My extended leave this last summer was not only very relaxing there was also a lot of sailing. I had taken up sailing dinghies again after having had a break of 25 years from them and this year was my second season back into it. The reason for taking it up was not only to have fun but to improve my social circle and to have a goal in which to work towards with my fitness and health. The boat I chose to sail is an OK dinghy, which is a single hander with one sail and is competed in over 20 different countries.
Only three regattas attended on my leave but they were big ones.
The first was the Australian championships being held in conjunction with Sail Melbourne at Sandringham Yacht Club, third week in December.
I was able to swing off the Wise Tide II just in time to make the regatta but it was close and made more so by the need to prepare my boat. Work on my house had reached a stage where I had no time for anything else on my previous leave, as I had to get a roof on before the summer rain. Thus the boat preparation was not ideal and I had a lot to do when I arrived in Melbourne. Still I was able to get the work done and out on the water for a couple of hours the day before the regatta, which left me feeling confident that the boat was ready.
The previous nationals I had finished 15th and felt that I could do a lot better then. So this year when I finished 5th in the first race I felt elated, the work I had been putting in was paying off. The regatta was mixed conditions and difficult to sail fast in but as always the top sailors were always in the front. I continued my good form and finished 6th overall but it was close. I was leading the second group of four and there was in the end only 3 points between myself and 9th, very close.
The leaders in the nationals had just that little bit better boat speed as well as the edge on technique. I knew I had sailed my 17 year old boat as fast as it could go, it had been a long time since a boat of its hull shape had been anywhere near the top ten in a nationals but the chances of my improving positions were slim. I was going to need a newer boat of the modern hull design.
As luck would have it there was a boat for sail in New Zealand and it was in excellent condition as well as proven to be fast. The owner was the current New Zealand champion and was keen to sell the boat before the Worlds. He had damaged tendons in his hand and would be out of sailing for at least a year. He had put a lot of work into preparing the boat for this year’s World Championships, so it was ready for the next owner. After some negotiation we agreed on the price and he also agreed to deliver the boat from Auckland to Wellington so that I could sail it in the New Zealand Nationals/Interdominions and the World championships of which I had been selected to represent Australia.
My plan was always to get over to Wellington early so that I could put some sailing time out on the waters before things got serious. This was a good move as I arrived the night before my boat was delivered and was able to get out the following day for a shakedown sail. The New Zealanders were keen, they were out nearly every day for up to four hours training against each other, usually there were up to nine boats putting in the hard yards and I have to say they were fast. Still I made a good show and by no means was I disgraced however it was a struggle to get used to the new boat and the new rig. OK dinghies are a design that you can adjust and tweak to your own personal satisfaction and no two sailors have it set up the same way. While the guy I bought the boat from was about the same build as me, he was a lot younger and stronger. In Australia the mast I had for my boat was considered to be the stiffest and consequently the hardest to sail in the Nationals. This new mast was probably the stiffest in the world! I simply did not have the strength at that point to work the rig properly and was in a bit of a dilemma. Do I persist with the new rig and hope that I learn how to sail it in the short time that I had or do I replace it with my Australian rig and go with the known set up. In the end I went for what I knew and threw the Aussie rig on to the new hull. It was a good choice as it enabled me to relax and focus on relearning how to sail in large fleets again.
The Australian/New Zealand Interdominions were to be sailed just before the Worlds and the kiwi’s had scheduled 9 races in three days for this. A big ask for a lot of us especially in the strong winds. In the end I raced 5 of the 8 races that were sailed and was glad that I did not try for the extra three races. Again it was a fitness issue and I had to keep in mind that the major focus was the World Championships which were to be ten races in six days, two races a day and one day off for a lay day. The Kiwi’s had shown all of us that they were fit, fast and determined to white wash the event, their training over the last year was paying off in large dividends.
With the two day’s rest, in which we all recovered to some degree and had our boats, sails, mast etc measured, we were ready for the worlds.
In the invitation race not all the Kiwi’s were out there but I had an excellent race finishing 11th, felt absolutely stoked. Of course I was also very much aware that not everyone was racing at top speed yet, but it sure felt good.
The first three days of racing were in strong winds and despite repeated bad starts, I was able to sail myself out of trouble and into good positions. By the end of the third day I was in 23rd position and feeling very good.
Over the last two days I blew it with some very bad results up in the 30’s and 40’s. No real excuses and I could only put it down to getting tired and not being able to change to the lighter conditions as well as other competitors. I was in the end a little disappointed but mostly very happy with the final position of 34th overall out of 74 boats. I had learnt a lot and knew that there was a lot I could improve on quickly so that next time I would sail more consistently and finish better. In the end I was happy, had a lot of fun, learnt a lot and felt that I had had a good result.
For the rest of this year my goal will be to become fitter, stronger and spend lots of time on the water with the new boat and rig to improve boat handling and speed.
Next year the three major events are spread out more and I have requested time off to attend each. The Australian Nationals will be held in Hobart early January, which will be a good regatta and my goal there is for a podium finish. The Australian/New Zealand Interdominions will be held in Melbourne over Easter and I am keen to have another crack at the Kiwi’s with the goal of top ten or better. Finally the Worlds in 2011 will be held in Largs, Scotland late July early August and the goal there is to be in the top twenty.
This of course is all going to depend on the company as to whether or not they agree to give me the time off that I will need and I suspect that to get this time I will have to put the hard yards in to make it so. Still it is good fun and I am happy to keep putting the work in.
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