worst fears were realised. He had under 2 hours sleep and had stopped drinking at 10.00am! His speech was blurred and every time he walked past our supply of water, we had to change the label as the alcohol content went up just from proximity!

Jamie and I rigged the boat and we managed to launch with incident. A delayed start, waiting for the wind to settle gave Scott a chance to take on more water and finally the course was set, in a shift ENE wind 10-13 knots as it flicked from gradient to sea breeze. After the poor starts of recent weeks, I had promised the team we would really mix it at the start. Watching videos of recent JJ's, it struck me that nobody ever made good start mid line, so with a pin bias, we headed deep into enemy territory. And to my surprise, we kept finding holes. We lined up, looked below, saw another hole, bore away and back up into the hole until we were 3rd boat from the pin, with a nice gap to come down into and on time. maybe we pulled the trigger a little late, but we were up and running in a lane we could live with for a while until we had a chance to flip over.

The beat was long and shifty, with variations of pressure all around. And there we were, crossing tacks with Fiat, Club Marine and other front runners. We weren't having any speed issue and for the first time, Jamie and i had our heads out the boat, looking for wind and shifts. In fact, we even managed to make a few decent tactical calls that saw us round the first mark in the top 10. For some reason, the hoist wasn't quite as smooth and fast as we were used to and we had to defend for the first part of the downhill leg. Fortunately, we were sailing windward/leewards, so were able to gybe and clear when we needed to.

The next 2 laps saw us battling for a position in the top 10, never higher than 9th but not lower than 13th. Crossing tacks with The Rag and Club Marine was great, and we never felt outclassed. In fact, we remained very pleased with our speed and also our positioning, regarding the fleet.

However, as the race went on, our shortcomings on the hoists and drops slowly took a toll until at the end of the 3rd downwind, the drop let 3 boat through. Try as we might, we couldn't get them back on the beat and the final hoist saw another through. The hoist did have its lighter side. My normal job is to call out how far the kite had hoisted and this time it went rather like this - "First spreader, second spreader, 1 metre........1 metre........1 metre........1 metre. Scott, why are you out on the wire?!! Jamie looked up and with a resigned smile said "I will get it! and finally the kite was set.

I twas a shame that we weren't sailing to the best we could because we finished less than 1 minute off 13th place and should really have been higher. Scott was very apologetic, in the funny way that only somebody who is drunk can manage. Credit to him for having survived and for not chundering until on his way home. I did have to steer the boat back under him a couple of times, but he stayed with us the whole race. If we had a substitute on board, we might have done better but that wouldn't have been good for either Scott's ego (they do better without me) or for team building.

So now we have proved we can get up there, the next task will be be to stay up there. We have 2 on the water sessions planned this week, so stand by for more news to come.

Now, what exactly does "keel hauling" consist of..............

Variety is the spice of life.......

As a busy week draws towards an inevitable conclusion - Sunday at the League - I find myself reflecting on just how much you can pack into one week. I don't often talk about work on here, mainly because my main role has been as "Director of Leisure" for the family, a job I have taken seriously by testing and maintaining as many toys as possible! However, there is also the renovations on our home and the current project, renovating the Mother-in-Law's apartment. Dealing with builders and tradesmen in Australia has been a real eye opener. I have never experienced anything like it. All elements of construction and trades are significantly more expensive than in the UK, even though materials are no more costly. And as a customer, I feel like the builders are doing me a huge favour and that I should be grateful. Overall, it feels like I am being beaten up and at the same time, I should be thankful!

When it comes to our own house, having had a QS do the sums, it seems that if I act as an Owner/Builder, project managing the job myself, I will save the equivalent of 4 years salary (before tax). If I could get a builders licence over here, that is what I would do. 1 decent job a year would earn me more than I have ever earned in a single year!

3 trips to the apartment, dealing with all the issues, left me ready for a bit of R&R. It has been great to be able to catch up with an old friend who is in town. Hugh Styles is in town with the iShares VX40 he project manages and I was able to get close up and personal with one of these machines for the first time. And what beasts they are, all carbon, autoclaved and very sexy! The boat will be sailing in the harbour all of next week doing some corporate entertaining and promotion work for iShares. It should be a sight worth seeing.

On Thursday, we took the 18 out for a training session and what a good one it was. A 8-12 knot easterly in warm conditions and enough light to stay on the water until about 8.00pm saw some real progress. We were particularly fortunate to have Craig Ferris out in a coach boat and we made great progress. The boathandling went up another gear and having somebody looking at the rig from outside taught us a lot about how to set the rig. Hopefully, this will move us up another level and from my point of view, the session was the first time I thought we really felt like we deserve better results on the track. Now the problem is to take it to the race track and to get as slick in more breeze.

The week finished with a bang, literally. Last night I went to see My Chemical Romance in concert and they put on quite a show. A good honest band, with 4 guys dressed in black and thumping 0ut good guitar led thumping anthems, the young crowd entered into the spirit with some great slam dancing and crowd surfing down in the Mosh Pit. The stage show was a mix of a good old light show and a great display of....fire! It seemed like they had 10 burners from hot air balloons which, at suitable times, fired up in spectacular style. You could feel the heat instantly. The show ended with the biggest "bang" from some explosives that really rocked the house. My Chemical Romance delivered, continuing to enhance their reputation as one of the best bands of recent times.

One postscript to the concert was a reflection on the times we live in. Much of what went on at the gig could have happened any time from the 70's onwards. However, one thing has changed. When years ago we held up and waved lighters, today the illumination of choice is the mobile phone screen. My phone, which also took the picture above, ran out of battery, having forgotten the golden rule of concert goers - charge the phone fully!

Now I look forward to Sunday, although with some sense of impending doom. Scott is holding a big party at his new apartment and Jamie is going as well. They have promised to try to get some sleep before coming sailing and they hope to have sobered up, but my expectations are not high!