Sunday, May 29, 2011

Best Regatta to Date!



"Jesse yelling at the photo boat to get help to our American friend (in background) who badly sprained his ankle in a capsize on the leeward mark approach. Zander in the boat, getting ready to douse the kite."

We are coming off our best event to date in the 49er! The Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik, Holland was an ISAF Grade 1 event and was attended by 21 countries from around the World. We were 25th out of 39 boats. We had one top 10 finish (8th) and over half the races were in the top 17. We also moved up everyday after a tough day 1. It was a windy event (3 days were blown out) where there are real consequences for mistakes. One of our Canadian friends broke their mast on the last day and our American training partner almost broke his ankle on day 2 in a capsize. We found we had good speed in the big breeze and it enabled us to focus more on the racing aspect of the game -- a breakthrough for us in these conditions. As we smooth out our boat handling work, we will hope to look at our big breeze sailing as a potent weapon in our arsenal.

The hard work and humility that we have exhibited over the last 18 months is paying off as we look to continue to work our way up the fleet. It doesn’t get any easier from here, but we are excited about the direction of our sailing. With 15 months until the London Olympics, we feel we are on track to reach the world-class standard and qualify for the Games.

Next up for us is the Sail For Gold Regatta in Weymouth, the venue for next year’s Olympics. It will be the best attended ISAF Grade 1 event on the tour because all the top sailors will be there gaining knowledge on the site. The fleet (65 boats) will be full of Olympians, World Champions and sailors hoping to qualify for London 2012.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Another Good Day!

Once again the Delta Lloyd provided us with a breezy day of racing with winds ranging from 16-22kts with higher puffs. The added element of a steep chop due to a slight change in wind direction made the racing that much more challenging. When it was all over, we had posted a 8th, and two 17s. Definitely our top day in Europe to date. We are certainly pleased with our performances throughout the day, with both our 17's just one mistake away from being top 10's... And our 8th was probably our best race so far in Europe!

Our upwind speed and boathandling was good all day. Throughout the day, we were able to get the boat going well upwind seeing us in some strong positions. A definite comfort that permits us to focus on other aspects of the racing. On the boat handling note, we landing ALL of our gybes! Our tacks were solid all day except for a crash tack in the second race, second beat that saw us flip the only time in racing, and fall from 9th or so to 17... In the final race, we were looking good in 10th or so when we ran into some trouble at the leeward mark during the douse. Murphy's Law made its present known as the jibe sheet got tightly woven around Zanders leg leaving us unable to make the bear away right to windward of the gates. After spending the 20 secs freeing his leg and getting around the mark, 6 or 7 boats had ripped by us.

So all in all another positive result. Our boathandling and speed are the standout positives from the day. Hopefully we can improve on a our starting and tactics now that we have found some comfort in our speed. More breeze in the forecast!

Keep posted!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Day 2 = Better!!!

Yesterday has to go down as one of the best days we have put together in Europe so far. We nailed a 15th and a 16th, after starting with an average 25th in the 38 boat fleet. Many of the players in the fleet are here and any finish in the top half is very respectable. The breeze started as a weak southerly and then faded into a moderate sea breeze northerly. The key was largely nailing two good starts and then managing the tricky breeze well. The reason for our worst race (race 1 of the day) was because of a bad start. We had managed to work ourselves back into the race, but got on the wrong side of a few bizarre windshifts. In the light air, a breeze we have practiced in a lot recently, our speed was good enough for us to play the game with anyone. If not for missing a few shifts in those two light air races, we could have had better scores than we got.

In the final race, with a solid (compared to early in the day) 8-10 kts, we had a great start up at the committee boat under a black flag and found ourselves in the top pack off the line. However, we lacked the pace to hold our lane for too long, but were able to stay in the race because we hit a nice shift at the end and rounded the top mark just outside the top 15. We had a great gybe set to pull us back into the top 15, but had a bad gybe later on the run which limited our gains. Final beat we lacked the pace again, especially because the breeze had died slightly and we lost a few more boats. After the race, we were trying to figure out why we were slow and lacked the power. We did find we were fast on guys whenever the breeze built a bit. So when we got in we measured our rig settings and found our rig far too bent for that 8-10 kts...our lowers had loosened up after the first couple races without our knowing. It was a case of us putting throwing a couple turns on the lowers to straighten the rig and power her up. Live and learn, but that setting cost us finishing out of the top 5! That's what it is at this level! So at least we are really seeing what is needed for a great race at this level (good start, correct settings and smart tactics, we had 2/3 of these and hence deserved our 16th).

-Zander

ps. windy here again. all boats remind grounded to wait for weather to pass, hopefully we get out later.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Blustery Day One

The first day of the Delta Lloyd event was FULL-ON. After being postponed on shore because of reported 28+ knots on our course, we were sent out when the breeze died to 20-25+kts… The Race Committee got off three races during the late afternoon session with the breeze becoming more volatile as the day went on. By the second race, the breeze ranged anywhere from 15-28 knots. Capsized boats were a common site throughout the day’s racing- lots of carnage out there!

Our results on paper do not do us justice for how we performed. There were many positives for the day despite our finishes. First off, our upwind speed was good. We were able to rip around the racetrack with above average speed all day. This is a big boost for us as we continue to gain confidence with our rig settings. Secondly, we had a good consistency with our gybe’s and tacks except for the odd one or two. This was a big plus considering the breeze strength.

The problems that led to our subpar results were due to a few different things. In the first race (arguably the windiest of the day), we flipped prior to the start and were 8 minutes late to crossing the start line. Despite getting a DNS because we crossed the start line after the time limit, we were able to catch up to the pack and finish a respectable finish. In the second race, after having a good start and first half of the beat, we found ourselves in a big righty crossing the whole fleet with the eventual 1st round the windward(top 3); however, a knock followed by a 20 degree, 28knot righty cleanbowled us (Jesse also got sent on the main and put a hole in it). We managed to get back into the race, but a missed shift/downwind speed was mediocre on the final downwind saw us lose 5 boats. In the last race, we had our one bad tack on the day seeing us fall behind early. After catching up on both the upwind and the downwind we got caught in a sticky situation at the leeward mark with a couple boats and flipped. After having issues getting it back up, we found ourselves too far behind to finish within the time limit.

So all in all, a really exhausting day of sailing. With many travails throughout the races, we see ourselves sitting below our potential. A couple critical mistakes alongside one incredibly unfortunate situation saw us blow a potentially good day. Though, our upwind speed was certainly the highlight of the day and leave us with some good feelings.

Keep posted for racing tomorrow! Look to be light before another few days of BREEZE follows.
Heres a shot of us on one of the downwinds!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Windy Holland!

We are back in Europe for the second time this spring, ready to attack the heart of the European circuit (Grade 1 in Medemblik, Grade 1 in Weymouth, Euro champs in Helsinki). Right now, we are in Medemblik, Holland, as we await the start of the Delta Lloyd Regatta which starts on Tuesday. It is shaping up to be a windy event, as the North Sea is expected to have an active weather pattern for the coming week. This should make for an exciting event and we look forward to stepping up in these challenging conditions and putting some good results together.

Yesterday we had big breeze in our training session and we were able to nail some solid gybes and tacks in the ‘49er red line’ conditions (gusts over 25kts!). In the puffs while sailing off the wind, roaring with boatspeed, we would be heading directly downwind to keep the boat in control – a feat not too common for an asymmetric kite! One of the Aussie boats had a GPS on their boat and they hit 24.8 kts of boat speed out there, an unofficial record for the 49er. We had known it was windy, but it was nice to hear this that it was documented as such! In fact it got too windy to head back out for our afternoon session, as the whole fleet was grounded with gusts well over 30 kts. Forecast for tomorrow, more of the same. Day 1 = moderating.
-Zander

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Europe Round 2!

After a nice break to relax and replenish both mind and body, we are ready to head back to Europe for a second series of events. This time around, we will compete in Northern Europe as the weather warms and compete in the Delta Lloyd Regatta, Sail for Gold and the European Championships. First stop is the Delta Lloyd sailed on a lake just north of Amsterdam. With the North Sea just a few miles away there's an awful good chance of seeing some cold weather. Alot different from our Palma experience!

Keep posted as we will begin training on Saturday with the event beginning on Tuesday!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Hyeres Wrap Up

Here’s an analysis of Hyeres after a couple days to let it all sink in…

-Our finish in the event was not as strong as we would have liked, but we know the difference between where we are, and where want to be is not far. The fleet is extremely deep, and a testament to that is in the fact that three guys who were in Silver Fleet at Palma were 2nd, 7th and 9th in Gold in Hyeres!

-One of our big goals throughout this first trip to Europe was to work hard on our speed. This, after our Fall and Winter of working hard on boat handling. As this trip wraps up, we can honestly say we have finally found a good setting for <10knots that we are pleased with. The highlight of our event was the speed we had in the races in the final day. We were able to stay in a marginal lane off the line, which was important for the race as our confidence. In >10knots, we feel we are getting faster, but are not there yet- we need to solidify some settings for breeze.

-Something that we generally have been good at but put up a poor show here was starting. I believe we only had 2 good starts out of 15. Certainly not setting us up to a good first beat as the races were in relatively steady gradient limiting the passing lanes. Further, left side of the course was favored 90% of the time so being forced right did not help! I believe this was the biggest contributor to our lack of good roundings at the first windward mark. Developing the hole and a good spot on the line, nor acceleration seems to be the problem. Rather it is our positioning relative to the few boats around us seeing us a little too bow back. This is an issue because as we accelerate, everyone else is as well, and therefore we are not afforded a bow out position. So moving forward to SPA, we will make starting a priority. We must grant ourselves a chance in the race!

-A positive rooting from our poor windward mark rounds were in our ability to grind back some decent finishes. This sparks some confidence in our sailing (but also frustration at ourselves for not have good 1st windward roundings!) Our downwinds throughout the event were definitely a positive. Our tactical decisions, coupled with good speed seemed to help us make gains off the wind.

After a long month of sailing, we are taking a well-needed break for a couple weeks to recharge the battery. This first Europe Trip has been very productive with speed work and practice races as there have been many teams around. Looking forward to SPA and Sail For Gold, our goals will most likely revolve around speed work and our starts. After so much emphasis on boat handling and comfort in the boat over the last few months, we must now focus on the fundamentals of sailboat racing.