Final 2 days – Delta Lloyd … Ups and Downs with a solid finish

Hi all,

First day of gold fleet finals was a light and shifty day. One of those days where you have to pick the side and commit. Failure lead to being slaughtered. More of less this occured for the first 2 races. I committed to a side and managed to pick it wrong on both first beats leading to rounding the top mark with barely 10 boats behind me. I made some comebacks and in the final race managed an early 20’s result.

The wind was light and there was a residual chop around massively favouring the light sailors who seemed to glide over the top of the waves effortlessly while I was permanently engaging with body weight movement to try and bash through or just get onto a wave.

A tough day … one I would happily not relive. I ended the day on 31st overall and was pretty despondant. I know that light wind and chop is something I almost never train in. I need to improve my conditions range and that is why I am here in Europe.

Today we got out for a 1030am start. The breeze was 5 – 8 knots but more 5 … it was much more steady and from the sea. I picked the right side after seeing some yachts high up on starboard tack and made an exec decision to start on boat end. I was one up from boat on the start and reached down to a great start albeit second row to tack off and split right. I kept coming back at the fleet on right handers and managed to round the top mark in 7th. By the end of the reach because i went low and it was tight (never go low on a tight reach!!! i forgot the maxim), i was 11th. By the end of the run I went from 11th to 18th … down down down … the other boats sailed wider angles out on the sides and came back in to get me at the bottom.

Good news is I kept an eye on the right and again noticed higher pressure and good angles from another fleet racing nearby. I split out from the fleet to the right and started to knock … EUREKA! !! tack and cross !!! I rounded the mark in 7th and lost 2 boats on the run to finish 9th. The reason this occured was because Luke Ramsey tried to cut me off at the mark without buoy room and hit me and then marc de hass jumped in the gap and crudely hit my boat and ran me over after I explicitly told him moments before not to go in there. Classic De Hass … The guy never learns and doesn’t believe in the racing rules, he’s playing by his rules dodgem boats.

Anyway 9th was a solid result but only picked me up 1 place overall which was disappointing. Everyone said 30th was pretty good for my warm up regatta in Europe and my first time in Holland. The conditions varied and while i feel much more competitive in medium winds then last time I was here the lighter winds I still need work particularly downwind. I want to get right up amongst it and in Holland it looked that way a few times but mistakes like my BFD on a 4th and capsizing on the first day in high positions lead to the end result which is OK but not great.

All on the path to greater things though. So chin up have some recovery time and do this Euro Cup in Denmark before heading on to Kiel for my next world cup event.

Keep in touch.

Race Day 3 – Delta Lloyd Regatta – ‘Charging but running out of puff’

Hey all,

Starting today on 31st I am now 28th overall and made a slight improvement on yesterday.

Race 1 was about 5 – 8 knots and was shifting left. I started 1\3 up from the pin end in a nice gap. I managed to charge out off the line and hold my lane clean out to the left. I tacked a few shifts back toward the middle but ended on a big lifted tack on left lay and managed to round the top mark in 3rd.

The downwind was sweet, I managed to bear away around the mark and there was a break in the fleet that gave me a gust to push me out to first. I got a few good waves in a row and seperated from the fleet to round the bottom in 1st !!! Up the 2nd beat I just held ground and kept an eye on the fleet. I positioned to keep everyone behind and it worked swell.

The final run went smoothly and the reach to the finish I stayed dead still with not one but THREE jury boats watching closely. Crossed the line and won my first ever World Cup Race in Europe.

Awesome.

Race 2 went much the same but I got off the pace downwind and got into a bit of a duel with Brad Funk from USA on the final run to the finish. Lesson learned don’t duel with other boats closeby, went from 6th to 9th. Looks like I got a 9th so solid result.

Race 3 started very quickly after race 2 and I was out of puff. I put everything into the first two races and ran out of energy. I ran out of food last night at home and couldn’t shop as we got off the water at 9pm (shops close here at 830pm). This morning the shops opened at 9am and I was in the boat park by 10am. I had one banana, 2 litres of sports drink to take with me and only got in a bowl of cereal for breakfast. No good, should have made more of an effort to get nutrition right.

End result – 25th in the final race and a big slide back to 28th overall … arghhhhh … so the day started well but went downhill.

Key things to learn -

Stay out of trouble and duels

Eat more food and thus be able to hike for longer

Speed equals ability to make beneficial tactical decisions

Stop overlaying

Looks like I enter gold fleet at 28th but am a very short 8 points behind the top 20. My aim is to break into the top 20 here and on a mission to get it done in the finals.

Race Day 2 – Delta Lloyd Regatta – ‘That sinking feeling’

Hi all,

After a 8 hour session on the water today we managed to get in 3 races. The wind was light between 4 – 10 knots and shifting around quite a bit.

First Race I got off to a great start on the pin and the fleet knocked in on my shoulder. I tacked to cross and consolidated back in front of the fleet. Perfect position with only 2 boats to the left looking better. I rounded the top mark in 2nd and held ground as Goodie gunned me down I fell back to 4th.

From here I held position between goodie and tonci and victor to round the top mark again in 4th. By the finish I had managed to hold onto 5th and a solid start to the day.

Next race after a recall and black flags up on the board I got nervous and started more midline so I could see where I was and not engage with a group to push me over. Bad move. Should have stayed closer up to the boat end as they hooked off and I was left chasing rounding about mid fleet (mid 20s). I managed to take boats back on every leg to finish 8th !!! awesome comeback.

Final race again nervous from BFDs on board (they got 10), I had a great position but then dropped into the boat below me at the last second to avoid being bow out. Disaster as I got spat out and rounded top mark in 40th. I chipped away at the fleet but to nowhere near the effectiveness of race 2. I managed to get back to 24th which was OK in lighter conditions. I found that tacking on 10 – 15 knocks consistently helped me chip away up the middle but the pressure was out to the sides and there was always boats in front of me … alas

So pretty good day !!! light wind has never been my forte and I sailed up there with the best of them. Blackers towed me in and I unrigged and walked in home at 9:10 pm !!!

But then as the title suggests …. That ’sinking feeling’ set in as I walked in the door …….. the guys I was staying with said hey did you know you got a BFD ? (Black Flag – Disqualification) … i thought they were messing about but they weren’t seems I got BFD in my best result of the regatta … I’m sure I wasn’t bow out and there was guys in front to leeward so I dont get it … Took it on the chin pretty hard … Even Blackers who is normally non chalent about such things said he was surprised by that and was watching closely behind …

Anyway with my 5th gone I went from early teens overall as I was hoping and fell to 31st overall. No buffer to play with so all systems go now on getting some solid results in tomorrow’s final qualifying 3 race series. On the road to gold fleet and an epic comeback to the top 20 !!!

Wish me luck …

Race Day 1 – Delta Lloyd Regatta – ‘So Cold it hurts’

Welcome back.

Race day 1 today in Holland started with some pancakes, OJ and a few sandwiches and a banana. I was told it was going to be windy today and it was a chilly 11 degrees outside which didn’t bode well for an Australian who is virgin to ‘true cold’.

The wind was coming from the shore and the races were huge! over an hour. Pretty hardcore with the shallow water making steep waves so close together. I’m used to pushing through ’spaced’ chop upwind but downwind it was so hard to keep the nose up.

The wind varied between 18 – 30 knots with big gusts coming down from the shore. There were two fleets – gold and blue with about 60 boats in each. Gold fleet definitely had more big names and was tougher in the front few. What can you do though? power on …

First race I charged out from the pin and waited for the knock. Worked OK and rounded the top mark in about 12th. The wind was only 20 knots at this time so I managed to make some solid gains downwind as the water was a little flatter. Rounded the bottom mark in 10th and then went for the second beat. Guys around me were Marc De Hass (NED), Jean Pierre (FRA) and Milan (CRO).

We all headed out to the right and waited for the knock and tacked in sync. I went a bit further left then them and hooked to round the top mark in 8th. All the while the pressure was increasing and we were seeing bigger sets of waves only a short distance apart and more importantly 25 – 30 knot gusts.

As I went downwind I was looking OK but then put the nose clean through the back of a wave filling my cockpit entirely. I rounded up to kick it out and quickly recovered. About half way down the run I saw a big set of waves moving slowing in front of me and I was going quick by the lee. I couldn’t decide what to do and plowed right through the back wave of the set to cartwheel and capsize hard … disaster … even worse the mast got stuck in the mud and a few guys passed by … I think I finished about 15th once I got it up and reached to the finish. Disappointed but I have never sailed in these conditions downwind coming from deeper waters in Australia and all other venues. I need to get used to the close and steep waves downwind!

Second race was a carbon copy of the first except that I rounded the top mark in 5th and lost 4 boats by the bottom mark as again I couldn’t keep the nose out of the back of waves even after depowering the rig and taking more extreme angles. So frustrating, all my hard hiking upwind lost on the downwinds. Again I charged up the second beat to round in 7th but capsized and fell back to like 11th …

As there were only 2 fleets today the results were OK – GOOD but I was disappointed that I could show myself to the front and watch it all roll away downwind with stupid errors (although almost everyone capsized today). These results would put me in the early 20’s overall which is solid but it could have been the mid teens with a little more practice in this wave conditions. It’s funny to say could have been and its cliche but I’ll get there. As I said in my quick media release today, my first time in Holland so lots to learn and just keep doing my best.

Third race called off and blue fleet didn’t even get in a second race. Will be a few OCS’s that could equal out the scores. Too windy I guess and I got lucky enough to tow home with Michael Blackburn and Tom and I have never been so cold in my life. I wore 2 wetsuits today … to no avail … welcome to Europe in May … still DAMN COLD haha

Stay tuned for tomorrow, i’m off to Blackers bungalow to ask him how to keep the boat nose up and on good angles in more extreme wind, close steep waves conditions DOWNWIND!!!

Cheers!

Training continues – Ups and downs

Hiking Hard

Hi all, been training for 5 days straight now. First three days we had 8 + knots and short sharp chop. I was very competitive and managed to stay up in the top group consistently top 3. We did lots of starts and gate starts and medium sized racing. The fleet grew and grew to include more and more lasers and better quality.

On day 4 I put up my brand new sail. I performed horribly and was way overfocused on getting the sail shape correct. It was doing my head in as I had no height or speed. The sail was overly flat and needed some stretching on a really short leech (back of the sail). A flat sail doesn’t create much forward drive and it just felt horrible. I switched back to my nationals\asia pacifics sail for today and the regatta.

Today I felt confident again with my old rig back up and was sailing competitively again. It was very light early and stuck somewhere between 2 – 6 knots. Was a little off the pace downwind in the more marginal (2 – 4 knots) stuff. Finding it hard to get the boat going when rounding the top mark as all the turbulence from other boats rounding slows me up in lighter stuff. Bit windier and its all good. Couldn’t keep up with the good\lighter guys who just got onto waves I couldn’t catch.

Tomorrow is registration day and recovery day (after 5 days on training). On the 27th the regatta starts and there are over 150 entries in Laser Mens!!! Forecast is for some medium to strong winds. It’s my first time in Holland so hopefully I can pull a good result in this world cup event !!!

Training Day 1

Conditions – 5 – 10 knots increasing to a gusty 10-15 knots. From the land. Light chop.

Went out with Tom Burton, Rutger and 2 Canadians.

Blackers was out coaching.

Upwind – Had great speed and height comparable to the other guys, initially had too much outhaul and my boat was hooking a little. Blackers told me to try a little flatter foot and I gained alot more forward drive. Due to the gusty nature of the course there was definitely times to be in high and low mode. That meant changing gears consistently. The new boat performed superbly and was a great feeling.

Downwind – Quick again comparably but Blackers felt I had not as much feel. Tried the no tiller drill and failed dismally … will have to work on that! also tried tying off my mainsheet and did OK but felt like a stiff as couldn’t sheet to support steering movements. Long of the short of it, my steering movements are too quick and over exagerated leading to ‘jerky’ like movements.

Will think about these things and work on them moving forward. Probably a good thing to record them down and think about them.

Arrival in Holland !!! Why won’t anyone accept 500 Euro notes?!

The Sailing Club, 2 min walk from our accomodation

The 'bungalows' the Australian team stay in

Hi all, welcome back !!! I have just arrived in Holland yesterday and will now update my blog at every opputunity so those at home can keep in touch with results, thoughts and ideas during training and racing.

I flew into Holland yesterday and arrived at Schipol Airport (Amsterdam) at 7am. Tom Burton (another ASDS sailor and probably ranked 3rd Australian after a great aussy season) was with me and we waited for Michael Blackburn to arrive at 945am. He arrived but was delayed after a baggage screw up and we all barely piled into Tom Slingsby Audi A4 (my bad A6) and headed off to Rotterdam to unpack the container.

We grabbed Blacker’s coach boat and my laser and headed up to Medemblik to drop them off and get into our accommodation. In true dutch style the accom was very clean but very minimalist expecting you to bring even toliet paper and washing liquids and soap and to pay for internet … oh well … its only a 5 minute jog from the club so happy days.

The thing that has annoyed me so far is the dutch failure to accept my 500 Euro notes. When i finished in China I was paid in 500 Euro notes and thats great. Here was I thinking sweet these are great. I rock up in Holland and noone will accept my 500 Euro note. Supermarket, Bank (because im not a customer), shops, airport bank … They all told me to go to a bureau de change so I went and they were like 4% commission and I was like thats like $40 on a 500 euro change … what the fuck … How bout no you dutch stingers … it is illegal to not accept the note due to the currencies legal tender and I dont understand why they so openly flaunt the law and say no we dont accept ‘that’ here. Its like its cursed and everyone gives me funny looks … sigh enough rant but you can see I have a problem as that is how i need to pay for food, accom, drinks, entries etc here.

Anyway, this morning I woke up at 610am and took a 30 min jog through swarms of bugs on the water front here (which is a huge freshwater lake). I then proceeded to put stickers for the ASDS and Australian Sports Commission on my boat which was all good. Proud to represent my country! After jogging home I found it was a public holiday in the Netherlands and no shops etc are open today and we are low on our one roll of toliet paper provided from the dutch … disaster …

Good news is going sailing at 12 noon today and should be some good training between the Aussie team.

A few international guys about now too so should be able to get in some solid training. Looks about 10 knots today so make the best of medium breezes.

Will update again tomorrow. The plan is to train pre-event (starts on 27th May) and get used to the conditions. Not much breeze about atm but should get colder and windier as the low pressure systems roll through. Christening my new 195551 laser today which is awesome …

Anyways, cheers all.