It was a long day on the water today. We just now are driving back from the sailing club, typing our report in the car. It's about a twenty minute drive, so we should be finished by the time we get home; then we can go to bed.
Well, today was the first day of qualifying for the 470 World Championships. For qualifying, six races are scheduled over two days. They split the fleet into three groups of thirty-one 470s each. The top thirty will make the Gold Fleet.
Our start was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. today. Bob and I went out about 11:00 a.m. to see what was going on. The breeze was pretty light, about 5 - 10 knots out of the southeast, which is the normal sea breeze direction. Pretty flat water.
We were the last group to start. they tried to get one start off on time, but the wind shifted, so the race committee postponed. This postponement lasted until 2:00 p.m. Then, the first fleet got a start off, then the second fleet. We finally got off around 2:30 p.m.
Race 1
We didn't have such a great start, but found a good lane going right.
We got some good speed that lifted us up. We didn't get far enough
left towards the end of the beat, and we rounded the weather mark
in about eighth place.
We had a pretty even run, and at the end of the run we went to the unfavored-favored gate mark, which was to the left when looking upwind. That put us to the left of the fleet and in clear air. We were able to sail fast, found a puff that lifted us on port tack, and passed a bunch of boats on that beat. We rounded the top mark in the top five boats.
We held even on the reach, then jibed out on the run with everyone else. We were the first ones to jibe back, and this was a big gain for us, as we passed the Finnish and New Zealand teams. At the end of the run, we did some really good jibes and passed the Japanese boat. This put us in third, and we reached to the finish.
Race 2
We started towards the boat in the middle of the line. I thought we
might have been over the line early. We had a decent lane on
starboard, but the Australians were going really fast to leeward of
us and started to pinch us off; so we tacked twice to find a better
lane and were in clear air, but still we weren't pointing very well.
We were lifted on starboard tack waiting for the wind to shift back left, which it never did, so we ended up on the far left side of the course. The fleet in front of us at this point was rounding the weather mark and reaching to the offset mark, so we had to sail beyond the line of spinnakers to tack onto port to and to avoid bad air and get the mark. We got a small but good puff that kept us in the top of the fleet even though we had to sail a header all the way to the mark. We rounded the weather mark in about tenth - twelfth place.
We had an okay run passing one boat, then went right the next beat, losing a little. We passed one boat on the last run, to finish 11th. There were four over-early boats, so we got bumped up to seventh overall for that race. Thankfully, we were not one of the over- earlies!
Race 3
We started a boat length ahead of the fleet in the midline sag, but
behind the line. There was a big left shift, so we got onto port tack
with the Spanish boat to leeward of us. They were trying to pinch us
off, but we held our lane for the first half of the beat. We tacked
onto starboard halfway up the beat, and a bunch of boats to the left
were crossing because the wind hadn't shifted back right. We tacked
back before the majority of the boats had a chance to cross us, but
ended up having to duck a bunch of them trying to get to the right
side of the course for the end of the beat, which didn't really gain
anything for us. We rounded the top mark just in the top ten.
We took off on the run, but the boats behind us were going high, so we jibed out onto port so that we didn't have to go high with them. We lost a little doing this, as they must have had better wind; so we lost a couple of boats on the run. At the bottom of the run, we again took the left gate and immediately gained. We were to the left of the fleet again and got a small left shift and passed a few boats, putting us back into 10th.
We gained a little more up the beat, going fast and hitting the last shift. We were in sixth place going into the reach.
The wind now was blowing 12 knots. We rolled the New Zealand boat on the first reach, then went off on the run, which was mainly starboard tack, but we were able to work low of the Portuguese team. We had a little battle with them to round the bottom mark ahead. They started taking us high on the last reach to the finish, putting us both high on the Swedish boat in front of us, and as a result we passed the Swedish boat to finish third.
We finally got to the dock around 7:00 p.m.
We did a little boat work. We fixed our main halyard so it would keep our main closer to the black band.
Well, an okay day and a good one to qualify on.
Three more races tomorrow.
More then.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Wind forecast today was for 20-25 knots out of the southeast.
It was raining when we got down to the boat, and the wind was dead, so we waited on shore for awhile. We checked everything over and got the boat ready. Paul has been sick for the last three days (cold and fever), so we were not anxious for him to get any sicker.
We were in fourth place in our fleet going into today.
Race 1
We were the first start today. The wind was pretty light going out
to the starting line, 6-12 knots, but picked up just after our start.
The first start was a general recall, so everybody depowered getting
ready for the next try.
The wind picked up to to 20 knots, and the existent chop built rapidly to some steep waves.
We got a bad start near the boat--our rudder came up at the start, and our centerboard came up also. The rudder downhaul came uncleated, and our board kept being pushed up because of the strong wind.
We finally got going to the right and were going okay, but at the weather mark we realized that the left side was favored, so we rounded ?way back. We were the first ones to set on the reach, so we passed some boats there and got up to about 15th; but on the run our centerboard kept coming up too high and we ended up tipping over during a jibe, so we lost a lot of boats. We got the board back up fast and started going up the next beat. We caught some boats again, but on the next run we had the same problem and flipped again, putting us in last place. We ended up 27th that race.
Race 2
Turns out our gasket had come off in the race before, and that is bad!
When this happens, water shoots up the centerboard trunk and into
the boat, filling the boat with water. It also causes a lot of drag
since the water is moving really fast and slams into the back of the
centerboard trunk. It is like dragging your foot in the water.
Well, we had to race with it, so I tried to stuff my life jacket in the centerboard trunk going up the first beat. This did not work, as the water pressure was too strong and just blew the life jacket back out. So I put it back on, and we rounded the weather mark ahead of one boat.
We again set on the first reach and passed a few boats. The rudder kept stalling out because of all the turbulence created at the centerboard trunk, so I had to tell Bob to dump the chute a few times because I lost steerage way.
We had put a stopper knot in the board this race, so the board was not a problem downwind, and we stayed upright. We passed a few boats and passed a few more the next leg because I was not trying to stuff a life jacket into the centerboard trunk.
We passed a few more on the run and reach to the finish and finished 20th.
Race 3
Bob stuck a crushed plastic Coke bottle into the centerboard trunk,
and this fit tightly enough not to be blown out, so not as much water
was going into the boat. We had a good start, but the speed was still
not there because of all the drag, and we were forced to tack out.
We did a little better this race, as many boats had retired due to breakdowns, and finished 16th.
Still not sure if we had qualified.
We got in and started finding the stuff to put on a new gasket. We found the stuff, but it turned out we had missed qualifying for the gold fleet by five points.
Dejected, we put on the new gaskets.
That was our day!
Not much to say, other than that we need someone else to put on gaskets for us. We specifically put on new gaskets for the Pre- Worlds just to make sure they would be okay for the Worlds. They just were not good enough for 20 knots.
Well, we will go racing tomorrow in the silver fleet. I hope it blows 30 knots.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Hello again from Australia.
Well, after all the protests we missed the gold fleet by one point.
We raced three races in the silver fleet today and had a second, a first and second.
We actually caught the gold fleet in the second race, and passed about ten of them by the finish.
We are trying to make the best of it.
Our gasket stayed on all day, and we fixed the centerboard this morning so it fits much tighter in the C.B. trunk and does not float up.
A day late and a dollar short.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Today the wind was out of the southeast, as it has been almost every day. We did, however, have a bit more velocity, as the breeze started out at about 15 knots in the first race, and increased to about 25 by the last race.
The good German team was out racing today. They are really fast in the breeze, so we had an opportunity to gauge our heavy air speed. These guys are the same Germans that we tied for first in Sydney. They were qualifying for the gold fleet and thought they would be able to skip the last race of the qualifying. When the scores came out, they found that they had been OCS in a race and would, therefore, be in the silver fleet. They didn't sail on the first day of the finals.
We finished the day with a four, a three and a five. The five was a "come from behind" after tipping over on the first beat after a bad tack. I didn't get the jib uncleated through the tack, and that was it. We improved our speed throughout the day by raising the centerboard more than usual, raking the mast more and letting the jib lead up more. Our downwind technique got better as well. And our gasket stayed on--and our CB stayed down.
A good day.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
The Germans were out again today.
We won the three races we had today.
Our first race was in about 8 knots, but the yellow flag was up already, so we were rocking and pumping a lot downwind. Our speed upwind was okay, but we made most of our gains on the runs.
The wind increased as the day went on, and by the final race we were looking for the New Zealanders to tune against.
Off of the starting line we had an opportunity to match our pace with the New Zealanders and the Germans and were going well. The Germans rolled the New Zealanders, and we pinched off the Germans. We were going pretty fast.
They were going faster than we were in the big wind yesterday, so this was a nice improvement.
Wind is supposed to be lighter tomorrow.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
A long day.
After doing some boat work, we got out for the first race, which was to start at 1:00 p.m.
Wind had been out of the north (opposite the direction it had been blowing all week) at 10-20 knots all morning. By the time our start got off, it was blowing 8-10 and dying. The yellow flag was up, which meant we could rock and pump all we wanted.
We, went to the right; however, the wind went left, so we were 'way back. By the last run, the wind had dropped to 2-5 knots, so we decided not to set our spinnaker and rock all the way downwind. This worked, and we passed about twelve boats and were in seventh on the last reach to the finish--but the race committee abandoned the race.
We all went ashore, and at about 5:30 they sent us back out. The wind was blowing 5-10 out of the southeast. We got to the starting line, and a big wind line came in. It was blowing 15-20 out of the sea breeze direction.
The gold fleet got off to an inner loop and, ten minutes later, we got off to an outer loop. We were lifted of the line, so we kept going left. We were getting out to the lay line, so we tacked on the hip of two boats that crossed us. The wind shifted left about ten degrees, and we were overstood, but were going fast and rounded behind a Japanese boat that had hit the lay line.
We passed him on the run as the breeze went another 40 degrees left.
We reached up the next beat and went downhill to the finish, winning by half a leg.
We actually beat all the gold fleet boats that had started ten minutes ahead of us due to the big shift.
So, only one race today.
Two races left for tomorrow, and then we come home.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Today was the last day of racing, with two races left. We had our fleet won already, but decided we need the practice, so we went out at noon in shorts and T-shirts with the wind at 5-10; but by the time our start came around, it was blowing 12-18 and still building, so we put on our warm clothes, depowered the boat and took off.
We were going fastest and reached the weather mark in first place by 100 yards, then went on to win by half a leg. We decided to go in and pack the boat up.
A French team won the Worlds, followed by Sweden, then Poland. It was a different French team from the one that won last year.
We got faster in the heavy air here, but are disappointed in not making the top fleet to see how we would have done. I guess bad things can always happen, and you just need to try to eliminate as many as you can. It's just a bad way to learn something.
Well, thanks for everyone's support, and we will see you at home.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000