You are here: home > diary > july 2001

July 2001

We have been out in Dublin for 4 days now, this has given us time to get the boat ready, do a couple of days training and go through the strict measurement that our boats must pass at events like these, we had no real problems for measurement although some other boats did, one French boat was 4 kilograms under weight, they are now making last minute alterations to get through.

The event follows a format that starts with a qualification phase for 2 days before going into 5 days of finals. For the qualification phase we will be split into 2 equal groups taken from the World rankings, we will then race 6 races and the top half from each group will qualify for the Gold fleet finals. The points then start again from scratch for the finals (these start on Sunday 15th).

All the top boats are here competing but some of the back markers are not here in all there is about 65 boats. I think our main competition is going to come from the Ukraine team Braslavets/Matvienko, and the Spanish team Martinez/Cantero also there are a couple of more inexperienced boats that cause some surprises from Italy, France and Israel.

So as you can see the event is likely to be quite open, and with the winds here tending to be quite shifty I think the results will be quite inconsistent, but we are feeling good and confident, our only hiccup was our accommodation but we are moving to a nicer place for when the finals start.

See how we are doing at the European Championships!

DAY 1
It was the first day of finals racing today. The wind started offshore and was incredible random. The race committee hoisted the yellow flag which means you can use kinetics to get the boat around the course, unfortunately the wind dropped but they did not abandon the race so everybody stood up and rocked the boats around the course, it was a bit of a joke, we finished 22nd, not a good start to the event.

After a delay the wind came in from the sea, and the 2nd race got under way in about 8 knots. We got a good start just down from the starboard end but played it too safe up the first beat, and the boats that went right came out ahead, after the first mark there was very little place changing and we finished a disappointing 18th.
For the last race of the day the wind had increased to 14 knots, and we were desperate for a good result to keep us in with a chance. Again we started at the starboard end of the line and got a clean lane out towards the right hand side of the course, we rounded the windward mark in 6th position. We sailed some good downwind legs (which have been hard due to short steep waves) and pulled up to 4th by the end.

Tomorrow's forecast is for a strong south-easterly wind, so while we are lighter then a lot of our competitors I think we will have a chance to stay quite consistently in the top 5-10.
Results after 3 races:
1. UKRAINE (4,3,3)
2. ISRAEL (8,8,1)
3. ITALY (17,1,2)
14.ROGERS/GLANFIELD (22,18,4)
 

DAY 2
We were greeted today by a 12 knot southeasterly; this is probably the steadiest direction for the wind in Dublin bay. The forecast was for the wind to increase throughout the day and reach a peak of about 20 knots by the end.

We started the first race in 15 knots, we had a good first beat and rounded the windward mark in 3rd from here we got passed the French team in 2nd and were showing very good speed, so a good start to the day. What was apparent from that race was after the start there were very few opportunities to make big gains; so another good start was needed.We started about 3 boat lengths from the committee boat but struggled to get a lane and so put in a tack and again got tacked on so had to tack back again, by this time the leaders were getting a long way ahead. Their were very few chances for a come back and we finished 20th. The last race of the day was much of the same this time we got a better start but were a bit unlucky when the leader of another fleet using the same course rounded the leeward mark on our wind which forced us to tack away, we got to the first mark in 15th and then made a gain on the next upwind leg by going left to 10th and took one more boat down the last run to get 9th.

In all, not a very good day and we are not sailing as well as we should or could. Sailing is predominately a mind sport which makes it hard to analyse why some days you sail well and other days you don't, at this stage I think we are getting too caught up in things going on around us and losing sight of the big picture. The top 3 are a long way ahead now so we need to reset our goals, I think a top 5 from this position with 6 races to go is realistic but will by very hard to achieve. Strong winds forecast for tomorrow so I will be having a big supper and getting an early night.
Results after 6 races:
1. ISRAEL
2. ITALY
3. UKRAINE
10. ROGERS/GLANFIELD
 

DAY'S 3 and 4
The racing has been abandoned for the last 2 days due to strong winds, a low pressure moved over during Monday night and brought with it force 8 winds and torrential rain, it has now stopped raining and the wind has moderated. I was disappointed when they abandoned it this afternoon as I thought the wind was light enough to race.

We now only have 1 day of racing left and they will only be able to fit a maximum of 3 races. This means realistically we will not be able to pull up higher then 7th, but we could still drop to 15th. This has been a disappointing event, we have spent a huge amount of time waiting around and it has been very 'stop starty' and difficult to get into.

Click on the link below for up to date race results!
www.rsgyc.ie or got to www.sailing .org