We last left you with out medal race at the conclusion of the SOF Hyeres World Cup #4.
Medal Race conditions were unlike the rest of the regatta with 18-25 knots and big waves. We havent had much time in those conditions with our new gear and felt a little off pace. We did the best we could and had a good start, but not good enough to make it out to the left side. We were forced off right and immediately felt off the pace. We rounded the first mark in 10th. We caught up a little downwind and then had a great gate choice to immediately put us in 7th. We briefly caught up to 5th but were tacked on and went back to 7th. We lost our big chance downwind to salvage our finish but failed to jibe at the last mark. We finished in 8th to take 9th overall. We are a little disappointed but know we still made a lot of progress in other areas in the rest of the event.
Starting continues to be a challenge and one that i hope Stu gets a chance to work on in the next 3 months with me out of the game. Super sub crew Willie McBride from Santa Barbara will be stepping in for me during my recovery time after my surgery.
Happy to say that surgery was successful, even with a minor surprise. My Doctor let me know that the tendon had actually separated from the bone which he didnt expect. So the final procedure was: suturing up the tendon, re-attaching it to the bone, and then carving a small groove in the back of my ankle bone so the tendon wont move anymore. Im completely wrapped up and unable to do much but recover. However the good news is that i should be able to hot the gym tomorrow for upper body.
Before my surgery i did manage to get out on my new toy which was awesome! I cant wait to get back to 100% to perfect the art of foiling. However after 2 days i already have carbon to work to do. pic 1pic 2pic 3
My apologies for not blogging last night about our day. We had a rough one.
The last 3 days have been a very light sea breeze with big oscillations, random puffs, and big shifts out of nowhere. We’ve had a very difficult time but pulled it together to stay in the medal race.
Day 4 was by far one of the worst 470 racing days we’ve had in a very long time. It reminded us what it felt like when we just started in 2005. Confused, frustrated, and upset. We couldnt start, couldnt hit shifts, and couldnt make correct decisions. Just one of those days. We took what we could from the day after scoring 2 near last places and brought it forward to day 5.
Day 5. Pressure was on to make the medal race and the conditions were still extremely difficult. In the first race we didnt have such a good start but managed a good lane out to the right. Unfortunately we carried out too far and missed a big opportunity to round in the top 15. Instead we hung ourselves out to dry on the right and were only ahead of 3 boats. We put our heads back in the game on the downwind and started to pick off little groups of boats. The big move came at the last mark when we kept clear of the pack and passed a lot of boats all at once. 2 boats ahead of us were also OCS so we managed an 18th.
Race 2 we saw a bit of left hand pressure and angle so we went for it. We took the pin end but slightly unsuccessfully but managed a good lane with our speed a little later. 3 of us made it from the left side, NED 77 rounding 1st, GRE 165 rounding 5th, and USA 1713 rounding 10th. The rest of the race went on with not much position changing so we were happy with a 10th.
At the end of the day we’ve moved back up into medal contention with the 2nd discard being factored in. Heres the quick summary:
ITA 2: -19
SUI 11: -9
JPN 4340: -7
ESP 9: -1
USA 1713: 0
GBR 838: +1
FRA 44: +5
ESP 1868: +6
FRA 7: +8
GER 49: +10
So looking at the scores its a little difficult to make a solid strategy. Its also supposed to be windy tomorrow which makes any sort of match racing difficult. Its a pretty much “go win the race” situation. On top of it all im a little sad with this being my last 470 race until August. But we’ll be playing for a medal tomorrow! More about the racing tomorrow evening! Wish us luck!
Day 3 of the SOF Hyeres had us postponed again onshore until something filled in. A light sea breeze came in a little later and we were off! Speed was good, now just to work out what was happening with the wind.
For race 1 we elected to go right, so we were fighting it out at the boat end with most of the fleet. We had a great hole lined up, but managed to have it taken at the last minute thanks to the leward boat not being so smart… We were forced to tack out at go and had to fight really hard to stick to our strategy of getting right where all the pressure was. We picked a few solid lanes and let our speed do the work and found ourselves rounding 12th. We worked hard the rest of the race only to miss one small opportunity to gain big, but managed to finish in 6th. Pretty good considering how we looked off the line.
Race 2 was not much different, but this time there was a bit more left angle in the race. Our bad start and one costly decision at the top mark put us around in about 18th after we had to duck around and try for a second pass at the mark. We sailed aggressive and tried to hit every shift we could knowing this was an important race. In the end we managed a 12th when other good teams couldnt find there way back to the top.
At the end of the day we only dropped to 3rd, with ITA having the best day to move up into 2nd after a drop, and the SUI holding the lead, but not by much. The points are close with SUI on 16, ITA on 17, USA on 20, and FRA on 25. We now have 2 days or 4 finals races to make the medal round. Here are results and here is a nice picture of the leader board.
Day 1 of the SOF Hyeres brought light and sketchy conditions. The start time was even pushed an hour later the night before which is highly unusual. After an extra hour of waiting around onshore the “D” flag was raised and we were off.
Conditions on the course were 6-10 knots with small chop out of the SE. The “O” flag was raised in some questionable conditions, but game on anyways. We had a decent start near the boat, wanting the right side. We worked a nice lane off the line thanks to some inventive and out of the box kinetics adopted from our RS:X buddies and we were free to go where we wanted. We played the right side working shifts back to the left when we could. We found brilliant speed on starboard and were looking real good coming into the mark on a nice righty. We rounded 1st and never looked back. Race one done.
Race 2 looked to be a little more sketchy with the breeze dropping and going hard right, then back left then right again. What to do!? Just before our start Coach Bunny flashed us some valuable info that breeze up the course was at 170 where we were seeing 155 at the line. We didnt get such a good start but fought hard to get right knowing it would pay. Half way up the beat we were looking top 10, and caught another nice shift/puff to round in 4th. The reach got pretty scary with the fleet taking inside, but we managed to escape and remain in 4th. However, on the next upwind we were forced out of phase and never got back into it. We lost 5 boats in the tricky conditions and only managed to pass one boat downwind to cross in 9th.
All in all it was a great day looking at other peoples scores. We are a little frustrated however that we should have at least stayed in 4th, and probably had the opportunity to move to second. Overall we’re standing in 4th! The leaders would be our good Argentinean friend Mathias Buhler turned Swiss for this quad with Swiss crew Felix. Very impressive sailing for the first 2 races together ever! Tomorrow is another day and is forecasted for a bit more of the same, light and shifty.
So ive been thinking of trying to write form guides for awhile now so i’ll give my first crack at it! The idea behind this is to predict where teams may finish including ourselves based on training and just perception. So we’ll see where it goes!
We have the same number of boats registered for Hyeres as we did for Palma, but a few of the puppies have gone back home or back to school and have been replaced by a few top dogs. The big names include Italy’s Gabrio Zadona and the Dutch Coster brothers. Other than those two, only a bunch more mid fleeters are joining in.
Given the light forecast for the event i would have to put my money on Charbonnier. Even with his new crew (former coach) they are already very quick. They showed us up in Palma and light air is his thing. The rest of the top 10 could be a little of a toss up depending how things go. But heres a list of people who im pretty sure will be in it: ISR, NED x2, SWE, ITA, FRA x2, ESP, and of course us! Im sure im forgetting someone that deserves to be in there but we’ll just have to see where things pan out. As long as we can keep our starts under control we’ve found a new speed mode in the light air using more vang tension than normal. So we definitely stand a chance in there as well!
Racing starts tomorrow which we are fully prepped for, so stay tuned for racing updates and reports nightly.
In the mean time enjoy these 3 new vids i posted on YouTube and dont forget to join our group on Facebook.
Sweet onboard footage from our windy Palma training.
Race win at the Olympics!
And just so everyone knows what is like at the Games. No pressure.
Well a regatta is never over until the final race of the series, and we certainly proved that to be true at this event.
After a lot of waiting around, and a little bit of anxiousness, we scored ourselves an OCS in race 6. It was very frustrating as we had sailed a great race in tough conditions to cross the line in 2nd. Our OCS plus a few other mediocre races dropped us to 16th overall with only 2 more finals races scheduled.
With the pressure on and the need to perform, we did exactly what we needed sailing brilliant upwind beats and “snaking” our way through the fleet on the downwinds. We backed our OCS up with a 3-10, which was just enough to put us in 9th for the medal race.
Upon looking at the scores, we realized that 3rd was still doable, and the Swedes proved it. We had an outstanding medal race with a full battle between us and the Swedes who sat in 8th overall. The two of us were separated from the fleet, and luckily enough everything behind us fell in line to make maximum gains. We chased the Swedes hard, and at the line they only got us by 2 seconds or about 1 boat length, or one wave, however you want to look at it. With the Swedes winning the race, they moved from 8th to 3rd! We moved from 9th to 5th which we were very pleased with. More on this in a second. Had we of won the race, or just beat the Swedes the way things were laid out, we would have taken the bronze. And had another boat gotten one more wave to pass the Greek team, we would have finished 4th.
So overall we are quite happy with our results given we were in 16th only 3 races before. Goes to show that you never give up. The 5th place also takes a huge weight off our shoulders in the funding category. 4th would have been nice, because we would have received bonus cash, but a 5th will also do for next years funding. We have successfully placed ourselves in the A2 category funding for next season by finishing top 5 in 3 World Cup events. The next category is A1, which can only be achieved by placing top 3 at a Worlds. So why is this such a big deal? I am scheduled to have ankle surgery May 1, which would only leave us with 2 more World Cup events to place top 5 in. Having done it now, its a huge relief and we are very pleased.
So we’re on to Hyeres tonight on the overnight ferry, with a HUGE trailer. Ready for this? 470 on the car roof, double stacked VSRs (2), 3 RSX, 2 Lasers in the top VSR, countless laser spars, finn masts, and 470 equipment, and a fully loaded van with 5 people. Should be an interesting trip. We’ll get some good photos once we get all loaded up!
Training to start with Coach Bunny on the 14th, with World Cup #4 starting on the 19th. One more chance to maximize our World Cup points lead! Next blog from Hyeres! Adios!
We were sent out on time but the wind quickly dropped with the approaching rain. We were sent back ashore in hopes a stabilizing breeze. We sat in the car for nearly 2 hours before being sent out again. Unluckily the breeze was killed as soon as the rain passed so the day was canceled.
Not to worry much more interesting news! I found this in my email inbox this afternoon. Interesting developments down under…
Day 2 of Palma put us onshore for an extra 2 hours due to lack of wind.
When it finally filled in we went out and were the first ones to the course and started checking compass numbers and rig settings.
Race one we got an average start in the middle of the line, and couldnt quite make it to the lead left group. We rounded in the mid teens and worked our way up from there. We had great downwind speed again to catch up then caught a small righty to catch up even more. We worked our boat hard on the last downwind to cross the line in 10th. 2 boats were OCS so we ended up with an 8th.
Race 2 the breeze finally decided to pick up so we pinned down and were exciting for our “O” flag signifying that the kinetics game was on. We had a decent start near the pin but couldnt hold our lane. After a few tacks we managed to hit a French boat on a duck and were spinning a 720 only minutes off the start. We sailed hard, especially downwind to pass a lot of the fleet to finish in 11th.
Overall an okay day, but we still know we can do better. We moved from 12th to 7th overall and are looking forward to tomorrow with some new objectives and strategies in our racing. Also a new found rig sitting for the pre planing condition… watch out.
Day 1 of the 2009 Princesa Sophia brought light sea breeze conditions and sunny skies. We were excited since we’ve had clouds, rain, and lots of wind the last few days training. The “D” flag was dropped only an hour before the start so the entire 470 fleet rushed off the beach which was quite a sight.
Race one we didnt get the best start but fought hard to round in the mid teens. We picked off a few shifts on the downwind to gain up into the top group. We sailed a brilliant 2nd beat to get all the way up into 5th and pressed hard on the downwind to almost slip into 2nd or 3rd, but managed only a 4th.
Race two we got a good start near to the middle of the line and extended with what seemed like the lead group. A small righty came in which caught us off guard and put us a little behind at the top mark to round 9th. The rest of the race got pretty tricky with some puffs and shifts moving through without notice. We struggled to find our way but somehow managed a 12 at the line. So what felt like a horrible race turned out fine!
We stand in 12th overall out of 81 470s after 2 races.
There’s been a lot going on in the 470 world for us lately. Some good news, some bad news.
US Sailing organized an awesome 4 day team camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA about 45 minutes south of San Diego. Almost all of the 2009 team members were present along with the U18 and U23 team members. The camp was to introduce the new comers to the resources they have and to test all of our physical fitness and evaluate where we we like to be and how to get there. At the event we had: Our High Performance Director, 1 coach, 3 physical therapists, 2 strength conditioners, and nearly 60 athletes. Along with general fitness evaluations there were health check ups as well. With my ankle tendon still being a problem, we decided to fully address it and weigh out all the options. Now for the bad news…
After consults with our team physios, a visit to a specialist, and more meetings, we concluded that surgery is most likely in the coming months. This was a huge disappointment to hear and a tough decision to make but we all believe it is still the correct one in the end. Planning the timing will prove to be the difficult part, with the decision of sooner rather than later. We’ll just have to see how it feels at the end of World Cup #3 in Mallorca which starts on April 4th. Until then all other sailing except 470s has been canceled.
Now for the good news.
My velociraptor moth finally landed and looks beautiful. Its coming together slowly but surely just outside my room in the “hanger.” Unfortunately i have already left and the first flight will have to be postponed until im cleared by the physios for my ankle. Its good because the boat will be perfect when its launched, with no rush given it could be a long time until my ankle is ready to go. This evening driving through the streets of Vienna we drove by a shop with a fully rigged moth in it! I couldnt believe it! Until I return back home its back to the Olympic lifestyle and defending our world cup #1 ranking!
More from Palma de Mallorca in a few days. In the mean time ill be driving from Vienna to Barcelona with our new car and trailer. Over and out.
