Here’s the sailing event of the century… the 2007 Moth World
Championships may (subject to final ratification) be held from
Torbole on Lake Garda.
Now for people unfamiliar with Lake Garda, start here, then go here, here, here, here and finally here.
Bring your hiking legs, heavy air sails and heavy weather foils
guys… this is going to be one awesome event!
A nice before and after shot via Seahorse magazine of one crash I
had during SIRS.
Yes, consistency does pay…. I was going to run with a better
headline like the one reported on SailingAnarchy yesterday after
Euan’s win – “Return of the King”… but Euan has a big enough head
already!
So Cocko is leading the JJ with a 2,2,3 in some very close, very
variable racing. Today’s race was held in another light SE breeze,
with a long course on an almost vacant harbour (very nice). We’re
still yet to see a big blow, and aren’t likely to see one for the
rest of the regatta.
The ActiveAir had a better day today, getting off the line well and
getting a good shift early on the upwind to be in the top bunch
around the first mark. From there we held on upwind and gained
ground downwind to finish with an 8th. Even with that reasonable
finish there were plenty of opportunities where we could have
gained places on mark roundings.
After 3 races the top 4 boats have started to slowly move away from
the rest. We’re still suffering from our DNF in Race 1, but
hopefully its the only alphabet we get and we can move up through
the rankings.
A few more protests were filed, but plenty of people want protests
dealt with out in the carpark “like back in the Grand Prix days”…
at least it would be good for television.
Yes, it’s tough at the top of the 18′ JJ Giltinan fleet -
especially when we’re not there. The first 3 races in the series
have been close battles all the way through the fleet, with 15
boats finishing within 3.5 minutes in Race 2.
The invitation race was a short-course affair in a light ENE
breeze. There were plenty of mark rounding incidents in the 4-lap
windward/leeward between Clarke & Shark islands. Lucky for us
we got off the line well, ducked a lot of sterns, but then luckily
pulled out into the strong tide of Bradleys and came smoking into
the top mark on port. We pulled back through a few boats around the
course to finish 7th. Going forwards instead of backwards through
the fleet was a novelty… shame it didn’t count for
anything.
Race 1 was looking to be a mirror image of last year, with 3
general recalls delaying the start while ominous storm clouds built
over the city. Our actual race start was a bit ordinary, but our
jib clew block gave way only 300m up the course and it was all over
for us. By the time we fixed it we were almost a lap behind, with
almost no chance of catching up. We went to the top mark, then a
capsize in the bearaway finally nailed the coffin in the race for
us. DNF in Race 1, what a way to start a regatta.
And Mum & Dad came down to watch on that day as well,
unfortunately they didn’t see much of me racing. What did I say
about 100 times more boat work?
Race 2 was in the usual shifty light Easterly that has been blowing
more often than not this season. We were gassed off the line but
got a good gap out to the right and were looking famous for a
while… til the breeze went left slightly and 10 boats pulled
through. We proceeded to battle it out between 10 – 15th for the
race, with lots of place changes going on in the very tightly
packed fleet (well it was tightly packed for 18 footer racing).
Unfortunately we were a bit slow upwind, giving places away every
time. We picked up Fisher & Paykel on the last run but got a
bit greedy trying to screw them when they were approaching the line
on port… they luffed hard behind us and got through for 14th
place.
F&P was having a bad day all round and came ashore (after
running into a moored boat) to file 3 protests – though fortunately
not against us.
So despite a DNF, there’s been no major breakages for us, and only
1 trip out to Woody’s factory to fix a mast base that probably
should’ve been done in October. Belle Property & Delonghi were
not so lucky, breaking their #1 rigs in the 1st and 2nd races
respectively. Both due to chainplates spreading and blowing the rig
pins out… not pretty.
So 5 heats to go, a 15th in the bank and no drop for us. We have to
pick the game up in a big way if we’re to have a good
regatta.
But my back is already stuffed from lifting the boat from the
furthest end of the park… these things really need to be 50kg
lighter!
The Ssanyong 18
footer JJ Giltinan Internation Championship (the un-official
Worlds) is due to start tomorrow.
So who’s hot and who’s not for the Championship this year?
Well… since we scraped into qualification in 14th place, let’s
start at the other end of the fleet.
The odds being offered are 4-1 on any boat in the fleet. Given
Asko’s recent run I think they’re a pretty safe gamble. Stoddart’s
Asko had a great run through the Australian Championship, winning 4
of the races and finishing 2nd and 3rd in the others. They’re seen
as favourites at this stage.
There’s been a definite split in the fleet this year with 4 boats:
Akso, Rag & Famish, Club Marine and Casio Seapathfinder sharing
the top places in almost every race. Any of those 4 boats have what
it takes to win the regatta, but it’s a big step for anyone else to
challenge them.
Pegasus Racing’s Howie Hamlin also rates highly as a contender, you
can never count him out and with a forward hand like Trent Barnabas
on board they’re never going to be short of power… although in
the big breeze last Sunday Howie capsized at the first top mark
when Barnabas pulled the tack-line so hard (it’s got a several
hundrew kilo breaking strain) that it blew up and he launched
himself out the back of the boat… you don’t see that too
often.
So who else could get up there? There’s no RMW this year, so I
don’t expect any super-fast boats coming from the foreigners.
The top kiwi boat (with a bunch of 12 footer sailors on board)
could be very good, but I doubt they’ll break the top 5.
The next bunch will be made up of Fisher & Paykel (with recent
good form and Jack on board), Ssanyong Yandoo, Omega Smeg,
AppliancesOnline, AAPT, Toshiba, Belle Property, Delonghi, Maytag
and hopefully Active Air.
CST has been struggling of late, but could pull out a good
performance to get inside the top 10.
Now, not to be too harsh but I’d expect the visitors – given the
quality of their gear and the quality of racing at their home club
and the home-harbour advantage we have – to struggle. I’m betting
on Howie and the Kiwi to make the top 10. We might see one other
foreigner in the top 15, the rest will be battling it out.
Given our penchant for blowing up gear who knows where we’ll end
up. We’ve struggled for form in the moderate conditions all year,
but were doing very well in the really strong breeze last weekend
before… we broke.
I’d be a bit more confident if we’d done about 5 times as much
on-water training, about 10 times as much fitness training and
about 100 times as much boat preparation.
But then there’s only so many hours in the day.
And as an added bonus, Dennis is in the regatta and primed to cause
havoc for us… that guy’s a genius!
I’ve just got onto YouTube… a video sharing service ala
Flickr.
Not too bad really. Not as polished as Flickr, but still a good
service.
And of course I’ve got to start adding a
few videos… til they run out of disk space and start charging
for it at least 
