Hi all,
Between Down Under Series Regattas I am doing some private coaching and am keen to expand on my coaching. I need to save money toward the campaign and enjoy giving back through coaching.
Happy to coach right across the range in Laser from youth to great grand masters. After the youth nationals in Jan I am really keen to do as much coaching as possible.
Contact me at brunningcoachservices@hotmail.com or on 0423 405 851
Me Just leading Tom Slingsby into the mark
Hi all,
Obviously without my own computer it has been hard to do much more then a status update with PSP.
Day 3 and day 4 at Sail Brisbane were quite simular with today being the windier of the two. Definetly hard hiking conditions and straining my levels of fitness which I have crammed into only weeks of preparation.
Day 3 I had a tight first race where I got slammed on more then once by Matias and Rob Godwin. Basically got locked out of getting into first and got caught out with some weed on the rudder to slow me right down.
Race 2 and 3 I followed the same pattern and learned my mistakes from the last race. I started on boat end, tacked about 50m after straightlining and blowing guys off. Headed to the right and tacked on a persistent knock leading to a starboard tack hike fest to cross the fleet. Both races I managed to keep competition to about 30 seconds behind which gave me a great feeling that my hard training is paying off.
Tired as hell I went back to our hotel where I was staying with josh. Watched 2012 (again) and then heaps of how i met your mother. Got a huge 10 hour sleep in and woke up to call the girly. Been having issues and not talking much for about a week now, She decided today that I was not what she saw herself with in the future and told me she wouldn’t be seeing me anymore. Oh dear … tough way to start the day being only 2 points in front and having that dropped on you!
So today was a battle of psychology and pure focus. I managed to quickly re form and remembered what blackers had told me in a previous situation like this one. Focus your mind on the task and the racing alone. Leave thoughts on the shore. All that matters is the process. Needless to say, I forgot about all my issues for today’s one race and charged out.
The wind was a strong NE direction and peaking at 25 knots and tall chop. My start was more midline after a last second change of mind and I managed to hold my lane and advance out to the left. Robert Godwin with immense size and speed went quickly upwind to round first and palky 2nd. I hammered in behind them and set up my boat for a full powered downwind. Let the controls off and went for speed. Tactic worked and got buoyroom at the bottom mark to take 1st position. After holding out robert upwind and making some solid gains downwind I managed to win again by a good 25 seconds. I was happy but also the realization broke over me that I would go home to immeadiate problems with no computer, funding, girls and organization of nationals.
Of course was great to win and take home the Gold at sail brisbane. Great start to the season. I would like to thank adrian finglas for giving me some accomodation, michael for coaching me and my family and friends for making me feel better.
Hi all real quick one,
First race leading most of race to fall back to 3rd. Tommy and Matias 1 and 2. Second race got up to the top mark and let off the vang it busted … damn DNF
Today strong seabreeze. 6th, 1st and 2nd … a good day and coming back despite tough first day
Computer died today … disaster
Cheers,
Ash Brunning
RQYS - Home of Sail Brisbane
Hi all,
Back to updating my seasonal blog once more I am happy to be back. Since the worlds I have had a bit of a rough time with training injuries and side effects of drugs so I have missed out on a little more then a month of training while in recovery.
I was out training about 6 weeks ago on my road bike when I looked down to get my drink bottle and looked up to knick the back of my friends wheel (was drafting closely). Went down on the asphalt and smashed my right knee really hard. Obviously picked up a lot of road rash and dragged myself off the road and immediately went back to wash disinfect and clean out the open wound.
After about a week and 2 days of barely being able to walk being really stiff and sore in the knees and shoulders I was fine to walk about again and went straight back into training and working for sailing scene. I felt fine, obviously not 100% but 80% and ready to do light training. I was working one day about 12 days after the accident and my knee started being really painful and swelling.
Went to the doctor and he took one look and told me i had a severe infection in my knee joint and needed to go on antibiotics immediately. I was like sweet a few tabs a day ill be right … WRONG … 16 antibiotics a day and just kept me out of hospital for 3.5 weeks.
Had an allergic reaction while with my friends and whole face blew up which made it all worse!
Finally about 2 weeks ago after missing close to 5 weeks of training I got back into it with doctors blessing. Since then I have sailed everyday (or coached) and ran a solid endurance program in the gym and also started windsurfing every second day. Basically cramming for the down under series which starts today!!!
Training has been going well and im still competitive against some top sailors so I hope to get a good solid result to start the season here in Brisbane. After just finishing an ASDS camp I am super keen to start racing today. During the camp I heard a quote by Lance Armstrong (Tour De France and all around cycling hero). ‘Pain lasts a moment, an hour, a week, a year but to quit lasts forever’
I dont know why but something inside me flicked on. This powerful piece of writing may seem simple enough but from a man who bested cancer and turned around to train himself into winning one of the greatest endurance feats with one nad is a true hero. Today in his honor I will be repeating the same quote when I feel tired from hiking.
Today’s conditions are windy. Gusty E\NE again which is tough to sail. Proper prestart analysis and choice decisions need to be made. Steep chop in shallow water needs to be pushed through and the very same waves need to be connected downwind when surfing.
Racing starts at 1230 so I will leave the beach in about an hour and a half. When I get back I will write a report and analyze my races for the day.
Best Regards to all my readers.
Ash Brunning
Hi all,
Just a quick update.
Back home in Sydney and doing lots of coaching and just this week stepped back into my own laser. There has been some great spring weather here in Sydney and I am really looking forward to an awesome down under series.
At the moment I am doing mainly private laser coaching but also UNSW teams racing squad and also club coaching on Sundays. We only had 4 lasers out for coaching yesterday which was really disappointing! where are all the laser sailors at Woollahra? I am keen to keep expanding my career as a sailing coach so if you are interested in any coaching please contact me with your details at brunningcoachservices@hotmail.com
Hi all,
Slid 20 places to 36 th overall after final race. With two drops i only drop a 17th in qualifiers and other drop BFD and 40’s results meaning that I gained a considerable amount of points on them. While more consistent then them I will lose because they can drop a higher score leading to less accumulated points.
Again I couldn’t get it right today. Lead out to the left with epic boatspeed only to see the right pass me by and lose some 40 boats. 2 race i went right but kept hitting big patches of weed and losing alot of ground. Didn’t cross the fleet and fell into tacking further and further out to clear. Rounded in 5th last. Good recoveries in both races to finish in the mid fleet but disappointing.
Canada has been lovely though and i have really enjoyed my time here in Nova Scotia. I want to thank my hosts Tom and Madaline for helping me so much while here and feeding me for next to nothing. Without people like this many sailors would really struggle to do these events. I am very thankful for their efforts.
Now I fly home on the 28th and have some thinking to do. I am now in a very tough spot financially and Yachting Australia will not give me any extra funds on top of the $10 thousand AUD i got for the year. I think I will have to work in some form again and I would like to coach but there is not much demand in Australia. The Aussie Season is closing in and times are tight. Pains me to think never rest for me when everyone else where i am is in much better support mechanism. Such is my life. I think I could do with a camping holiday up the coast in October with my girl.
Hi all,
Tough day at the Laser World’s today. Just couldn’t put a race together though showed potential at points messed up at other points. Today I really needed to just commit to a side and stick with it, I was indecisive and changed my mind too many times.
Race results 32, 42, 44 …
I luckily had no bad drops before so I only fell to 26th overall.
The conditions were a shifty light seabreeze – anywhere between 4 knots to about 10 knots … Definetely oscillating and found it really hard to pick a side today as it all looked relatively the same. Upwind I got caught in the middle a few times and Downwind I got caught in the middle twice leading to some losses. I guess this day was going to come sooner or later so I felt relatively prepared. I was being super conservative because I wanted to do well and not push the line. Too nervous, not enough ELAN !!
Good news is tomorrow there is 3 races scheduled to finish the world titles here in Nova Scotia. The wind is forecast to be a strong seabreeze – 15 – 20 knots from SW !!! time to finish strong and make my way home for a well deserved rest, some time with Sandy and the clear and present need of some more money (aka campaign funds) !!! anyone want some coaching at the Master’s Worlds ???!! haha
until tomorrow enjoy our nights and days! ciao
No Wind for finals day 1
Hi all,
No wind today leading to abandonment of racing. Basically the wind never got above 5 knots and was never steady shifting some 20 – 40 degrees constantly.
We actually almost started but in a cruel joke by the race committee they let us amp up before postponing only seconds before the start. Unlucky for one competitor right next to me from Canada, Mike Leigh, who got a yellow flag seconds before the start for dubious reasons. Certainly not well deserved from what I could see but thats the breaks with the jury, no course for redress (very arbitrary).
Good news is had a good chat with some guys and hopefully a few guys will come to Australia for the Down Under Series and in November for some training. Pretty much spent the day sharing stories about Hurricane chasing and Go Karting. Some crazed Swedes actually got hit by waves on the other side of the bay and Matias Del Solar (CHI) apparently went to the light house for a photo which was pretty much getting pounded by 10m waves all day.
Anyway after a quick tow in and derig it looks like we wait for a lighter seabreeze tomorrow to get in some racing. The notice says 1130am warning signal so 3 races on the cards if we get the pressure. Will keep updated if anything changes but quiet one for today!
Ciao!
HUGE waves in Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia from Hurricane Bill
Hurricane Bill Rages!!! (Blair McLay, Yuval Botzer, Aaron Merry-Hume and Ashley Brunning) – left to right
I have truely never seen waves bigger in my life. At this point during this photo we ran from this wave after securing some video and photos !!! insane … the radio said there was some ‘idiots to close to the sea’ … could have been us !!!
Kudos to Brett Beyer for this AWE inspiring photo
Enjoying the sailing in Nova Scotia !!!
Hi again all,
Day 3 of the Laser Worlds was a long but truly brilliant one! arriving at the sailing club just after 930am I only just got home at 815pm. Long day and I have a cracker headache and oh so tired!!!
The day started like most Nova Scotia mornings, thick fog and a little breeze building steadily. We were all highly concerned for the fact we might not get racing in but the fog cleared about 1 ish and we were on the water and heading to the start at about 2 ish.
The blue fleet had to re-sail a race today so they went out early and had to brave a very long day on the water. Kudos to you boys and all your efforts!
Today I was in red fleet and I got off to a nice clean start. I watched the fleets to windward and decided that a left handed shift was persistently lifting them so I would start on the pin! It was pretty quiet down there but left had worked time and again so I wasn’t too worried.
I was pin boat and exploded out to leeward of the fleet and then as I expected the fleet knocked down off my shoulder and I sailed most of the way to the lay before tacking. The port tack I hiked like a demon to cross the fleet and succeeded in crossing all but one, Pierre Collura (FIN).
We arrived at the top mark in 1 and 2 and I chased him down to take first by the downwind run. After looking behind I noticed more pressure out to the right and bigger waves so I went out there and made a huge gain downwind to take a comfortable lead into the next upwind. I was winning my first race in a Laser Worlds and so excited!!!!!
I kept my cool and an eye on the fleet and just kept loose cover on Matias, Tonci and Tom Slingsby to make sure I would lead into the downwind. A fog came through and I was praying that it wasn’t so thick they abandoned!!! good news it was OK. My upwind speed was good and I held ground against these guys to lead into the final downwind. From there I kept an eye on what they were up to but never lost my 50m or so lead and held it to the finish and my first bullet EVER in a Laser Worlds!!! spectacular !!!!
After this race I was OK for fatigue but needed some quick energy to carry me through race 2. I ate 2 bananas and a little blueberry bread (which is just so good) and downed about a liter of orange juice and water. Plenty to fuel the engine for the next hike off.
Basically race 2 was a simular game plan and simular conditions. A few guys joined me (Matias, Chris Dold, Ivan) at the pin and now I had some competition on the way to the left. I rounded the top in 6th and was very pleased to reach 3rd by the bottom mark. I tacked to clear and then went on hunting down Matias and Edurardo (NED). I caught up but then Pierre appeared from the mist and rounded in first !!!
Damn! I was still in second but looking good. On the downwind I caught up to Pierre but was not on the inside leading into the mark. Matias, Pierre and Eduardo JUST scraped around in front. We all covered each other tightly to the finish and I held 4th. A little disappointed to slide back from at one point 1st but happy with the day overall. Congrats to Matias and Pierre on that race and taking it in the final legs well done.
After coming in I had a raging headache and Blackers gave me some water and guided me home through the thick fog, no idea where i was but GPS lead the way and I followed the committee boats in front.
When I got in and derigged I had to put the boat away for the hurricane, i’m sure all the other competitors would agree this was a weird feeling mid regatta. The organizing committee had gone above and beyond to protect the lasers and make sure everything was safe for Hurricane Bill.
Anyway today I looked at the results board and I saw my results and to my shock had moved up to 6th overall and tied for 4th with 2 other guys. With these results I stand among the world’s best and even if only for a day I am proud of how far I have come. It is so tight in the top 15 and it will be damn tough to hold ground against seasoned professionals on full funding. The aim now is to hold it together going into finals and try my very best to lock in some good races.
I hope that everyone is safe through the Hurricane and I see all the competitors on Monday in good shape, Beyer I hope your not washed out of your seaside house and see you all at Peggy’s cove to see some possible epic waves tomorrow. Much Love from Canada,
Ash
