We've been in Sydney for a week now. All our equipment is here, and we have been sailing every day. The coaches have been taking turns setting courses, so we've had good racing.
Today was the first day of the regatta. The wind was about 20 knots out of the south, with light spots down to about 10 knots, and gaining momentum as the day went on. Our course, D Course, was set right at the mouth of the harbor, so we had some good waves coming in off the ocean.
About ten minutes before the start, we were just finishing our pre- race routine of checking out sails and compass angles, etc., and the boom vang bail broke. Luckily, we were able to jury rig a repair with the help of coach Skip, and everything seemed in working order.
Race 1
The course was an i2, an inner loop, two laps. The wind had been up
and down before the start, but it looked more consistent towards the
left side, which was at the harbor mouth. After a great start, we
sailed out left with good speed and tacked on the lay line to round
the weather mark in first. A Japanese team rounded in second.
We did some trapeze reaching down the run. We have been experimenting with this, and it seemed like a good opportunity to practice. At first we lost some, but then gained it back as we approached the leeward gate.
We went left again on the beat and stayed ahead and led for the rest of the race, to win. Unfortunately, we were over early--big bummer!
Race 2
We wanted to go left again, but we didn't have such a great start and
had to tack away. We were lifted on port, so we stayed and tried to
play the shifts for the rest of the beat. Towards the end of the beat,
we got a little far right for a puff that didn't get to us. Our rounding
at the top mark was in the twenties.
We set onto the run and then jibed onto port. The Irish team was on starboard coming at us and, until it was too late to duck, it looked like we were crossing. We had to jibe twice to get around the Irish, and took a lot of time doing it.
The next beat, we got left and made some gains. After another good run and beat, we caught up to the back of the front pack. We finished 11th.
Race 3
We got pinched off again at the start and had to tack out. It took a
while before we could tack and not hit anyone, so we were in bad air
for a little while. We wanted to get left, but we would have been
sailing into traffic, so we tried to play the shifts up the middle and
didn't do so well.
We gained a few boats on the run. On the next few beats, we caught a bunch of boats by working left again. We were fighting traffic getting there, so the gains weren't as big. We ended up 17th that race.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Another tough day on the water.
We sailed in a southeast breeze of 8-15 knots today on Course B, which is way up in the harbor near the Opera House. Very puffy and shifty winds and flat water prevailed.
We started at the pin end of the line in all three races, and it worked pretty well. In the first race, we were doing really well in third around most of the course, but missed a big right shift on the last beat, which dropped us back to 10th. We caught a couple of boats on the run, though, and finished seventh.
In the second race, we again won the pin end start but missed a couple of shifts up the first beat and were in about 12th at the first mark. We rallied the whole race, though, gaining and losing, and ended up seventh again.
In the third race, we again won the pin end start and tacked across the fleet. This ended up being a big mistake, as we got stuck with no wind in the middle, and boats on both sides passed us. We hung around 25th the whole race and never found the right shift to get us back to the top.
Two large ships came through our course that race, and we were lucky no one got run over.
Well, we are out in the ocean tomorrow. Big waves, but no ships. Wind is most likely not going to be in the same direction as the waves. I think we will get a sea breeze tomorrow out of the northeast.
We need to sail a little faster and a little smarter. More then.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
We sailed outside the harbor today. Wind was out of the northeast at about 10 knots, building to 15. There were some good swells, with confused waves on top of them. The courses were W2, windward/leeward twice around, with a gate as a leeward mark.
Race 1
We had a bad start at the boat but were able to tack away quickly.
Port tack was lifted, so it wasn't too bad. Most of the fleet
continued left. There was a little more wind on the right, and we
soon got a right shift to tack on. We were looking good.
At the weather mark, we were first and jibe set. A few boats passed us on the run. On the next beat, we found a little more wind to the right of the fleet and moved up to second. The Japanese moved to first in the same puff, but we passed them downwind to win the race.
Race 2
After a few general recalls, we had another tough start at the boat
and tacked away onto port. The wind was left again, so we stayed on
port, only this time the wind stayed left and we were not looking
good to the right of the fleet. To make matters worse, we hit the
weather mark and had to do a circle. Almost in last, we caught up a
bit on the run, then passed a few boats on the next two legs but
probably ended up mid-fleet.
Race 3
Some more general recalls and another bad start. We were forced out
right, as the left was looking better and better. We tried to stay in
phase up the beat but didn't get by many boats. Another collision
with the weather mark put us a little further behind. On the run, we
held even, then passed a few boats on the next beat, finally able to
work a little left. We had a good next run and passed a few more to
finish around mid-fleet again.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Hello again from Australia.
Another day of bad starts for us. We need to get off the starting line.
At least Paul didn’t get his hand crunched today. His right thumb got smashed by a Mexican boat yesterday at the first start. It still is swollen and black and blue.
Well, we sailed on Course B today, way up inside the harbor, in sight of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. Flat water (besides all the motorboat, ferry boat, and large ship wakes), with a building northeasterly breeze. Normal summer conditions for Sydney.
Race 1
Race 1 was an almost. We were going for the pin end start, but the
Russian boat got underneath us, and we could not hold our lane. We
footed through but were just a little behind, and at the weather
mark the Russian was first and we were in the 20s.
We made some gains and were probably back up to around 15th when we had to do a crash tack and nearly flipped. That put a damper on our comeback, and we ended up finishing 21st.
Race 2
We had another sorry start. Just too scared to be over early, I think.
We were in the 20s at the first mark again, but the we started
hitting some shifts upwind and downwind and actually ground back
to fifth place.
Race 3
First start was a general recall. Second was under black flag. We had
another bad start, but six boats, including the regatta-leading
Portuguese, eventually were DSQed for being over early.
We footed over to Bradley's Head (a point of land on our course where there usually is strong wind and a shift). We got a little too close and got slammed by a helicopter puff. This flipped us promptly and put us early last at the weather mark. The wind had increased by now to 15-20 knots.
We tried doing the wild thing down wind ( this involves reaching with the spin instead of going dead down wind). We broke even but found some good shifts on the next two beats to move up into the 20s.
We did the wild thing on the third run and gained ten boats, then the next beat played Bradley's Head perfectly to move up into eighth.
We tried the wild thing the last run but got stuck too far under Bradley’s Head and fell into a big hole. We ended up 12th that race.
So that was it.
We finished 11th overall. A Spanish team won, with Australia second and Slovenia third.
Not a good regatta for us. Kind of frustrating, but considering how badly we sailed, if we have a good regatta--WATCH OUT!
Next on the agenda are the Australian Nationals, which start just after Christmas. We will train in Sydney until then.
Whoosh! Maybe one day off.
Thanks for all your support.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000