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:: 2008 Nationals report - Warwick Ham :: (148 Reads)
Posted by
warwick
on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 - 08:43 PM
There were 4 father/son teams taking part in this year’s 505 nationals, (The Milln’s, Ham’s, Hogg’s, and Arthur’s) and a couple of potential family teams which we want to see on the water more often. (Holzhausen’s, Rogotzki’s, what about the Quarmby’s, the Holm’s and of course the Funke’s, just waiting for Thomas to return) There are also several youth teams and of course there is the Klaas family which suddenly seems to be quite dominant in the 505 class. What is their secret? Is it in the coffee or is it in the Jaffels?
Read more of my impressions of the racing near the middle of the fleet in the rest of the article below.
Day 1
Light wind – 2 races sailed.
1st race attempt was abandoned after half the fleet failed to identify the top mark correctly and sailed the wrong course on the first leg. The race officer had to abandon as the resulting confusion would have only got worse as the race progressed. There was much animated discussion on the topic over the weekend, as, on the one hand, those who had not correctly completed the course are bound by the rules to completely sail the correct course, or retire. Those who sailed the correct course would be bound by the same rules to keep an eye out and protest the boats which had not correctly completed the course. As it turns out the race officer complied with rule 32.1(e) and abandoned after the start “for any reason directly affecting … the fairness of the competition.”
The actual first race was started in gentle breeze with large switches evident throughout the afternoon. Peter/Carl and Kyle/Robert stamped their authority on the early racing and finished a long way ahead of the rest of the fleet. In the second race it was the turn of Mark Biagio and Gordon Quarmby to try and catch the flying Klaas. At the finish Mark and Gordon ended up the mince patty in a Klaas jaffel after a race marked by marginal conditions and significant wind switches. It was refreshing to have a course with a decent long beat and resulting race durations of over an hour, but we really wanted more wind. In fairness to the race officer the fleet wasted quite a lot of time and stronger wind conditions earlier in the afternoon with two general recalls.
Day 2, Moderate wind – 3 races sailed.
First race moderate to strong
In accordance with the NOR and SI the race committee tried to get in some races early in the morning, but the wind was not playing along. After a frustrating morning waiting, the wind eventually started filling in just after lunch. It rapidly built to a moderate breeze and we were called out to the start line. The wind was swinging to the right and those who saw this were able to take full advantage of it in the stronger conditions. Unfortunately the wind swung to the right so much that the race turned into a series of beats and reaches and was shortened. Some of us did not notice that the race officer had transferred to the mark layer boat to quickly shorten the race, and get the course sorted out. So quick was his transfer in fact that he forgot something, and those rounding the leeward mark saw no sign of the blue flag, and carried on racing. In spite of the longest course that our race officer could set within the confines of the dam, he saw that in stronger wind the 505 completes the course quickly and it is not always possible to change the course marks ahead of the fleet. This strengthens the argument for running our nationals offshore where space is not an issue, i.e. we can sail a world class course length, hopefully under world class wind conditions.
Second race strong/moderate
The wind continued to strengthen and swung further right necessitating a course adjustment. In the heavier conditions Hans/Alan and Steve/Greg came back into the race and were able to pass Peter/Carl and Mark/Scott, but were unable to catch Kyle and Robert. Bronwen and Rudolph had a lengthy swim and Greg Hurter fell onto his tiller and bent it so far down that it later broke off. Alex and Warwick in one of the four father/son boats were so intent on beating their competitor to the finish line that they capsized right on top of the committee boat at the finish, and had to return to do their penalty which let Bronwen/Rudolph through.
Third race moderate to light
The wind dropped somewhat for the last race of the day and Steve/Greg seemed to have found their rhythm and came in third behind Kyle/Robert and Bronwen/Rudolph.
Day 3, Light to moderate wind – 3 races sailed.
First race moderate.
Second race moderate, shifts and the right paid.
Third race moderate to light, large shifts.
Racing was characterised by good wind with large shifts of up to 30 degrees (don’t ask me how I measured this!) and quite gusty.
We (8471) started the 3rd day leading the family teams and chasing Steve Hegerstrom for 6th position. Up to that point we had had a fantastic regatta, finishing in the top half of the field in the lighter conditions and with two 10th places in the heavier conditions during the exciting Friday afternoons racing, in a beautiful setting.
Alexander who is only 14 is an excellent skipper and is still involved in Dabbies. We have been sailing the boat together for about 4 weeks prior to the Nationals and were concentrating mainly on boat handling, getting to know the boat and coordinate our teamwork. We seem to have boat handling well under control, and are able to concentrate on racing tactics for most of the time, but we have not had much opportunity to test our boat handling skills in heavier winds. This was the ideal opportunity to get some exposure to heavier wind with the added challenge of some good racing against some quality competition. I think our major weak point is our boat setup and the ability to change gears when the weather conditions change. The other weak point is our tendency to keep our heads in the boat and forget to watch the weather, the course and the racing in the rest of the fleet. The next event at Sterkfontein 29-30th November is the ideal opportunity for more targeted training in a racing environment.
The problem with trying too hard is that you tend to forget about the big picture and before you know it those behind you are shooting past on the left and right. We started the day looking at defending our 7th position against one of the other father & son teams, the Hogg’s, and let Albrecht/Peter, Steve/Greg, Mark/Scott, and Kobus/Danie through on one of the upwind legs. What we failed to notice was that the Milln team had leapfrogged us all with their brilliant 5th position.
Our start, had we pulled it off, would have been brilliant, but was very high risk and when we got closed out, cost us all the speed we had built up, as well as the front row position we were looking for.
Lesson # 1 start conservatively and make sure you have clear wind and open options for the first minute after the start.
We struggled a bit in getting the boat set up and had the rig tension pop loose during the race, which took us a while to fix.
Lesson # 2: Everything on the boat must work faultlessly even under very adverse conditions, like when the crew’s big foot gets hooked in the wrong place!
We got the 2nd race hooked up well after a bit of a tuning session with the national champions Kyle and Robert, to get our boat speed, and our minds right. In spite of the stronger wind we held a great 6th place against Steve and Greg, but couldn’t catch Nigel and CJ on their best finish of the regatta.
We enjoyed the stronger breeze and used the opportunities to test various options for starts, downwind strategies, mark roundings and finishing tactics and we learnt a lot.
Thanks especially to HMYC and our beleaguered race officer Hemraj for putting up with the hot sun, shifting wind, protesting sailors and in spite of it all getting in 8 excellent races.
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