September 28, 2014

Hyères - Good News / Bad News

by Doug

Good news - got to Hyėres and the place where I'm staying is better than expected.

Bad news - none of my sailing gear arrived and has been lost.

Good news - was able to get my charter boat and borrow a sail and rigging for the practice regatta - thank you Regis!

Bad news - Saturday, just made it to the starting line on time, light conditions with lots of chop with the open water. Upwind speed was wasted because I did not have my compass and never got into phase, was spanked by almost everyone.

Good news: practiced with Martin (SWE) after the racing, upwind speed was good.

Bad news - Martin is much faster downwind. Hmmm.

Good news - woke up Sunday after a second good night's sleep. No jet lag.

Bad news - British Airlines is still looking for my sailing gear.

Good news - got a text that my gear has been found, no details about when it will be delivered.

Bad news - three races in 10-20, sailed again in my 'plane' clothes. When I was practicing in Dallas, the boat felt like an extension of my body. Here in the largest waves for me since Jeju (2006), I really struggled. No hiking pants + no compass = getting spanked, again.

Good news - two days of racing and a long list of things to work on this week.

Bad news - the freight company did not get an answer at my hotel and could not deliver my sailing gear.

Good news - the driver figured it was sporting equipment, saw the yacht club, and stopped to ask if anyone knew me. The office did and my gear was waiting for me after the racing. Thanks to a brilliant driver for the extra effort!!


Bad news - a card in my baggage told me that it was held up in the US by the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) which is responsible for airline security. In going through my gear, they managed to break (open?) my compass.
Good news - repaired my compass and look forward to more practice this week with the many friends who have arrived.

9 comments:

  1. Glad your gear arrived in plenty of time. I lost all my gear once when traveling to Colombia for a Sunfish Worlds on a flight that only flew twice a week. Had to sail half the regatta in my "plane clothes" before my stuff finally arrived!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've heard similar horror stores from others. From now on, I'm going to pack my lines, compass, and other sailing essentials in my carry on luggage.

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  2. Glad you got the gear. You debated whether to go radial or not - did you make the right choice?
    Also, how is the water temperature - do you need a wet suit?
    See you soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not sure because I was really slow in the breeze (and it gets much breezier). People I can hang with were faster, so I'm hoping it was the lack or proper gear.

      I was cold between races and a spray top would have been fine. Lots of people were wearing full wet suit but I would probably have found it too hot.

      Note that the forecast on Sailflow changes daily and has been wrong much of the time.
      http://www.sailflow.com/map#43.097,6.146,14,1,!51000,2

      See you soon.

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    2. As I recall on that trip to Cartagena I did carry a bare minimum of what I needed for sailing (like lines and gloves and hiking boots and PFD) in my carry-on bag but I had hardly anything else - other than the clothes I was wearing on the plane - for 3 or 4 days. I learned to be even more wary of destinations that only have two flights a week.

      Weather forecast for Hyeres does seem to be changing all the time but for what it's worth the current forecast for the first 2 days of racing seems to be for light winds.

      Delete
  3. Oh yeah. Those nice little TSA notes. I had forgotten about those. For some reason when they see a package which contains long black sticks with a high carbon content, they get a little suspicious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm hearing horror stories about transporting the tiller - checking it seems to cause problems (had that) while carrying it on also causes problems (also had that).

      Was talking with Peter Seidenberg today and he carries a photo of him sailing so that he can explain that this is really a boat part and not something designed to break down a door.

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  4. Sounds like you have grown very compass dependant. I have been trying to use mine more and it seems to hurt my attention span.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it surprised me how bad I was without it in the lighter breeze. It's interesting to note that the back of the fleet sailors do not use a compass and the very, very top sailors (Robert, Tom) do not need one. We compass-dependent sailors know where we belong!

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