Hello again,
Welcome to the 2000 470 World Championships in Balatonfured, Hungary. One hundred seventy-nine competitors from 44 nations are here: 112 competitors in the men's fleet and 67 in the women's! The men's fleet has been split up into three groups for two days of qualifying.
It is very pretty here. The water is lime green because of the minerals in it, and the lake, Lake Balaton, is the largest in central Europe. It is 77 km long and 14 km wide, and is cut in half by a large peninsula. The average depth is two meters. This is a very popular sailing lake; 200 keel boats were out Saturday, even though the wind was only 2-7 knots. It has been sunny and warm here every day; the wind, however has been very light.
We had the opening ceremonies yesterday, and one of the officials said he was standing in the exact same spot President Bush used when he came here.
Well, today was the first day of racing for the qualification. Competition was very keen since only one-third of the fleet would qualify for the Gold Fleet, verses the usual one-half. Also, this is the last place to qualify for the Olympics, with only eight spots available. So those countries not yet qualified are really geared up (Bob and I had qualified the US at the 1998 Worlds in Spain).
Race 1
We were in the second start doing an inner loop. Bob and I got out
early to tune up--left the dock at 8:45 a.m. for a 10:00 a.m. start.
Wind was 8-12 out of the east; this is the most we had seen since
we arrived. We got our foul weather gear on just in time for the
wind to begin to die.
By our start, it was down to 5 knots, but the race committee was not flinching, and after a general recall we got off to a Black flag start. We had an okay start near the middle and tacked immediately, since the pin was favored in a left shift. We played the shifts up the middle, with the wind velocity slowly dropping. We hopped from puff to puff pretty well because at the weather mark we were in first by ten boat lengths.
A boat up front was blowing horns, and it had up a Shorten Course flag that meant we were to sail only the outer trapezoid and finish down wind, with no second windward leg. So off we went on a reach.
We stayed pretty even, but then the wind got very light (0-3 knots) on the run, so we took down our spin. Sometimes we go faster without it; but this was not one of those times. We got passed by the two boats behind us and went on the reach to the finish.
The Italian boat right ahead of us got flagged for rocking, so he had to do a 720. We passed him but got rolled by another Italian boat, so we finished third.
We all got towed in due to zero wind, and we waited around on shore under postponement. At 3:00 p.m., we all headed back out with a solid 5 knots of wind.
Race 2
The right looked good to us, so we started late at the boat and
tacked right. We were immediately with the lead boats and began to
play the shifts up the middle right. We did this again very well and
rounded the weather mark in first, mixed up with the fleet that had
started ahead of us, with the Netherlands six boat lengths back in
second and Spain in third.
The race was again Shorten Course, so we headed on the first reach, which was actually a run because of the wind shift. We played the "do not set" or "set spin" better this leg but got caught up with the other fleet, and we just passed at the leeward mark. We took down our spin, though, and rolled the Netherlands on the last reach to the finish to win the race (we were also 24th in the fleet that started ahead of us).
Well, we all got towed in again.
Race start is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. tomorrow. The race committee wants to try to get the morning breeze.
So far so good. More tomorrow.
Paul and Bob Team 2000
Today was the last day of qualifying. The start time was moved to 8:30 this morning to try and catch some of the morning breeze, but it never showed up. We had two races today in zero to four knots.
Race 1
We had a nice start towards the pin end of the line by tacking into a
good hole at the gun. The wind made a shift to the right at the start,
so we weren't looking too good off the line. We played it well
working right to better puffs when we could and rounded the first
mark in the top ten.
There was a slow boat in front of us on the reach, and we couldn't get around them. On the run, we were playing around with some new techniques, but held about even with the boats around us. We did a good job staying in the puffs again on the next beat. The wind was shifting all over and we were tacking a lot. At the last weather mark, we were eighth. We did a bear away set onto the run and were looking okay for a while until we got stuck in a hole and lost about twenty boats. If we were faster, we would have been okay but we were slow. Ouch! We were also slow on the final reach and finished 31st. Coach Skip had some ideas as to why we were so slow on the runs, basically all the new things we were trying out were not working. So we decided that we'd go back to our old style for the next race.
Race 2 (trapezoid inner)
We had a good start at the favored pin end and started connecting the
puffs towards the right side. It was still shifty, so we were tacking
almost every minute. Two boats crossed us from the right, and we
rounded the first mark in third. The top two boats jibe set. We were
in good breeze so we did a bear away and then jibed about a minute
later. Our speed was great and we caught up to the top two boats
and passed them. The next beat was short, and we went far right to
more wind and stayed in front. At the last windward mark, we
mixed up with another fleet so we were fighting for lanes. We
played it well and stayed ahead to win the last race of the day.
We won our qualifying group, dropping the 31 and keeping a 3,1,1. The qualifying scores don't count in the finals, so we're all starting over again in the finals.
Paul and Bob
Hello, race fans.
Sorry, no racing today! We were scheduled for a 10:00 a.m. start, but were postponed on shore due to lack of wind.
We had a local shore breeze that arrived at 1:00 p.m., but the race committee waited until 3:00 p.m. to send us out. The women's fleet got a start off but could not finish. The men's fleet just drifted around.
They abandoned for the day and sent us back to shore at 5:00 p.m.
Hopefully, better tomorrow.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
This morning we were scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m., but once again there was no wind so we were postponed on shore. After a morning of card games and reading, the wind finally filled in at around 2:00 p.m. We headed out, and there was actually good wind at about ten knots.
Race 1
We started towards the boat end, but a left shift allowed boats from
the pin to tack and cross. We tacked into a tight lane on port and
managed to hang well in it. It looked like we might get a right shift
and a puff, but it didn't really happen. After picking some good lanes
near the starboard layline, we rounded the first mark around tenth.
Boats were battling for the high lane on the reach and we made the most of it, passing a few boats by going low. The run went well and we gained on a pack of boats in front of us. There was a left shift at the leeward mark, so we continued on port. Many of the boats in front of us tacked. When the wind came back right half way up the beat, we moved into third, where we stayed for the rest of the race.
Race 2
Most boats were starting at the pin, but we saw a puff on the right
and started at the boat. We tacked onto port after the start, but the
Australians pinched us off, so we had to tack away. After playing a
few short shifts, we ended up in the middle of the course while the
boats on the right had much more wind. The boats to the right ended
up crossing in more wind while the boats to the left got a left shift.
The middle was a bad place to be. We were deep at the weather
mark.
After the reach, we had a good run and caught some boats and followed that by an okay second beat. At the end of the race we were around mid fleet.
Race 3
The wind was shifting left, so we wanted to go that way. After a
General Recall, we had a good start in the middle of the line. The
French were right below us trying to pinch us off. We were doing
well on them until we hit a lull, and they got to us. When we tacked
away, it looked like we could get to a nice puff before tacking back
left. Unfortunately we chased the puff for a while, and it didn't end
up being much. By the time we were ready to tack there was a good
left shift, so we had to stay on port. We lead boats from the right
back left, not wanting to let anyone get left of us, and rounded the
weather mark mid fleet.
We had a bit of a battle in the high lane on the reach, but there was no passing. The run went well for us, we got some room to move and were going fast. On the last beat it got really light, and we got stuck to the right of a big left shift again and lost a few boats. Down the last run, we passed a few more boats and then one more on the reach to finish around mid-fleet again.
We didn't get back into shore until 7:30. The forecast is for some better wind late in the week, so hopefully we'll have some more good races.
Paul and Bob
Well, after a shock of actually racing yesterday, the wind decided to continue to allow us to continue to race.
We had a 10:00 a.m. start time, and we actually trapezed all the way out the starting line. Wind was out of the south at 5-10 knots, and we had flat water all day.
We were a little slow upwind yesterday, so today we tried to find a little extra speed. No luck, but at least we raced well.
Race 1
One general recall, then the fleet got off to a Black Flag start. We
had kind of a midline start, and our speed was average. We kind of
bounced around up the middle in 5-10 knots of wind and rounded the
first mark in about eighth.
We had a great first reach, even though we did not pass anyone, and extended a lot on the big pack behind. This gave us a chance to try to catch some boats ahead. By the leeward mark, we were close to three boats.
The next beat, we went kind of up the middle. The right side turned out to be favored, and we passed one German boat that had gone left; but we were closer to two other boats ahead.
We were going well downwind and found a good puff to pass a Finnish boat, then did some match racing to round just ahead of the Italian boat at the leeward mark, and moved up for a fifth place finish.
Race 2
Another general recall, then off to a Black Flag start. We actually
started on port tack one-third up from the boat. It was a great
start, but we just did not have the boat speed upwind. We bounced
up the middle again and rounded the top mark about 10th.
We had another good run and passed a couple of boats. Then, up the next beat, we just barely hung onto our position, rounding ahead of a pack; then we all did a jibe set, and Bob and I managed to roll a Hungarian boat to move up to seventh, and that is where we finished.
Race 3
Usual general recall, followed by a Black Flag start. We had another
great start one boat up from the pin and almost rolled the Australian
but just did not have it. He eventually pinched us off and went on to
win his third race of the day, while we struggled up the middle to
round 10th or so.
We kept battling, though, and improved our position by one throughout the race. If we only had a little speed upwind . . . .
Well, we did move from ninth to fifth today. The Australian is leading, followed by France, Israel and Ukraine.
The forecast is for a front to come in tomorrow, so it may be windy. We will just keep on trucking and try to find the race car.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
There was another postponement this morning, but the forecast was promising. By about 11:00, the wind filled in nicely out of the north and built all day. The first race was sailed in 5-10 knots. The wind in the last race was around 20 knots. We sailed outer loops all day.
Race 1
The breeze was extremely puffy and shifty before the race. It looked
like there was some good wind right, so we started towards the boat
and headed that way. The wind shifted left immediately after the
start, so all the boats inside us were way ahead. Unfortunately,
that's how it stayed for the whole beat. There were some small
shifts to work left, but not enough to get over, or even into, the
fleet. At the weather mark we were close to last.
We gained a little on the pack on the reach, but were still far away. At the second mark we bore away in a puff and were able to get low of the fleet and were making some good gains. All the boats in front of us got to the leeward mark at the same time, causing a major traffic jam. This allowed us to catch the fleet and pass a few boats. We found some good lanes and some good shifts on the next beat and were in the top ten.
With another good run we passed a few more boats to finish eighth.
Race 2
The wind had built enough to depower the boat. We had a good start
towards the pin end and played some shifts towards the left side.
We were a little slow getting up to speed but rounded the first mark
okay.
The reach was tight in the breeze, but we were able to set spinnakers.
On the run, we sailed some high angles, passing waves and boats. At the leeward mark, we were into single digits. We split sides with the leaders on the next beat but came back about even. We had another good run, but now there were fewer boats to pass.
We carried on the reach, but it was tight. Things got a little scary when the bar that holds my trapeze hook on broke. We managed to limp across the line without losing any boats.
At the finish we were seventh.
Race 3
It was getting really windy for this race and it started to rain. I
tied my harness together, but we missed the warning gun. Not
knowing the time, we got to the line when it looked like people were
getting ready and then got the time with a minute to go when the
flags dropped. We didn't have much of a hole to start in so we got
flushed at the gun. We couldn't tack, so we footed below the boats
that had started at the pin and found some clear air. Our speed was
great for a while, but then our vang bail at the boom started sliding
forward, so we couldn't keep leach tension. We rounded the weather
mark mid-fleet.
No one set on the reach, but we thought we could make it with the chute up, so we set halfway down the reach. It would have been a big gain, but our spinnaker halyard cleat started to slip. We lost a few on that reach.
On the run, Paul tied a slip knot in the halyard, and we were off again with good speed.
The next beat we were having speed troubles again with the vang bail sliding ever further forward, so we didn't pass any boats. On the run, we tied the spinnaker halyard up again and maybe gained a boat.
On the final reach, boats in front were all taking their spinnakers down, but we decided to hold. We were going fast on the reach and gaining, but the rudder stalled out about three times, causing a near capsize and negating our gains. We finished 18th that race and had a long, cold sail in.
We're in fourth place right now, but will be in fifth with a second drop that we will get after one more race. The Ukrainians, in third, are only a few points away. The Australians and French are one-two in a close battle for first.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Today was the last day. We came into today in fourth with the British right behind us and the Ukrainians a little ahead. The Australians and British were first and second, and they were pretty far ahead.
The plan was to sail fast and see what happened.
Race 1 Same wind direction as yesterday. The report from the other course was that the wind had gone right, so we started at the boat and tacked right. Of course, a big left shift came through, putting us almost last at the weather mark.
We rounded the reach mark at just the right time, though, and rode a puff low all the way to the leeward mark to move into sixth.
We lost a little on the next beat, not getting far enough right, and ended up finishing eighth. Unfortunately, the Ukrainians finished third, but the British were well back.
Race 2
We found some good shifts up the first beat after a mediocre start,
and rounded about sixth.
We had a great run, though, and moved into fourth. Unfortunately, the Ukrainians were right ahead of us and covered us up the next beat.
We smoked on the next run, passed the Ukrainians and moved into first reaching over them and to the leeward mark.
We all took down our spins and jib reached to the finish! The Ukrainians finished third. So, going into the last race we had to beat the Ukrainians by nine boats.
Race 3
We had a bad start, but were finally going fast and found some good
shifts, rounding the weather mark in fourth.
We stayed even on the reach and run, but the next beat we really had the jets moving into FIRST with an Italian boat, and with the Australians behind.
We went down the run just protecting our lead and WON again! Unfortunately, the Ukrainians did not do their part. They finished sixth.
So we finished fourth over all. Australia won and the French were second, with the Ukrainians third.
We really raced well here, especially downwind, and although we just did not have the jets for too many races, it was fun finding them in the end.
We packed up our boat and gear and Bob and I will now drive from Hungary to Holland for the next regatta which starts on Wednesday. We will be trying a new design main there to see if it is fast.
Thanks for everyone's support. We will keep working as hard and see if we can get better.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000