What a day!
We awoke this morning with a strong offshore breeze, 10-20 knots out of the north. The forecast was for the wind to die and go to the south. The question was when.
Race 1
The race committee was a little late getting us started but we
finally got started around 12:30 p.m., with the wind out of the north
(offshore) at about 8-14 knots.
We got off to an okay start but slowly got pinched off. We held on going left when Paul noticed some weeds on the rudder. He pulled on the uphaul line to pull the rudder up and clear the weeds; unfortunately, the rudder came all the way out of the water and the boat tacked immediately. We flipped over--great start to the finals.
We got the boat back up but were 'way behind. We gained back some on the left and actually rounded the first mark ahead of three boats. We passed about ten more on the first reach, but we jibed out on the run and lost a few. At the leeward mark, we were ahead of about ten boats.
The next beat we went right, seeing a puff that way. We initially gained, but at the end of the beat the wind died on the right and filled and shifted left, so we didn't gain any boats; probably lost a couple.
The next run, the wind completely died, and we took the right lane and had a few puffs.
Well, in the end only seven boats finished the first race. The rest did not make the time limit, and we got a DNF along with thirty- eight other boats.
Race 2
The sea breeze filled in to a nice ten knots. In no time, the race
committee had set up a new course and was ready to go. We got
down to the line and started to go upwind with a Russian boat to
check our speed and see what the wind was doing. When we headed
downwind, we noticed that the warning flag was already up, so we
raced down to the line to try to make the start. We were a little
late--about twenty seconds. It was starting to look like a really bad
day.
After rounding the committee boat, we made a few tacks to get some clear air, then got onto the lifted tack. We stayed in phase as well as we could while keeping our air clear, and rounded the first mark ahead of a few boats. The reach was broad, so we were able to make some more gains by getting low. We continued to pass boats on the run. On the last beat, we worked right again toward more breeze and made some big gains on the fleet. We finished the race about 12th.
Race 3
After a bunch of general recalls, the black flag went up and it looked
like we were finally going to get a start off. The boat end was
favored, so we were set up to start there, but things were getting
crowded. As time ran down, we found ourselves looking for a hole to
start in. After trying to get through too small a hole, we found
ourselves going backwards at the gun. Once again, we were about
twenty seconds late for the start.
After getting our air clear, we got onto the lifted port tack. As we got further up the beat, the wind wasn't shifting back; but we had to wait until the lay line. As we got close, we spied a puff that was also a header, just on the lay line. We tacked on the lay line and were looking good. A couple of boats tacked in front of us, but we were able to hold our lane. The shift lasted until the mark. We were in about 10th.
The spinnaker pole popped off on the reach, and we lost a boat. Not much happened for the rest of the race, and we finished about 12th.
Our finishes for the day were: DNF, 16, and 12; we are in 12th place overall now.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Only seven out of approximately forty-four boats finished the first race yesterday due to light winds which did not allow the majority of competitors to cross the finish line before the time limit expired. With much encouragement from the sailors, the jury decided to run a replacement race today for all competitors except the seven boats that finished in the top seven places yesterday. So the rest of us are racing for 8th place.
Race 1
We got a great start up near the favored boat with the Ukrainians
but slowly got pinched off and had to go right. This put us out of
phase, and we did not seem to be going well anyway, so we were
'way deep at the weather mark.
We went low on the first reach but didn't gain anything.
We jibed out on the run, and that was the wrong thing to do. Seems all the wind was on the left.
The second beat, we tried hitting a shift up the middle but did not gain anything.
It just was not our race although we did roll a boat on the final reach. I guess we finished 28th, plus add seven boats that finished yesterday, to give us a 35th for that race. Bummer.
Race 2
Every body raced this one.
The boat was favored by 10 degrees, but we wanted to go left so we started in about the middle. We started gaining immediately and tacked on a few shifts up the left side. Our speed seemed a little better. We made the main a little flatter and twistier, and it helped in the puffy and sloppy conditions. There was a lot of plastic on the course today, and we were checking our blades often.
Well, we rounded first, just holding off a Slovenian from rolling us on the port lay line.
We went on the reach and we and the SLO guy were pretty far ahead, so we gained by going straight for the mark.
On the run, he stayed pretty even with us, getting the inside at the leeward mark and rounding ahead. The SLO guy tacked out, and we held on to clear the chutes and tacked back.
When we came back together, we were one boat's length ahead and lee bowed him. This forced him to the left again, and we kept going right. Bad move. The left was still favored and he gained a bunch. We got a little right shift at the end but not enough. He rounded several lengths ahead and went on to win, and we took second. Oh well--at least an improvement.
Race 3
Boat end favored by 10 degrees.
After several recalls we had a black flag start. We again started to leeward of the fleet.
We were just out of a puff at the start, so we lost a little in the beginning. A little lefty came in and some boats tacked on it, but we could not find a clear lane and kept going. Then the lift came back, so we waited for another shift. We finally got one near the lay line. It did not hold all the way, but it was enough to get us in the top half of the fleet. We had good enough speed to hold off all the people that lee bowed us.
We rounded about 20th and got stuck behind a SLOW Australian on the first reach but held off the guys behind us that were stacking up.
On the run we got a good shift and passed a few boats.
Then the next windward leg we played some shifts and got a good one on the right and caught a few more boats.
We lost a Greek boat on the run and finished 13th. An okay race and better speed.
We are now in 9th overall, with a couple of racing days left.
We need to keep improving our speed and decision making.
Thanks, everyone, for all your support!
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Hello again from (sometimes) sunny Spain.
We awoke this morning to an already sea breeze and overcast skies. Something was different today: a front was coming, and it was already in Barcelona.
Bob and I did a little of our usual boat work. Bob finally replaced the large twing ball that was catching on the mainsheet, and I put on an extendable tiller extension.
We got off the dock early and checked everything out. The weather was a little windier than usual, about 8-14 knots.
Today they let the silver fleet go first. That meant that they sailed an outer loop course and we sailed an inner loop course.
Race 1
After a few general recalls, we got off under a black flag start.
We had an okay start in the middle of the line, but got a good puff and lift to
move out. We continued left waiting for a lefty since we were in a lift. It finally
came and we tacked on it. After doing some ducking and weaving, we rounded
the weather mark in about 10th.
We lost a little on the run.
Then the next beat played some shifts and, again, we rounded 10th. We passed the good Swedish boat on the set and were off reaching in about 15 knots of wind.
We were gaining on the boats ahead, but then about halfway down the reach the judge boat raced up to us and blew a whistle. We did not know what was going on. Then they blew the whistle again, put up a yellow flag and pointed at us. This meant they thought that we were breaking the propulsion rule (pumping, rocking, ooching, etc.). Well, it's hard to do that when you are on a tight spin reach in a 470. In fact, it's slow. But the on-the-water Jury has the power to do what they please. So we did our 720 and got passed by about four boats and ended up finishing 13th.
Our coach asked the Jury what they thought we were doing wrong. The Jury said we were pumping the spin sheet. I guess they never have sailed a 470 before.
Race 2
Wind picked up a little.
We got a bad start at the boat and tacked out. We found a clear lane and tacked back in a good shift, and the wind lifted us more. We were going pretty fast, too. We rounded the weather mark in 5th and held even on the run.
We passed one boat from Belarouse (sp?) on the next beat, then took off down the reach. For this race, the max pumping flag was up; so we did not have to worry about any pumping. We held even on the run.
On the final reach to the finish, the wind picked up and went right, and our spin pole blew off the mast. Well, we needed to take the spin down anyway.
We finished 4th, a good race.
Race 3
The wind picked up to 15-30 knots for this race and went right. We finally got off
to a black flag start, having a late start at the boat, and tacked out right.
Something happened-- we are not sure what-- but we over stood the weather mark by about half a mile and rounded last.
Well, it got really windy and there were a lot of capsizes and broken masts. Luckily, not us; but we got to see it all as we slowly passed boats. We passed about five on the run, then a few more the next beat, then more that had capsized on the reach, and then some more on the run. We squeezed past the Portuguese boat on the last reach to finish 21st. Wow!
At least we finished. Upright is fast in that much breeze.
After we got in, we changed the spin halyard. It was too small to hold in the cleat in that much wind.
We now are in 6th overall, with four races left. We have to be careful not to get another yellow flag because if we do, we will have to get a DSQ.
Our coach motored an Italian sailor with two broken ribs in after the second race. A boat hit him with its bow while he was on the trapeze during a windy leg of the race. We are okay.
More tomorrow.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
We had another postponement today. When we got down to the club there was a light Northerly. The reliable sea breeze filled in from the south shortly after noon and we got out on the water.
We were in sixth place going into today, but close in points with the boats around us.
Race 1
We had an ok start in the middle of the line. The Slovenian boat was just to
windward of us and going a little faster. Since we were in bad air, we decided to
tack. Working our way up the right side of the course we hit some good shifts
and rounded the weather mark around tenth.
We stayed in about the same position until the leeward mark. We were forced to tack onto port soon after the mark by a pack of boats that had probably tacked too close. This forced us to luff some Australians who were still going down wind. We got tied up with them for a second, but the main problem was that we were now on the wrong tack.
Unfortunately it was a while before we could tack, because we needed to get around the boats which were still on the run. This whole chain of events forced us out of phase a bit forcing us to sail on the headed tack for a while in order to get to the mark.
We lost about four boats on this leg. One of the Greek boats fouled us at the mark, so we protested them. They were later disqualified. It was still looking like we were going to have a good race until a hectic leeward mark rounding. Just after rounding the leeward mark, I realized that I hadn't gotten the guy hooked to the pole correctly so we lost a boat there. When we got all that taken care of boats were still passing us. We have been fast on the reaches so we thought this was a bit odd until we realized that the leeward twing wasn't all the way off. This is very slow. We fixed that about half way down the reach and finished 18th. We gave away some points on this one, not good (6 just on the last reach).
Race 2
There was a bit more wind for this race so we dropped our shrouds down a pin
hole. We had a bad start in the middle of the line. We must have been way
behind the sag because a boat reached down the line and started directly in front
of us.
We had to tack away getting right of the fleet. Again we did an ok job on the right side and rounded in the teens. The top reach was broad, so we went low but didn't have the velocity we expected and lost two boats. We lost a few more on the run getting a little out of phase.
We went right the second beat. The right side had been working for us, so we got right again and this time got a big shearing lift that the boats below us didn't get, making a big gain to about 15th which we held to the finish.
Race 3
Wind picked up a little, so we went down a pin hole on the shroud so we could
rake the mast back and still have tension.
WE HAD a good black flag start in the middle of the line and worked out from the boats on our hip, Slo and Ukr. We took a shift back and were doing ok then finally got a little lift. It was a long first beat and after playing the shifts we rounded the first mark in 8th.
We held ok on the reach on the run and noticed a Russian boat gaining a lot by reaching on the waves. We copied him, but still got passed by him. We did; however, gain a lot on all the guys behind us.
We rounded the leeward mark and lifted off of the Russian that passed us. We then played some good shifts and rounded the weather mark in 8th again. 10 boat lengths ahead of the Russian and closer to boats ahead.
We jibe set and did our reaching thing down wind we caught up to a boat ahead and he started reaching too. We jibed back and had passed the Slovinian boat and gained on the Finnish boat, but we lost a little on the end of the run and ended up rounding 8th again.
It was just a parade to the finish.
We had a protest with a Greek boat for the first race and threw him out for tacking to close at the windward mark.
So, we are now tied for 8th with the Russian boat (RUS 4).
If we are one of the top 9 countries after tomorrow we qualify our Country, U.S.A, to compete in the 2000 Olympic games.
1 Race left.
See you Tomorrow.
Paul and Bob
We were the second start today, so we were doing inner loops.
Last Race.
The first start was a general recall, and we were up near the boat.
The wind was 5-10 knots off shore and lumpy.
We did not like the boat end of the line, so the next start we went to the pin end. We had a good start there but thought we might have been over early.
We kept going and played the lefthand side of the course. It was very puffy and shifty, and when we dug back into the middle, we did not have quite the lift we needed; so we went back out left. The boats out there were almost crossing in front of us, so we tacked below them and led them back right. We got a good puff and were able to roll over the fleet to leeward, and we just kept the boats above us from rolling us. We rounded the weather mark first-- just ahead of the 3rd place Swedish team!
We went a little slow on the run and did not jibe out soon enough to find the new puff. We got passed by the Slovenian boat and an Israeli boat.
We went right after the leeward mark and hit some shifts, then went left at the end of the beat and got the last lefty. At the next mark we were 4th again.
We stayed even on the reach, then on the next run found some good wind and extended on the boats behind and caught up a little on the boat in front. We were 4th at the leeward mark, and it was a parade to the finish.
When we finished, our coach told us we had moved up to 5th overall; but then we looked at the "Over Early" board, and we were on it, along with six other boats.
Bummer.
Well, we ended up 9th overall and 9th best country, so WE QUALIFIED THE USA FOR THE SYDNEY OLYMPICS IN 2000, 470 class!
We learned a lot in this regatta, especially how to sail faster in lumpy seas (flatten and twist the mainsail). But we made a lot of stupid mistakes, like being over early in the last race. I think this comes from not being able to sail with our heads out of the boat. In other words, we spend too much time concentrating on going fast and not enough time looking around.
Well, we beat the 1st and 3rd place boats in this regatta at the previous Kiel event, so we know we can sail better--and we will.
Thanks for all your support.
See you back in Dallas and RI.
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
Hello,
Yes, we are back in America.
Bob is back at school in Rhode Island studying for his second degree (in Engineering). I am back at work at Raytheon, but only for a few days. I leave for Australia on Wednesday, 16 September, for the Pre-Pre Olympic Regatta in Sydney. Bob won't be going since he can't miss that much school. I will be sailing with a guy named Jonathan Farrar (a veteran 470 sailor) from Florida.
Yes, you will have to read some more race reports. Hopefully, they will not include some of the boneheaded things we did at the Worlds: tipping over, over early, leaving the twing on on the spin reach . . . .
Well, maybe part of that was caused by the fact that I was dizzy for half the regatta.
I have since been cured. After we tried many e-mails to doctors, physical therapists and veterinarians who offered good advice, Louise Vanvoorhis (a member of the USA women's 470 team that competed last week in Spain) had a cure. She had been studying my problem in physical therapy school and, after a quick call to her professor in America, she came up with a remedy: the Hallpike-Dix Maneuver.
Her diagnosis was Benign Positional Vertigo which is caused by one of the tiny hairs in the inner ear dying and coming loose. When the hair comes loose, a calcium crystal comes out of the hole where the hair was attached and floats around, knocking into the millions of other tiny hairs in the ear. This causes major problems--like my almost falling out of my boat while trying to look under the main at my jib shape or while reaching for something in the boat. Balance and body orientation messages can't be read correctly by the brain when this condition exists.
The Hallpike-Dix Maneuver involved tipping me over in certain positions until my head stopped spinning, then keeping my head upright all night (with the use of an inflatable airplane pillow). Miraculously, the maneuver worked and I am okay now.
We shall see.
Bob and I want to say thanks to Bob Chilton for donating air miles so
we could fly to Spain.
Thanks to Stanley Whitehead for installing the Kitty Hawk logo on
the spinnaker.
Thanks to Carrie for organizing everything.
Thanks to Beanard for editing.
Thanks to Brooks Nolan for relaying the race reports.
Thanks to Jeff Kerr for keeping the Team 2000 web page going.
Special thanks to Kitty Hawk and CompuCom for their financial support.
More to come soon from Sydney! Check the web page for links to the Sydney International Regatta page (www.rcyc.org/team_2000)
Paul and Bob
Team 2000
In a message dated 9/15/98 1:23:06 PM Central Daylight Time, 75442.3514@compuserve.com writes:
U.S. SAILORS SECURE SOLING and 470 MEN'S BERTHS for 2000 OLYMPIC REGATTA
PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (September 15, 1998) -- In a banner week, American sailors locked up two U.S. berths for the 2000 Olympic Regatta's Soling and 470 Men's events. With the exception of host country Australia, all nations must qualify for entry in each of the nine classes (11 divisions) at the Olympic Regatta, scheduled for September 16-October 1, 2000, in Sydney, Australia. Entry limits set by the International Olympic Committee and the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) resulted in the establishment of a qualification system to determine entrants. The Olympic class world championships in 1998, 1999 and 2000 will each qualify approximately 30% of the entries; the remaining 10% will be determined by an ISAF committee.
SOLING
An entry limit of 15 Solings for the 2000 Olympic Regatta meant that only the top-four finishing countries at the '98 Soling World Championship would earn a coveted berth to the Sydney Games. Racing in Milwaukee, Wisc., 67 Solings representing 25 countries competed from August 31-September 5, in a series that ended a day earlier than scheduled.
Harry Melges III (Fontana, Wisc.), sailing with brother Hans Melges (Fontana, Wisc.) and Brian Porter (Winnetka, Ill.), finished fourth overall behind Russia, The Ukraine and Italy to secure the U.S. its Soling berth for Sydney. Sons of '72 Soling Olympic Gold Medalist Buddy Melges (Zenda, Wisc.), the Melges brothers and Porter have been sailing together since the '96 Soling Olympic Trials where they were knocked out in the semi-final round of the match racing series.
470 MEN
Mallorca, Spain, was the setting for the 35 nations competing at the 1998 470 World Championships held August 31-September 9. At that event, the top-nine finishing countries in the 47-boat 470 men's gold fleet were assuring their homelands of a trip to Sydney. Finishing ninth and paving the way for the U.S. entry were '92 Flying Dutchman Olympic Silver Medalist Paul Foerster (Garland, Texas) and Bob Merrick (Portsmouth, R.I.).
Winning the event was France, followed by Slovenia, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Ukraine, Greece and Russia.
In the 470 women's event, the top-six finishing countries qualified and are as follows, in order of finish: Ukraine, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Greece and Argentina.
NEXT CHANCE
The U.S. will have another opportunity to qualify in the Europe, Finn, and 470 Women's events at the upcoming '99 World Championships for those classes, all of which are slated to take place in Melbourne, Australia, in January. Sailors in the Mistral, Star and Tornado classes still have their upcoming '98 Worlds (respectively: October 7-17 in Brest, France; September 10-20 in Portoroz, Slovenia; and November 20-27 in Buzios, Brazil) in which to qualify their countries for Sydney.
In all of the Olympic disciplines, the sailor qualifying the U.S. may not be the ultimate representative at the Olympics. Only the first-place finisher at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in each event will earn a coveted spot on the 2000 U.S. Olympic Sailing Team.
-end-