Laser SB3

I was lucky to get a spot on a Laser SB3 in the recent Garmin Hamble Winter Series. The good ship Trio was looking for someone to trim main and asymmetric and call tactics. I cannot think of a better way of spending a Sunday, even if the weather was horrible once or twice.

After four years of watching these boats blast around the Solent, it was my first time racing one. They are very popular here, as any one who has been to Cowes week in recent years will know, and with good reason: They are simple (no winches, running backstays and one person can roll the sails), easy to transport and so, so fast downwind with 15 knots plus. They remind me of the Melges 24 for their fun and simplicity...without being quite as ridiculously expensive.

Sacrilege, some of you will say. Probably. SA slated the SB3 in 2007, citing build quality and calling it step backwards in design. Sure enough, the owner of Trio had his original hull replaced after he discovered that it was far and away the heaviest in the fleet. And, despite much adjustment, he still does not believe that the keel is straight. Nevertheless, the class is strong in the Solent and that's what good racing is all about: good competition, good turnout and equal boats. I realised how much I missed crowded starts, ducking transoms and crossing bows, knowing instantly whether your strategy paid off or not. So much better than handicap racing.

It was also my first proper experience trimming an asymmetric. I am hooked! All those years I wasted, worrying about topping lifts, tweakers and the "break"; trying to coordinate a foredeck, pitman, sheet and guy trimmers. As for jibing, it has become as simple as tacking (OK, the boat is only 6M long). The asym is such a different animal to its aged cousin that I had to learn almost from scratch...but it's not difficult. The only thing we need to master is keeping it filled all the way through the jibe, which probably requires the cooperation of all three of us.

In any case, I may never go back to a symmetric again.












Photos Paul Wyeth.

Hand of Frog

Bloody Nora! Martin Hansson didn't half cause a controversy last week when he failed to spot Thierry Henry handling the ball (not to mention being offside) in the World Cup qualifier against Ireland. Henry initially responded by saying "I’m not the ref". Quite. We gathered that, based on the fact that he didn't have a headset taped to his face.

The response in France was mixed: it has widely been referred to as a "Referee error". Perhaps they don't have a word for "blatant, desperate cheating". Nevertheless, the public seems outraged, though this may be more due to the fact that the team, and the manager, are unpopular. Few there are calling for a rematch. Across the Channel the Irish are less restrained, calling for the game to be replayed and a boycott of French bread, French wine (yeah, right) and French kissing!

The case against Henry may be overstated: perhaps he did try to tell the referee what really happened. Unfortunately his post-goal celebration is what everyone saw. And his hand. Initial reactions are what count: the things we say before our agents or publicists have had a chance to coach us reveal what we really think. And it sounds as though Henry thinks that a crime not punished is a crime not committed.

This type of thinking seems to be endemic in nearly every professional sport and is a real problem. It sends the wrong signals to our children. It drives away disgusted viewers (though one can argue that the only people left watching football are the hardcores anyway). It drags acceptable levels for sportsmanship down to the lowest common denominator, from where only disaster is possible.

In sailing, there are a fraction of the number of officials at, say, a tennis match or football game. On the water judges are there mainly to facilitate instant decisions, which makes racing formats such as match racing and team racing more exciting. The onus is on the competitor to take a penalty where a rule has been infringed (other competitors have the right to protest any yacht they believe is guilty of an infringement). The Racing Rules of Sailing have a Basic Principle, which states that "A fundamental principle of sportsmanship is that when competitors break a rule they will promptly take a penalty, which may be to retire." Rule 2 (Fair Sailing) states quite clearly that "A boat and her owner shall compete in compliance with recognized principles of sportsmanship and fair play." A violation of such principles can result in disqualification from a race and this result being included in a series score, which can effectively ruin a regatta for the offending boat.

In other words, Thierry Henry would have been required to leave the field and ask that the goal be scratched and possession be surrendered. Or something like that. Do these seemingly draconian rules result in sailors competing like monks? No, of course not. Humans will be humans and we will push the rules to the max, an example being Rule 42. However, I would humbly suggest that Henry's offence was the same as using a paddle in a boat race: a hand on the ball in a game called football is such a blatant infraction that one cannot blame the the referee or, for that matter, the protest committee.

It's like a murderer saying that their victim died as a result of a "policing error".

Is the answer for football less officials? No, it is more technology. Can football learn from sailing? Maybe. Sailing is a much more complex sport, with myriad more possible scenarios. Every other sport has a rule, written or unwritten, that fair play shall govern competition. We have chosen to write this down and make its infringement so heavily punished that it is almost not worth trying. In football, where the rewards of winning seem to far outweigh the punishment of cheating, this is food for thought.

Flying a hull...

Three vs Two

BMW Oracle trimaran re-launch
9o ft (27.5M) long x 90 ft wide








(http://bmworacleracing.com)

Alinghi catamaran unveiled
90 ft long

(http://www.alinghi.com)

RORC IRC Nationals 2009

My face bears the evidence of the glorious weather that greeted us on two out of the three race days last weekend in the Solent. As this picture will attest, the sun was out in full force on day 1 of the IRC Nationals, so much so that by the afternoon I was racing in just shorts and a T-shirt - a first in this country.

Howler

Royal Southern Yacht Club May Regatta - Day 1

"Blowing monkeys out of trees." It's a stupid saying, but today there were certainly not many monkeys aloft. As the WindGURU extract shows, it was howling on the Solent today. As a result, probably 10 out of the 17 boats entered in IRC Class 1 made it out to the race course.

On Cajou, we were a little early for the start. The idea is normally to do some spinnaker sets and tacks before racing, as there is almost always a new face on board. But today none of us wanted to put any sails up until absolutely necessary. So we motored around for an hour or so, watching the windex register 30+ knots.

For the first time ever, I raced with a reef in the main. Cajou spins out at 15 knots, so we would never have made it through the race with a full main. Unfortunately, racing sails are not really designed to be reefed (apart from having the reefing points), so the shape was less than optimal, despite the 6:1 cunningham.

Also a first, we didn't use the spinnaker for the whole day. Although the downwind legs were mostly quite broad, we were hitting the target speeds with just the jib. More importantly, of those boats that flew kites, nearly all broached and a more than one ended up destroying the sail. After the first downwind leg boats were dropping like flies. In the end, only four boats finished in our class, out of 17 entries. Race two was cancelled.

Day 2

When we came down on the next morning, the weather was not a lot better. Mark (the owner) was tempted to send us back home: there is no point risking breaking something, or someone, unless the race is important. His thinking may have been influenced by the fact that we tore the leech on the mainsail while taking it down the day before. We all backed him, knowing that the IRC Nationals were coming up. Despite not taking part in the second race, we ended up fourth overall. Result.

R.I.P. Andrew

Andrew Owen Burke died this morning in Bayview Clinic after a long fight with cancer, losing his left arm and shoulder to the disease several years ago and fighting on as the cancer reappeared in different parts of his body.

Andrew was an extremely talented sailor and boat builder, but the results that he clocked up after losing his arm would be impressive for any of us: 1st in class at Heineken, 1st in class at Tobago, 1st in class at Mount Gay. Last year he sailed around Barbados – literally single handed – to raise money for the Barbados Cancer Society.

Andrew received a Silver Crown of Merit in last year's Independence Honours List (picture above). He celebrated his 60th birthday last week, entertaining a number of sailing friends at his home.

We all will miss him.

View from the pointy end

I spent much of my early big boat sailing on the bow. It was a logical place for me to be because I was young, relatively light, fit and had loads of dinghy experience. I had loads of fun at that end, bouncing around in choppy seas, climbing the mast, sighting the start line. And, of course, doing the most important job for a few minutes at the beginning and end of every downwind leg.

Later on I moved back to trim the sails, a job I prefer, but I still miss doing foredeck. Here is some fitness advice for aspiring Bowmen, taken from today's Scuttlebutt.

SAILING FITNESS: BOWMAN ROUTINE
The Bowman is responsible for making sure sail changes go smoothly, jibing the spinnaker pole, organizing and running the front end of the boat. The training will be structured as if we are training to be a gymnast or rock climber. Flexibility, lightning speed, agility, balance and strength will be needed to be effective while under pressure, anticipating the next move. Apart from a strong cardiovascular program, we can work on various exercises that can help.

A few of my favorites are:

* Squat thrust/Shoulder press: It’s a great exercise that challenges the heart rate, incorporates many different exercises all in one (synergistic) and will challenge the best athletes. This exercise can be intensified by first pre-exhausting the arms and legs.
* Rows: These can be done one arm or two. Adding a Bosu ball or Stability ball will assist in working the core (Throw in Pullups, as many as possible).
* Circuit Training: This is a fantastic way to train. Basically you move from exercise to exercise every 30 seconds. The workout takes about 30 minutes and can be done with the crew or alone. Intensity will be increased or decreased depending upon routine chosen.
* Plyometrics: This helps with explosive power and speed.
* Agility ladders, cones, exer-band harness: Speed, balance and agility training.

Read on: http://na.northsails.com/tabid/12808/Default.aspx

Countdown

Despite my lack of posts last autumn, I participated in nearly all of the Winter Series. It's been nearly four months since I was on the water and it has been a long winter (although I was helped through it by Sam the Sailor). This weekend marks the start of the Spring Series, and I can't wait.

I will be sailing on the good ship Cajou once again. We ended up 6th overall in the Winter Series but were so close to coming third until the last day. We are hoping to do better than that this year. The entry list looks impressive for this weekend and no doubt the Solent will be crowded with boats of all sizes. Hopefully there will be some TP52s out at some point during the series, such as the one shown in this picture.

As they say in Blightey: watch this space.

Going down

Bum boats add a splash of colour and tradition to regattas such as Grenada Sailing Festival and Bequia, but the buoyancy usually consists of several big rocks and when they get swamped, they're going down. I've been there! Fortunately, wood floats.
Photo by Cory Silken.

Inspirational

One of the truly heroic stories of the Games, Nick Scandone, while suffering with ALS, won a gold medal in the Skud 18 class. To win a Gold medal in any discipline is an amazing achievement. To do so while in the advanced stages of a neurodegenerative disease is nothing short of inspirational: remember that an Olympic campaign is not just two weeks in Qingdao, but years of hard work.

RIP.

Starcom: Burke is our Man Of The Year

BRASS TACKS SUNDAY, an at times controversial but interesting radio discussion programme yesterday, named one-armed sailor Andrew Burke as its Personality Of The Year 2008.

Burke, who lost his left arm, collar and shoulder blade to cancer three years ago, put his sea-faring skills to work by sailing solo around Barbados on February 10, to raise funds for others battling cancer. He helped raise $350 000 for cancer victims.

For the full story, click here.

4.7 marketing

"Ok boys, somewhere in this picture is a Laser sail. If you can spot it, and tell me correctly which rig it's from, you win a free coaching session."

Sail? What Sail?! Apologies to SA for blatantly lifting their image, but I suffered from the same weak knee syndrome that they did when viewing the best ever SCOTW, and felt the need to share this feeling with others!

BigSmall

This is a brilliant shot of the machine that has been dubbed DOGzilla. Sitting at the dock there it looks...quite normal, really. Just your average trimaran, perhaps a similar size to an Extreme 40. But click on the picture and look closely, you can just about see someone standing infront of the starboard daggerboard. He looks like an ant!

Canned

This is the first time, in the three years I have been living in this country, that I have been genuinely pissed off with the weather. With good reason too: the weekend of sailing that I have been looking forward to since April was canned due to the bad weather you can see in this satellite image.

Normally I don't really care: sun, cloud, rain, cold, warm...I just take it as it comes and don't get too stressed. People here love to complain about the weather, even though it's normally what we everyone expects. Lisa definitely prefers summer to winter.

Oh sure, I have been annoyed a few times when it rained on the weekend, after a week of sunshine. I have been frustrated on many occasions around Europe by the fickle wind, (though if I had been Laser sailing today, I would have welcomed the cancellation).

Unfortunately I did not check the forecast last week and so the weather took me by surprise. Mark, the skipper, called me on Friday to say that Saturday's practice session was not a good idea, given the 40+ knot winds that were forecasted. So instead we met in the evening for dinner and a "lemonade"!

When I got down to the boat at 0745 this morning it was pouring with rain, which gave me a chance to test out my new Henri Lloyd Salopettes. The verdict: functional, comfortable, warm and dry. And no more straps that won't stay put.

But the only use it got today was carting sails around Port Hamble. The RC probably made the right decision, but I will have another week before I can give a proper product review.

I like it!

Denmark, the country that gave us X-Yachts and the lovable IMX 40, has now brought us Luctor Yachts. They only have one boat at the moment, the Luctor 42. Designed by the same people behind the Maltese Falcon, it's fortunately a lot better looking, like a smaller version of the amazing TP52 (they even copied the colour scheme with this particular boat).

The cockpit layout is simple and clean, with a grinder in the middle and two steering coloumns that are well forward of the main traveller. At the front is a bowsprit to hold out the 194 sq/m gennaker. They claim it will do upwards of 30 knots downwind given the right conditions and with that massive assymetrical, that's not too difficult to believe.

Luctor describes it as good value for money, but I have yet to see a price tag. Still, it's likely to be less money than a TP52, for nearly as much fun!

The Homecoming

Vasilij, with Trevor by his side, returns triumphantly to his home town of Izola, Slovenia, following his Silver-medal performance in Qingdao.

A great result

Paul Goodison sailed a tactical medal race, finishing 9th, enough to take the Gold. Whatever your views on match racing in the Medal Race, this is an awesome result for Paul and well deserved, all the more so for the challenging conditions in which the competition was sailed. Paul posted seven top-ten results in 9 races, including two firsts, giving him a massive 18-point lead going into the Medal Race. It is unfortunate that Rasmus Myrgren (SWE) lost his place on the podium in the process, but he has admitted that he would probably have done the same thing if the roles were reversed.

Over in the Radial fleet Anna Tunnicliffe, under much more pressure in her Medal Race, showed why she is World #1, pulling off a second place to secure victory. This has been her theme all regatta: no race wins but consistently good results. A great result also for Gintare (LTU) who must be happy also to have taken victory in the Medal Race. Lijia Xu kept the home flag flying with a podium finish in the Medal Race and the Bronze medal.

And of course, many congratulations to Vasilij, who followed up a Bronze medal at Athens with a Silver medal here in Qingdao. He must have been under intense pressure in the Medal Race, but held his nerve for a 2nd place, to move up from 4th overall. This shows a level of mental strength that one only achieves after more than 10 years of racing. His result also gives Trevor Millar his second Olympic medal as a coach, something most coaches only dream about.

Well done all.

Update from Qingdao - August 19

Greg & Peter sign off in Qingdao.

Dear All:

Greg sailed his 9th and last race yesterday. They were not able to complete the full series of 10 races within the schedule. Today the medal race will take place for the 10 top sailors.

It has been an honour for Greg to represent Barbados here in Qingdao. Six weeks ago we did not know that he was going to be here. Sailing with the very best in the world has been a fabulous experience for Greg. The results on the scoreboard do not reflect the progress he has made leading up to this event and while he has been here. To be scored last overall in this group of Laser sailors is not something to be ashamed of.

Greg has asked me to convey his sincere appreciation for the support that so many have given him to get here and while he has been here. It meant a lot to him to be know that so many friends were behind his efforts. He hopes that his achievements will inspire other young sailors to pursue their dreams.

This has been a very special time for me as a father. I have had the opportunity to spend a month with Greg, to share many special moments such as the opening ceremony and the many challenges of competing against the best in what have been very difficult sailing conditions. I have been able to support him while he faced the greatest challenges that he has faced as a sailor. I am extremely proud of the commitment and maturity that he has shown in the most trying of times. He is up against great sailors who have had the benefit of much greater resources than we have been able to access in support of Greg’s goals. He is an amateur student/athlete competing against the very best of professional sailors who do this for a living and in some cases have done this for several years.

We have a few days here and in Beijing before heading home to Toronto. Greg starts the engineering program at Queen’s University on the 31st and so he does not have a great deal of time to rest, recuperate and get back into student mode.

Thank you again for all of your support for Greg.

Regards to all


Peter Douglas

The right result

Jonas Warrer and Martin Ibsen (DEN) have been crowned 49er champions following a controversial medal race in which anyone watching from home would have thought they were sailing for Croatia. There were the obligatory protests as a result (I probably would have done the same) but in the end the results were allowed to stand. Despite the various rules and regulations (which, I admit, I am not familiar with) the Jury made the correct result. At a time when the on-shore wranglings seem to distract our attention from what is important (AC is a good example) it's nice to see sportsmanship prevail. Yesterday's race must have been challenging for the whole fleet, with a lot more than just gear being broken, but the Danish team proved that they had the physical and mental ability to be champions. Congrats.

Over in the Laser Paul G has extended his lead to the point where he is almost guaranteed a medal. In fact, by my calculations he only has to turn up and keep his nose clean and he will win the gold. And I could not be happier for him: he has been at the top of this class for years but has always remained without a World or Olympic title. Good for him.

It will be a 4-way battle for Silver and Bronze then..I know who I'm rooting for.