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

Sea fog rolls in ... tough to see the marks and fleet!

Hi again and what an EPIC day today we all shared on the water!

From all 3 fleets we had only 1 race today with 2 other races abandoned due to heavy sea mist rolling in and obscuring vision down to about 50m at the worst of times!!!

My competitors and I all shared simular sentiment and there were big ups and downs today as people got lost in the mist and were out of touch with the rest of the fleet.

It started off all nice and sunny but at about 1130am this morning a line of what looked to be low cloud came rolling through. I was in yellow fleet today and was first off the rank again! After a few general recalls as always we finally got off to a clean start. I got rolled by sailors further up the line but found a nice hole to tack into to break free of the line out to the right. All things were looking great and then the mist thickened!!! I completely lost contact with the rest of the fleet and found myself with a group of about 5 boats heading right. We couldn’t see more then 1o0m ahead and had no idea where the top mark or the fleet were! after about 18 minutes of going upwind I had come back from the right to view total disaster, most of the fleet had already crossed me on port and because I couldn’t see anything I had no idea till it was too late. I overlayed the mark and sailed down to see my knight in shining armour the jury holding up a chequered blue and white flag representing ABANDONMENT!!! wooooo hooo!!! race cancelled and another chance at a top result.

The second start we got off clean but I struggle on a tight pin end to get out clean. Lucky for me we had the biggest left handed wind shift of the day and quickly found myself crossing 50 boats and out in front! awesome … I held position while others tacked left and ended rounding the top mark inside the top 6 !!!

After losing one boat on the reach and gaining one boat on the run I went left with the top guys and just stayed in contact with them. I basically sat off Johan Wigforss’s stern for most of the race and watched as Paul Goodison closed on me !!! I held him off till the top mark and managed to hold my own on the run against him for the first half while we had some pressure. When the pressure dropped he was still catching waves and I wasn’t … he pulled away to leave me in 7th. I held position easily for the reach and final work to the finish! Great race

After sitting and having a talk with a few mates and Brett Beyer and Blackburn my coach I ate a few ‘cliff bars’ (awesome carb bar with rolled oats and nuts and chocolate) and drank some water and orangeaid. I watched as the red fleet bled itself dry with some 25 OCS’s … what a disaster for that fleet

Anyway final race came along after red fleet finally got off. I was in good shape for the early part of the race but got caught in the cufuffle at the top mark to fall in to the late teens. Mist competely reduced visability to about 50m on the downwind and I just followed the leaders. Up the second beat I tacked into clear air and locked onto Chrisitan Steiger. We sailed on port for a while and came back at the fleet on starboard to tack infront and to leeward of a big group of boats. We were headed just below lay and started knocking !!! perfect as we could cross the group … I was in about 10th at that stage and happy to just hang in there.

Then the inevitable happened! the jury called off the race due to excessive mists and all fleets sailed home after but 1 race. We spent some 7 hours on the water today so its been a long day.

Anyway 12 noon start tomorrow and 3 races planned. Bad news is rain and fog forecast tomorrow and a Hurricane Bill is approaching. Will keep you updated but www.stormpulse.com is tracking it well.

Ended the day on 19th overall and very happy with steady results and a move up in today’s trickier conditions. Many protests for redress are being established in other fleets but our 1 race was clean so i’m locked in for my result!

Stay Tuned!

Charging Upwind!

First update from the world titles here in Nova Scotia, Canada!

Today started nervous as hell. I was so keen to get the first day over with so I could get into the groove and start sailing confidently.

The weather was a sunny 26 degrees and a building South Westerly. Starting at about 6 knots and growing to around 12 – 15 knots. A light chop picked up to a more respectable rolling wave on occasion and made for a day built for boat speed. The wind wasn’t shifty at all and most shifts would consist of 10 degrees or less.

In the first race we had a few false starts leading to some early disqualifications. We finally got off the line and I got off to a nice start up on the boat end and punched out !!! After a decent amount of time on starboard tack I went out the the right hand side and waited for the right hander to take me through to the top mark. It came but relatively late and the end result was that the guys on the far left came out in front so I fell back to 9th. Not bad for the first beat.

After an easy reach (no gain or loss) I charged downwind to make up a few places and from there never left 7th overall. Turns out I was actually 6th as the race winner was OCS on the final start! anyways it was a solid race to start with and I was happy to again kick out those first day blues of having a poor first race.

Anyway the second race the wind had built and tracked a little left but there was a boat end bias and a clear start up from the bunch. I started in good shape and held on for a while on starboard tack before knocking and tacking back ontop of around 10 boats going to the right. Secure position and in good company (Rouloff, Milan and Pavlos) I thought all good. To my dismay the breeze tracked about 10 more degrees left and the guys on the left charged through to leave me rounding the top mark in the early 20s overall.

Time for a comeback! immeadiatly launched out into my own pressure to the right of the group going downwind and tracked some gusts and waves rolling down to make some gains. I went from 24 to 20 in quick order. Up the next beat I went hard left and tacked on the layline. A few others in front of me went too far and I caught them as I ran VMG and they had to come back down to the mark. I rounded the top mark in 17th and held ground down the run (losing one and taking one). I lost Rouloff (NED) on the reach but regained him on the upwind to finish in 16th overall. Not a bad comeback and some tough racing with guys like Rouloff, Milan, Victor and Eduardo.

Sailed home and dragged the boat on the trolly up the hill and was tired out! The upwinds were like 1 nautical mile!!! insanity!!!

Anyway tomorrow racing starts at 12 noon and we have 3 races scheduled. At the moment I am 29th overall but its always so close on points so a good day tomorrow is crucial! anyway we have 3 races but this is due to the fact that we have a large cyclone tracking up the coast toward Nova Scotia. The organizers are afraid that we will lose some racing due to HUGE WAVES and 50 – 70 knot winds. I can’t wait to see this !!!

Anyway stay tuned!

Hi all,

Reporting from Toronto Airport on a 3 hour delay for the flight to Halifax and the Laser Worlds. Haven’t slept in over 26 hours and feeling it … just got to keep rocking that sugar high a little longer then can pass out once at my ‘Canadian home’ …

Burning though the bordem by calling come chatting to Sandy, parents (no answer?) and some mates at home. The internet and skype saved me again and allowed me to reorganize my lift! thank you skype please dont shut down ever. Obviously the old blog fills the time too

Registration for the Laser Worlds begins on the 17th so the next few days are a little conditioning and recovering from jetlag. Important things to get right. Some light cardio and a little suspension cable to get the arms moving again and alot of sleep and good lean food.

Current wind in Halifax has been around 5 – 12 knots for the last few days. The forecast is sun and light to moderate winds for the next 5 days which sounds pleasant. Alot of guys are there training already on pre-charter and I will be able to join them on the water with brand new equipment on the 17th. Looking forward to it!!!

Will update again tomorrow once i’m in and settled.

Much love Ash