Day 4 and final day ‘Frustration, mistakes and pulling it all together’

Hi all,

Day 4 ended with me angry and in need of a rest. Day4 we stayed on the water for near 7 hours for two short course races. It was almost 40 degrees celsius and I felt massively dehydrated despite drinking 3.5 litres of gatorade and water.

The first race went astray when the breeze shifted out to the corners and I was a little too central. It was my own fault as I should have just been patient and taken a little more knocking before getting a lift angle again in PRESSURE !!!

I finished 8th and was highly concerned as I had fallen behind Mike Leigh by 2 points overall. I had lost my lead!!!

The second race we waited till 530pm before we finally got off as the seabreeze came in. I had a good start and OK first beat and was in 4th for most of the race. Mike Leigh (CAN) covered me ruthlessly downwind throughout the race and many boats caught up and I fell to 5th. On the reach I was under huge pressure from him and many boats behind and started working the boat really hard … I got my first yellow flag in about 5 regattas !!! I fell  back to 9th and never recovered to see Mike finish 4th …

Mike ended the day 5 points in front of me so it was a complete turn around from yesterday. He sailed well and so consistantly.

The other issue was that Fredrik and Ryan Hannan were closing on me after some solid results and they were respectively 3 and 5 points away !!!

Pressure was on …

The final day I woke up at 630am to a pumping easterly and a 40 degree day !!! It is so HOT !!! Luckily the house we are staying in has air conditioning …

After a hearty breakfast of chicken and mushroom ravioli I rode down to the sailing club (about 10kms away so a great warm up) and geared up. I got on the water about 55 mins before the race and did some line ups with other fast guys and worked out that the left was predominant in the morning breeze.

I planned to start on the pin and was about 3 up from the pin. I had a great start and rolled out to a solid position on the race course rounding the top mark in 4th right behind Mike Leigh. I knew today if I was to beat Mike I would need to keep him behind me. I had a solid run by going low and made it into 2nd behind Oliver Tweedle (GBR). Christoph and Mike were pressing closely behind so it was still tight. When Mike tacked off I tacked to loose cover and waited for a knock to come back. We seemed to think alike and we both tacked on the same shift so I loosely covered Mike again. The lift angle took me just past Oliver and I managed to take the lead.

The reach across I kept Oli behind me and then the downwind I made a significant gain and got away from him and Christoph Bottoni (SUI) who were VERY close behind. I then reached down and loosely covered the other guys to take the bullet (1st) for race number 10 !!! awesome comeback !!!

The final race was simular to the 10th race which we had just completed. The wind was slightly less but still favouring the left more then the right but OCCASIONALLY right handers would come down.

I started just down from boat on a high starboard lift tack and punched out with Fredrik and Tom Burton trying to roll me. I squeezed them off by going into footing mode and jerking it up high once I had speed on the flatter water. I waited till just before the layline before flipping over and working the boat really hard to take 1st around the top mark !!!

The first run I stablised my lead and then went into conservative mode. I kept a close eye on Mike who went a little further left so I tacked out to loose cover him as I needed him behind me. I knew if I won this race and he was behind me I would win the Asia Pacifics by a few points due to a bigger drop on my behalf (9 points).

I consolidated and rounded the top mark with Oli about 15 seconds behind me and Mike right behind him. I then got a few nice gusts to burn away on the reach and increase my lead. I felt comfortable !!!

As I was going down the run I would have had a 20 second lead and the jury came burning right upto me. I thought I was going to get a flag but couldn’t understand why? They pulled up about 20m away and I freaked out and went still hahaha. I didn’t get a flag and slowly got back into technique. I got around the bottom mark and was halfway to the finish before they rounded! I crossed the line and with a quick fist pump VICTORY at the Asia Pacifics !!!

The final results turned out like this,

Overall Results Laser Standard

Pl	Name	Sail Num	Bow Num	Club /Cty	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total Points	Net Points
1	BRUNNING, Ashley	193100	304	NSW	1	2	1	1	8	1	(13)	8	(9)	1	1	46	24
2	LEIGH, Michael	188818	336	CAN	(5)	1	4	2	4	3	5	1	(6)	4	3	38	27
3	WESTMAN, Fredrik	194927	385	FIN	4	(6)	3	4	5	6	(12)	3	3	5	4	55	37
4	HANNAN, Ryan	193418	338	WA	6	5	8	(10)	2	5	4	5	2	6	(9)	62	43
5	TWEDDELL, Oliver	186644	383	GBR	3	4	9	3	3	(12)	10	(18)	10	2	2	76	46
6	BOTTONI, Christoph	194926	303	SUI	2	8	6	9	1	11	(14)	(17)	1	3	7	79	48
7	BURTON, Thomas	193403	306	NSW	7	7	2	5	(9)	9	1	6	5	(12)	6	69	48	Youth
8	LLOYD, Ashley	183009	330	Qld	(17)	3	7	8	11	10	3	(15)	4	7	5	90	58
9	HUGHES, Todd	190363	337	SA	9	9	5	7	12	8	7	7	12	(13)	(23) DSQ	112	76
10	SCHOENHOFF, Thor	193380	335	WA	8	12	(16)	11	7	14	2	9	(15)	10	11	115	84

This was a great regatta and I enjoyed sailing on the river and found it far more challenging then Fremantle. This was far more tactical and shifts and pressure played a huge part in winning races. Observation was everything.

Big thanks to all the competitors and race committee. Also my supporters and coaches\mentors. Erik Stibbe was great at this regatta and needs a thanks!

This will be the last regatta post for a while as I head back to work and prepare for the European Summer season through June 2009.

Day 2 and 3 Asia Pacific Championships ‘Ups and downs’

Overall Results Laser Standard

Pl	Name	Sail Num	Bow Num	Club /Cty	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total Points	Net Points
1	BRUNNING, Ashley	193100	304	NSW	1	2	1	1	8	1	(14)					28	14
2	LEIGH, Michael	188818	336	CAN	(5)	1	4	2	4	3	5					24	19
3	WESTMAN, Fredrik	194927	385	FIN	4	6	3	4	5	6	(13)					41	28
4	HANNAN, Ryan	193418	338	WA	6	5	8	(10)	2	5	4					40	30
5	BURTON, Thomas	193403	306	NSW	7	7	2	5	(9)	9	1					40	31

Day 2 was breezy. It got stronger and stronger. It was initially tending right on the upwinds and I took advantage of that to win race 3 and 4 . Race 5 I got caught out when the breeze clocked left and I just missed the breeze line as I was too far right. I finished 8th which was OK but disappointing.

Day 3 I woke up at 6:30am for the first 9am start of the regatta. Yes 9am … it was so hard to get up as normally I wake up then let alone start a race haha !!!

The breeze was shifting right to left but it was readable and I dealt with it well. I started on pin with Mike Leigh and punched out to an early lead. I barely stayed in front throughout the ups and downs in pressure, but I held to win the race 6 !!!

Race 7 was even more extreme in terms of windshifts and pressure differences. I started on the pin with Mike and it was looking OK for a while but then the breeze went HARD right. Mike bailed out and I hung in there hoping for the pressure to fill back in on the left as it had done every upwind.

It never came back … I was buried … I managed to make a slight comeback and came 14th … disaster …

Good news is after today we get a drop and I am still winning by 5 points. Time to hang in there !!!

Results and link to results

Results to date

http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/event/20346/overall_1_1.html

Asia Pacific’s Laser Championship Website

http://www.asiapacifics2009.laserwa.asn.au/?id=

Overall Results Laser Standard

Pl	Name	Sail Num	Bow Num	Club /Cty	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total Points	Net Points
1	BRUNNING, Ashley	193100	304	NSW	1	2										3	3
2	LEIGH, Michael	188818	336	CAN	5	1										6	6
3	TWEDDELL, Oliver	186644	383	VIC	3	4										7	7
4	BOTTONI, Christoph	194926	303	SUI	2	8										10	10
5	WESTMAN, Fredrik	194927	385	FIN	4	6										10	10

Asia Pacific Laser Championships Day 1 ‘Sterling Start :)’

Hi all. (start action, ash brunning 193100)

Today I started the day in slow mode. I woke up at 9am to my beautiful girlfriends voice. She wished me a good day and said goodbye. I ate lots of Ravioli and enjoyed it and had a bowl of cereal. It didn’t look to windy but I thought I would load up with carbs just in case.

I cycled down to the club with Joshy and launched an hour before the racing and sailed down to the start. The wind was shifting about and it looked like it could go either left or right. The nature of the river was that near the top mark the river went right and the breeze followed the river meaning that keeping an eye on the right was very important.

The first race I decided to stay on the boat end as the pressure was hanging right. I was the nearest boat to the RC boat and punched out to a good lead early on. Fredrik was going quick and he held out to leeward of me with Tom Burton. I tacked on a 10 degree knock and managed to get bow out on Fredrik and tacked on the layline to take the lead.

The first run tom burton passed me by going low in the pressure so I reengaged with the knowledge that I would be able to bring him back to 2nd on the beat. The second beat I went to the left and played each shift to take a big left hander and a 100m lead. For the rest of the race I never looked back due to some good observation. It became clear the value of keeping my head out of the boat and playing shifts.

The second race I started up near the boat again. I was a little slow off the start and ended up with alot of boats going fast to leeward. The first big knock I tacked off and waited again for a time to reengage with the fleet. I ended up doing OK and rounded in about 6th. The first run I didnt go deep enough and lost a boat and fell back to 7th. I tacked off the bottom mark and waited for a good left hander and came back at the fleet with gusto !!! a swift comeback ensued as I picked 3 shifts in a row and managed to get back to 4th. The run I lost a boat again as someone went right (Oliver Tweddle) and it paid. The final work was going to be epic.

I tacked on the first knock and Oliver followed. I squeezed him off and forced him to tack and then got a huge knock and tacked to cross Ryan Hannan. All of a sudden I was in 3rd in a left hander and they were all under me. Mike Leigh was directly in front and Ashley Lloyd having the race of his life was holding 2nd. I gunned him down on the reach and went after Mike for the last beat. He was about 25m in front for the finish and had a solid race. A 2nd not so bad as I ended the day on 3 points and leading the regatta !!! just cycled home and ate some ravioli … i love ravioli

Stay tuned for tomorrow.

Training before Asia Pacifics

(Above is a picture of Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, Perth)

Hi again,

After a relatively relaxed week I am preparing for the Asia Pacifics. Only 2 gym sessions and 3 rides in 5 days!!! gym made me pretty sore. Still in recovery today haha!

Rode down to Freshwater Sailing Club and unpacked my boat. Got it together and went out for about 1.5 hours on the river.

The river is very different. Not much in the way of waves and the water is quite dirty and salty. There is much more boat traffic in the harbour. Some very surfable waves !!! another thing I took notice on was that the wind is much more land effected and obviously therefore far more shifty. It doesn’t really have a pattern and there are wind ‘holes’ all over the bay in which we are to sail in. It will be very different to the even and strong breeze of Fremantle and I look forward to a more tactical challenge.

The racing itself starts on Monday but tomorrow is registration and i’m not sure but it could be measurement too. Should be a breeze if there is measurement as we only did it a week ago for the nationals.

The thing about Perth is that everyone is pretty relaxed and I love that. It is just so hot here that people don’t spend too much time out in the sun and our home is my favorite place to be with ducted air conditioning and fans. The problem with Perth is that it is so far away from the East Coast that we have had alot of trouble attracting big fleets to the Asia Pacifics this year with only 55 entries across all 3 laser types (4.7, radial and full).

The racing at the top of the full rigs will be interesting with Mike Leigh arriving and we still have a few internationals including Christoph Bottoni. The Aussies are looking good too with local Ryan Hannan who sailed very well on his home turf at the nationals.

Will be a great event so stay tuned !!!

The day after …

I woke up this morning with a smile and knowing I can rest was a great feeling. I have now qualified for the world titles in Canada with flying colors and that will be my next major event to lead into and train hard for.

A lot of hard work went into preparing for this championships and I rolled out a huge fitness program to build my strength and endurance levels, bought new equipment and had some excellent training and coaching on the lead up.

Michael Blackburn left me a comment yesterday to say congratulations and that i’ll have to do it again and more. I realized that this is a stepping stone in the class and i’ll have to prove myself again and again and the work and dedication levels will only get harder and there will be more to sacrifice.

This is the plight of high level competitive laser sailing. There is not much money in the sport (unless you live in the UK and can claim part of their massive Olympic sailing fund!) and it is truely a hard class to get to the top of. The thing is that all this is true but I love it all. The challenge is immense and it taxes the mind and body as the class is so physical and you must still be smart tactically and manage a campaign on a shoe string. To be the best in this class like Blackburn or Slingsby is very tough but it is a path and journey I would like to walk down and take all the hits and ups and downs along the way.

Keep following my summer campaign as I write about the Asia Pacifics in a few days.

Cheers and wishing you all the best for a new year!

National Titles final day ‘NATIONAL CHAMPION’

Hi all, VICTORY AT LAST

Home | Standard | Radial Qualifying | Radial Gold | Radial Silver | 4.7

Pl	Name	Sail Num	Bow Num	Club /Cty	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total Points	Net Points
1	BRUNNING, Ashley	193100	304	NSW	1	2	1	3	3	(7)	(7)	4	3	3	1	4	39	25
2	DEL SOLAR, Matias	161167	364	CHI	4	(6)	(7)	1	2	3	6	1	4	2	2	1	39	26
3	WESTMAN, Fredrik	194927	342	FIN	(9)	1	2	4	4	4	5	2	2	1	3	(9)	46	28
4	HANNAN, Ryan	188613	321	WA	5	4	8	5	7	6	4	3	(13)	7	(15)	7	84	56
5	BURMAN, James	191644	305	NSW	2	3	(41) BFD	2	12	10	1	5	1	(41) DNF	20	10	148	66

Great news with two solid results down to the wire today I won the Australian National Titles in Fremantle !!!

The first race I took home a ‘bullet’ (1st) and the 2nd race I just needed to beat both Matias and Fredrik to win the whole event. If Matias won I needed a 4th at worst and that is exactly what unfolded. I started 1\3 from the pin end of the line and squeezed Fredrik off above me to force him to tack off and fall out of the game for regatta honours. Matias took a steady lead and I rounded the top mark in 10th !!! I needed 6 places !!! I managed to catch 2 on the first downwind, 3 on the 2nd upwind and 1 on the final downwind to hold onto 4th and beat Matias by 1 point overall to take the whole regatta !!!

This is a huge moment for me and is the first international regatta I have won and also the first time I have won an Australian Championships. There are many people to thank.

Castle Family (for giving me awesome free accom in Perth for the event)

Erik Stibbe and NSWIS – for coaching me closely and working out points to win today. Big help.

Joshy and Mike for being good buddies and training partners here and in Europe.

Brett Beyer – for the countless hours spent helping me improve, being a good mate and importantly a mentor for the last 5 years. I really look up to this guy and he is an awesome bloke.

Mum and Dad for being supportive this year

Apple my girlfriend for supporting me when i’m away and understanding this is my passion and will be for a long time to come she’s great.

ASDS – AUSTRALIAN SAILING TEAM DEVELOPMENT SQUAD – For their continuing support. We had a recent camp up in Hamilton Island that really improved my sailing and I saw the level of professionalism on the AST and knew that I needed to work hard if I wanted to get there. Thanks to the coaches there including Tom Slingsby and Adrian Finglas.

Fremantle SC Race Committee, Volunteers and Jury. Also obviously the competitors. Was a great event between Matias and Fredrik and I and will be remembered as an excellent learning curve event.

Now to relax and take a small break as in a weeks time I start the Asia Pacific Championships and take on Mike Leigh and the same Aussies as this event just finished.

Day 3,4,5 of National Titles ‘Hold ground and don’t give an inch’

By the end of day 2 I had taken quite a nice little lead on the regatta. Day 3 was quite breezy again and I managed a 3rd and a 7th. The 7th involved me having a messy start and playing come backs but the 3rd was OK.

Day 4 was a building gradient breeze and turned out to be a nightmare. I had a great start down near the boat and rounded in 2nd to NOSEDIVE through the back of a big wave. My Lasers nose went past the mast into the wave and flipped sending me with it. I recovered OK and managed to get back to 7th but was disappointed with what should have been a strong day for me.

We only had one race on day four as the breeze climbed above 25 knots and the sea got rough. The radials and 4.7s got canceled.

Day 5 which was today was a spectacular morning. The breeze turned to a seabreeze and it felt like another smoking hot and windy day in Fremantle, WA. I went out an hour before and had spoken to Brett Beyer and Erik Stibbe earlier that day about changing starting tactics to be more aggressive and pin start. All 3 races I pin started and had awesome starts.

The first race I chased Matias Del Solar from Chile around the course but managed to catch an epic stand of weed on my rudder board and fell from 2nd to 4th on one downwind with a 100m lead around the mark … SO FRUSTRATING !!! I couldn’t get it off !!! So slow.

I did better in the next two races by having good starts and keeping my boards extra clean. I felt very weak in the boat today and have had bad stomach problems for a few days and I think the constant need to go to the toliet has dehydrated me massively. I’m very light at only 82kgs compared to my normal 84-86 range. I consumed 3.5 litres of cordial and water and still got massive cramps in my legs and arms. I had a few at Sail Melbourne but they were minor compared to today’s cramps. I started getting them on the same day I had tummy problems … hmmm need to see a chemist and get something to plug me up !!! hahaha

Anyway the good news is the results to date mean that before tomorrow I have already won the Australian Nationals as no Australian can physically beat me on points even if they won both races. Tomorrow will be a race against the internationals Fredrik Westmann (FIN) and Matias Del Solar (CHI). Both very good and older veterans of the Laser Circuit and Matias fresh off winning Sail Melbourne.

We are separated by 2 points a piece. Fredrik is winning on 25 points, me 2nd on 27 points and matias 3rd on 29 points. Tomorrow will be an interesting day and i’m sure there will be some match racing up the front at some stages even if it means I engage to win the regatta overall (internationals and Australians).

Time to get some sleep as tomorrow will be a big day and its a 930am start with 2 races scheduled.

Wish me luck and keep an eye on the blog. Hopefully I will write with my first ever regatta win on an international level tomorrow !!! keep posted