Europeans Gold Fleet Day 2 ‘Its all over red rover’

Hi all,

Woke up this morning and guess what it was pouring rain and windy and very cold. Classic Belgium.

The racing was supposed to start at 1130 am for us today and I got to the club at 9am and started to rig. I went to check my results and I was 22nd overall with 2 drops going into today.

I read further down the notice board and noticed that racing way already going to be postponed 2 hours. I looked out at the channel we normally sail up to go out to the open sea and noticed it was VERY VERY low tide. This was the reason why they couldn’t launch us and they kept us waiting.

One of the race committee members I was talking to told me the Gold Fleets would be sent out only at 1pm and so I waited around in the cold and rainy boat park till about 11am when I heard 3 horns (the sound signal for abandonment).

The racing was cancelled due to tidal conditions and also increasing wind strength. I was disappointed as I wanted to see if I could break into the top 20 today but walked out of the results tent beaming at 22nd. About 15 guys behind me in gold fleet are going to the olympics and this regatta truely fielded 90% of the worlds best. 22nd was a great result and one I am very proud of.

I expect that my world ranking should now skyrocket as this is an event ranked 2nd only to the worlds for world ranking points. I have been told I should make the top 40 in the world !!!

So today we pack up and go back into training mode for the next few weeks. I need to wind down before going home and starting work again.

Thanks for all your reading and support (especially Ben Garrard) and I hope you have enjoyed my blogs for the main part of this years European Campaign.

My spelling may be terrible but I’m mostly ‘borrowing’ aka stealing internet so forgive me for being fast.

Take care all.

European Laser Senior Championship 2008

Sat 12th July 2008 – Sat 19th July 2008
BELGIUM, Nieuwpoort

All results are provisional

Results Laser Standard – Gold

 
Scores take into account 2  discards
 

No	Zeilno	Naam	Punten	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	AUS 192274	Slingsby Tom	17,0	1	1	1	(4)	1	4	2	1	(11)	6
2	GBR 193501	Goodison Paul	25,0	1	3	5	2	(7)	2	(26)	2	3	7
3	SLO 182671	Zbogar Vasilij	32,0	4	3	1	3	(9)	3	5	3	10	(18)
4	POL 189010	Porozynski Karol	33,0	(12)	4	6	8	(30)	6	1	1	6	1
5	GBR 193264	Thompson Nick	36,0	2	3	(7)	2	4	3	7	6	9	(12)
6	CRO 179403	Stipanovic Tonci	38,0	2	2	4	(bfd)	1	(20)	2	9	16	2
7	GER 183431	Schadewaldt Tobias	39,0	7	1	3	1	7	(8)	3	4	13	(16)
8	CAN 188818	Leigh Michael	45,0	3	1	4	(7)	6	2	7	1	21	(bfd)
9	GBR 192656	Godwin Robert	49,0	5	4	8	7	12	(32)	(15)	4	5	4
10	NED 192625	Van Schaardenburg Rutger	50,0	6	6	(16)	5	4	5	6	4	14	(22)
11	ITA 189107	Romero Diego	51,0	3	7	5	10	(bfd)	1	2	11	12	(25)
12	CHI 161167	Del Solar Matias	54,0	2	5	7	8	1	(21)	10	6	15	(bfd)
13	GER 191892	Grotelüschen Simon	59,0	8	8	18	4	(31)	4	4	5	8	(19)
14	SWE 191776	Claeson Arvid	61,0	4	(bfd)	17	6	11	(18)	1	12	7	3
15	CRO 190694	Vujasinovic Milan	62,0	19	4	3	3	12	(24)	4	12	(29)	5
16	CRO 188810	Radelic Luka	62,0	(9)	7	3	1	9	3	8	8	(28)	23
17	NED 192608	de Haas Marc	65,0	5	2	19	12	13	(28)	7	5	2	(27)
18	EST 189008	Karpak Deniss	67,0	8	5	(ocs)	15	(24)	15	3	3	1	17
19	NED 179398	Van Vianen Eduardo	71,0	6	10	5	13	5	9	(14)	3	20	(26)
20	GER 191896	Kamrath Malte	76,0	9	5	11	6	(dnf)	6	(14)	5	26	8
21	SEY 183287	Julie Allan	82,0	7	11	13	5	(19)	17	4	11	(22)	14
22	AUS 186663	Brunning Ashley	83,0	8	14	9	4	20	(35)	3	12	(39)	13
23	CAN 186629	Torchinsky Abe	85,0	(24)	2	4	14	16	(38)	5	16	4	24
24	POR 185802	Lima Gustavo	86,0	5	10	10	5	2	7	16	(21)	(36)	31
25	GER 192341	Schwerdt Frithjof	90,0	15	9	8	11	(31)	20	15	2	(24)	10
26	SWE 191787	Wigforss Johan	93,0	11	6	12	10	15	(27)	11	10	18	(21)
27	FRA 179757	Gellee Jean Baptiste	99,0	10	(dnf)	22	2	15	10	8	7	25	(36)
28	CRO 192594	Mihelic Daniel	102,0	6	8	7	11	(23)	9	18	14	(37)	29
29	USA 188669	Funk Bradley	104,0	1	16	2	16	(26)	18	15	17	19	(bfd)
30	SWE 192671	Salminen Max	105,0	16	15	10	9	17	(35)	13	10	(27)	15
31	SWE 192670	Vasternas Victor	110,0	11	13	(31)	3	19	15	9	(ocs)	31	9
32	SWE 189020	Stålheim Jesper	110,0	16	15	19	15	3	(30)	5	17	(23)	20
33	FRA 192974	Bernaz Jean Baptiste	110,0	12	8	(30)	9	7	1	16	8	(dnf)	dnf
34	EST 192659	Vooremaa Argo	111,0	17	17	16	14	4	15	(21)	17	(38)	11
35	NED 189432	Bouwmeester Roelof	112,0	10	7	24	23	(25)	14	10	7	17	(34)
36	FRA 185354	Cabaz Rodrigue	112,0	13	(17)	15	17	6	16	11	2	32	(37)
37	GBR 189607	Gray James	113,0	16	15	9	(19)	16	10	10	7	30	(35)
38	USA 170817	Campbell Andrew	114,0	9	14	11	20	11	5	12	(22)	(41)	32
39	NZL 187886	Junior Joshua	122,0	15	11	2	(25)	8	5	18	24	(42)	39
40	NED 192789	Kats Serge	122,0	4	12	13	16	8	7	13	(dns)	(dnf)	dns
41	CRO 181944	Taritaš Ivan	125,0	10	25	13	16	5	(31)	19	9	(46)	28
42	ISR 176739	Botzer Yuval	125,0	11	13	22	20	10	(27)	1	18	(40)	30
43	CZE 192589	Trcka Martin	126,0	13	12	10	(29)	2	26	8	14	(44)	41
44	DEN 192679	Kjaergaard Kristian	127,0	19	19	14	(23)	8	4	23	6	34	(dns)
45	CAN 188653	Dold Christopher	128,0	3	17	15	8	23	(25)	6	23	33	(38)
46	DEN 171105	Nyholm Anders	138,0	14	24	8	6	12	(40)	22	19	(43)	33
47	GBR 188412	Belben Dan	138,0	13	13	22	12	23	(36)	9	11	35	(bfd)
48	NZL 192636	Andrews Max	139,0	21	20	6	12	6	20	(26)	14	(45)	40

Europeans Gold Fleet, Day 1 ‘OK’

Hi all,

Today I woke up again to rain. Suprise Surpise!

Ate plenty for breakfast and have learnt the art of cooking omlettes (again). Made a mess but ended up having scrambled eggs with turkey and onion and cheese mixed in instead.

Grabbed my gold band to go on the mast and was ranked 22nd at todays beginning. The wind again started light but steadily picked up to a cool south westerly at about 10 – 15 knots.

The first race I punched out with a group of boats at the pin end and was looking good for a while. Then the wind dialed back to the right side of the course and all of a sudden I was looking not so good. I waited for my best left handed option to tack on and made it to the top mark with about 10 boats behind me. Not the best form. I held on most of the race in this late 30s area and could punch up or make ground. I was in pain through my quads and my arms began to cramp alot. I think yesterdays racing did some damage as I certainly wasn’t on form at all in the first race. I finished but in the late 30s which is OK but needed a good second race.

We waited for quite a while for the next race and I got quite cold. Not the best for cramps and muscle pain and I quickly resorted to short bursts of hiking and stretching. I drank 1.5 litres of water and ate 4 energy bars. I slapped myself about a bit to psyche up through the cold and waited for the start.

The first start was a general recall and the second was a general recall black flag. Both starts I had decent starts. 5 boats were black flagged including Mike Leigh, Brad Funk and Mattias Del Solar. Some big names!

The next start we got off clean. I was 2nd up from the pin and went charging out of the start. Full extension hiking and on a mission I squeezed off the boat above me and battled on to the left hand side where there would be less current close to the shore and also better angles. After about 4 minutes of grunting I looked back over my shoulder and noticed the WHOLE fleet had fallen in to my wake (over my shoulder) and I could easily tack and cross. I also heard some swearing and looked back to see Tom Slingsby right behind me in my dirty air. I tacked and crossed the whole fleet! I got a little ambitous and went out to the right layline. It was looking good till I was about 100m away from it and all of a sudden starboard tack knocked about 20 degrees! OHHHHH NOOOO

I started footing back to cross again but barely crossed the formidable line of the fleet and lost about 5 boats that took the left corner. Terrible mistake as all I had to do was flip back over and win the left but I went charging because it felt right at the time.

On the first reach I lost 1 boat and then the run I lost about 3. Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison gunned me down but at least I was in good company!!! I held on out the back of the front group and managed to score about a 14th I think. A solid race and it made me feel far better after the first race but i will drop a little deeper into the 20s now and need a good final day tomorrow. Hopefully two good races so I can pull a drop of today’s first race.

We shall see as it all unfolds but a top 30 result here will slingshot me into the top 40s in the world which is a great achievement for a weekend warrior. This European campaign has given me so much hope so far that I am not losing talent but I am so keen to get back to full time training.

Hope everything is OK back in Sydney town and I KNOW the weather is way better there and probably warmer too. Stay tuned for the final day tomorrow.

Europeans Day 4 (End of Qualifiers), ‘Charging the superbeat’

Hi all,

Today started off pouring rain and it was a tough morning to get out of bed. Wasn’t much to look at outside and there wasn’t even much wind early on. I pulled myself out of bed by 10am and started the day with a water based protein shake, a chicken and cheese sandwich and a yogurt.

I got my bike ready to ride down to the club and pilled my soaking wet gear into my bag and took off. I noticed outside the trees were beginning to blow about a bit and the wind was picking up.

Got to the boat park and once on the waterfront I could feel it was going to be a windy day. It ended up being about 10 – 15 in the first race and about 15 – 20 knots in the second race. Big waves and between 7 – 10 boat lengths a minute current running with the wind. This meant we had EPIC upwinds and really fast\short downwinds.

The first race I positioned myself down the line from the fleet and to leeward. I noticed during the previous start that the boats toward the pin end of the start had come out of the start quite well and the fleet had knocked down on them in the long run before they tacked to cross the fleet. I had the same intentions.

I started furthest boat toward the pin and punched out with room below me to move. This was heaven as I was finally able to foot where I felt it neccesary and I really punched out ahead of the fleet to leeward. Then about 500m on starboard tack I started to knock!!! I waited a little to see how big the shift was and it was definetely persistant. I tacked and look below my sail to see the fleet falling away below me! Only one Polish guy (Karol) had managed to punch out further up the line and he tacked underneath me to leeward. Looking good!

From here I held position almost to the top mark but Karol picked a few quick shifts and I sailed through them and he rounded first. The whole race then consisted of myself and Karol out in front and a group of guys right on our hammer closing the gap (including Diego, Vasili, Nick Thomson and Martin Tricka). I held 2nd until the final run where Diego gunned me down within the last 100m before the mark. The others were closing ground fast but I held on through the reach and pushed through to finish 3rd just behind Diego!!! Great result !!!

When I finished this race I was pretty smashed. My body wasn’t in good shape as I think I went harder then normal to keep pace with the good guys. The race went for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Sore all over … Legs and abs were feeling like id been in a fight.

The second race I started with a group of boats toward the pin and again punched out but this time with some company. The cut left and cross worked again but this time to a lesser extent with me arriving at the top mark in about 5th. Good form but then lost Vasili on the downwind!!! 6th

The 2nd beat I was out of steam. Everything was acheing and my arms and hamstrings occasionally cramped. Horrible beat that took around 26 minutes but I stuck it out but lost another 2 -3 places to the full time guys. I’m just a weekend warrior remember

The final run I wheeled back in one boat but Diego was again closing on me. He tacked off the bottom mark and I went charging for the layline to the finish. We came in at opposite ends of the line and finished almost at exactly the same time. I turned to ask the race committee who got it and they just nodded their heads. I think I got him at the favoured end of the line but we are soon to see. Anyway I probably ended up either 9th or 10th which again was solid.

I floated home very slowly upwind against the current. Absolutely shattered physically and needed to stretch my legs just to keep from cramping.

Anyway the best part of course was to sail in smiling after yesterday’s debarcle and a clean entry into gold fleet and fingers crossed the top 20 again !!!

Tomorrow starts gold fleet finals. 4 races over two days with the best 48 in the regatta (almost the world bar a few missing entries training in china for the Olympics).

I’ve attached a picture from the start today. Check it out im 186663 AUS.

Europeans Day 3 ‘Light Winds’

Hi all,

Today was an overcast day and light winds. Didn’t get above 5 knots all day and mostly sat in the 2 -4 knots range.

The current was running 5 boat lengths a minute down the coast which meant you could sit on the line forever but rounding bottom marks meant being careful not to underlay by miles.

I managed to jump off to a good start in the first race and bailed out left to the first left hander to cross the fleet with a group of about 6 boats. I rounded the top mark in about 10th and then just slid backwards. I lost 3 boats on the first reach and 2 on the run … I sat in the high teens for most of the race and finished i think around 17th. Not too bad as the breeze was really light.

The second race was even lighter and I was struggling to keep the boat moving. I got rolled off the start by Gustavo and then got spat out the back of the fleet. Wasn’t too hard for him at 74kgs when im 84kgs. His acceleration was massive.

From there I was in recovery mode and never quite got in a decent position. I sat battling in the 30s for the whole race and would have finished mid 30s. Not the best result.

To make matters worse I had to sail all the way in (with bad results I forgo a tow as Tommy gets its straight after he wins and I normally jump on if im close). The current in the channel running into the yacht club saw me take 35 minutes to cover about 1km. I was moving forward at about 2 – 3 knots and the current was running out at 2 knots against me. Terrible …

Anyway just had a quick dinner and about to go out for a cycle. Need to cheer up a bit as im still in good form and ranked in the mid 20s. 2 Races left in qualifiers and im halfway through gold fleet which is an awesome result. Need to hang in there and stick to the top 30 goal in the regatta.

Day 2 Europeans ‘About time I had some decent starts!’

Hey all,

Todays aim was to try and achieve simular results to yesterday. Breeze was light for the first race at about 4 – 8 knots and the second it picked up to 12 – 16 knots from same direction. The best news is that after 2 good starts and taking my own wind lane up the first upwind I managed to place 9th and 4th !!! 4th is the best ever position I have scored in a world class racing fleet so this is a new high for me.

The first race I was actually in 4th but I was slow on the reach (Lost one Nick Thomson GBR) and made the crucial error of going down the middle of the run. A few boats including Diego (ita), Mike Leigh (Can) and Karol (Pol) scooted around me to push me back into 9th. Still solid but alot to work on in terms of reaching and playing defensive on the runs.

The second race I started on the pin just up from the pin group of boats and got off clean and squeezed off the german above me. The fleet knocked and I was in prime position to tack and cross and did so immeadiatly. Once I positioned myself infront of the fleet with Nick Thomson and a Croatian we burned off to an easy lead. There was a protest situation and I witnessed it, that moved an italian down the fleet and it looked even better for me. I held 3rd for a while but was gunned down by Vasilli from Slovenia on the run. I would’nt go quietly though and retook him on the next work. The final run we battled it out to the bottom mark and i got outside him but infront. Over the reach he went over the top of me and I recovered behind him to keep the rest of the fleet at bay and take 4th! great race.

When I got in Karol from Poland asked me to witness the protest, I did and will see the outcome tomorrow. Ofcourse this may mean I move up to 8th in the first race.

I am currently 19th in the regatta and am in an excellent mood. After a long chat to Nick Thomson on the way in he was shocked that the Australian Yachting Federation did not fund or offer formal coaching to any of the development squad. Hopefully with some good results things will change next year.

Hope your all well.

Europeans Day 1 ‘Solid’

Hey all,

Opened up the first day of Europeans today with a glorius sunny morning and a relaxed breakfast. There is around 170 competitors (mainly from Europe) and the best of each country is represented. The racing starts at 1pm and we have 2 races a day till the 19th of June.

The conditions were sunny and a medium breeze at about 12 – 18 knots running parrallel with the shore making for some nice waves on a shallow bottom.

The first race we started 2nd and got off to a clean start. I was in red fleet and it was quite a tough fleet with alot of good guys in the top 10.

I punched out off to a clean start with an open lane and looked down the fleet. Alas the fleet began to knock on starboard tack so I flipped over and started footing away on port. I waited till a few right handers hit me before flipping and footing (footing means going for speed). Once I managed to cross about half the fleet I tacked back and waited for the next right hander to take me to the top mark. I rounded in about 12th and was happy with leading the right hand side to the top mark.

The first run I broke right and got some awesome sets of waves to surf past 2 lasers downwind. I sat in around 10th and held position up the second beat. The reach I held position but the fleet caught up a little so I needed a good run. The bottom mark was hung to the right and so I managed to break right again on my own breeze stream. This allowed me to surf some nice waves out and then reach back across a few lasers to take 8th to the bottom mark. I sat in behind Matt Coutts (NZL) and held position. Great race!

The second race I decided to heed Arthur Bretts advice and watch the left for a big lift to the top mark. I started toward the pin about 5 boats up. Great start on the frontline of boats and dropped sheet and went for sheer boat speed out to the left lay. Once I reached I tacked and rode a lovely left hander all the way to the top mark. Problem was the current was running high and I overlayed the mark by a good 50m. This was poor form and made me go from top 5 to top 15 as I ducked into the starboard boats and fouled one! arghhhh had to do a 720 penalty.

The first run I made a few boats. The second beat I started to get tired! terrible form as I should be getting fitter by now. I lost a few boats again.

The reach I lost one more and then could no longer handle hemoraging places. The final run a few boats capsized and I managed to take back a few pommies and then locked in a 12th position.

A good day to start with. Also I didnt wear gloves today which I suffered for. My hands are quite torn up. I bought some double thickness washing up gloves to use tomorrow. No more hand pain.

When I got back home Mike and I geared up and went for a spin on our bikes. We rode about 30kms on average of 31kms an hour. Nice ride as the sun was going down on quiet flat belgian backstreets. We crossed into France today so I can tick that one off the map!

Europeans – Practice Race – Measurement

Hi all,

Passed measurement easily and am registered for the event.

Lovely conditions at the moment with the sun out and a nice breeze building most days. For me this event is the one to do well at. I am aiming to increase my risk a little and go for better starts as my conservatism has locked me in some good results but im often playing catch ups.

I will post a race report after each day and wish me luck in the meantime.

Regards,

Ash

Goodbye Warnemunde, Hello Amsterdam (NED) and Niewpoort (BEL)

Hi all,

Over the last few days I have been quite busy with travelling to the venue for the European Championships. Lots of time sitting in the car and my left butt cheek has fallen asleep and is actually in a bit of pain! This year the Europeans are held at Niewpoort, Belgium. They go from the 15 July to the 19th July and are considered a regatta of the highest class in terms of competition. It is a selective event meaning only the best from each country can go and countries get allocated spots. This assures quality and tough racing. Niewpoort is a seaside town and there is some tourism but suprising rustic and unattractive. I’ll speak more about this later.

After Warnemunde we packed up the car and said goodbye to Jurgen our landlord and I wrote in his guestbook in some broken German a big DANKE SCHON!. Warnemunde was a great little place and I will look forward to going back there in 2009. I have some pictures of our house attached to this blog and packing things up there.

After we left we made a few quick stops for fuel and food before a 9 hour journey to Amsterdam which was our designated stop over point for the night. Josh Chant (AUS) and I stayed with Steve De Bruin who is a friend of Josh’s who’s family is in the sail cloth business. Steve isn’t actually a sailor himself but has seen it plenty and is actually an avid cricketer. He lived down by Macquarie University (my home uni) for a few months and played grade cricket for Manly. He is Dutch and moving to the UK in a month after a quick trip to Canada with his family. A great lad and sounded like a South African (like my best mate Stevo at home). Thanks again Steve for having me on that ultra comfy couch and doing a quick lap in the pouring rain around Amsterdam Centrum (With Josh) at Midnight.

Theres a story to be had there and I actually saw Amsterdam in all its seedy glory. It was totally confirmed to me that women stand in windows and beckon for you to come to them (of course these are prostitutes). Some stunning women in there (mostly polish, ukranian and russian from my understanding) and it was actually quite sad. I couldn’t even produce eye contact with them because I felt all dodgy. I guess its their job and they make quite alot of money and its the culture. The amount of pommies there was ridiculous all I could hear were cockney accents on the streets and Steve told me about 1500 come through here a night for the soft drugs, live sex shows and prostitutes.

Anyway its something to tick off the list and of course we couldn’t do soft drugs as we are all on the verge of the Europeans and random drug testing. It is truely a town of partying and people were out in full attire on a wednesday night filling bars and cafes out the doors.

As for the architecture of the city there were some beautiful buildings and I saw the kings palace (photo attached). The apartment we stayed in was 400 years old, thats 300 years older then federated Australia!

Anyways enough about Amsterdam, in the morning we woke up and went to Decathalon which is like a super sized Rebel Sport. I bought a full cycling kit there (lyrcas) as well as arm and leg warmers, a trip computer and speedo and a bike lock for around 150 Euros. All necessary and now I am fully geared for long rides.

After the shopping spree we drove through the POURING rain to Belgium. It all the looks the same even after you cross the border from Netherlands to Belgium and the only thing of interest to me was when we arrived in Oostend on the beaches of the channel. I saw in the dunes relics of World War II and none other then German gun emplacements, anti tank guns, and artillery emplacements. I have a few short photos on the drive past but will definetely go back to explore them. This was once part of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall and was the highlight of my journey down here.

Once I arrived in Niewpoort I was to be honest shocked at the place. It reminded me so much of Poland and was underdeveloped, dreary, raining and uniform. Concrete apartment blocks stretch along the beach front and the architecture is blocky and boring. Josh, Mike and I joked are we in Belgium or Bulgaria? haha terrible.

We are staying in the hotel Regina tonight which looks like a relic of the war as well. For 100 Euros a night it is hardly its worth. (About $160 AU)

Anyways, today we get settled and tomorrow we move into our long term accomodation about 5 minutes into town. This place is quite depressing and I actually miss home alot at the moment (funny i know from an almost 23 year old) but Sydney is just a great place.

Anyway stay in touch and ill keep the blog updated through my training

Warnemunde, Final Day, ‘Wind, waves, rain and cold’

Hi all,

Woke up today to rain thundering on our tin roof and looked outside to see a windy day. That brought a smile to my face as I knew a tough day would be to my benefit.

We got down to the club and started rigging and I put on my wet gear which was still wet and SO SO cold … After struggling past that peak I felt much better and once I was on the water I had a great ride downwind to the start with some big waves.

I started today in 23rd and my aim was to break into the top 15 overall at the event. I would still be carrying a 52 points from my disasterous second day so I really needed two top ten results.

The wind varied but was a consistant 12 – 18 knots with the occasional 20 knotter coming through. The first start I started below the fleet and my intention was to sail towards a cloud bank on the left and a lift to the top mark. Unfortunately another cloudbank further right came through and the fleet started lifting over my shoulder. Disaster !!!!

I decided to put drop my nose and go for breakneck speed and managed to get away from the fleet to leeward and waited for a left handed shift to take me back to the top mark. Once I started knocking I flipped and again dropped the nose and went flat out down the left layline. I managed to lead the left side and came about 17th around the top mark. It was a tough beat and I was fighting knocking shifts and they had lifts and I needed to kick myself to get moving. The first reach I ran over two Germans and left them in my wake but right behind me was John Pierre Baptiste (FRANCE olympic team 2008) who was chasing hard.

Down the first run I ran low with the waves and waited for the breeze to fill in harder to broad reach back across the front of some more Germans and a Ukranian. Success! caught 3 boats on the run and was suddenly in 12th place.

The next beat I rounded the mark and quickly tacked off out to a cloudbank on the left and MADE sure there was nothing on the right. It worked out this time and I got a few british guys stuck in the middle and moved up to 10th around the top mark.

The next run was spectacular and I ran high initially with the breeze and then jetted down the face of the waves running to the right of the mark. I dropped in front of an Israeli and a German and then held position to take an 8th place finish! solid comeback and very happy with this result.

While waiting for the second race to begin I started cramping a bit and soon ate two muesli bars and drank 1.5 litres of water. I also drank liquid powerbar chocolate flavoured carbs (basically liquid sugar), it was horrible but did the trick.

The second race I started a little more conservatively about 20 boats up from the pin and had the full intention of jetting out to punch out with boatspeed. The breeze did the unthinkable and pushed hard left and I went block to block in 18 knots at full extension hiking. This provided with the correct body movement gives awesome height and so I squeezed off the boats above me and forced a few to tack off early.

Again I reached the top mark in about 16th and again I was playing comebacks due to the adverse shifts and HUGE effects of cloudbanks and rain squalls at Warnemunde. Again I reached over an Aussy and a Pommie to move up a few places. The next run again I took a high line to drop in near the mark on the big waves and again it worked. I was battling it out with John Baptiste again around 10 – 12th and the second beat turned out to be quite a tough one with a right hand cloudbank lifting the top 10 away from me leaving me in 11th and about 100m behind on the run.

The final run the wind picked up to around 15 – 18 knots constant and again I went high but dropped in a little earlier to try to engage the German guy in 10th. I moved up behind him and sucked out his wind momentarily before diving underneath and riding some waves to leeward. When I ran out of waves I threw the boat up into a broad reach along the back face of some waves and jetted in front of him! back in 10th!!!

The final reach I burnt away and closed on John Baptiste again and ended up with him splitting left on the final work. He came back around 75% of the final beat on port and just sailed across me to windward and SLAM DUNKED me (tacked on me). He completely stole my wind and hurt my chances of reaching the finish before him.

In a final gesture of definance I sheeted in block to block and went from behind to leeward to above and just off his shoulder within about a 1 minute and watched him look back and start trying harder. He just beat me to the finish and hung his head as his two races today had lost him the regatta to Mike Leigh (Canada). Tough luck but such is racing.

The top 3 ended up as, Mike 1st, JP 2nd and Schlonski a local german hero 3rd. I managed to finish up with an 8th and a 10th and ended up 12th overall!!! Epic comeback and carrying 52 points for one race, I am very happy with the result and now am going into preparation for the European Championships.

Tonight we pack the boats and tomorrow we drive to Amsterdam to stay the night before driving on to Belgium the next day.

On another note thanks to the NSW Laser Association for posting my blog details and thanks to all my loyal readers. It will be a bit slow over the next week as mostly cycling, gym and a bit of on water training for the Europeans. I’m trying to lose some weight and felt that lack of energy from eating about 33% less food has effected my wind sailing. I’m down to 83kgs now and it seems like a mission for every kilo.

Anyway take care all and thanks for reading. 2 Regattas down and one to go!

Warnemunde Day 3 ‘Comeback Special’

Hi all,

An interesting day at Warnemunde regatta with extreme wind angle changes leading to many restarts.

The first race got off OK in about 6 – 10 knots and I managed to have a decent start and punch out with the top 15 to come into the mark in a decent position (about 14th). I was determined to stay with the boys in front and managed a no loss policy for the first 50% of the race. The second loop I went into an agressive stance and started to use my boatspeed to control other boats up the work. I managed to get to 10th on the second upwind. The downwind I was holding my own to the last 200m. I watched how the waves ran diagonally across my path to the right and ran high before rolling down their faces to the mark. I took 4 boats!

Running 6th I held position to the final work to the finish and then the british guy in front of me started going defensive and tacking infront and above to steal my wind. Kevin Lim (Malaysian Olympian and my training partner from home) was very close behind and after I flipped out a couple of times he caught up and tacked inside me squeezing me off just before the finish and took 6th! i wanted to kill the pommie and i will next time. I think I need to become more ruthless with the tacking ontop as it really slows down the opposition and hurt me today.

Anyway I finished that race in 7th which was quite respectable.

The second race was plagued by restarts, wind shifts and course changes. We finally got off after wait for it 7 starts and 7 boats disqualified from black flags. After 6 hours on the water we started up the first beat and I was in OK shape. Running about 20th I started middle left and went for speed. Then the unthinkable, the wind shifted progressively right favouring the other side with an almost 90- degree shift !!! disaster for the guys on the left and luckily I was in the middle and rounded the top mark in around 30th. I was halfway down the run before the final boat rounded the top so going left really hurt.

Anyway to my suprise and happiness, the RC (Race Committee) abandoned the race before the bottom mark!!! the guys at the back AKA. Joshy cheered and the guys at the front groaned. Alot of complaints but we went in to see the score board.

With my 7th I have moved up to 23rd over all and gained some 11 places today!!! great comeback and tomorrow I will try break back into the top 15.

Final day tomorrow and possibly 3 races but unlikely with a finishing time of 2pm cutoff before last race is started.