back in sydney

the last 3 days of sail melbourne was not that great. on day 3 we had winds of 18-26 knots with waves 3-4m high, i tried to sail consistently getting 14-14, i ended the day in 12th overall. on day 4 we had lighter winds, launching in 5-10 knots but the wind freshened to 14 knots by the start of the first race, being on a different course area than the three days before, it was interesting to see how everyone else coped, i finished well in the first one and not too good in the second one getting 5-11, after this i was 11th overall 2 points off a medal race spot. the last day of qualifying we had lighter 8-10 knots, and we had AP till about 2.30 when we launched, i had a bad start and was playing catch up from there finishing the race 8. this meant i qualified for the medal race in 9th spot, but being 9 points away from the 8th guy i needed to win him by 5 positions as the medal race was double points. the medal race was held outside sandringham yacht club and the first attempt was held in 3-5 knots of wind, i had a great start, sailed a conservative first beat and rounded in 3rd, the first downwind was bad and i lost 2 boats but gained a boat on the final upwind approaching the top mark in 4th, at this point the guy i needed to beat was in 9th, however, the race was abandoned with one downwind left as it went over the 45 minute time limit. so the next attempt i had an ok start and sailed a poor upwind to round in 7th, i caught 1 boat on the downwind and on the last upwind i decided to risk it all by going far right when everyone else went left, it failed and i rounded the top mark in 9, i caught 2 boats on the final downwind to finish 7 ending the regatta in 9th overall.
so now i'm back in sydney preparing for school. sigh.

day 1 and 2

yesterday was the worst day in my life. it was blowing 15-20 knots when we launched, forecast said it was gonna be the lightest day of the week. bullshit. by the time the first race started the wind was 17 knots constant with waves of 3-4m high, furthermore the windward leg was took 20+ minutes to sail. since men and women were separated again, the men fleet only had 27 boats. in the first race, i started poorly, tacked and hit a boat that was on starboard, i did my 720 making me half a leg behind the fleet, and he retired?!?... i then sailed the first upwind alrite but still rounded the top mark in 2nd last. it was then i realised my tiller extension was breaking off the tiller as a screw came loose. so i sailed the rest of the race with my hand on the tiller joint to prevent it from breaking. i finished the race 23rd, 4th last. the next race the wind picked up to 22 knots, i started poorly again to round the top mark in 18, i capsized, caught up and finished 15. so day one was a complete disaster, one that almost left me in tears. i was 19th overall after day one. dinner was the only consolation as my uncle brought me to celebrate his friend's (sujen) birthday at a spanish-australian bar, we had paella, the highlight of my day
today was slightly better, i woke up with a new mentality deciding that i should just do my best race by race instead of thinking about the results. so i left the house prepared, took a train to brighton and rigged. the wind at 12 was 4 knots, a brighter outlook than the day before, but as we all know australia is not known for its constant light wind, true enough by the time i launched at 1pm, the wind picked up to a still reasonable 10 knots, but by the time race one started it was 15 knots. sigh... in this race i started poorly at the comittee boat and rounded the top mark a mediocre 12th, i caught up 4 boats on the first downwind to 8th, before losing another few boats rounding the top mark 11th, then the last downwind i caught wave after wave to finish 7th, the finishing committee insisted i was 8th and that was how i was placed. the last race the wind was still 15 knots but the course was extended by another 200m, i started alrite in the middle before heading left, fortunately, the wind shifted left persistently resulting in rounding the top mark 4th, i then maintained on the downwind before picking up another place on the next upwind to finish 3rd. so at the end of day 2 i am 14th overall with 23-15-8-3 on my scoreboard. tomorrow's forecast is 20-25 knots, god please help me.

awaiting the start

since i have the time, i might as well post. on the 12th, i went out training with the SIN team, and a few other top sailors including the world top 2, it was a good experience as i realised that every wave, every second in the race counts, starting with them was hard but nonetheless a good experience. after the other sailors went back, the SIN team and i trained more for about 45 minutes in the 10-15 knot wind. it was good prepation for the event as i have not sailed here before and the conditions were unlike anything i have been in.
later, i had dinner with my uncle (he's 21, not really a usual age for an uncle) who i am staying with in melbourne, at a greek restaurant, it was a great dinner one that will probably keep me away from food for the next few hours.

the following day, i left the apartment at 10.30 to catch the 11.00 train to sandringham. since my ticket was a zone 1 not a zone 2, i had to alight at brighton beach station sparking a 4km walk to sandringham yacht club where i had to register. i eventually got there tired from the walk. after registration, giba insisted that liz and i go out training to accustom ourselves for the competition, the wind was 20-25 gusting to 30 and we were 2 of only 4 radials on the water. the waves were huge, at abt 3m high, it swallowed our bows as we ploughed thru the waves. it was good training nonetheless, and reminded me that i needed to work on my fitness. we did nearly 2 hours out on the water before returning to another tiring situation; recovering our boats. since there was only liz and i, we couldn't get one person to hold both boats due to the large wave (even though we were surrounded by a breakwater), eventually, we managed to recover liz's boat after 10 minutes, and once one was done, the other was relatively easy. we then helped the ukrainian sailor who was by himself.
since our boats were dirty from the seaweed the waves brought, we had to wash our boats, unfortunately melbourne is under water restrictions and we are not allowed to hose down our boats, so we washed them with witches hats (the large orange cone u see near road works), after a few trips to the tap, we got our boats cleaned.
dinner was spent with my uncle's friends at their apartment, we had nasi lemak and sticky date pudding. i then returned to my apartment before dosing off.
now today, it was planned that i wake up at 7 to catch the 8 train to brighton but giba called and told me that there was a change in the sailing instructions meaning the radials are starting at 2 instead of 12, which means that i am only leaving here in 2 hours time. sigh i hate waiting.

Nationals and Youths

Hey, Happy New Year to everyone out there.. i am now in melbourne training for Sail Melbourne before returning to Sydney to prepare for school. From the 27th to the 4th of january i was down in blairgowrie for the aussie nationals, we had strong 120 boat fleet in the radials, racing was split into qualifying and final series, it was here i could see where i improved as a result from trng in aus. on day one we had strong 15-25 knot wind which was very gusty and shifty. in the first race i had a good start approaching the top mark in the top 15 then i hit the mark and capsized.. i uprighted only to have hit the mark again, i did my turns before rounding the bottom mark in the mid-30s, i slowly caught up each beat to finish 19. in the second race i had a horrible start before catching up in the dying wind to finish 14.
on day 2 we had 3 races in a 5-15 knot wind from the same gusty and shifty direction as the day before.in the first race i had another bad start rounding the top mark in the late 30s, i caught up to finish 21. the last two races that day was held in 5-10 knots i had a very bad start in the 2nd race after getting tangled at the start with two other boats, i managed to be on the correct side of the course when the wind came in finishing 8. the last race that day saw a good start and a reasonably good first upwind rounding the top mark in 13, i caught up to 11 by the next beat before finishing 8.
on day 3 we had 2 races in 5-10 knots, i had good starts both races rounding the top mark in the top 10 and finishing 7 and 6. going into the rest day i was in 19th, vic was 12th, manyi 17th, elizabeth 30th, siobhan 37th, damian 51st and max 82nd.
the rest day was spent in melbourne, my uncle took damian, shane, liz and i out for lunch in chinatown and desert in lygon street.
the last qualifying race was in 20 knots and i started badly catching up the whole race to finish 13. after qualifying i was 22nd overall and qualified for gold fleet. a special note has to go to damian who broke his lower mast in that race and broke his replacement mast the following day and went on to break the window after his misattempt to kill a fly.
the final series had two windy races and two light races i tried to sail consistently finishing 30-31-4-9. i finished the regatta in 17th overall and 3rd youth.

the day after nationals was spent wishing shane goodbye and unloading the boats at frankston where the youths were going to be held.
for the first day of the youths, we had a very light and shifty first race where i had a brilliant start only to lose it all on the first upwind by going right rounding the top mark in 8. our fleet then clashed with the 420s who were on their last leg. it was chaos with all the spinnakers behind us. i lost alot to round the bottom mark in 16. i then caught up by catching a freak windshift on the left and rounding the top mark in 7. i then caught one boat (alex who got 2 yellow flags that race), and lost two boats on the final 100m upwind to finish 8. the second race was in the seabreeze which was 15 knots, i had a great start to lead the race from start to finish and win by 10 boat lengths. the last race was held in 20 knots and i was 5th the whole race and caught 2 boats on the final downwind to finish 3rd. day 2 saw 2 races in 5-10 knots and the final race in the dying seabreeze. the first race, my start was horrible starting 40 seconds late as liz, damian and i were checking the course while the AP flag was up. weirdly, i was in pressure the whole upwind to round the top mark in 1st by 10 boat lengths, i maintained my position to finish 1st. the next race i had another bad start but caught up rounding the top mark in 6, i then lost alot on the next upwind due to the dying wind to round the mark in 10, i caught up 2 boats on the final upwind to finish 8. the last race saw 15 knots dying to a miserable 5 knots by the end. going into the final upwind in 6, i stayed left and a massive 40 degree shift to the left happened seing me finish 2nd. as a result i went into day 3 wearing the orange jersey to show that i was the leader. the last day saw 5-10 knots with nothing much besides my tiller extension detaching itself from the tiller in the last race, i ended the day with 1-4-3. due to the lack of wind the last day racing was cancelled. so i won my first international event in the laser.... yay... well, today i trained with a range of good sailors and the SIN team.. i'll report after the next regatta