by Doug
These are my Worlds race journals. I find them to be a useful analysis tool when preparing for the next event. I’m making them public so that others might learn something from them.
Hyères Master Worlds -
2014
I don't often go to regattas
outside Texas so arriving early to train is important (this is my first event
outside Texas since Oman last year). Here's what I learned from the training:
- Light air will be quite shifty for open water conditions.
- Stronger winds from the east will have big waves.
- The forecast often changes, right now it looks like a light-air series.
- The 11:00 start will favor sailors who like lighter conditions.
- At 168 pounds (76.6 kg) I'm one of the lightest people in the fleet
On my way to pick up Pam
from MRS on Friday night, I took and extended detour to see the Pont
du Gard. If
you like bridges (like me) and arches (like me) then this must see engineering
nirvana. How the Romans figured that a stream 50 km away that was just 17
meters higher than the town needing the water is amazing. And the work required
to get it there is stunning. I guess the thousands of people who visit each day
must agree. Definitely worth a visit if you like this sort of thing.
Day 1
The lack of wind kept us on
shore until 3:30 PM, and the grand masters were sent out last in the 5-8
conditions. Our fleet of 90 was split in two with blue starting ahead of my
white. The line was square with most boats staying at the committee boat end,
so I drifted down the line with 2 minutes to go. Then my boom came in slightly
and it felt like a knock. So I decided to go for a start near the pin knowing
that a tack would be needed ASAP. A Swiss sailor tried the pass me to windward
and then leeward but I stared him down while blocking him, and he slowed down.
Got a good start with a clean lane and was able to tack onto the favored port
tack within a minute to cross the fleet. Those on the left side got a good lift,
the wind was slow to get to those on the right, so those on the left took the
early lead. I watched Roberto Bini (ITA) in my window pass me to leeward - he
was really fast! We tacked near the starboard tack layline and played the shifts.
We were in the lead as the boats that had gone further left came in. Rounded
first ahead of Bini... so far so good.
First
mark rounding - race winner Phil Paxton (CAN) rounded in 10th.
On the run, I went right
(looking downwind) while Bini went left. We were both concerned with the lack
of wind in the middle with the 40 boats behind us. At the bottom of the run,
Bini had edged ahead and then made what I thought was a mistake. He rounded
tight and high, so when I rounded right behind I was forced to tack and then he
tacked to cover me. I've seen experienced sailors work together by footing a
little at the mark to get away from the crowd. Instead, Bini kept tacking right
on me as though we were match racing. With the exception of one fake tack that
he fell for, he was right on top of me for the entire windward leg. As we
approached the second windward mark, a bunch of boats with more pressure came
in from the right and I lost 4 places, rounding 6th. On the top reach, the
leaders bunched up and I was able to get room from Micael Ludgren (SWE) at the
next mark.
On the long run, the leaders
went way left (looking downwind) while Ludgren, the last in the group, went way
right. The leaders took off to be 30 meters ahead but I thought that they would
have trouble with the longer route. By the bottom mark, Ludgren had passed 6 to
take the lead while the leaders came in still ahead, and Peter Sherwin (GBR)
got inside to get ahead. I then spent the bottom reach and final beat trying to
catch Sherwin while protecting against those right behind me. Finished 7th,
with the first 6 all having led at one point.
Mistakes made:
- Did not go after Bini on the first run.
- Did not do more to keep track of those on the right on the second beat.
- Did not stay with the leaders on the second beat.
The forecast is light winds
until Thursday and then it will get breezy. With only one race completed, they must
be concerned about staying on schedule and have cancelled the rest day.
The combined results of the two grand master fleets can be seen here. Lots more racing to go.
Day 2
They kept us on shore again
waiting for the breeze to settle down. The 250 standard sails were flapping in
the boat park but the direction and strength kept changing, so we got one race
off just before 6 PM. I was told that there was a slight current going from
left to right (favored a pin start), the line was square (favoring a committee
boat start), boats in the previous fleet on the left looked bad (favoring the
boat end), and the windward mark was set to the left (favoring a pin), so with
1 minute to go, I really had no plan at all. Decided to start mid-line which
happened to be between Roberto Bini (ITA) below and Peter Vessella (USA) above
me.
The wind strength was about
6-8 with a nasty chop that was unlike anything I'd sailed in for a long time.
So I powered up with a loose vang and tight traveler, loose foot and soft
mainsheet. It worked and I pulled ahead enough to tack and cross. But I decided
to stay with Roberto Bini (ITA) going left. I led Roberto and Peter at the
first mark.
The run was tricky because
some of the waves were catchable but there was always a jury boat nearby and I
really didn't want to risk being yellow-flagged. Peter passed Roberto and
almost caught me at the bottom of the run. We all took the favored right gate
because it was closer and headed left again. On the next beat I focused on
Roberto and Peter caught me on port-starboard. He called out "cross"
but I heard him too late and decided to duck him, allowing Peter to take the
lead. At the end of the second windward leg, Peter rounded first with me just
behind and Roberto following. Peter has world-class speed catching small waves
but the three of us stayed in the same position for the reach and first part of
the following run. Peter then caught some waves that Roberto and I missed and
shot ahead for good to win the race. I spent the rest of the run, reach, and
final beat trying to stay just ahead of Roberto, covering him to the finish
line.
We have completed the first
2 of 12 scheduled races, so there's lots more to come and it looks like it will
be getting much windier. The combined results of the two grand master fleets
can be seen here. With a 7, 2 I've moved up from 14th to
7th. Tough crowd.
Day 3
After a rain delay we headed
out as the wind built from the prevailing east. By the time it was our start it
was up to 15 knots. With the building waves, I found it hard again to read the
wind direction and line setting. With 2 minutes to go, I decided to start right
at the committee boat and the fleet got away on the first try. There was a left
shift and one boat actually tried to port-tack the fleet. I tacked onto port to
get over to the right for when the breeze came back again. With the waves building
and everything strapped in tightly, everything felt good. Approaching the
starboard tack layline, the breeze thankfully went right and I tacked onto a
lift. Was very surprised to see the leaders below me in the window and was even
more surprised to be leading by 30 meters at the first mark. But with all of
the support boats with their spare marks, I was confused about which mark was
actually the offset, so I stopped to make sure I was headed the right way.
On the run, there were 4
others who were much better at catching the waves than me and they reeled me
in. I passed Andy Roy (CAN) just before the bottom mark to round in 4th. On the
next long beat, the wind continued to build and I slipped back to round 5th.
The top reach was a bit of a screamer and two more boats rolled me. I hung on
for the final run, reach, and beat for 7th. Such is the life of a 169-pounder
(under 77 kilos) in a breeze at a world championship.
So my starts and upwind speed
have been good but my lack of experience in large waves is a problem. Sure, you
can catch them, but the best sailors ride them a little longer and then spend
less time finding the next wave.
The breeze continued to
build and was gusting to 25 with larger, choppy waves for the next start. This
time, it was pin favored, so I started 4 up with a good lane and held it for
several minutes. But this time the leaders slowly pulled away with a little
more speed and, surprisingly, a little more height. When I tacked and could see
the fleet in my window, it was clear that there were many who were faster. In
the teens at the weather mark, the run was a lot of fun with the large waves,
but the positions did not change. Until the bottom mark. The wind seemed to
switch from behind to over my left shoulder and I had room at the mark, but the
sail tried to jibe at the right gate rather than just stay out. In preventing
this, I spun around and the mainsheet wrapped around the end of my boom. Being
very grateful I did not hit the mark I had to stop, fix the mainsheet, and then
get going again having lost a few more places.
The fun began again after
the next beat and reach. On the run, I figured this was my throw out race so I
got more aggressive with the waves. My bow caught one and I submarined.
Normally, the cockpit ends up filling up with water and it's really slow but
this time it did not because the back of the boat lifted up so much that the
water came in and then drained out again. I must have been on a 40 degree angle
because the bottom of the mast was under water and I had no steering. The
pressure in the sail was huge but perfectly balanced so the boat came down and
was off again. I asked others if they had heard of this without a capsize and
none had. Amazing. Perhaps I've set an unrecorded record for the height above the
water at a Laser Worlds without tipping.
The results
of the two grand master fleets can be seen here. They did
not record my finish in the first race so I'll request redress.
Day 4
The conditions were similar
today - we had a strong breeze from the east with big waves. The first race was
pin-favored and I got a good start 5 boats up that was called back because of a
general recall. Under a black flag, I started again in the same position with a
good lane. As we approached the port-tack layline we were headed, I tacked, and
it was hard to see the mark in the distance. When we could, it became clear
that we had overstood the mark by at least 200 meters. This was not as much of
a problem as you might think because footing through the waves was faster than
slamming into them, but it was still a mistake.
I rounded about 10th and was
a little more comfortable this time by not catching waves during the hard puffs
but rather headed for where the waves were smaller or cancelling out to go
through them. This seemed to work well. I spent the rest of the race battling
with Thomas Franzen (SWE) and was just able to get him on the finish line to
finish 11th.
 |
| Jibing at the bottom of the second run |
After a rest, we started the
second race and the strong breeze had shifted right to make it committee boat
favored. I like to start right at the boat because:
- others usually have trouble holding their position and drift out of the way, or
- the boat next to the committee boat bears off with 5 seconds to go opening a hole, or
- being in the second row is not a problem because you can tack for clear air.
A lot of others also wanted
to start beside the boat, bunched up, and were crashing into each other with
the waves and lack of wind beside the committee boat. With 5 seconds to go, the
boat in the poll position bore off leaving just enough room for me to squeeze
in for a good start.
With a good start, and clear
air, I thought this would be a good first leg but it was not to be. The
heavy-air pros slowly pulled ahead and when they tacked, I tacked below them to
stay in my lane. When we approached the weather mark, I was in about 10th and
then disaster - as I rounded the offset mark for the run, I must have let the
main out too far and I tipped to windward.
The best recovery is to jam
the centerboard in, push the gunnel down, climb on top, and jump in after the
boat has done a 360. It's great because when the mast and sail come up on the
other side, everything is ready to go. But I was totally out of gas, not
thinking properly, and tried the usual way - swim around, get on the
centerboard, get the boat up and then it immediately tips to leeward, get on
the centerboard again, get the boat up, get in, and then sort things out. Pam
was unfortunately watching in horror as the entire fleet passed me. When Pam
met me at the ramp at the end of the day she had my hat which she had retrieved
from the water.
I did not realize how tired
I was until the next run when I tipped again. And steering the boat over and
though waves takes skill and strength when things get out of balance. I did not
have either, lost control, and spun out no less than 3 times on this same run.
So I apparently crawled up
to 29th place, but the results have not been posted either for today or with the corrections from
yesterday. We're half way through the competition and the forecast calls for
even stronger winds tomorrow.
After the racing, we were
talking with Steve Cockerill who at different weights has won world championships in both full
and radial rigs. He asked my weight and then said that at 169 pounds (under 77
kilos) I should not be in a full rig, especially in these breezy conditions.
[Note from Pam: It was on this day that Doug was wearing an extra shirt that was heavy when wet which sparked lots of debate as to its legality. I've removed all reference to it but have left the links at the end of the post which contains the various debates that followed. Bottom line ... don't wear gear that adds weight when there is a lightweight alternative available. Good thing Doug never mentioned the waterproof jacket with a heavy lining that he was forced to wear one day because I'd locked his gear in the car and jumped on a coach boat and it got cold so he was forced to wear a street jacket instead of his spray top. That jacket certainly weighed more than the extra shirt he wore.]
Day 5
One of the sailors lost his
dad and his ashes were spread on the water outside the harbor. We were all
given roses to throw in the water in his name... it was a nice touch.
The racing was like
Groundhog Day - a repeat of the last few days, a little less windy but big
rolling waves from the east because of the consistent wind direction. The first
race start was pin-favored so I started there again with everything strapped in
tightly. I'm getting a better feeling for the conditions, but so are the others
in our fleet. Upwind speed was lacking compared to the top 10 and the waves
were easy to catch downwind. I must have missed some small shifts on the second
beat but got part of it back on the top reach by getting into the passing lane.
For me, the runs are tricky because things can go from balanced and fast to
very unstable in just a moment, and I found that you really have to be fast and
hard on the helm and/or sheet to stay upright. Finished 14th.
The next race was
interesting for a few reasons. The breeze went right making it committee boat
favored. Again I wanted to start at the committee boat and Pam was in the
perfect position to take some pictures.
With about a minute to go,
I'm 195708 and lift my centerboard to drift into position:
There's usually a crowd, so
you have to be patient and let things play out. At this point, there are still
many options:
Everyone starts to drift
sideways with 30 seconds to go:
This next picture is misleading because the waves were 1 meter high and the
back of the committee boat was going up and then crashing down - it was quite
dangerous:
At the gun, I bear off to keep my bow clear while accelerating:
10 seconds into the race, I've got a clear lane:
Some boats tack to go right
which turned out to be favored. ESP 206049 rounded first:
Colin Dibb
(AUS 202554) has won several master worlds and is excellent in
these breezy conditions (he lives in Perth, Australia). He has
punched out below me and is pointing higher:
So, my starts are not the
problem.
Colin pulled in front so I
could watch and copy him, and we stayed even for several minutes. He then
tacked and crossed and I followed. For some reason I had better height, so when
he tacked on the starboard tack layline we were even. And then I made a huge
mistake - I tacked below him. And he rolled me, stayed high, and rounded in
about 3rd. I had to tack and rounded in traffic about 10 boats back. With such
a competitive fleet, I should have ducked him to round 4th or 5th. A brain-dead
error!
It's easier sailing at the
front and a lot harder being behind, so while the rest of the race was hard
work and a lot of fun, I actually lost a few more places to finish an
unimpressive 17th while Colin held on to 3rd.
We have one more day with
lots of wind and then the final day may be a little lighter.
Day 6
Groundhog Day again - big
seas and waves from the east. The two Grand Master fleets were separated into
gold and silver, so for the first time all of the fast sailors get to compete
together.
My two races were identical:
I wanted to go right, got not-so-good starts at the committee boat (the back
was slamming up and down, I got cautious, and others jumped in), not-too-bad
speed to the right, big header coming back to the mark. We all had some great
rides downwind with lots of spills. And for me, 2 bad results as everyone is
getting better in the conditions.
The good news is how others
have been doing. In our Grand Master fleet, Nick Harrison (GBR) is 3 points
ahead of Andy Roy (CAN) who has 3 bullets in the last 4 races. Peter Vessella
(USA) is sailing really well and is another 3 points back. But the forecast for
the final day is lighter winds and Peter is the only one in the top 5 to win a
light aired race. Multiple winner Wolfgang Gertz (GER) is another 5 points back
and had a bad race (16) when he had a knot in his mainsheet at the top mark.
Colin Dibb (AUS) is in 5th, and there are a bunch of heavy-weather experts just
behind.
In the Masters, Brett Beyer is in the largest and most competitive fleet of 116 and he's
dominating, and is actually discarding a 1st! Brett is on his way to winning
his 9th Master Worlds. Amazing.
In the 77 boat Great Grand
Masters fleet, Keith Wilkins (GBR) is leading but is being chased Rob Lowndes
(AUS). If Keith wins, it will be his 13th Master Worlds which is a record that
only Brett has a chance to beat anytime soon. Last night, Pam and I had dinner
Keith and his partner Linda and reminisced about some of the great places we
have sailed - Japan, Chile, South Africa, New Zealand... the list goes on and
on.
As
Lyndall Patterson (AUS) says, 'it isn’t about the people you beat,
but the people you meet.’
Day 7
At last... medium winds
again from the east with a heavy chop from the previous winds. We had 2 races
on this the final day of competition.
I wanted to start at the
committee boat but Mark Bear (USA) was in my spot. So I started behind him and
except for Andy Roy (CAN) who jumped out, the front row was very even as people
played the shifts and crossed tacks. I rounded about 10th. Some of the waves on
the run were catchable and made from some nice gains. The next beat saw the
leaders stretch out. At the top of the beat I went right, caught a big right
shift coming into the mark and gained about 5 places, while the front row on
the left lost many places and Laurent Mernaz (FRA) took the lead.
On the top reach and first
part of the run, we started to catch the silver fleet that was on the same
course. I went right to protect against Colin Dibb (AUS) and Rob Britten (CAN)
went right to protect against me. We were way off to the right (looking
downwind) as the front of the gold fleet began to merge into the back of the
silver fleet. Then Rob said, "come on guys, let's head for the mark."
I bore off towards the mark and Colin continued to go after Rob. When all the
boats converged at the jibe mark at the bottom of the run, it was a real mess.
Rob and Colin got room on a dozen boats that included me and Andy who was
outside me. So I dropped back about 5 places and Andy about 7, but he went low
on the bottom reach and made a remarkable recovery to finish 3rd. Rob won and I
finished 10th (next time someone suggests we go low, I'll say "after
you.")
The final race had a
slightly lower wind with smaller waves. It was pin-favored and there was a good
line site on the shore so I got a good start about 3 up from the pin. My
setting was pretty loose to keep the boat moving through the chop and I punched
out. On a long port tack to the mark Tim Law (GBR) led below me and rounded
first with me right behind. On the run, Tim went way left for reasons that I
did not understand and I passed him as we approached the bottom mark. The wind
was coming over my right shoulder so I decided to take the left gate and others
thankfully followed (it's good to keep everyone together). Several continued on
port tack while Micael Ludgren (SWE), Tim and others tacked onto starboard. I
decided to cover the latter because there were more boats, but got nervous when
approaching the port tack layline still some distance from the mark. So I
tacked first, playing the percentages and hoping for a rightie that never came.
Micael and Tim came in with more pressure and rounded ahead. The top run was
uneventful while on the run I caught Tim again and went on to finish 2nd behind
Micael. It was a fun race and it was good to have solid finishes in the lighter
conditions.
When all the scores were in, Nick Harrison (GBR) beat Andy Roy (CAN) by one point. Had
we not run into the back of the silver fleet in the first race, Andy might have
held onto his 2nd place and would have won the world championship with the
tiebreaker. Any one of the top finishers would have been worthy champions in
these tough conditions.
It's also worth noting that
Brett Beyer (AUS) won the largest and toughest fleet with a perfect score of 10 bullets. This was Brett's 9th win and we're sure there will
be many more.
 |
| Miguel Noguer (ESP), Pam, Brett Beyer, and Eduard Rodes (Miguel's coach) |
 |
| What's under Miguel's shirt? A small replica of the Gold Medal he won in the 1980 Olympics |
