Last two days

Apologise for the lack of updates over the last two days, but the Hotel internet has been down and there has not been much to report.

Wedenesdays sailing was cancelled as there was too much wind and Thursdays sailing cancelled as there was no wind! So no final sereies of racing.

Workum deserved better than this, they put on a great regatta from an organisational point dealing with 400+ Laser 4.7's without a blink, they were just let down at the final hurdle by the all important element we need wind.

They tried to get the Gold and Silver fleets out on Wedenesday after a four hour postponement, but we had 30+ knots on the beech so was never really going to happen.

On Thursday racing was bought forward by an hour in the hope of getting three races in, but we had the centre of the low right over us, so no wind at all, then half an hour after racing was abandoneed it was blowing 30+ knots and lashing dwon with rain.  Not ideal for packing up!

Some of us ran to grab earlier ferries whilst others stayed for the price giving. A great result of Third overall for Geogina Povall, plus some great sailing and lots of good coaching from the GBR coaches.

Now it back to the UK and time to plan for the next events. We are hoping to make the Nationals a Great event for the  Laser 4.7 class, so please enter and come along for some great sailing out in Weymouth bay.

Final Day Qualifying

Having lost racing on Monday the Race Committee planned on getting three races in today. The Forecast was good with a building breeze from 10-18 knots and the sun was out.

Racing started on time in a nice steady (slowly oscillating breeze) On the North course the races were sailed back to back with only a short space between races, just enough time to grab some drink and food from the coaches. However the South course seemed to take much longer.

By the end of the day the usual Workum chop had built and the breeze was gusting 20 knots.  This made the sail home from the South course a very long and tiring one, taking around and 80 minutes upwind! Not ideal considering the amount of effort that had been used in racing, there were some very tired sailors to say the least.

Highlights for the day are the results of Georgina Povall who scored 3,2,3 to move up to third overall.

The forecast for the next two days is very windy, Wednesday is 25-35 and Thursday a little lighter, so let’s just hope we get some racing in.  The fleet has now been re flighted into Gold, Silver, Bronze and Emerald for the Boys and Gold and Silver for the girls.

Day 3

A day of hanging around waiting for the wind, how many hours have we wasted doing this!

At 09:00 AP over two was flown, followed by an indefinite AP at 11 as the very light sea breeze tried to fill in but failed and at 16:20 sailing for the day was abandoned.

Never the less team GBR had some fun playing French Cricket and rounders in the evening sun prior to a team BBQ outside the marquee.

The sailing instructions have been changed to allow three races to be sailed today and the forecast for a nice 10-18 knots should allow all to have a good crack at improving their positions prior to tonight’s re flighting into Gold, Silver, Bronze and Emerald for the two day final series.

Day 2

Sorry for the delay in posting this, but the internet has been down

Today was a total contrast from day one with sunshine and a light breeze.  The kids met for their morning briefing at nine before being released to the race course by the lowering of the H flag.  For some the light breeze meant a tow to the start areas, especially the south course.

The days forecast was for the breeze to build slightly to 12-15 knots and move right from the SW to the NW in the afternoon.

The light air and shifting breeze meant that the race officers postponed quit e a few starts in the last couple of minutes, so it was going to be a long day on the water.

Ashore the parents went their different ways, some out on the water and some off on their bikes for a 32km cycle to Makkum and back.

The two girl’s flights were the first back to the beach, but the boys red and green groups had still not started their fourth race.

On the red course they recorded 22 black flags, which reduced the fleet from 70+ starters, so for those still racing an opportunity to get some good results. Unfortunately many GBR sailors were amongst the 22 that were black flagged. 

David Pain had the best of the GBR scores with two top tens, great sailing in a very competitive fleet that includes the Spanish Radial squad who are using the event as a training regatta.

The big thing that this regatta is proving is how young the GBR sailors are, the Italians are arriving in their own cars and competitors are supporting goatie beards and long sideburns! Quite a contrast to our twelve to sixteen year olds (The class allows competitors to be under 18)

Day 1

Well at long last the first race day has arrived, wet and windy!

Having got to the boat park nice and early, the race Committee announced a two hour postponement as they were recording 27 knots out on the race course. Both the windguru and winfinder forecasts were predicting the win to drop by mid day to almost nothing before filling back in at around 15-18 knots and is exactly what it did!

At 11:30 the H flag was lowered and the fleet launched in very little wind and sail to their respective race course, North for the Boys and South for the girls, plus the boys green flight. Many of the sailors needed towing to the start.

The yellow flight got away first time on a P flag as the breeze slowly built though the afternoon and the Workum chop slowly built to just over 1m.  So an ideal start for the bigger sailors that are here.

The other flights were not so lucky and ended up with numerous general recalls.

All the boys flights are on trackers so you can watch the racing, but for some reason the trackers were not giving accurate data and boats would be flying up and down the course as their data was tracked.

The races were relatively short lasting around 47 minutes for the leaders. We did hear that the girls course was a bit strange with the first beat only last 7 minutes! No doubt this will be sorted by today.

A couple of GBR sailors picked up black flags, I think we had one bent top mast but other than that I think most returned to shore happy with their first days racing.   The coaches then set about their debriefs so the sailors could earn from what they saw on the water.

The entire fleet is re-flighted each evening, so you will need to check today’s flights if you are watching online.

Day minus One

Today was our last day before the event starts for real, so it was time to set the schedule for the rest of the week in place with a 9am Briefing followed by a good couple of hours on the water.  Again the wind Gods were on our side and other than the odd heavy rain shower it was a great morning.

As normal it was a few boat handling exercises followed by two big races, and we were joined by almost every country you can think of, with around 80-90 boats on the line slightly bigger than the real thing!!

Then it was back to the beech for the final bit of boat prep, more rubbing compound and polish than Halfords!

Friday evening was the opening ceremony when all 29 Nations paraded through the Camp site to the marquee in their team kit.

Early to bed for most of the team.

Training day

Today was the first officail traing day, we we now have four coachesplit between the RYA and UKLA groups.

We had great weather today, again the sun was out and the wind was blowing, starting at around 15 knots but slowly decreasing all day.

A good three hours was spent on the water with boat speed and boat handling excercises plus a race that the BEL sailors joined in.

Once ashore the sailors started to get into checking their boats over ready for the event proper, interesting to see mainsheets wearing out after relativly little use, (just goes to show they do play their sheet!)

The campers are now settling in and enjoying the campsite right next to the boats, after a little banter Ian Bullock eventually got his BBQ fired up which made all the kids watching feel very hungry

Tomorrow is an early start, with the RYA group metting on the beech at 9 ready for a good couple or three hours on the water, followed by the final boat prep and opening ceremony.

Racing starts on Saturday and the boys fleet all have trackers fitted, so you can watch at home
http://static.sportresult.com/federations/isaf/Sailing/raceviewer_0_8_1/index.php?dev=1&v=3&id=503c9387-66e7-4773-ac45-90867ca9a8dd&event=66

Not so Early Birds

So today was the first officail day of the event with measurement and registration starting.  This event is so far very well organised.

We started with a meausrement slot for the team of between 14:00 and 18:00, but at 10:00 they announced that anyone could measure, so into the queue, Half an hour later and we were done, great stuff!

Hannah Diamond and Andy Walsh arrived last night, so we helped get the rib launched and once measurement was done went out for a sail in the 15-18 knot SW breeze, onshore for the first time since we arrived. The waves were the usal short and steep, so for those that had not sailed before came as a bit of a shock!

We sailed for about 2.5 to three miles upwind doing various exercises and then had a nice down wind session to finnish off, great waves!

There are a lot of boats here now, so although to day was a non officail training day it made a lot of sense to get out on the water, two days in my mind is not enough time for a venue you have not sailed in before.

Tomorrow is the first officail day of RYA training. so the plan is to meet at 10 by the Gazebo, which has just blown over!

Early birds day 3

A much warmer day today, but very little wind to start with, so a morning of playing around on bikes, setting up the Gazebo, and meeting the new arrivals, starting to get like Weymouth where you keep bumping into people you know!

Late afternoon we decided there was enough breeze to go for a sail and it turned out to be a really good call.  Our little early bird fleet had grown to nine, so more boat handling and speed work and a couple of short races. We ended up with a nice couple of hours on the water with most of taking advantage of the sunshine and sailing in boardies and rash vests.

Team pizza was the call last night, so a quick bike ride into Workum square.

Early Birds 4th July 2011

Today started with a nice lie in, followed by a bit of boat work.  We then had an early lunch before launching at 13:30, team GBR had become 7 with the addition of Freddie Verburgt and Jack Rockett.

We started with some boat handling drills, tacking on the whistle, followed by some boat speed and  tactics, then downwind gybing on the whistle.  It was proving to be a great day on the water s the wind strengthened slightly and the sun came out.

This was followed by some practice starts and a couple of short windward leeward races.

We then joined in with the other teams and did two good races with sailors from GRE, NED, USA, HUN, SLO, BEL, BOS,RUS, wow! this is going to be a good Europeans with over 400 boats attending.