Hello from Australia. We are here thanks to your support and to CompuCom and Kitty Hawk's sponsorship. Thank you all for a wonderful 1998--we could not have learned much this year without you.
We are sailing a four day regatta in Sydney, then are going down to Melbourne, Australia, for a pre-worlds race; then the 470 Worlds start 10 January.
To view scores for the Sydney International Regatta, go to the Team 2000 web page: www.rcyc.org/Team_2000 and click on the link to this event at the top.
Yesterday was the start of the Sydney International Regatta. All the Olympic classes are here, with the addition of Laser Radials and 420s.
Day One.
We are sailing on B course, which is just to the east of the Sydney
Opera House. We'll sail on this course for the first two days, six
races, and then sail out in the ocean for the last two days. The boats
are launched from a park which is about a ten minute sail from the
race area.
Today the wind was out of the south and blowing across the harbor, which is only about half a mile wide; so the wind was really shifty. There are about forty-five 470s from all around the world competing here.
Race 1
We had an okay start in the middle of the line but got pinched off.
There was a puff in front of us, so we stuck it out in the bad air for
a little bit. The puff was a header, so we tacked and were looking
good. We connected the puffs well and rounded the first mark in the
top ten.
The course was an outer trapezoid, so the next leg was a reach. The wind had shifted left before we got to the mark, so the reach was too tight to set the spinnaker until about halfway down the leg. We passed a few boats by holding off to set the spinnaker.
On the run, we passed a few more, staying in then puff again. We stayed in the wind for the rest of the race and finished sixth.
Race 2
We had a bad start at the boat end and then missed the first puff.
We were way back in the fleet halfway up the leg. We found a few
puffs at the end of the leg and rallied to pass a few boats. The wind
was getting spotty, so the most important thing was to stay in the
puffs. We found a few good puffs and got back up to mid fleet by the
end of the race. We finished 20th.
Race 3
We had a good start but got out of phase with the shifts and fell
back to about mid fleet by the end of the first beat. For the rest of
the race, we were passing boats and got up to the top ten until the
last beat.
We got stuck on the right side of the course heading for a big lull, but we couldn't tack because we were so lifted. The boats on the left were lifted as well, but in much more wind. We lost everything we had gained and finished 19th.
It was a tough day to stay consistent, so despite some bad races, we finished the day in 11th. We will have a throw out after five races, and two throw-outs after nine races. Hopefully, we'll get in sync with the crazy conditions and have a better day tomorrow so that we can throw out those bad races.
Race 1
Wind was out of the northeast, but very shifty and puffy, from 2-13
knots. We were doing a single outer loop.
After one general recall, we got off to an okay start in the middle of the line under a black flag. We worked the right side, but a Japanese boat kept tacking on us. We did okay, though, and rounded the first mark in about sixth.
We took off on the reach and stretched out from the guys behind.
A ferry came through on the run, and we jibed to ride its wave and stay out of its wind shadow. This got us past the Ukrainian and another boat, and we rounded the leeward mark in third.
We stayed there up the next beat and down the run to finish third.
Race 2
Same wind but a double outer loop.
We started a third up from the pin but got pinched off by a German boat and went a little slow. We played some good shifts, though, and rounded the top mark in seventh. Did good on the reach, gaining on the boats behind. We passed a couple of boats on the run to fifth.
The next beat, we passed two more boats by staying in the puff coming down the middle. The outer beat has a big hill on the lefthand side, so you can't go too far left because you will run out of breeze; but you always get the left shifts from the puffs coming over the hill.
The next run, we passed a USA boat, and a Japanese boat was leading. It was a very tight race, and we almost got past the Japanese boat on the run. We ended up finishing second.
Race 3
This was to be a triple inner loop. The wind had picked up a little, to
5-15 knots.
Most people started at the pin, but we wanted to be able to tack on the first shift; so we got a good start near the boat under a black flag start and tacked right. We got a good shift and were looking good halfway up the first beat, crossing most boats on the left. But we got too far left and missed some good rightys that the people who crossed behind us got. We rounded the first mark in about 10th.
We did okay on the run, and the next beat got up to about sixth but lost a bunch on the next run. We missed a big puff on the left.
The next beat, we gained back some, but again lost some on the run.
The last beat was not much better, and we were in about 12th on the reach. We gained some on the run when another large ferry came through. This time we did not jibe out since we were on the headed jibe and were on the lay line for the mark. The boats that did jibe out lost, and we gained a couple of boats.
We lost a Polish boat on the last reach. We missed some waves and he rolled over us at the finish. So, I think we finished about 11th in this race.
We sail in the ocean tomorrow, so things will be totally different.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Sydney, Australia
Sunday 20 December 1998 8:40 p.m.
Wind forecast today was for 20-25 knots out of the north. There is a cold front coming through tonight, so the wind is doing its normal thing and blowing in to the coming low. (In Australia the cold fronts come from the South Pole, so the wind tomorrow will be out of the south and a little colder.)
We are sailing in the ocean today, so we got out early to get used to the waves. Noon Start.
Race 1
Wind 10-15 knots out of 25 degrees. Current going downwind at two knots, with land on the left side of the course but a mile away. Course is a 02. double outer loop.
First start was a general recall.
For the real start, we had a great start in the middle of the line a boat length ahead of everyone around us. We were going pretty well, and only a French boat was staying with us. We wanted to keep going left to get out of the current. Unfortunately, we went too far. We overstood by quite a bit and ended up rounding about 20th.
We caught a little on the first run, then had a great second beat to get up to about eighth. We lost some on the next run by riding the waves too high on starboard jibe, then the next beat we got a little too far left and lost a little more.
The last run we gained some by riding the waves low, then passed the Polish team at the jibe to the finish. We ended up ninth. A good comeback, but we were disappointed at our first beat.
Race 2
We had a clear start at the boat end. The wind had shifted left just
before the start so, unfortunately, the opposite end was favored.
Because of the shift, we tacked onto port, but this was bringing us
out into more current. When the wind finally shifted the other way,
we were able to tack back, but by this time we were far into the
right side of the course. The current hurt us a bit, but we made
some gain by staying in phase with the wind shifts. We rounded the
first mark in the top ten and reached off to the second mark.
We struggled a little downwind, with no big loss. On the next two windward legs, we continued to fail to get far enough left and lost a few more boats to finish 13th.
Race 3
Well, we're going left, we decided. We were the left-most boat at
the start and sailed all the way to the left corner. This time, we
didn't overstand and rounded the first mark in second. After a short
reach to mark, we surfed off downwind. We were struggling with
speed but were doing okay until we lost two boats on a bad jibe. We
went left the next two beats and ground back to second, and then
lost a boat on another bad jibe on the last run to finish third.
We started the day in third but fell to fourth today, tied with the Ukrainians and behind the French and Polish. The points are close, so we could benefit from a good day tomorrow.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Hello again.
This was the last day of racing for the Sydney International Regatta. We sailed the last three races today.
On the hill down to the boat this morning, we got a chance to look out into the ocean where we were supposed to race today, and it looked pretty windy.
We got down to the boat and rigged, then checked the notice board. They had changed our course from the ocean to inside the harbor to the same course we sailed the first two days. Forecast was 10-20 knots out of the south (20-30 knots out in the ocean).
Going into today, we were tied for fourth with the Ukrainians, with Poland winning by about ten points, France in second, and Germany in third. A Japanese team was close behind in sixth.
We got out early and did our normal current checks and wind checks and tacks and jibes.
Our course was crowded with Sailboard and 420 racing on it also. We were the last to start, so we got to do a little more wind testing by sailing upwind and checking out the angles.
They put up the black flag immediately for our first start (race committee was tired of all the general recalls). We noticed the whole fleet was going over the line early, so we hung back in the second row.
A general recall was signaled, and everyone waited at the committee boat to see if their numbers were posted (if your number was posted, it meant they caught you over early and you were disqualified from that race).
Well, they put up about ten numbers, and one was the French guy that was in second place.
The next start got off good, and we got a great start at the pin. We hit the first two shifts and puffs and were 100 yards in the lead right away. We played the left side because it looked like there was more wind. But a very big righty came in, and we got around the weather mark in fourth.
We lost a little on the run (we seemed a little slow downwind all regatta). We had a good second beat and run and stayed in fourth, but got too far right the third beat and lost a few boats.
The fourth beat we did better and got back up to sixth, then passed a Japanese boat on the last run to the finish for a fifth place. The Ukrainian finished third and the German second, but the Polish guy was about ninth.
Race 2
Same conditions.
We had another great start, this time at the boat. We played the first beat okay, trying to hit the shifts and stay in the puffs. I think we rounded the first mark in about eighth.
We found a good puff downwind and passed a few boats, but then lost them on the next beat. One boat that passed us flipped over on the next run, so we got past him.
The French guy was still having bad luck. He was leading the race when his rudder broke. So we passed him the last beat.
We finished fifth this race, with the Ukrainians and the Polish guys finishing 'way back.
Last race
The wind had shifted about 15 degrees right and stayed there the
last beat of the last race.
We had pretty good start at the pin and we played the first beat okay, but had a tough time finding where they had moved the mark to. We finally found it but had overstood a little. This was okay because it gave us a good puff. We rounded about fifth.
We did okay by jibe setting on to the first run, then had a good second beat to move up to fourth. The next run we again found a good puff and caught the leaders a little.
The French guy was continuing his bad luck. He was again winning the race, but almost got run over by a ferry on the run. He had to take his chute down and luff head to wind to miss it (these ferries are huge and go very fast).
Well, he was still in the lead around the bottom mark. We immediately tacked out to stay in the puff and passed two boats ahead of us, the German and a Japanese boat, and got within a few boat lengths of the French.
We split with the French near the weather mark, but they found the shift and we did not; this put them 100 yards ahead again, with us in second, followed by the Ukrainians.
The French were continuing their bad luck. On their set to the reach, they split their spinnaker in half. So we were able to get past them and win the race, with the Ukrainians behind us in third.
We headed for shore wondering where we had finished over all.
We finally got some scores, and it turned out we had tied the German team for first place, both of us with 55 points. They break the tie by seeing who has the most first places. Since we had won the last race, we had one first place, and the Germans had none.
Well, we won the tie breaker to win the regatta.
WOW! What a day!
The Germans were second, and the Polish team ended up third.
Pretty cool.
We have a lot to work on, but we sailed pretty smart today.
The shifts seemed to be pretty similar to the Bruce Cup at Rush Creek.
Well, we train for another week in Sydney and then head to Melbourne, Australia (eight hours south), for a Pre-Worlds Regatta and then The World Championships.
More then.
Thanks for everyone's support and help.
GO, USA!
Paul and Bob
Team 2000