We have been practicing in Melbourne for the last five days. The weather has been great, and it's been pretty windy.
Today is the start of The Pre-Worlds Regatta. It is a three day event, with qualifying races the first two days, after which they will split the fleet. All scores carry over to the finals except for one throw out. The final day is three races with no throw outs.
The forecast for today was for 10-20 knot winds out of the south, going to the southeast, with a temperature of 78 degrees F and a chop of two feet.
We got down to the boat early to clean the bottom. It's a good thing we did because our gasket was coming off. We fixed the gasket, cleaned the bottom with soap and water and dried it. Then we cleaned the bottom again with Starbright. It was a dirty bottom.
When we finally got out to the race course, they had put up a postponement flag, so we did some tuning. Weıd sailed yesterday and were a little slow upwind, so we were trying to find the problem. Our coach said that our main was still too full, so we angled our spreaders back a little. This seemed better.
We checked out the wind, and it seemed to be building and going right. When we first came out, it was pretty light, 5-10 knots, but by the first start it had built to 8-12 knots.
Race 1
We set up to start at the boat end of the line, but things started to
get crowded, and the next thing we knew we were rafted up with
another boat. We managed to get clear quickly and tacked onto port
tack, trying to find some clear air. After we got clear, we were on
the right side of the course, and the wind made a big shift to the
right. After tacking on the shift, we were in around the top five.
Morgan Reeser and Kevin Burnam crossed right in front of us, but we passed them because they got out onto the starboard lay line too early and a boat tacked on them.
The big right shift held for the rest of the race, so the first reach was broad. We jibe set onto the run and almost laid the mark. The last beat was mostly starboard. By the finish, we were in fourth, but the Spanish boat in first dropped out, leaving us in third. They were not registered for the regatta but were sailing around for practice. There are a few teams jumping in and out of races and some not sailing all the races, the usual Pre-Worlds stuff.
Race 2
Just as we were about to start, the womanıs fleet was sailing to the
leeward gate right in front of us. We saw this and got down to the
pin end so that we could get out to the edge of the course for clear
air. The women would be sailing upwind right in front of us.
We rounded the top mark well, but we weren't sure of our place with all the womenıs boats around. The reach and the run were just as congested. At the leeward mark, the women went off to their finish and we found ourselves in the top five. The take down was a catastrophe, so we lost some ground.
After we got that sorted out, we got onto the lifted starboard tack. There was a lot of starboard in the leg, so we had time to wait for a good shift to tack on. We found one that lasted just long enough to get us to the mark in second. The Swedes were ?way out in front, and we held onto second.
Race 3
We had one general recall, then got off to a black flag start. We
started at the pin and went hard left, waiting for the boats on our
hip to tack and also waiting for a lefty. We finally tacked and
rounded the first mark in second behind Morgan and Kevin who had
come hard left with us.
We caught up with the leader by the leeward mark and tacked out immediately. We had to go through the chutes, so we went a little slow and were two boat lengths behind at the windward mark. Morgan jibe set and we straight set. We caught up a little again and almost rolled him, but he held us off to win. We were second.
So, we had a good day with a 3, 2, 2. Not sure what place we are in because the scores were a little messed up.
Forecast for tomorrow is 15-20 knots out of the northeast, with five foot waves AND a temperature of 92 degrees.
Should be fun.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Hello again from Melbourne.
We got to the boat early today to finish tuning and to finish fairing the centerboard that we had filled in scratches and dings on with epoxy. We also shined the centerboard trunk to tighten the board in the trunk to keep it from floating up.
We had only two races scheduled for today. It's the last day of qualifying for the finals of the Pre-Worlds. The wind was light in the morning, and we were postponed for awhile, as usual. A little later, the sea breeze filled in and the postponement came down.
Race 1
We had a good start at the boat end and tacked onto port expecting
the wind to shift right, as it has tended to do. The Brazilians were
right below us going a little better, but we managed to hold our lane.
The wind did shift right and we rounded the first mark in the top
five. We jibe set around the weather mark, which was a big mistake.
There had been a lot of port tack on the beat, so we should have
expected a long starboard on the run. As it turned out, the run was
almost all starboard, so we ended up sailing a lot of extra distance.
A bunch of boats passed us, and we didn't manage to pass them back
very well. We finished the race in ninth.
Race 2
We had a horrible start, rafting up with some other boats; looked
like were going to have a tough race. We tacked off to find some
clear air and a good lane. We were going fast. The wind shifted
right and took us across, and were doing okay. We rounded the first
mark in fourth, with a Japanese team leading.
The run was good for us, as we caught up a little; then, the next beat it got pretty windy. We caught up to the Japanese by the windward mark, and an Israeli team had moved into first.
The reach was too tight to carry a spinnaker, and the two boats ahead went a little high, so we rounded the next mark just behind them.
We set chutes on the run, and Bob and I worked low. We got a good puff and planed by the two boats ahead into first, then rounded the last mark and reached to the finish with the Israeli team right behind us. A good win for us, which made up for the mistake during the first race.
We did some more boat tuning back on the beach and moved our mast butt back one inch. This is the max aft point which we thought we were at. We then had to retune and fix our mast ram so it worked in the new mast position. Hopefully, we will be faster and not slower tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the last day of racing. They put all the top guys in one fleet, and we race three races with no throw out. They also add four of the five races from the qualifying series for your total score, so tomorrow is a big day.
More then.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
We were split into gold and silver fleets today.
The start was scheduled at 11:00 a.m., an hour earlier than yesterday. Three races were scheduled, with no race after 4:00 p.m. Our final series would only be one day. The early start time didn't get things going any earlier, as the sea breeze doesn't come in till noon and doesn't care much about our schedule.
Noon came, and the breeze came with it almost instantaneously, and things started to get going. The girls started first, and then our sequence started.
Race 1
Our start was okay towards the boat end. Some boats to leeward looked to be over early
to
leeward of us, so we were in bad air looking to tack out. Just after the start, a group
had
tacked onto port but were not crossing us. One of the boats tacked in front and to
leeward
of us and hit our bow with their stern during the tack.
We both heard that fiberglass crunch that no one likes to hear. Paul immediately jumped to leeward to check it out.
Sure enough, there was a hole about two inches wide in the port side of our boat. We tacked right away and heeled over to keep the hole above water. One of the competitors and a coach boat came by to see if we needed help. But we could not fix it on the water without the possibility of sinking. Bob stuck his hand in the hole, and we sailed for the club. Luckily, the club was downwind, so we were able to sail all the way back on that tack.
Back on shore:
One of our Australian friends pointed us in the direction of a good boat shop. Paul gave the guys a call, and they said that they probably would be able to fix it for tomorrow.
Measurement for the Worlds starts tomorrow. An Australian boat also was holed today, so we put their boat with ours on the trailer and took them both to the shop. Our measurement time is at 4:30 p.m. Friday, so, hopefully, everything will be done by then.
Back on the water:
Evidently it was a rough day on the water, with loads of general recalls under the black flag, meaning a lot of disqualified boats. They were able to complete only two races in the men's fleet before 4:00. I guess we didn't miss too much.
Paul filed for redress. The jury called the boat shop to make sure we were telling the truth, but it does not look good.
So we were given average points for race one of today. The average was based on our DNA in the last race. SO our average was a last place.
Bummer.
Well, I hope we got our bad luck out of the way. The Worlds start on Sunday.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
The Team CompuCom/Kitty Hawk Olympic 470 hull underwent surgery last night in an emergency operation at Blue Marine Hospital in Braeside, Australia.
Events leading up to the injury are a little sketchy, but it is believed that a boat from Switzerland savagely attacked the Team CompuCom/Kitty Hawk boat to prevent it from racing in the final day of the Pre-Worlds Cup.
Just seconds after the start of the first race, the Swiss boat smashed a near-fatal blow to the hull of Team CompuCom/Kitty Hawk, creating a large hole in her bow. Paramedics on the scene acted swiftly, applying pressure to the wound (and inserting a hat) to stop deadly water from rushing into the inner tanks of the bow. Quick reactions from skipper and crew are credited with returning the USA vessel safely to land as they sailed all the way back to the yacht club with the punctured portion of the hull above water.
Paul Foerster and Bob Merrick checked their hull out of Blue Marine Hospital today and report successful surgery, with no visible blemishes on their Olympic 470. The boat and sails will be measured in for the 470 Worlds entry this afternoon at 4:30 p.m.
Since the incident occurred, sources say that many teams in the Gold fleet were thrown out of the regatta completely for ignoring the black flag rule that states once you are called over early on a black flag start, you must clear the starting area and allow other boats to have a clear line. Competitors are not allowed to restart after being "black flagged."
Many Gold Fleet teams wanted to practice racing and ignored this rule by starting and competing in the next race. The race committee simply threw them all out. One of the lesser-known French teams, sail #2581, was declared winner of the Pre-Worlds. Team CompuCom/Kitty Hawk is disappointed at missing the opportunity to claim this title, but is certain they made the right decision to have their vessel repaired in plenty of time for the World Championships which start Sunday, January 10, at 1:00 p.m.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Note from Beanard: At the time of the Team 2000 encounter with the Swiss boat, Foerster and Merrick were in first place in the Pre-Worlds, having earned scores of 3, 2, 2, 1 and 9 (throw out) in the first five races. They held first place in the regatta.
Beanard Team 2000 Correspondent