Apologies for not updating this blog sooner. Obviously I am a bit behind in my posts but I can say the sailing has been most memorable this year. Lots of action, adventure, and drama, with many lessons learned.With the US economy the way it is (sucking) we've made the best of our resources and limited our usual travel while cutting expenses where we could. This means we stopped some planned International travel to the Euros and such concentrating on mainly West Coast events with the exception of the Sydney Worlds this January 2010. Gotta go to Sydney!
If I had to wrap it all up, I'd say this season has been one of both excitement and frustration. Locally we have been untouchable and this extends from the Mexican border to the Washington Border. I don't know why some of those teams are so good up there... they are not particularly fast, but good. Good boat handling, good tactics, and they sail smart. We got to line up against the top Seattle teams 4 times this year at Midwinters, NOOD, Gorge - US Nationals, and finally at the North Americans. The talent runs deep here and consists of a former World Champion, Multi National Champions, "Seriously Good" Olympic campaigners (not just a poser who did the trials), and some veterans that have sailed together for over 20 years. This is always something to look forward to because it really measures your progress and highlights the weaknesses in your program. This fleet has been and still is the best in the US if not North America and time together with these guys is time well spent.
I'll admit our dedication to training this year was very limited compared to usual. Almost every time we practice, it's usually by ourselves and we are cool with that. We are a one boat practice program and have adapted well to this. We've developed a training agenda that is very fluid and defines our short and long term goals. We know our strengths and weaknesses and luckily our home venue allows us to work on the things we want. I always wish we could practice more but it's never enough anyways. Even so our boatspeed was undeniably superior both upwind and down compared to everyone else in the US fleet. I'd credit this to the time and energy we put into this program from before and a greater understanding of fine tuning the rig and boat. Even with smashing speed, we showed some chinks in the armor, especially at the Gorge. I'll cover that later but let's run through the year quickly, summing up how we did and what we learned.
Midwinters in February - Long Beach, CA
Eleven boats turned out for this event. Even with the lower turnout, the regatta ran deep in talent including 4 of the top Seattle teams who came down. We had great pace in the breeze and sailed conservatively most of the time covering loosely and protecting our lead establishments. It wasn't until the last day that it started to came apart. Unlike the day before, the last day was super light and extremely flukey. LB is a pretty constant place regarding shifts and most of the time they are predictable. Shifts this time around went thru 90 degrees and any attempt at getting the boat to plane was impossible. We lost the first 2 races because of some big voodoo shifts and let some more boats get between us and our main competitor. Big mistake. It was like a bad dream, we'd moto off the line, extend our lead and be by ourselves at the top mark. Some leads would grow to a leg or so but with the light shifty wind, it was difficult to judge what side to go and cover your competitors at the same time. The normal rhythm in the shifts was not there. In the last race of this no throw-out series, it was the same story, we led by a country mile and went to the side of the course with more pressure. The other guys take a big flyer and it pays big for them, winning the regatta from us by just a point. Later the skipper admits it was dumb luck but the guy is truly a gifted sailor, and he went on to place in the top 5 at the Moth Worlds later in the year. As for his crew, one of the top guys in the US, no doubt. It was definitely a learning experience and we vowed to not do mistakes like that again. It really sucks to come so far and blow it all at the end. Chalk it up to learning what not to do.
NOOD in March - San Diego, CA
My normal crew couldn't make this event. This was a bummer but I enlisted the help of a Fourteen friend from England who was more than eager to compete in this event. We sailed together at Garda the previous year so it was his turn to cross the pond. While he's normally a skipper and not a crew, we knew we'd have some issues to sort out. We came to the event 2 days early to practice. It was immediately noticeable that our coordination was off and the smooth footwork was not there. We adjusted as best we could and made the most of it. In the first race we capsized on a tack in moderate breeze. When we brought the boat back up, I heard a horrendous crack. I inspected as best as I could but found nothing. We kept sailing anyways with mediocre results. As the day wore on, I noticed our boatspeed suffering tremendously . It was almost in a lethargic state with boats passing us like we were towing a bucket. I knew something wasn't right but couldn't pinpoint it if my life depended on it. It wasn't until later in the day I discovered we were taking on a tremendous amount of water. I finally started to hear the gallons of water swishing around inside the hull and I knew we were screwed. At one point I said fuck it and took the bungs out to keep racing. This helped but it wasn't enough. Upon arrival back at the beach, it was evident the dagger board case was cracked and the board itself was splitting down the center seam. We worked on the boat into the late hours and did our best to repair an area in the case with limited access. There's nothing worse than working in the cold dark night grinding on your boat and mixing epoxy while everyone else in gone and drinking beers and/or eating hot food. I didn't have a lot of faith in the repair we did but we raced the next 2 days anyway and found the repair would just deteriorate. This took us out of contention and we just made the best of it. I think I got drunk but don't remember so I must have. It would take a trip back to my shop and many man hours to get this fixed properly. I felt bad about my mate coming all the way over for this experience but that is the way it goes sometimes.
Skiff Regatta in May - Santa Barbara, CA
A pretty venue with a ton of marine wildlife. It's always great to share the water with Dolphins and Whales. In SB, you never know what you're going to get as far as conditions go. One day it's a yawner with absolute zero breeze and the next it can be fresh to frightening. Throw in some current and some trawler nets and you got yourself some interesting sailing.
About 6 years ago we went out pre start in a building breeze around 20. As soon as we exited the harbor, the breeze built more and more with seas ripping some big waves. It quickly turned from fun to survival as the gusts grew with a vengeance. We went down hard on our first bear-away and really never recovered as the breeze continued to build, bitch-slapping us in the process. We must of capsized a dozen times in a row and we were spent. It became apparent we needed to get back in before things got uglier. Nobody else was going out so we take the main down and return with our tails between our legs. Good thing too as the breeze eventually turned into a gale and it could have been a bad scene.
This year's event had a great group of sailors in the 14 and 29er classes attending in mostly mild conditions. This was our second year in a row we've won this event and it was good to measure our pace in the lighter stuff. Some locals gave us a good run for our money but after we warmed up, it was evident we had the measure of everyone in the fleet.
Nationals at the GORGE in August - Cascade Locks, OR
Every time I think about going to the Gorge, I think about the long ass drive (20 hours non stop), the noisy campground with the freight trains rolling through the night, and the constant howling wind which seems to destroy 14's for pleasure. Then I think about those epic rides where the downwind speeds are so unreal you think about how can these boats withstand this kind of load. How long can we hang until something blows up catastrophically? You are just on the edge of control as your butt puckers, smashing into the waves ahead as you literally fly farther down the river and the wind gets stronger and the waves get bigger, then I think; "Hell Yeah!"
Since it's such a long trip, taking more than one boat is smart to save on fuel costs. I converted my trailer into a double boat hauler. Designed specifically to hold the two Tuttle Superboats safely and efficiently. I took my buddies' boat, a sistership Waterat and drove the "Tuttle Shuttle" for the 1000 mile jaunt up the coast.
The Gorge rarely disappoints and this year was no different. Long story short. We had tons of speed as it was noticeable to the other top teams but lacked the discipline in big breeze jibing. We got plenty of bullets, mostly in races under 20 kts. Above that, and we fell back due to crashing downwind. Upwind - no problemo. Bear aways -no problemo. Tacks, holding lanes, starting, launching, - no problemo. It seems almost every jibe in breeze over 22 and above, it fell apart. That seemed to be our limit. Later we learned about the vang-on method and the science behind it. Not sustantial, but stupidly cranked on to maintain our leach control through the jibe. It doesn't seem to get away from you as easily and minimizes momentum that can ultimately throw you down. Seems to work and at least we learned something. Better late than never. It's rare we get to sail in conditons like this so we'll take what we can get. Had a great time and we ended up in 4th after a minor breakdown caused us to take a DNF and miss a race. Not what we were hoping for but the Gorge is a tough place to sail and anything can happen.
North Americans in October - Long Beach, CA
Okay - the last big regatta of the year. On our home turf, and the climax of the season, at least until the World Championship. The plan is to have every team going to Worlds, compete at this regatta and we ship direct to Oz from this venue. It's a 6 week trip for the boats when it's all said and done. We have trained a decent amount for this one and are feeling pretty comfortable with our pace and boat handling. It was a long weekend but I'll highlight the most memorable races for us consisting of the first and last races. Twenty two teams show up with the top teams arriving about three days early while I was stuck at work and barely able to get there in time for the first race starting later in the day. It's a tradition at both Nationals and North Americans to sail a long distance race of at least 15 miles in length. For this year, the course was a windward leeward outside the main breakwater (venue of 2006 Worlds) then tack up the jetty and follow a course of established marks inside the breakwater concluding with the finish just off the harbor entrance. The RC made race one the Long Distance race. Our start was horrible and I was still burping up the lunch I woofed down so quickly just to get out to the course. We end up at the pin end with a botched port tack attempt and got buried. I decide to jibe and get the hell out of there taking a ton of transoms in the process but getting closer to clear air. We eventually claw our way to the top trading places with one Seattle team back and forth at least 4 times. It was perfect racing, swapping leads, while two stringing most of the time. Tactically challenging and mentally draining. It was a long race but in the end we take the gun and start the regatta off with a bang. Video footage here:
Day two brings good breeze and good results for us capping the day tied for first. Day three brings big breeze early in the day building steadily.
We fought hard with the former World champ team, but in the end he got by us when we capsized on the last leg of the last race. Funny thing is we were so far ahead, I didn't think it was a big deal when we went down. Simply right the boat and continue on to seal the deal. Lets just say that things didn't happen that way and they got by us. A big disappointment for sure.
The cause of the mishap?
A monster puff rolling down the course knocking down boats in it's wake. By the time we had to jibe for the layline the puff caught up to us and we stuffed it in hard mid jibe. Note to self: keep looking behind you more often and pay more attention to the puffs. I should of jibed before the puff hit us or waited... When we brought the boat back up, the leeward tiller extension somehow wrapped itself within the mainsheet bridle (first time that's ever happened of course) effectively leaving us with no steering. We capsized again because of this and by the time we sorted it all out, the competition got by us. Game over. A tough lesson but a lesson nonetheless. See video footage here:
Now it's off to Sydney for the Worlds where they expect a turnout of about 106 boats.
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