Youth European Match Racing Championships

I traveled to Lake Constance in Germany for the Eurosaf Youth European Match Racing Championships at the end of September. I was sailing with Mark Lees and his team from the UK. The event was sailed in Blu 26's. 16 teams from 14 different nations gathered in Konstanz for the event and the teams were split into two groups for the round robin series.

The practice day began with a heavy fog on the lake and absolutely no wind. By the time we got out in the afternoon the sun had burned off some of the fog and patches of breeze were scattered around the lake. We managed to get a few hours of practice in very light wind. Everyone settled into their roles pretty quickly and our boat handling was looking pretty good by the end of the session. Roll on day 1 of racing.

Race day 1 started much the same. Foggy and windless. The sun broke thorough the clouds much earlier than the previous day and racing got underway shortly after midday. We won our first two races convincingly. In the third and final race of the day we came from behind to take the lead on the first downwind leg and held on to the finish. We ended the day 3-0.

Day 2 saw slightly more breeze on the Lake and we got off to a great start with 3 more wins in the round robin. We did however loose one race to end the day 3-1. We closed out the round robin in the top spot of our group with 6 wins and 1 loss.

The quarter finals were sailed in very light conditions on day 3. We won our quarter final 2-0 against the Hungarian team. The wind was beginning to die but the race committee manage to fit in two semi final flights. We took the win in the first match against the team from France. We lost the second race of the semi final but the French team were penalized for a collision the pre start which saw them debuted 0.75 of a point. The wind shut off for the day shortly after and racing was abandoned for the day. We led our semi final 1-0.25 after the penalty.

The lake was blanketed by a thick layer of fog on the morning of the final day or racing. It was taking a long time for the fog to clear and there was still no sign of any wind by mid day. After a number of hours on the water waiting for the wind. It was decided that racing would proceed straight to the finals if the wind did fill in.

We were to contest the final against the Irish team if the wind would allow. The teams were brought back ashore in the afternoon and prospects of racing looked dismal as the weak thermal breeze continued to fight with the gradient and in turn cancel each other out.

To our surprise we were rushed back to the boats at around 16.30. The Lake still appeared windless but the boats were towed offshore and around a headland where there was 8 knots of steady breeze coming down the lake.

Racing got under way quickly for fear that the breeze would die. The Irish team managed to gain control in the pre start in the with a minute to go and they lead off the line. We crossed close behind them on the upwind leg but were unable to catch them as they defended their lead well around the course. We had to win the second match to keep our chances alive. We entered from the pin end and were immediately put under pressure as they approached on starboard. They managed to defend the boat end of the line and got off the line with more pace than us. The race was almost a repeat of race 1. We crossed closely behind on the upwind and began to gain back some distance on the run into the finish but we were unable to catch them before the line.

It was hugely disappointing not to win the final after such a strong performance all week. Although I learned so much during the week and even though we didn't win it was a great experience. I always enjoy racing on new boats and with new teams because you learn so much from others in the way they do things. I also learned a lot about match racing tactics from Mark and the lads.

Photo credit: Jugend Regatta Förderverein

Royal Southern Match Cup

After a great summer of racing on the West Coast I flew straight from the seeing America's Cup in San Francisco to Hamble, for Royal Southern Yacht Club grade 3 match racing event.
Myself, Ryan, Luke and Sam joined back together after a few months doing our own sailing around the world. We chose the event to get some racing practice in J80's before the Student Yachting World Cup. Which was 3 weeks later as well as to gain some more match racing experience.

Day 2 - Windless Solent

It had been a while since we sailed together and that was certainly reflected in our results. Racing started in around 10 knots on Saturday and we were straight back in to it. Our teamwork and boat handling was a bit rusty during the first few races of the day.  We lost our first four matches of the day and we were beginning to think it would be a very long day. However we turned things around for the second half of the day.  We improved massively as the day went on and managed to find more and more boat speed in every race while our boat handling became a lot slicker too. We went on to win our remaining 5 races of the day.

Unfortunately that was all the racing completed at the Royal Southern Match Cup as day 2 saw the Solent completely windless for the whole day. We sat out on the race course until the early afternoon before the decision was made to abandon racing for the day.

The overall results were decided from Saturdays round robin results and we came away with 4th place. Although we only got to complete one day of racing we were still happy with our progress.

Our aim for the event was to get comfortable sailing asymmetric J80's and to get our boat handling down before we went to France. Match racing is ideal for improving boat handling due to the amount of maneuvers completed in a short space of time and by the end of Saturday we were pretty happy with out boat handling.

It was also really useful for me to get back into match racing before I headed to Germany for the Youth Europeans the following day.

The Team at the Royal Southern YC with HYC Burgee

J125 in Dana Point

J125 Timeshaver - Beefy Bowsprit

The Richard Henry Dana Charity Regatta took place on the 7th and 8th of September. The annual regatta raises money for the communities of South Orange County and is well supported by local boats. There were one design fleets of J80's and J24's as well as the PHRF fleets.

I was trimming downwind on a local boat, the J125, Timeshaver in PHRF1 . Three windward leeward races was the plan for the first day. It was a typical Southern California Day, sunny and warm. It took a while for the breeze to kick in and racing got underway early in the afternoon with about 6-8 knots of wind. The breeze built throughout the day and by the start of race 2 we were all out on the rail hiking hard. We had great speed and the boat was flying with its new no.1 Genoa. Some pretty slick boat handling by the team allowed us to make great gains around the corners and during maneuvers. We took bullets in the first 2 races, followed by a 2nd in race 3 to lead the class over night.

The weather on day 2 was much the same, warm and sunny with a building breeze coming in from the sea. The regatta was to be concluded with a single coastal race. The race committee gave a great course which saw the fleets beating, tight reaching and running before a last beat back to the finish line. The course really showed the difference in some of the boats and where they were gaining and loosing. For us it was all about trying to stretch our legs over the fleet downwind. We were closely followed around the last mark by the Santa Cruz 50, Horizon and it became a match race to the finish line. Their superior upwind speed was showing and they began to reel us in. They just managed to pip us at the finish as the breeze became light and patchy towards the end. A 3rd on PHRF was enough to see Timeshaver win the class overall with a one point margin over the FT10 Ruckus.

The regatta was a great learning experience for me. It was great to jump into an established team and be given an important job. I hadn't done a lot of racing on 40+ft boats so I learned a lot about how to get the boat going fast and trimming the sails as well as the communication needed to get everything running smoothly. Keeping the boat clean all the time and ready for the next maneuver was key to our slick boat handling.

Photo credit joysailing.com