19/11/2014
South American Championships
Our trip to Rio began with
some long days and a lot of activity, as seems to be the case every time we
come here. We are kindly borrowing a boat and mast from our Brazilian friends
Thomas and Dante, which needed some tweaking and a personal touch before we
could go training. Once sorted we had three great days training in the 'light
wind' Olympic venue, which was proving to be anything but!
The South American championships began in a
building 12 knot sea breeze and we started strongly with a 6,4 score line, but
were slightly disappointed that a few small errors cost us some points and
overshadowed how well we had raced as a whole. By the third race the wind had
built to 20 knots and unfortunately our lack of practice since the Worlds
showed, with a capsize!
The fleet here is really strong with only about
four top teams missing, which made for some fantastic racing. The rest of the regatta
was a bit lighter, but still 10-15 knots for the majority. The infamous
currents of Guanabara Bay made for some challenging decision making and there
was a lot of head scratching at times. The bay here is huge but has a very
narrow entrance, with many bays and rivers feeding into it. The result is that
the water that floods in doesn't always make it back out with the ebb tide and
creates very unpredictable currents - a nightmare for sailing, unless you pick
it right and then you look like a champion!
We sailed relatively well for the remainder of the
races and most importantly worked a lot on the areas for improvement that we
highlighted after the Worlds. We were plagued by some small racing errors that
turned some top three races into fifth to tenths, but we should be able to iron
them out. The end result was 6th, which should improve our World
ranking and we are relatively happy, considering the time we took out of the
boat and the fact that we were on borrowed kit.
Next up we have another four day regatta - the
Intergalactic 49er Championships - a more relaxed regatta, but there will be an
equally strong fleet. After that we head back to the UK for a week before
continuing our programme in Abu Dhabi at the end of November for the World Cup
finals.
Ed & Dave
Rio Roundup
The final week of our Rio trip was filled with a
couple of days of exploration after the South Americans and another four days
of racing - the 'Intergalactic 49ers' - a fun regatta set up and organised last
year by one of the local sailors, with the hope of bringing some good foreign
teams down to train and race against. In its second and final year and in
keeping with tradition there were social activities every evening, usually
involving a few caipirinhas!
We took two days off after the South Americans, due
to a reoccurring back injury that Dave has, which unfortunately inhibited him a
bit for the remainder of our trip. Nevertheless the racing was again tight and
a great opportunity to work on some stuff, without really worrying about the
result.
Once again the wind was solid for the whole four
days and we struggled to find our usual speed on the borrowed kit. We had a
couple of crashes/ incidents that cost us in a few races, but we finished
strongly and took some great venue knowledge away from the racing.
The final race of the Intergalactics is
traditionally a double points 'crews race' to keep the fun and add some serious
entertainment for the coaches! With the wind building to very gusty 15+ knots
and the 25 boats careering around the start line semi under control everyone
was buzzing, but secretly very nervous! The race was one lap and then into the
harbour to finish, which involves a long upwind through what the locals call
the 'Gaza strip', due to the huge, unpredictable gusts of wind that blow over
the towering sugar loaf mountain and drop out of the sky, exploding so
unpredictably that it's super easy to capsize or crash into the moored boats,
if you don't have your wits about you.
We had a great start and were in the top couple,
but got a bit caught up trying to go fast and all the boats that got to the
hard right made a big gain. After a sketchy bear away we had a solid downwind
(no capsizes) and made it through 'Gaza' relatively unscathed! We didn't win,
but it was a great way to finish the trip and there was plenty of banter flying
around back on shore.
All in all the trip was a big success, with an
improvement on our World Ranking and a lot of time spent in
Olympic waters. The practice using totally
unfamiliar equipment should stand us in good stead for the World Cup finals in
Abu Dhabi, which is all on supplied boats and masts.
We now have a week at home to catch up and repack
before heading out to the Middle East on the 22nd November, with the
regatta starting on the 26th.
We would like to say a huge thanks to Thomas
LowBeer and his Mum, Alexandra for hosting us during our stay and we can't wait
for our next trip to South America.
Ed & Dave
Follow Ed & Dave at:
@Silverline49ers
www.deepsailing.com
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