scott.projectsomewhere

It’s all over.

Silja and I had a great last day to cement our lead and take out
the World Championships.

Dylan and Rob were 2nd, taking out the manufacturer’s trophy by
taking the top 2 places with their own boats (I don’t think they’ll
be chartering to us again).

There’s not much to say really, apart from that it’s a bit of a
relief to put that title to bed after the last few years. Everyone
has been saying that I can retire from 29er racing now. But I’m
enjoying it enough to keep coming back again.

I don’t know that I’ll make Argentina, or even Sydney.
Maybe Brazil in 2009. Maybe San Fran or Garda in 2010. I’ll be back
again someday.

Gold fleet sailed 5 races on day 5 of the regatta. Lucky for us the
breeze kicked in and allowed me to stretch my legs on
trapeze.

Silja and I pulled up with a 3,1,4,1,2 to take a 10 point lead into
the final day. The trailing 3 boats all scored 22 points for the
day, which is always good - for us.

No races can start after 3pm tomorrow, so we’ve got to hang in
there, sail conservatively and hope nothing breaks. Quite happy to
be banking those points at this stage - but we could’ve been so
much further ahead.

12-14 knots forecast for tomorrow, so racing could be close. Who
knows what could happen.

Today was day 4 of racing, but the first day of the final series.
Our previous 9 races were all wiped out, and contributed only our
finishing place from the qualifying series towards our final
score… so we take a 1 through and everyone else gets
closer.

The day started out with an early long sail out to the course in
Weymouth Bay, then a start in a light northerly. Paul was match
racing us in the last 2 minutes, but Pepe tacked between us both
and we got a gap on the line. Unfortunately we were rolled after
the start and had to tack out to the right - and lighter
pressure.

Paul and Dylan were 1st and 2nd for the remainder of the race, with
us back in the late teens… but then the wind dropped to 2 knots
and the racing was abandoned. I’m going to church after that
one.

The breeze then reset to the south-west and started to build.

We started well in the next race, a little too well actually,
getting an OCS in the process. Oh well, now we’re up against it for
the rest of the regatta. We finished 2nd in that race which would
have given us a handy points lead at the end of the day… but it
wasn’t to be. The pinching Germans ended up winning, with Mikko
& Miikka in 3rd. Paul finished 8th in that one with Dylan
7th.

Race 2 was a bit windier. We didn’t start so well (probably due to
the OCS in the previous start) and had to fight though a very tight
pack around the course. The Argentineans (Gainza Eurnekian &
Villambrosa - I’m not going to spell those again) had a close
battle with the Brits (Twemlow & Perera) with the Brits
eventually taking 1st. Dylan slipped in infront of us at the finish
to take 6th. Paul was ahead in 3rd.

Pepe port-tacked the fleet at the start of Race 3 for a short-lived
lead. It became a one-way track after that with the stronger breeze
staying on the left hand side of the course. Dylan sailed
conservatively to take 1st, with Cameron & Matt in 2nd and us
back in 5th. Paul was in 10th. The moderate breeze was starting to
take it’s toll.

Then Race 4 came along. The breeze was slightly stronger again, and
the tired fleet quickly split. The top 3 (Tremlow, Miiko and us)
got a break when the breeze shifted left and the trailing pack
overlaid, then it was a boatspeed contest for the rest of the race.
We came off 3rd unfortunately.

So at the end of the day we have a OCS, 7, 5, 3. By some freak of
nature we are still at the top of the results
after 4 races.

Miikka is going for redress after losing the lead on the final run
in the final race. If he gets it then he’ll be ahead. But it’s not
bad to see two Finnish boats at the front of the fleet. It will be
a bit strange if we have to start racing against them to beat them,
instead of racing against them to be nice.

And the forecast is for the same tomorrow… a later start and more
breeze please.

Well we won 3 from 3 races on the water yesterday, but in the
protest room Pepe won and had the 2nd race thrown out.

So now we need to resail it, and hopefully notch up another bullet
to stay at the top of the leaderboard at the end of
qualification.

Racing has been rescheduled to start at 9.55 today, but unlike
yesterday there is no wind. We’re going to be sitting on shore for
a while - hopefully we can get our 1 race in and finish the
qualifying series before the breeze goes completely.

So today saw another 4 races in light and shifty winds.

Our Pepe-induced resail from yesterday was raced first, with both
red and green groups racing on the one circus of a course.

The Colgate-Germans were in the front from the start, but we
rounded close behind at the bottom mark then slipped past upwind to
take the lead and the race. So after the resail, 1st and 2nd places
remained the same, but Pepe slipped into 3rd. A bit better than
DNF.

The next race was on the offshore course, out in Weymouth Bay. Blue
and green groups raced together, starting about 5 minutes
apart.

Cameron & Matt sailed well to lead around the mark in the first
of the races, Silja and I rounded 3rd, but thankfully the 2nd place
boat tried to roll over the Americans, allowing us to slip through
underneath for the lead around the bottom marks.

The next race was a close with the Argentineans Piccini &
Daneri, they took the lead from a pin-end start and held it around
every mark…. but we rounded the last top mark right behind, then
cruised downwind on their transom and endured a few fake gybes
before heading for the layline and the finish ahead.

We didn’t start so well in the final race, but one of the Brits did
- and there was no hope of chasing them down. So we finished
2nd.

But thanfully Huw & Max beat Paul & Mari in one of their
races on the other course, so we go through into the final series
tied for 1st. We win on countback so carry a 1 through as our first
score in the final series.

Paul & Mari are 2nd, Mikko & Miikka are 3rd, Dylan &
Rob are 4th, Europeans Champs Huw & Max are unfortunately in
6th, close enough still to do some damage.

And Paul is currently going through the rule-book looking for a way
to break the tie in his favour.

It’s been a few days since the last update.

Yesterday was the first day of the Worlds. The qualifying fleets
were split into 4 groups, which meant the pool of talent was
reasonably thin. Never the less, the very light and shifty winds
made for some interesting racing.

As per the form guide, Paul Brotherton & Mari Sheppard are
leading after winning both of their qualifying races in sub-5-knot
winds. With 50kg Mari trapezing away upwind when everyone else was
sitting in.

Miiko & Miikka are doing well too, the first Finnish boat in
3rd place overall with 2 2nd places.

Silja and I raced reasonably well. We had a 1st and 5th to be
running 4th overall. In the 5 race light-wind qualifying series we
need to minimise the damage Paul can do as much as possible.

Fleets will be re-assigned for the next day, and it looks like the
groups will be pretty sparse for fast boats yet again. The forecast
is for the breeze to slowly build through the week, so on Tuesday
we might have 8 knots.

Our race officer has been a bit ordinary, with a penchant to pick
up the loudspeaker and tell boats what to do. The first of our
races was a 3 lap affair, a pretty big call given it was less than
5 knots and shifting 90 degrees. So the fleet got away and did the
first lap in about 25 minutes, and the next by about 38. But the
race time limit is 45. The race officer moved the top mark closer
to halve the length of the next lap, then proceeded to tell the
boats in front of us what to do. At that stage we were in 3rd, the
two boats ahead didn’t really know where to go, so the officer
picks up the loudspeaker and starts telling them to go back upwind.
Talk about outside assistance.

Lucky for him and the boats ahead, the leader made the finish line
in 46 minutes 30 seconds… and the race was abandoned.

But the Paul situation has progressed again since the last update.
By the end of the Nationals (which he won, and we came 3rd) he was
actually talking to us. We even had a conversation at the bar
before the presentation. So that’s a plus, at least he isn’t
avoiding us completely on shore, or dumping on us all the time on
the water…. for now.

But he’s making friends with the Americans. Threatening to protest
Cameron & Matt who sailed downwind to their course as he was
racing downwind to his 2nd race win. The heated conversation didn’t
help Anglo-American relations.

And that’s about all for now.