Report 1Here we are, and settling in very well. This is a truely amazin place!! So incredible beautiful, for those kiwis, a bit like a very civilised version of the southern alps. There are classic little villages everywhere and mountain bike walking tracks in between., A few of us have rented bikes and riding round, i can do about 1 hr treking up the valley to the sailing centre from our hotel. The hotel is at 1800 meters and this lake is higher up the valley. A hard journey out in the morning but a real blast back in the evening.
We have had 2 days training on the worlds venue lake. The first day was the classic thermal wind that rises out of the northern Italian plains and runs through this valley starting at 11 am and slowly increasing through the afternoon. The conditions have been light and shifty. We are learning allot about how to sail in fresh water at over 1800 meters, about as removed as anyone can be from the typical sailing venues of world championships!!!
Yesterday was the opposite wind direction, being some kind of NW gradient. The winds were crazy on the lake coming from both directions at the same time. A real eyeopener for our team. We had 3 races against a good Greek and Italian and our team feared well in difficult conditions. Our team has to organise themselves as no boats allowed on the lake. I am ashore on bike paths and talking to them between races.
Thanks for all your mails of support and best regards Hamish and the Altex OP Worlds Team.
Report 22 of the biggest pre regatta hurdles have been completed for the Altex NZ OPTI team. Measurment is a very stressful time before a big event and this year went more smoothly compared to usual. All the Kiwis are now through hull, spar, sail and foil measurments. We had an small issue with the supplied foils vibrating, but some words of wisdom from an Americas Cup designer solved this......thanks Mike!
The 2nd concern is the accomadation. The OP worlds regatta organisers have a very tight budget and often we have ended up in very shoddy places. This time we have been alloted a backpackers hostle on the base of the St Moritz mountain. It is run by an Aussy assisted by a really nice lady. Yesterday she baked all the sailors cookies and fudge and served up hot choclate!!
They are really friendly and the team is feeling relaxed and at home in our new sleeping quaters. There are long games of cards "Scum" is the games of the week. Down below is a football field and we play touch rugby most evenings.
The sailing.....really good........we have been out every day and the last 2 days have been 14 knots. The organisers slipped me a coach boat which meant I was the only coach from 52 nations here that was out on water! You can just imagine the fuss these other 51 coaches made! Still it was well worth it.
Tomorrow we have a day off and away from the club. Re charge and relax.Plan on a visit to a traditional cheese making place near by the foot of an enormous glacier. It is a train journey of less than 1 hr on the oldest and stepest train track ever made. There is a walk from the cheese place up onto the glacier, and for those of us who are energicic we can carry on up to the top at 2400 meters, 2 hrs walk.
Well that about it, still waiting for the classic thermal winds to re appear (we had 1 day of this on the 20th). As usual whatever you get in the week before the event won't be the weather of the event. At least i am hoping that is the case, we will welcome back the thermal with the sunshine.
Thats it, thanks for your support, Hamish
Report 3Today is the practice race, all the kids are up early, regatta nerves are setting in, and not much breakfast was consumed this morning! The weather looks fine and we are told to expect the famous "Malojawind" thermal wind for the next few days. This wind lifts up from the northern Italian planes as they warm up during the day.
For those who wish to follow the action and the results and i am told even some video footage then log on to- www.optimist.ch
Yesterday the Altex team bordered the Bernina express at the Saint Morritz railway station and headed for one of the highest mountain train passes in the world. We sat on the last 2 open air carrages without roof or walls. The first tunnel had the kids screaming as you could not even see your hand in front of your face. The scenery was incredible following a fast flowing glacier river we rounded the courner 20 mins later and were struck in the face by the enormerty of this massive glacier.
Thanks to our backpacker host we found this amazing cheese factory hidden away in the pine forest. We gorged on 100 bucks worth of the best cheese I have ever tasted in the finest of all settings. The tables were half sawn logs and the mountains towered over us. It took about 30 mins to climb to the glacier face. There were signs showing how the glacier has retreated in the last 150 years. From the road and up into the valley about 5 km! We could see the line on the old ice top 300 meters above our heads, this meant 500 x 300 meters of ice 5 km long has melted in 150 years, the kids were blown away.
At the glacier edge huge rocks were rolling down the sides making massive noise. Safely in the middle we explored the river areas that run out from under the ice. Back to the train, more touch rugby, more food and an early night for all.
More later, c u Hamish
Report 4Day 1 has just ended, protest time is not yet completed so I am here waiting, and the team is back to the backpackers for a well deserved shower. It is a long day with most of the team going afloat at 10.30 and arriving back ashore at 15.30.
Altex Team kiwi had a pretty good start to the event, actually about the same as last years world beating team! 3 of the sailors had races in the top 3, Luke, Paul and Carl. Carl had the best day overall with something like a 12, 3, 14, this should have him close to the top 10 overall. I heard some German girl had 3 races in the top 10!
Anyway the day was not so easy for most of the 248 competitors here. Good starts were essential and then making sure not to be extreme tactically was important. Carl minimised his risk keeping himself more in the middle of the course and being rewarded for consistantly high results. Sailors too close into the lake shores were punished today.
Life for the coach is pretty different with all of us stuck on the shore trying not to get run down on the busy main road rouund the left side of the course!
More tomorrow, 12 races to go.....plus a day of teams racing in the middle, this to be staged right downtown saint Moritz!
Thanks to the team product suppliers, Line 7, Ice breaker, and a very special thanks to the NZ Yachting Trust for their significant finiancial contribution,and of course NZ Optimist Assoc and the 100's of other supporters out there!
Thanks and regards Hamish
Report 5It was a pretty average day for the Altex NZ OP team today. Again we had the famous thermal winds building up to 17 knots at times with the average about 13. Paul came out and scored 3rd in the first race and Dan had a 6th in the final 6th race.Carl would have been the most consistent with about 25,25,12. He was 14 overall before today.
The results are slow and they only just managed to finish yesterdays results by early this morning, i guess 9 races per day IS hard to digest!
I think there are 2 factors which make it difficult for the Kiwis. 1 is the length of the start line, this was about double of what the race committee would set for the same size fleet in NZ. This long line meant that the smart or luckky group that got off the favoured end would make a large jump on the fleet. The 2nd difficulty for the sailors is the fact there is no seaward horizon. This makes it hard for them to see the top mark and therefore sail on the lifted tack.
Today was summarised by long persistant shifts and periods of lighter winds that shifted rapidly. Some of the teams, the Chinese, British, others? found consistant form today. I think these teams have spent a large amount of time sailing waters surrounded by land.
Anyway, of course we are all so proud of them...even if some of the sailors are dissapointed. I keep reminding them that OP sailing is the beginning of their life....not the end! Remember that the 250 sailors here are the best 250 sailors in the world under 16 years of age! Amagine how happy any of us would be if we could claim to be ranked in the first 250 in another sport-like tennis or whatever.
I would guess that our team is ranked in the top 10 nations for sure right now and that individually i guess Carl to be about 20, Dan and Paul between 25 and 35 and Luke about 45, and Jason about 70. By the way Dan had a blond moment in race 5 capzising on the downwind....the first time this has happened for a long while.
Thats about it for now. 2 more races tomorrow, then the team sailing the following day. NZ must be ranked in the top 15 nations to qualify for the team racing at the end of tomorrows races.
Hamish
Report 6Day 3 is over and Carl Evans became just the 3rd NZ sailor in the history of the OP Worlds NZ participation to win a race. Carl has joined the exclusive club with Dan Willcox and Paul Snow Hansen.
Carl sailed a fantastic race, one of the best I have witnessed! He made a nice start and nailed every windshift (within meters of the perfect tacking point) all the way to the top mark. He was 30 seconds in the lead and continued to stretch to the finish.
In fact the day was all for Carl who ended up with a 1, 5, and a 40ish. My guess is he will be in the late teens after 9 races. Paul will be next Kiwi in the 20's followed by Dan, Luke (60-70) and Jason. Dan had a shocking last 2 races starting in the 3rd row and getting forced into the huge wind hole on the shore.
The great news is that NZ has qualified for the team racing toi be staged in St Moritz tomorrow.
Hamish
Report 7Altex Opti team NZ are on the podium with BRONZE medal at the OP world team race championships!!
Today the individual OP worlds championship resumes, we have just finished 2 days of 4 boat teams racing. NZ qualified 13 place- the top 15 nations after 5 races are allowed to sail.
3rd place was a supreme effort by Paul, Dan, Carl, Luke and Jason. The racing was staged downtown Saint Moritz so the public lined the lake shore.
The sailing was very exciting throughout the 2 days. NZ had the hard draw with their first race against POLAND and soon after by the 4x world champions ARGINTINA. The draw works that if a team losses 2x they are out of the event. If you lose once you will be fighting it out for 3rd place- down the losers road.
Our strategy was NOT to try and team race, but to start well and sail the fastest course to the finish. The reason we did not want to team race was that were were up against teams that were very experienced at this type of racing, whereas we had just 1 days practice 2 months ago!!
Anyway our strategy worked and the team kept producing magic out on the water. We were amazed we we only just lost to Argintina right at the finish after leading most of the race. The team bounced back from this disappointment exceptionally well and fought hard into the top of the losers group to win bronze.
They achieved this by starting perfectly, staying out of trouble (only 2 penalities issued against NZ and 5 against our oponents), and sailing the windshifts fast to the finish.
We had an amazing race against the Great Britian the reigning European Champions. NZ had a winning combination with a 1,2 and GBR had to push us into last and 2nd last. Paul sailed an amazing last beat while being attacked by 4 GBR sailors he managed to stay penality free and also move into 3rd place from 5th at the bottom. At the same time 1 attack by GBR had GBR incuring the penality....game over. Beautiful, and on we went to defeat Italy for the bronze medal.
Last night the organisers put on an amazing night with a trip up the highest gonderlers in this area. We sored to 3,300 meters which is over 10,000 ft. There was a flying fox over a frozen lake and ice caves to explore. Then a resturant meal at 2000 ft and amazing views of all the fires and fireworks on the Swiss National day.
Hamish
Report 8Been a very long day. It is 1700 and the sailors have just got off the water. The Race Committee decided, after loosing yesterdays racing, to begin today at 10am. So that meant a 7.30 start and here we are 10 hours later.
Anyway the winds were from the opposite direction than the typical thermal. Northerlies, rain and very cold. I was wearing 5 layers standing on the lake shore. The winds were very shifty with sailors laying the top mark from either tack off the line. Wind speed between 5 and 12 knots.
Carl and Dan had the best day out of the Altex NZ team with Carl about 12, and 19 and Dan 22, and 4th. My guess would have Carl still in the top 15 overall after 11 races. Now they are allowed to drop 2 worst scores. There were many terrrible scores today amounst the best in the fleet. Loads of disqualification for early starts and sailors getting caught on the shore with long persistant shifts.
This has been the problem with this event for all the sailors. With the sides of the lake creating a barrier means that with longer shifts, lasting more than 5 mins, sailors run out of runway and hit the shore before the wind shifts back in their favour.
The only exception is the German girl, Tina. She will now be winning by 30 points! She sails here all the time as her parents have a holiday home in the area. She knows when to take your medicine and pass behind boats to get further into long persistant shifts. All of the other top 5 overall had some shockers today.
For sure sailing on such a small lake has presented some interesting problems for all the sailors to contend with.
More tomorrow, it is the final day and races cannot be started after 1600. Looks like the regatta will finish 2 races short of the expected 15 races.
Cheers Hamish
ps all the NZ ers say big thanks for the Ice breakers!... me too!
Report 9This is just a quick note to say that the worlds individual open regatta is over, no racing again today. Out of 6 days racing we have lost 2 days due to poor weather conditions. This means they completed 12 races of a possible 15.
For the 4th time in the 35 year history of the Optimist worlds this regatta has been won by a girl. Tina of Germany (although almost local to this area) won comfortably.
The Altex NZ team finished in the following order:
- Carl 14th 113 points
- Paul 25th 132
- Dan 38th 161
- Luke 72nd 209
- Jason 124th 296
I will spend some time to gather information about the top 10 statistics etc before my final report in the next few days.
Hope some of you may see the Altex NZ team on the podium for 3rd place and bronze medal in the world teams race regatta.
Thanks for all your support and best regards Hamish
Report 10 and Summary of RegattaSorry for the delay. Firstly a few amendments from my last report. Actually only 11 of the 15 races were completed. Also the organisers mis calculated overall positions on the night of the prizegiving, the NZ team moves up 2 places with the correct calculation. This calculation is based on the countries best 4 individual sailors scoring all individual races. NZ won this prize last year.
- For 2005 the Altex NZ team finishes 6th out of 50 nations.
- For the teams race regatta NZ finishes with Bronze medal.
- Carl finishes 14th overall from 241 sailors.
These are the highlights for the 2005 team.
There were also some disappointments, especially for Paul, and Dan returning to the OP worlds to defend 2nd and 4th overall.
On the final day I gathered the team together for the last time. What were the lessons learnt? In summary as follows:
- 1) "Training and expectations" Paul brought this up. Very good point in that it highlighted the critical difference between last year and this one. Last year the team was learning with a very steap learning curve, every day of their training was exciting due to this. Their expectations at the worlds were realistic. Lesson learnt was that having spent up to 4 years in the OP, large amounts of training now would reward only small gains. Learning to deal with this is hard. For the future remember to factor in that after 4 years and about 2000 hours sailing in 1 type of boat learning curve deminishes and this can result in frustrations. Lesson with expectations is to be careful with Junior and Youth levels. There is no pecking order and sailors improve or not a very fast rates. Also the obvious comments from the team about staying fresh before the event and concentrating on the process and NOT the outcome.
2) "Racing" Most of the NZ team suffered from poor starts. Last year the worlds were on the sea and recoveries were possible provided sailors were fast and sailed the lifted tack. For 2005 on the lake poor starts were punished because about 40% of the right side course triangle was on the shore! This meant that a poor start from the Race committtee boat with the wind direction in left phase put the sailors into the shore before the direction shifted back right. This happened on both beats with the reverse situation on the 2nd beat to finish. All the team said with the benefit of hindsight they would have sailed a much much better regatta....definite lessons learnt in this area. The world champion produced front row starts on the lifted tack from mid line (remember the line is 1/3 longer than in NZ) for every race! Her worst race place was 15th.
3) "Sailors weight" Being super fast makes for great tactics! To be super fast sailors must be 35 to 42 kg. Last year Paul and dan were super fast in this weight mode. This year only Paul and Carl fitted into this mode, while Dan, Jason and Luke were all over 48 kg. Sailors over 42 kg have to except slower speeds and lower positions. Example the 2 x world OP champ (2003 and 04)Filip from croatia was just 10th last year weighing about 48 kg and 30th this year weighing about 55kg. This brings us back to the first point- expectations.
4) Lessons have been leart about lake sailing in general. More wind near to shore lines and often less wind in the middle. Wind blowing onto steep shorelines mean less wind, winds that blow off or along shorelines mean more wind near the shore. The shape of the shoreline dictates where the holes form. The restrictions of the shoreline mean sailors are not able to sail out to laylines waiting for the wind to shift back in their favour. Disorientation as to where they are positioned on the course due to the shadow cast by the shorelines all round-clustraphobic.
It was easy to see that sailors who did well this year had put allot of time into sailing on lakes. These countries included Germany and Sweden in particular.
That all I have time for now, if anyone has any questions then please email. Thanks for all your amazing support for this team and remember Carls 14th overall and 6th nation for out top 4 sailors in the individual is actually pretty amazing.
Cheers Hamish
