Maciej Grabowski - Winning the 2017 Apprentice Master Worlds

For me, watching the 2000 Senior Laser Worlds in Cancun was memorable for several reasons – we had fantastic sailing conditions, the way Ben Ainslie was able to catch Robert Scheidt on the reaches, and the talk about the upcoming talent of sailors like Maciej Grabowski from Poland.

Since then, Maciej has won many international Laser events, has represented Poland at three Olympic Games, and has recently won the Apprentice Master Worlds in Split. Here’s how he trained, what he learned about the new composite top section, how he sets his MK2 sail differently, and how he sailed downwind to convincingly win in a small but very competitive fleet. 

By Maciej Grabowski

I was really looking forward to coming to Split this year. It was the first time that my whole family came with me to Croatia and it was fun having the kids around in the boat park. 

Olympic coaching

Sailing wise I did not feel ready at all. The small Apprentice fleet was not helping my chances. Neither was the little sailing I did since the 2015 Laser senior worlds. But going back to last January, I was invited by Kacper Zieminski (POL), who secured his Olympic spot for Rio games during 2015 Kingston Laser Worlds, to coach him during the Miami OCR. Spending a couple of weeks in Florida is always nice especially when the weather is really bad around here so I decided to go for what was supposed be a one-time only coaching trip.

But as it turned out, soon after Kacper asked me to join him for the remainder of his Olympic campaign and I ended up on the Polish Olympic Team as Laser coach. As much fun as it was, all those months prior to the games were really intense and I had to combine it with my regular job. Fortunately, I work for my father who took it easy on me and I was able to work a bit out of the office.

Anyway I ended up being a coach and not sailing Lasers for all of 2016. In late December, I bought a new Laser but was not able to use it until May when I went for a week to sail at Lake Garda, Italy. Since then, I only did seven days of racing in Poland at two senior events and one more week in Garda. 

The composite top section and MK2 sail

During my second Polish event at the nationals, we had a nice 70 boat fleet and I felt really good in the boat so my expectations were up. The first day was maybe 10-15 knots and I decided to use my aluminum mast with Hyde sail, whereas all the top guys used composite and NeilPryde. I believe it was the 2^nd race on day 1 when the wind was down to 10 knots and I managed to move from 4^th at the top mark to maybe a 10 boat length lead at the bottom gate. In 10 knots I was really quick and felt comfortable before the second beat.

However the choppy water made a difference and the guy behind me started closing the gap and eventually passed me. Not only did he pass me but put another 50m on me during second part of the upwind. Despite a tight cover, he was able to get away.

What I noticed was that he would simply accelerate a bit quicker. We both would hit couple of waves, slow down but he would just recover faster. Of course I knew those guys spent really long hours training this year, but we did some racing all with aluminum masts a few weeks earlier and I knew that it was not only their fitness, technique, and time in the boat that was paying off. It had to be some influence of different equipment, something that I like to play with a lot myself too, but this year there was simply not enough time.

I haven’t done much sailing with a composite top section prior to the worlds but those couple of days I did sail in Poland were difficult ones. With more than 10 knots I was really struggling and ended up racing those two Polish events with aluminum top mast. However I knew that sooner or later there was no way back from a composite top.

Training in Split

Arriving to Croatia I was hoping to use the seven days before the event mostly to select the mast and sail I was going to use. I was lucky to have Brett Bayer (AUS) bring a NeilPryde sail for me which I thought would be better with the composite top section I was going to use.

So I started sailing in Split with a composite top and new sail. At the beginning it was looking really bad. I could not keep up with the guys I was training with. I was slower and even with a lot of effort I was able to be fast enough only a short while (we did some speed tests and I was able to keep up for 2-3 minutes) and I knew that in a regular race I would not last for the whole race.

Since I was mostly sailing with Brett and couple other guys from the Masters fleet, I knew that they were in a good shape but could not believe it was only better hiking causing so much speed difference. So I figured I needed to start looking elsewhere. First of course I would pay more attention to what the other guys were doing regarding their sail tuning (I was still at almost zero cunningham and big vang tension which is fast for the MK1 sail). Additionally I looked online at some photos from previous senior events just to have some reference regarding the sail trim.

What got me thinking was the sail damage happening in the senior fleet because several straps at the top of the sail were ripping. I’m not sure how many sails ripped and believe it was close to 20. Apparently, the stitching that attached the strap that limits the mast movement in the mast sleeve could not hold the big cunningham loads. This is what got me thinking about the cunningham because the sails would break when rounding the top mark with full tension. Surprisingly, this was only happening to Hyde sails and it turned out that the NeilPryde sails had more stitching at the sail head.

So I started asking how they set their sails, meaning vang, cunningham etc. As it turned out, the way I was trimming the MK2 was wrong - I was doing it the MK1 style, meaning no cunningham even in a big breeze, and it was not working with the MK2 sail. 

 

My old way of setting the MK2 sail - loose cunningham, lots of vang, and overpowered.

It's faster having lots more cunningham. 

This was a turning point for me, and from then on my upwind speed got at a level that I knew I was able to keep up with the rest of the fleet.

Competing in Split

For the worlds at Split, there was not really that much wind that having enough Cunningham tension was that relevant. I still would play a lot with this adjustment whenever breeze was up a bit. For me I’d say that learning how to trim the sail properly was more of a confidence boost so I knew I’d be competitive in 12 knots up.

The Apprentice fleet had only 14 boats, and Adonis Bougiouris (GRE) and Maksim Semerkhanov (RUS) were guys I knew from the World Cup circuit. I knew they did so much more sailing those past years than I did and it was not making me feel too comfortable before the regatta. Back in 2014 in Hyères I won first 4 races but from then on the breeze picked up and Adonis managed to beat me in what was looking like a match racing competition. I was really disappointed back then and was anxious not to let it happen again.

Because of the size of our fleet, I knew that I would have to keep an eye on both Adonis and Maxim and kind of let the other boats sail on their own. I’m sure it was a kind of an awkward view seeing the three of us sailing a separate race, but I knew it had to be like that. Adonis was actually the one trying to sail on his own in some of the races and it cost him few paces.

When I look back at it now, is sounds funny after winning all of the races, but right after the first start Adonis was to windward of me and he managed to roll over me with so such ease that I said to myself that there was no chance I was able to keep up with him. But I slowly started to get in the shift rhythm and arrived at the top mark maybe 3-4 boat lengths behind Adonis. Lucky I was at my (almost) senior speed downwind so I put maybe extra 10 boat lengths on both Adonis and Maxim on the first run.

I think that in every next race I was a little quicker upwind. But it was my downwind speed/technique that was winning races.

Downwind sailing

Regarding sailing downwind I could probably write many pages about it. The way I see it looking at the masters fleet, is that most guys were competing before downwind sailing techniques introduced the S sailing - meaning changing course when sailing downwind by either heading up or bearing off in order to get on more waves.

This is a way more complicated and sophisticated technique than it sounds. It is not only about going at a different angle than dead downwind. It is about being aware of how you need to adjust your sail, hull, position body in the boat – all in order to get on a wave a bit quicker. Even going by the lee is a skill - you obviously can’t go by the lee forever and getting back to the mark is an important part of the game. But to make it short, I think that for most of the masters fleet, this technique is something new, something they didn’t have a chance to learn properly.

There are of course some guys doing it better than others, but it is still possible to gain 200m or so during single downwind. It won’t happen in all conditions of course but this is something that all masters could work on.

Other than that there is really not that much difference between masters (in any category) and the senior fleet. Many masters would be competitive enough and fast enough upwind to be sailing senior’s gold fleet. But the downwind is something that makes all the difference.

The challenge with downwind training is that you would need to sail upwind for 2 hours in order to sail downwind for 30 minutes. And you need long hours sailing only downwind.

We used to go to lake Garda and train with the northerly wind early in the morning and sail from 8 until 11, break for lunch, wait for the wind to turn to southerly and sail back downwind again for another 3 hours.

Back in 2003 I used to train a lot with Mark Mendelblatt (USA). He invited me over to the US to train with him prior to the US Olympic trials. He already finished 6^th at 2003 Laser Worlds, myself I just finished 3^rd at the Laser Europeans (in Split) so we made a good training team.

The problem with Mark was that he was pretty slow downwind, so our focus was to make him a bit more competitive for the trials. We spent two weeks training in Oregon on Columbia River doing 20-25 miles downwind every second day. After moving to Texas for the trials we kept training for another two weeks with 75% of time focused on downwind. Mark eventually won the trials and finished 2^nd at 2004 Laser Worlds. He was never the one gaining downwind like many of us were, but he stopped losing.

To sum up

So this ended up being my plan for the Split world championship – sticking with the guys going upwind and passing them downwind. Doesn’t sound like very exciting sailing but it actually was. I knew I had to stay focused because of what happened in 2014 in Hyères. On the last day Adonis made it a bit easier for Maxim because he was late for the last race with a black flag so we ended up match racing with Maxim, and was only able to pass him halfway up the last short upwind to the finish. This ended up being the race I was most happy with. 

Looking back at the event with a two month perspective, I’m afraid that if ILCA doesn’t do something with the regatta format, the Apprentice fleet will be gone soon. It was a bit disappointing racing only few boats after driving 1600km. Back in 2015 my home club was hosting Masters Europeans and all fleets sailed together. It made racing really fun.

Kerry Waraker - Winning the 2017 Legend Master Worlds

I used to belong to Hudson Yacht Club west of Montreal. To keep it fair, their annual club championship was sailed in a different type of keelboat and I asked if they'd consider sailing it in Lasers. A fellow told me no because "Lasers aren't meant to be sailed by people over 35." Boy, was he wrong!

At the Laser Master Worlds, we have a category called Legends for sailors over 75. I love this because it shows how long we can compete if we stay in shape and take care of ourselves. The current Legend World Champion is Kerry Waraker from Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. Here's how it's  done.

Christy Usher/Christine Robin Photography  

By Kerry Waraker

Preparation for the World Laser Masters at Split 2017

At the presentation ceremony at the Split Laser Masters Worlds, Doug asked if I would write about my preparation for the Worlds and later he added a few more topics of avoiding injury while sailing/training, mental approach, race strategy, and managing competitors.

Southern Hemisphere Laser Masters sailors are at a bit of a disadvantage when the Worlds are held in the August - September period in the Northern Hemisphere. Typically our summer sailing season ends around Easter time so there is about a 6 month period before the Worlds without much competitive sailing. In Australia we have a few Frostbite races and the South Pacific Laser Masters regatta (a 4 day regatta) about 8 weeks before the Worlds. This means we have to train through winter and try to adjust to make up for the lack of fleet racing to be fit and at our peak for the Worlds.

Looking at the wind statistics for Split for the last week of September over the last 4 years it was likely to be a light wind regatta and it seemed that getting 10 or more races in for second scoring drop was very unlikely. This put extra pressure on consistency. Another piece of information was from one of our local young sailors who had competed at Split a year earlier and he suggested that the water was choppy and not dissimilar to the chop on my home club race area. This could be to my advantage   

My 2016/17 club sailing performance had been disappointing and reflecting on that I determined that to get ready for the Worlds I needed to change a few things. 

1. Improve my fitness and hiking
2. Improve my boat handling
3. Get my head out of the boat to more closely watch competitors and look for the wind on the water
4. Improve my down wind speed
5. Lose a bit of weight and get down to about 72  kg 
6. Reread relevant sections of a few good sailing books

Coaches around the world have been stressing the importance of all the above items for years so nothing really new there. 

Fitness and Hiking

I started my fitness program about 4 month before the Worlds by cycling a couple of times a week and trying to get on the water 1 or 2 days a week. By the time of the Worlds I had increased my sailing to 3 or 4 times a week and spent 30 minutes a day on an exercise bike and did sit ups on non sailing days and when the sailing breeze was below full hiking strength. I changed from cycling to exercise bike about 8 weeks to eliminate the danger of a fall and injury while cycling. I find the exercise bike extremely boring but it had to be done

Boat Handling

Obviously with the sailing I was doing boat handling improved and also the improvement in my fitness contributed to improving my boat handling towards the end of tiring sailing session. My jibing has generally not been a problem for me but tacking and buoy roundings left room for plenty of improvement. Practicing and analysing what to do to improve manoeuvring paid off and some improvements were achieved. The boat handling skills of our young sailors is just amazing and watching them just makes me feel inadequate 

Head out of Boat

Looking at your competitor’s position and for favourable wind angles and pressure are important all around the course but more difficult on the upwind legs. More time in the boat and improved fitness has the outcome of not being concerned with boat speed and sail setup. Being fitter results in hiking properly and not worrying about it hurting so much while time in the boat improves your feel for how the boat is performing speed wise and enables you to quickly feel any reduced speed and make the necessary adjustment to sail settings. As result more time is available to look outside the boat at your competitors and the wind on the water

Downwind speed

My downwind speed in smooth water was OK but when we had waves and/or choppy conditions I was not as quick as a couple of my training partners. Interestingly they used different techniques. One sailed very much down the rhumb line with only small angles and minimal sheet adjustment while the other sailed wide angle and with plenty of sheet adjustment. Which technique was faster depended on wave conditions and wind strength. By the time of the Worlds I was almost as fast as both my training partners and had a good idea when to use which technique

Lose weight

I normally sail at about 76kg and as Split was predicted to be a light wind regatta shedding a few kg to about 72 kg seemed a good idea. I thought that I would probably have to watch my diet to achieve this reduction but as the exercise increased the weight came off without dieting and I arrived in Split at about 72 kg

Books and Mental Approach

Advanced Racing Tactics (Sturt Walker), Championship Sailing (Gary Dobson) and Wind Strategy (David Houghton & Fiona Campbell) are the books that I find helpful in getting my thoughts in place for a major regatta. Each time you read or reread relevant sections it helps the mental preparation. It gets you thinking about what you have to do on the race course. You also pick up on little issue that you hadn’t recognised previously which all helps to put the whole requirements for a successful regatta together. It is very easy to form a habit of just turning up to a regatta and just going through the motions without very much thought to what you are try to achieve. I think this is especially true as you get older and have done a lot of regattas. In my younger days I got very nervous before and in the first part of an important regatta but these days I am much more relaxed about it all but suspect at times I’m too relaxed and hence the reading helps to get you into the right frame of mind and thinking about what is required both on and off the water during the regatta

General comment on the Training Regime 

There is nothing better than to have at least equal and preferably better boat speed than your competitors. Better boats speed makes your race strategies and tactics look a lot better than they probably are although you still need to be reasonable proficient in these areas to do well in a high quality fleet. So given this thought I put a lot of effort into boat speed in my on water training. As Split was going to be a light wind regatta and my better results had generally come from stronger wind regattas I needed to spend time training in 4 to 8 knots wind conditions. The added requirement was to sail in heavier winds to get the hiking fitness needed in case of stronger winds in Split. The local winter winds characteristics allow me to do about half my training time in each of these conditions. By doing a lot of 2 boat sailing in the light conditions I arrived in Split feeling my light wind speed was good and this was confirmed in the practice race where I got to the first windward mark in first place and finish second.

Race Strategy

Starting and getting clear air is essential for a good result. In Split the starting line was fairly long with 62 starters and the pin end always seem to be favoured. I elected to start a third to half way down the from the start boat. The two reasons for this were that the pin end was very crowded and only a few boats come out of that position in good shape and advice from an Aussie sailor who sailed in the open Worlds was that with the wind in SW to W area the right seem to be the favoured. Starting closer to the boat allowed an easier passage to right by taking a few sterns if the start wasn’t so good. The advice about the right seemed be correct so I maintained this strategy for the whole regatta. My windward strategy was to be conservative in the first windward, not to be too far away from the leading group if possible, and try to be in the top 10 at the first mark and be a bit less conservative in the second windward if need be. This all fell apart in one race. In that race I had a good start and sailed on starboard with my mind in neutral waiting for a knock to tack back (which never came) and finished up overlaying the windward mark quite substantially. Talk about a senior’s moment?? I rounded the windward mark with only a few boats behind me but managed to get back to 15th which fortunately was my drop. 

Managing competitors

Looking through the list of entries in my category Peter Seidenberg was obviously one of my main competitors and in light conditions Steve Avery had gone well in Oman. I didn’t know a lot of the European entrants so they were a bit of an unknown. Also with the scoring method of taking the overall results from the combined GGMs and Legends fleet meant that all the GGMs were part of the equation and the more GGMs that you beat the better. After a few races it became obvious that Peter was the main threat so I tried to keep an eye on him preferably from in front of him

Avoiding injury

Doug asked me to comment on this topic but I’ve not had any serious problems with injuries over the years I have been sailing (most of my life). Probably the worst injury was during the preparation for Split where I got 2 very small tears in my left shoulder and it still isn’t better. It didn’t really worry me much while I was sailing. I think the tears were a result of doing push ups but not sure. Anyhow I stopped doing push ups. I guess I am lucky that over the years this has not been an issue for me. I know I’ll have to stop Laser sailing sometime but not sure when. Peter Seidenberg is nearly 2 years older than me so maybe he will be my guide on this. Peter is still going as strong as ever so hopefully I’ve at least a couple of years left in me.

Photo from RQYS

Bill Symes - Winning the 2017 Radial Great Grand Master Worlds

Bill is the driving force behind the Columbia Gorge Racing Association which for 21 years has hosted world championships, national championships, and the famous Gorge Blowout.

Bill had an outstanding come-from-behind win at the recent Master Worlds in Split. At any given event several people can win, and Bill explains how he was able to “find the magic” to win this world championship.

By Bill Symes

Doug has asked me to share some insights from my effort to win the 2018 Laser Masters Worlds (I sailed in the Radial Great Grandmasters division). The short answer is: sometimes the magic works. After 12 LMWs, I’ve learned that, no matter how well prepared I think I am, I could as easily wind up 20^th as 1^st. There are just too many variables that can’t be controlled, and you need a few breaks to win. This year I got the breaks. But I know readers of this blog will be looking for something a little more substantial than luck and magic. So here goes.

Training

I set some general goals for fitness and weight loss at the beginning of the year, but unfortunately couldn’t muster the discipline or enthusiasm to get to the gym. Fortunately, I do like to sail. I logged more than 80 days on the water prior to Split, including a couple of very productive training sessions at the International Sailing Academy in Mexico and the Columbia River Gorge, with excellent coaching from Vaughn Harrison, Colin Gowland and Brett Beyer. I was also lucky to have some very fast rabbits to chase around, including Olympic campaigners Marek Zelesky and Justin Norton, and masters aces Andrew Holdsworth and Keith Davids. I’m sure this raised my game a notch or two.

Racing

The competition in our fleet promised to be stiff – 62 competitors including five former master world champions and the usual contingent of newcomers aging into the division for the first year, with the advantage of (relative) youth. But the man to beat was defending champ Rob Lowndes from Sydney. Rob has been a good friend and archrival since our first meeting in 2002 in Hyannis, MA. We’ve taken turns beating up on one another over the years, but lately he seems to have had my number, taking first to my second in the last two LMWs. That needed to change.

The conditions were light to moderate (7-11 kts) with small waves, the lower limit of my range but fortunately just enough to get my 180 lb. butt on the rail most of the time. Rig set-up was for max power, with a fairly deep outhaul and rarely more than a touch of downhaul. Upwind, I was usually sheeted out more than the boats around me, but seemed at least equal in speed and height.

The start was critical (no surprise there). With 60+ boats on the line, my focus was to secure a clear lane with good tactical options, so unless one end was really favored, I tended to set up closer to the less crowded center. I worked very hard to get good line transits (not easy to find on the featureless hillsides of distant islands – “hmmm, looks like third dip to the left of the highest rise . . .”). This usually enabled me to get punched out a boat length or more from the pack and sail the first beat in clear air.

Upwind the conventional wisdom was to go right, as the expectation was for the sea breeze to veer as it filled in. Sometimes it did; sometimes it didn’t. My usual approach to the first beat was to lean right, but take advantage of little oscillations to work back to the center (the only time I went all the way to the right corner, the wind went left – with disastrous results). Although I rarely rounded the windward mark first, I was usually in touch with the leaders.

Off the wind, it paid to be aggressive. I was able to pass boats on the reaches and runs by working harder to keep the boat surfing in marginal conditions, keeping the rig pressured up and sailing hard angles but always mindful not to stray too far from the rhumb line (a dangerous tendency in a big fleet). I spent a lot of time working on downwind speed this year, and it made all the difference.

In Conclusion

Success in a sailboat race is the cumulative result of a multitude of small turning points: win or lose a clear lane at the start, wind up on the right or wrong side of a shift on the first beat, round ahead or behind the peloton coming into the leeward gate. And of course, avoid the big mistakes, a capsize, a collision, a yellow flag, a missed mark, or one of those dreaded three-letter scores (OCS, BFD, DNF, DSQ, etc.), all of which I’ve had my share of in past LMWs. Fortunately, this time most of the turning points went my way and I was able to avert any major disasters.

I’m an intuitive sailor. Unlike many successful competitors, I have no engineering background and little technical or mechanical aptitude. Fortunately, I have 60 years of sailboat races under my PFD. I do best when I can turn off my thinking cap and sail on muscle memory. Call it “flow” or “the zone”, that elusive state of mind where relaxation and arousal find the perfect balance; you are focused, in the moment, running completely on instinct. I don’t know the recipe (wish I did; I’d bottle it and uncork it when needed) but I believe it begins with the quality of life off the water, which in my case was superbly managed by my wife, lover, first mate, social director, travel coordinator, mental health counselor, and head cheerleader LauraLee. Thanks to her, I was able to find the magic.

Al Clark - Winning the 2017 Grand Master Worlds

I’ve had the pleasure of racing against Al since the late 70’s. He’s always been known for his consistency and percentage sailing where winning races is not as important as winning regattas. This year, he sailed with amazing consistency to win in the arguably most competitive fleet – the 68-boat fleet Standard Grand Masters. Here’s how we did it.

Al Clark leading Andy Roy at one of the weather marks.   Christy Usher/Christine Robin Photography  
They would finish the championship in this order.

By Al Clark

2017 has been busy for me with my full time position at Royal Vancouver YC as their head coach. Duties including coaching our Laser / Radial high school aged sailors. Also I coached 29’ers at their Midwinters in March and Worlds in August. I particularly enjoyed these high level events with some very talented sailors. I love to learn about new boats and get all the pieces together to help them go fast the right way.

The third component has been coaching some of our Race Team alumni, Kyle Martin in his Finn (Miami OCR and Sailing World Cup Final) and Isabella Bertold (Delta Lloyd and Worlds in Holland). 

I watched and competed in about 17 regattas, 8 major events in 2017. So I would say I saw plenty of high level sailing and have come up with over the years ideas how to get to the front of the fleet.

My training for this years Worlds (Vacation time for me with my wife Sharon) was very minimal, I wasn’t sure I had the mental energy to attend but signed up believing that when the time came I would be excited to race.

I did sail a local regatta in early July in Radials and then sailed the US Nationals in Lake Tahoe later that month. I was keeping in decent shape at my crossfit gym and riding my bike.

On water training prior to the worlds was a few days in early September, then it was on the plane to Croatia with the idea of sailing at the site. I had chartered a private boat and was able to start practice Sunday September 17^th, so with the practice race on the Saturday the 23^rd, I had the week to work up to race trim.

I bought a carbon top section and had a new sail, added my own hiking strap and compass (I use the compass quite a bit these days). Generally was quite happy with the boat (I really like the new boats from LP) and the gear by the end of the week.

I have marks for my vang, outhaul and cunningham. I find that when I feel the boat is fast with certain adjustments I make a note of it and try to keep that in mind. An example is I had 2 distinct marks on my vang for puffs and lulls in the 6-10 knots we sailed a lot in. My outhaul marks are for upwind, a 1-5 scale on my deck.

Racing starts

The practice race (I sailed one lap) went well and I had decided to start near the favoured end then go on the first shift. Andy Roy (CAN) was first off the pin then tacked, Peter Vessella (USA) was fast off the boat and I trailed both of them at the weather mark. I was in about 6^th by the end of the run. Generally happy with my execution. The breeze was about 6 knots.

One of the factors for this event became clear after the practice race. The sail out to the race course was going to be about an hour and a half each day with at least an hour sail in. The wind didn’t happen till about noon each day (if it happened at all) so we were going to have long days on the water with lots of waiting. As a coach I am used to this.

The silver lining for me is that all the sailing out then in gave me plenty of time in the boat and I know that as I get the “feel” back I can be very quick in moderate wind in the Standard rig.

I was training whenever I wasn’t racing. Also entering the harbour each day there was no wind so I had a chance to work on roll tacks and gybes.

The first two days of the regatta (Sunday and Monday) we had no wind so there was a lot of catching up with old friends. Monday was cancelled early so after chatting with some of the guys I was walking home and noticed there was a late afternoon breeze so I went sailing for a few hours. I really like sailing everyday when I’m at these events, even for a short time.

Pam took this video of the racing on Tuesday. It's typical of the conditions that

we had - 10 to 12 knots with short choppy waves. There were not many

shifts upwind, but some good chances to pass going downwind.

The Tuesday we had a decent sea breeze (12 knots) by the time racing started and many of the favourites were near the pin at go. Andy Roy was smokin’ fast in this start and I made up my mind to stay with him. This ended up being a recall. In the next start I was motivated to go hard near the pin again and was near Andy and a number of other favourites. I realized that my speed was good and my height also. I arrived first to the weather mark then sailed too conservatively on the run and rounded third. I fought through the race and was better on the final run, I had a 5 boat length lead down the final reach. Unfortunately I picked up a bag on my rudder and was passed by 2 boats.

Race two I made adjustments and again was pleased with my speed, I won this race with a good gap and felt, as I sailed in that this was one of my best sailed first days at a masters worlds (nerves had been an issue), my self talk was to execute the game plan without fear. Keep the “what ifs” at bay. An example is don’t go to the lay line to early or have faith in the decision your making.

Wednesday was slightly lighter wind but again 2 good races, I was a little too conservative in race one but was generally happy with a 4^th, Andy won that race. The next race was Andy leading again at the top mark, I snuck into 2^nd on the rounding, I sailed smarter on the run and rounded close behind Andy going out to the right. I hung with him (happy with my height) then decided to carry on after Andy tacked, this got me into the lead, I extended down the reach and won race 4.

So after 2 days Andy Roy, Tomas Nordqvist (SWE), Peter Vessella (USA), Wolfgang Gerz (GER) and Nick Harrison (GBR) were all sailing well and the battle was on for the Championship.

Wednesday no racing

Thursday brought again little wind and lots of waiting on the water with one race. This turned into a pivotal race. I started near the pin even though my compass was saying square line, even a bit boat favoured, it never came back from this and with plenty of scrambling ended with a 10^th. Andy sailed a nice race and could have led but a big righty came in late up the first beat, and Tomas won this race. So now we have a close battle for the podium, with others ready to pounce.

I decided that generally this race was one that I left the game plan and that I would ignore it and focus on the good races I had sailed.

Friday no racing, we actually had a breeze come up but ended up being too unstable and with the 175 Standard rigs on the course, we needed 2 hours to get in before sunset, pressure was building. There were a number of sailors that thought I had it won because the forecast for the last day was poor and there would be no racing after 3.

I kept to the routine and sailed out to the race course on Saturday. I will say that the long waits and the broken up regatta between races was difficult and I was pleased that I entered the final race with a positive mindset. I was determined to be on my front foot going hard, same as all the races that I did well in.

We had one race with a late moderate sea breeze that was enough for me to be in the hiking strap (always good). I had a midline start that turned into a decent rounding at the weather mark (5^th), I passed Tomas on the run and headed left in 4^th with the two leaders well ahead. Tacking on the shifts up the beat (many were going left), I gained and was close in 3^rd with a good gap to the rest of the fleet.

Andy and Tomas now had their own battle going on for third place overall, and I only had to keep my head. I ended 2^nd in the race and was relieved that I had not let myself down by sailing poorly but had risen to the occasion. Andy did what he had to with Tomas ending 2^nd overall, Tomas 3^rd.

My post mortem for the event is that the psychological aspects of competing are of utmost importance. There are a number of factors that helped me succeed - boatspeed and height (when needed), executing quality starts, solid lane sailing tactics on the first beat, aggressive tactics on the run, hitting shifts on the second beat (and remembering that what seemed to work on the first beat doesn’t always work on the 2^nd), pushing hard to the finish.

It was amazing how much nicer it is to have a countryman and friend (Andy Roy) nearby on the racecourse when I wasn’t sure about a strategy. We fed off each other in terms of confidence, discussing tactics etc. at the end of each day.

Looking forward to the Worlds in Ireland next September.

Michael Nissen - Winning the 2017 Great Grand Master Worlds

Thom Touw Sailing Photography

I first met Michael on the water before the 2007 Laser Master Worlds in Roses, Spain. It was a practice day with a really strong offshore breeze that someone called the Spanish Hammer. I wrote in my worlds journal about winds of 40-50 mph, small sand dunes forming between the boats on the beach, and how we won’t sail in these conditions.

But on this practice day, three of us did: Michael Nissen (GER), Wolfgang Gerz (GER), and me. It was great fun and a little crazy.

Michael finished 2^nd that year and this year won his first Laser Master World Championship as a GGM. Here’s how he did it.

By Michael Nissen

Please let me start by writing about my preparation for Laser Master Worlds in Split by confessing that I am still working almost full time. That limits my opportunities to go sailing, especially training in the boat. While my time in the boat is not as much as it should be, I usually attend the gyms in hotels during business travels. For decades now, I have done power training regularly at home.  Power training includes the legs and arms, front and reverse sides, and the core body in all four directions. Especially with squats, I still go to high loads from time to time.

Besides that, I found race-biking as a new sport about 8 years ago, now doing about 3 to 4,000 km per year. I would say that I am doing sports in one way or the other about every second day. I dare to state that this keeps me fit.

Fitness in the boat though is usually lacking when I am traveling to big races. I have a hiking bench at home that I use frequently before racing to adapt the muscles to the static load of hiking after having trained in the gym or on the bike.

In the old days of Finn and Starboat sailing, I used to set up a list of weaknesses that should be trained. I still do that in my mind today, but the list is much longer now. For example, I think that my heavy air tacks are lousy. That could trained very nicely on on Lake Garda (400 km away) if the time were there. Winds here on Starnberg Lake, south of Munich, are usually light. My gybes in light wind are also bad. Therefore, whenever I sail I try to do to tacks and gybes to improve. I am totally convinced these are the easiest meters to gain! Have you ever lost against a young guy starting to do repetitive gybes before the lower mark?

In general the list of weaknesses not only contain boat handling but also wave and weather patterns. (For some reason I almost never make the early tack on a persistent and continuing shift. I always hope the shift comes back...). In the old days I loved to sail in heavy air. I still love it but it does not love me anymore. One of the reasons is the light air here in my home region.

Sometimes, I discover some completely new things that the young guys do when I am watching videos or listening to talks. When I started Laser sailing, sailing by the lee was such a thing. It took me years to half way learn that. Torquing the body in coordination with steering up and down and adjusting the main sheet at the same time is a thing that I would love to learn. In the Finn and now in the Laser, I can only do it with a certain wind strength and a special wave pattern (and only for a very limited period of time...). 

The center of Europe is normally a very good place to sail because the Mediterranean (Roses, Callela), the Atlantic, and the Baltic/North Sea are all not too far away. This year I used these opportunities and sailed in Callela, the Europeans in Brittany and the German Masters in Kiel, including a week of training. The conditions in Kiel, by the way, were very much the same as in Split... The varying conditions these areas offer, help to develop skills in all kinds of winds and wave patterns. But you need to travel. Time is of the essence! If you don't have to live with the respective shortcomings, which I do. 

What about the starts during the championship? 

Concerning the starts, I think we had a very long starting line for the number of boats that were in our fleet. The line usually was very, exactly positioned. Like always, choosing the favoured end was very important. For all races, including the last one, I always took the end which I thought was best. Mark Bethwaite (AUS) chose the opposite boat end for the last race, which I believe was not good). With the small number of boats, there was always space enough to go close to the ends. Surprisingly, it did not pay off to sail out of the boat end, with a little disadvantage hoping for a shift to the right, which I believe the sea breeze could have offered. To my mind in did not make sense to start in the middle (danger of middle line sag!!!) as we had a rather constant wind.

The final, deciding race

Mark and I went into the last race with a one point lead on my side. Also he had to be better than 3^rd including being ahead of me. In general, the positive outcome of the championship changed various times during that race.

Going into the last downwind, Mark was a close 2^nd behind Doug Peckover (USA) with me and Alan Keen (RSA) following. For some reason Mark chose the right lane with Doug and Alan going down the middle. I chose to go to the left lane as it offers the mark room advantage at the lowered end. The sea breeze was more unsteady than it had been as now it was already around 4 pm. During that run it sometimes looked fantastic for me and sometimes disastrous. In the end, Doug was ahead and both Alan and I were inside of Mark at the bouy. That downwind decided the race and championship. As second, I defended my position against Alan on the last reach. That offered Mark the chance to go low. He rounded in 3^rd just behind me for the final beat. Mark and I went to the left. Alan took the right side and finished 2^nd behind Doug with me in 3^rd and Mark in 4^th. [for more details about this race, see the bottom of this.] 

Why then could I perform well in Split?

First I was lucky that my training in Kiel was exactly what I needed for Split. Second the wind and wave pattern were almost identical each race. Sea-Breeze coming in at 15.00h. 10 to 15 kn wind from 240°. Usually when you sail a series, the wind direction and wave patterns change substantially. In Split this was not the case. Downwinds we had marginal surfing conditions that offered smaller gains. Upwinds shifts were small and not very often. That way I could sail under conditions that I like and which I can manage.

I suspect when the winds would have been very light or heavy, results would have been much less even and open to other outcomes. I hear the Aussies like it, when its blowing...