Gold Cup August 2010

Hi Guys

I thought I would drop down some lines on my thoughts of attending a Gold Cup while they were firmly in my mind. Dawsy can I leave it to you to send to the rest of the boys

For those who saw the footage on the website you would have seen a regatta of tough conditions. I first became acutely aware of what conditions would be like when i arrived off the plane on the Friday and made my way to the boat park to see the "sea breeze" as they call it was rocking through at 20+ knots.
I spent the 1st day cleaning up the boat I had chartered off a local, an 03 Devoti, which had been "well used". Measurement day on Saturday saw the C-tech fail requiring 250 grams of lead to pass. I finally got out to the race course at 2pm and experienced the standard conditions of 20 knots and a chop of 4-6 ft.
Sunday saw more work on the boat and the practice race at 2pm which Brad and I lined up for(but none of the guns), we had started on Starboard and tacked over with myself positioned on Brads hip and I happened to glance down at him and see him spear off a big wave and CRACK saw his C-Tech break off at deck level.
Not a good start for the kiwi boys.

Day 1
A 10-12knt westerly (same direction all week) and a clean start saw me rocking along in the top 1/3 up the 1.8 Nautical mile (yes you did read that right) beat, approaching the top mark the wind rose to 15-18knots and the sea rose proportionally. Around the top mark and I was happy with my first beat only to see 15 boats pass me before the gate at the bottom. (This was to be a trend all week), by now the wind was 20knots and after another 25 minutes of hiking we rocketed down the reaches to the finish. 61st..not a bad start I thought and felt I could improve in some areas, little did I know that the wind was just warming up.
Race 2 saw 25knots as we headed off and the waves get bigger but I was still happy with my 1st beat probably rounding in the top 40 only to get slaughtered off the wind again, however i rounded top mark for the 2nd time in the 50's and pleased with my work..the conditions went from fresh to frightening in about 2 gusts and as we started the reaches to the finish I was trying to slow the boat down rocketing down 6ft waves straight into the back of the next wave often submarining the boat, the boom caught and in i went. Now i learnt why the guys remarked that you could break your mast easily here as the water is really shallow (6ft deep in places) and trying to right your boat before you dig your mast in big waves is hard work. So while I was looking for crabs 10+ boats passed me for a 68th.
Big feed and early to bed

Day 2
Race1 saw the lightest wind at 5knts at the start and again aided by a good start I was off and in very good shape, I had rocked my centerplate all the way forward gambling that it was going to stay light for race 1 and 1/2 way up the 1st beat I was looking the business but by the top mark it was 18knts and I got buried. 65th
Race 2 saw at incident before the start which lead me to withdraw...home to the beach and regroup.

Day 3
The forecast was for lighter winds (topping out at 15kts) so it was time to be agressive. Race 1 saw me on the start line in good shape with 20 sec to go when a froggie sculled up on me sucking me back into the vaccum of line 2 so I was fighting for the rest of the race for clear air ..68th (dont know why they have jury boats in the start box as they dont do anything..note to self cheat all you want on the start line)
Race 2
Stellar start went left with Dan and Florian and it paid well, wind up to 15-18 knots but I was learning the waves and rounded in the top half again..battled hard downwind and sailed well for 58th.
My best day and pleased with my work

Unfortunately that was as good as it got.
Day 4
On the back of a weather forcast of 10-12knts i gambled and left the shore with a light sail on and up until the 5 min gun it looked good..then it blew 18 knts for the start and the sail lost its shape and i went out the back door..pulled the pin and went ashore and changed sails for the 2nd race. Back out to the course and piping through at 20 knots and felt i needed to be super agressive on the start line but on the 3rd general recall I got black flagged (how they picked me out in a 96 boat fleet...must have good eyes)
So a DNF and DSQ..not my best day on the water

Day 5
Just as I was pulling up my sail i received news of the Chch earthquake as both sides of the family live there i spent the day on the phone tracking people down..some things are just more important than sailing

Day 6
Final race
Blowing 15-20 knots again..again a good start..again a good 1st beat ....again the freight train went past me downwind. 54th

Key learnings

Downwind
we dont sail in enough seaways to be competitive downwind, I thought I was pretty good downwind but I got hammered..the pumping flag was always up the rest of the fleet knew how to use it especially the europeans, i recommend we use it at all oppotunities above 12 knots. They also carried alot more vang and pumped 1:1 even in 20knots plus which I simply couldnt do

Masts
The c-tech was competive up to 12 knots but after the waves kicked in it did not work the waves like a Wilke, i swapped boats with a couple of guys and the difference in a seaway is noticable..they got full value for hiking..i hiked my guts out for little return

Waves
I need to sail in seaways more..simple

Physical

I dropped 3 kgs to 102 during my training....bad idea.. the top guys (Ed Wright etc) were 108kgs of bulk and strenght..i simply was not strong enough

What I would do differently
Sail at the venue for at least 4 days before the regatta start
Charter a boat and mast direct from Devoti..if you dont have the best dont bother as you are fighting to keep up. Dont charter from americans
Learn the local wind conditions throughly..i was unprepared

Positives
I felt my starts in a 90 boat fleet were strong and my tactics on the water were good. My new technora sail was very strong.

Overall the kiwis results were disappointing, Brad and I had difficult regattas, Dan seemed to have good speed but struggled at times to get off the start line. Matt Coutts was consistent without being spectatcular as was Nick Burfoot.

I had good talks with Russell and Robin Coutts (well they talked and i listened) but I'll tell you about them over a beer

Cheers

Ray