2010 News

Weymouth Sailing

It was tough week for our team. A black flag score in the first race of the regatta meant that we were 'under pressure' for the whole series, especially as there was only one discarded score for the 15 races in the regatta. We ended up missing the qualifiers to gold fleet by only a few points, and sailed the finals in Silver fleet.

All in all the regatta was a good learning experience. Although we had trained and raced in Weymouth before, the placement of the 49er course this year a few miles south of the harbour meant that there was a new set of wind and tide conditions to learn. Many of the races were sailed with a 2 or 3kt current on the start line, which usually made one side or other of the course the place to be. As well as changing strategy it also made the starts very hard to judge, and many boats including us were surprised by the strength of the current on the first start of the event. Weymouth was a great venue for this regatta, despite the current there was wind enough to complete almost all the races and the media coverage on website was good watch. We'll be looking forward to coming back next year when this will be our qualifier for the 2011 Worlds.

This is the end of the regatta season for 2010, so it's back to the gym and training sessions in Toronto and Vancouver. We're also trying to organize a trip to Perth to practice for the 2011 Worlds in November.

Weymouth 'Skandia Sail For Gold Regatta' Opens

We're ready for Monday start of the final World Cup event here in Weymouth. This is also the pre-pre-Olympic regatta, which means that most of the medal contenders are here to practice racing in Portland harbour as well as the courses on 'the Channel'. So far we've had two days of moderate wind for training, as well as one scorcher of a day with sustained winds of 25kts. The weather for the regatta may be similar, the forecast is for a mix of light and heavy winds. The format for the event will be three days of qualifying, followed by two days of finals and a single medal race. This may be our last chance to race in a large fleet this season, so we'll be looking to sail consistently and finish with a good result at the end of the week. The media and organizers' coverage of the event should be high quality. The event web site is at www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk

49er Europeans Wrap Up

It seems as though we have our work cut out for us. After a few good races and more than a few disasters, thrills and spills we finished near the bottom of gold fleet. We weren't really contenders for the top 10 except in a few races when we had the boat dialed in. Most of our points resulted from simple but big mistakes, and we will be looking to be more of a threat in future events. Overall the regatta was well run, and we got all of the scheduled races in. Although half the races were in light wind, there were quite a few races with steep 3ft waves and shifty 15kt winds.

Up and Down Results in Gdynia, Poland

The Europeans this year are our second championship regatta as a team, after the early 2010 worlds last January. This regatta is much bigger than the worlds, although there are a few top teams that chose not to race. So far the city of Gdynia has been a great place to visit and sail. With the regatta near the solstice and the northern location we have almost 17hrs of sunshine a day here.

We have finished the qualifying series, and squeaked into gold fleet after a series of good and bad races. Although we are still improving as a team, we are still making a few unexpected mistakes. In the second race yesterday we pitch-poled within yards of the finish line, and didn't right the boat until most of the fleet had cruised by. While our good races are getting better, we had enough mid fleet finishes that we averaged out to 23rd overall.

I hope we'll get a chance to learn more and sail well in the finals. The weather here in Gdynia has been good for sailing, although on Monday there was only about 5kts of wind for the racing.

More updates to come..there are some interesting camera angles being developed by a company called Icarus. They may have some coverage from today's racing at www.olympicsailing.blip.tv.   Congradulations to the Sibello brothers for winning both races today and moving into first first overall. Full results are available at www.49erEuropeans.org.

A fair weather Kiel Week

Racing is finished at Kiel Week There was light winds for the final three days of the regatta, which meant that we completed far fewer than the 16 races planned. We also missed one of the races after a last minute schedule change. Fortunately we were scored average points for the race as the committee had misinformed the fleet of the new start time. I would gladly have traded the clear skies for enough wind to race all day, but we practice getting around the race course in the few races that were sailed.

Thanks to Jon and Dan (CAN 709) for organizing coaching with Rigo, we learned a lot through the event and even got some training in after racing on Wednesday.

Full results are on the Kiel Website.

Qualifying finished with five races

There was only one race completed for each fleet today. The wind was slightly flukey, and some of the results were up and down. Unfortunately our race was a bit of a disaster, and we picked up a few points. We are currently in 16th overall, but with twelve (correction, 8) more races to go the regatta is far from over. We're hoping to have some better races in the final series over the next three days.

A rough start to Kiel Week

After the first day of racing in Kiel, we have survived quite a few laps of the small course close to shore. The weather here is not summer like, or even spring like with a high of 13 degrees and rain showers all day. The wind was very gusty, and with the offshore direction the shifts were large. It was fun racing trying to deal with the unpredictable wind, and quite a few spectator boats around the starting line. Our results today were 9th, 4th, 5th, and 13th. In our last race we capsized at the leeward mark, which was cold and frustrating to say the least. Overall the racing went well though, and we'll try to sail well in the light wind tomorrow.

Sunny Weymouth

Weymouth and England have a reputation for being wet and stormy, but so far it has been warm and sunny on the water. The Australian, New Zealand and Irish teams are here practicing, and we have been joining in for some practice racing around the harbour and outside the breakwalls. It is good to spar against top boats, if only for informal racing. We could use a bit more waves and wind but I'm sure that a North Atlantic low pressure system will oblige before too long.

Delta Lloyd Regatta Day 5

With the mast back together, we were able to sail the final race and finished with our third 7th of the event. We are travelling to Weymouth for two weeks of training before heading to Kiel for the next World Cup event.

Delta Lloyd Regatta Day 4

A difficult day for the team. We had one race in moderate and shifty winds, but lost a shroud in the second race and missed the third while fixing the mast. There is one more race left tomorrow, and we'll try to make it a good one.

Delta Lloyd Regatta Day 3

Today was a great day of full on sailing. The wind came up from a brisk 12kts during our first race to a gusty 19kts for the fourth race. Racing with the boat up to speed and powered up was refreshing after the light wind start to the event, and the choppy water here made staying upright on the downwinds interesting. Our results were 7th, 1st, 7th, and 12th(after being over early in the last race and restarting).

Delta Lloyd Regatta Day 2

The qualifiying series of the event is now complete with two days of racing in, and a total of six races. The organizers did a good job of getting races off, although the wind was unstable on Day 1 and especially on Day2. We are in a disappointing 27th overall, just five points aways from making the cut to gold fleet.

It would have been nice to have sailed more races today, but the water was almost completely windless for most of the day. The two races we did sail today were in shifty conditions. We had a good race (5th), and a bit of a disaster with a 20th in the second one. We will be racing in the 45 boat silver fleet tomorrow, which should be exciting if only because of the number of boats on the course. More news and results are available on the Delta Lloyd Regatta site.

Delta Lloyd Regatta Day 1

After one day of racing, we have sailed four races in some shifty conditions. Our results were up and down, with some really rough finishes in our worst races. Unfortunately we picked up a lot of points on our bad races, so we're in 43rd with 68 boats racing. We will try to score fewer points and move up the scoreboard tomorrow. The forecast is for light winds, but with any luck we will race all of our four scheduled races.

Spring Training

After the midwinter worlds this year, we are looking forward to some bonafide training sessions this May. We will be warming up in Weymouth for the Delta Lloyd Regatta. The Portsmouth Harbour there has history of blown out days, but we are hoping for some sailable wind.

2010 Worlds

2010 Worlds sailed in the 'cold' Bahamas. The 2010 Worlds was the first event for this team, and we were happy to qualify for gold fleet and get a chance to start with the top boats. The wind was shifty and gusty, with the race course close to the beach. It was tricky sailing, with some boats getting major damage from the coral, but the photos are awesome. Click here for a full report.