Well, I am at Takapuna, the beer is really good and the rum is going down too well. Grant is leading me astray and if my results are poor I will put it all down to him. Prediction is about 10 knots for first two days then 15 knots. Its about 15 knots out there today. Bit windy today, but apparentlty I need to harden up.
No Kenny here so Grant has to learn how to rig a boat.
Oh yeah, Takapuna is great, lots of restaurants , bars etc.
Well the worlds are over.
Sailed ok, learnt alot and can now focus on my weaknesses. Overall I should be pretty happy, managed to beat everyone that competed at the worlds, so that gives me a bit of encouragement.
Unfortunetly my early results were pretty poor which kept me to 23rd overall (I think).
Actually in my last two races I sailed tactically very well, which I couldn’t say about the first half of the regaatta. (Still need to work on starts as I still found myself working through the fleet)
In Vegas now, paying for the trip.
Back in Brisvegas in about another week and I think I will be coaching some youths and taking a little break from sailing myself.
See you all soon.
Well Kelsey is out sailing on his last day - he ran out of time to post a comment on yesterdays results so he asked me - Natalie - to post for him…. now I can bearly identify boat stuff and my sailing lingo is pretty terrible so I will attempt to type the post that was dictated to me in a hurry this morning…. apologies if I make no sense!
Ok, so Kels said something about his first race not too bad then had a great start in the second race, got ‘clear air’ and was at one stage in second place in the fleet but wasn’t able to maintain the position and crossed the line in third - so obviously hes darn pleased with that! He said coming up to the finish he was in a pack of 4 boats and had a fair bit of breathing space to relax a bit and as a result he dropped the mainsheet on a turn (can’t recall the sailing term for this) and almost fell out the boat!
Well he’ll give an update on the regatta tonight or tommorrow - I think hes placed about 26th overall at the moment… he said to say we are off to Vegas tomorrow to try to raise cash to pay for the next worlds - unless of course theres someone out there keen on sponsorship! lol!!
Ciao…. Natalie
Well results were better yesterday, a 10th and 20 something. Wind was about 8 knots first race and about 13 in the second. Starts werer a little better.
The fleet is very competeitive with the back of the fleet sailing as fast as the front (I know this from experience). You would have alos seenm in results that some people have had a wiun and then backed it up with a 50th or a 4oth
Well I better go and get myself organised, need to find some wool as I tried a wind indicator downwind yesterday and it seemd to help me get clearer air downwind in these light conditions (but I could do with wool instead).
Bye for now.
Hope to have a better day as my pace is good
Well, I am going terrible. My poor results at big events continues to haunt me. In these sort of conditions (light and shifty) I should be all over it.
Anyway, I have a lot to sort out, not least of all my starts and downwinds.
Well tomorrow is another day and I hope I can string together a couple of results better than mid to back end of the fleet.
As they say “see ya awl.”
third day here, picked up the boat yesterday.
Ken, you would be proud, my centreboard in Australia is straight compared to the bananaboards I have been given here. According to the french measurer if Scheidt can win with bent baords, so can I. Obviously he has never seen me sail. (oh and Vanguard, the makers of the boards won;t replace them, apparently its not their problem - Nat gave them heaps, but a bit of yelling could not even persuade them)
Damn hot, fog and alot of latin americans. Very light winds, probably closer to 10knots today - 5 knots yesterday. A chinese girl went past me upwind like I was standing still - gee its good to be a bloke.
Very choppy with swell on top. Very frustrating sailing conditions.
Off for a sail now, invitation race tomorrow.
Well I am packed (hopefully haven’t forgotten too much) and fly out today. Spray jacket is out, seems like California is going through a heat wave and given the amount of gear I am taking I need to be realistic on space.
Pick up the charter boat tomorrow, which had better not leak. Then catch up with Ryan and hit the water to try and determine any predictable (or unpredictable) shifts whether they be oscilating or persistent etc etc.
Bad news is there will be only one start, so more energy will have to be put into my starts, hopefully the thousands of starts that I have done lately will help out.
Well I better finish taping up bags etc.
I will update again soon (hopefully) so until then bye.
Oh and a special mention to Becky, GO BECKY!!
Hi world, ok, I’ll be a bit more realistic, hi Mum.
I wanted to create this blog so I can keep family and friends up to date whilst I am in LA for the worlds.
I leave on the 26th of July, first heat is on the 30th. If you want to check results they can be found at http://www.calyachtclub.com by follwing links (due to time differences check the first heat on the 31st)
I will try and update this when possible.
The preparation hasn’t been the best lately and I haven’t been able to sail anywhere near as much as I would have liked (or needed).
Last race this weekend, I have put AUS on my sail now and will be measuring all marks to make the set up of the boat easier in LA.
Couple of quick thanks to date:
RQYS and the voluteers who have assisted with practice start lines
The sunday sailors, you know who you are
A special thanks to Greg, without his assistance I would probably still be sailing around with my sail looking like a shopping bag.
Generally, thanks to those who have lended support and advice to date.