As temperatures soar back home in NA, a number of American and Canadian teams are in Poland for the 2010 Seiko 49er Europeans. Racing began Monday (July 5th) and continues until the 10th.
Racing Complete
After a few days racing in varibale conditions, the racing in Gdynia is finished. The Brits grabbed spots 1, 3, 6 and 12. Top NA crew was Gord Cook & Hunter Lowden (CAN) in 23rd overall, with Storck & Moore (USA) finishing 24th after crew Trevor Moore came down with Bronchitis and couldn’t sail the last two days of the event.
Hunter Lowden commented, “It seems as though we have our work cut out for us. After a few good races and more than a few disasters, thrills and spills we finished near the bottom of gold fleet. We weren’t really contenders for the top 10 except in a few races when we had the boat dialed in. Most of our points resulted from simple but big mistakes, and we will be looking to be more of a threat in future events.”
Meanwhile, Erick Storck was pragmatic about their progress thus far: “Boat preparation, on-water training, physical conditioning, tune-up events, sports psychology; all are important keys to success in this Olympic Sailing game. Health of the crew, however, can trump all. Trevor has been fighting an illness since the first day of the event. After fighting through the first four days of racing, he had nothing left in his tank. The bronchitis (as diagnosed by his Polish doctor) finally took its toll and kept us from getting on the water. We missed three light air races, giving us some time to reflect on the past month we’ve spent in Europe. We have made some huge strides in our time here. We’ve won races, posted consistent scores in most, and avoided big mistakes, for the most part. Eighteen months into this campaign, we have narrowed down our to-do list immensely. We are scheduling our next year of training right now, and while we have plenty to do, our goal of qualifying for and medaling in the 2012 Olympics is a definitively surmountable task. The 49er fleet is advancing at a tremendous rate. The level continues to rise, and we must rise along with it and then some to get to where we want to be.”
Complete NA results:
Gord Cook & Hunter Lowden (CAN 049) – 23rd
Erik Storck & Trevor Moore (USA 1105) – 24th
Peet Must & Carl Horrocks (USA 817) – 37th
Billy Gooderham & Ian Hogan (CAN 1185) – 38th
Jonny Goldsberry & Charlie Smythe (USA 1054) – 46th
Jon Ladha & “Danger” Dan Inkpen (CAN 097) – 53rd
Oliver Tooler & Hans Henken (USA 883) – 66th
Next Grade 1 event is Skandia Sail for Gold in Weymouth, GBR from August 10 – 15.
Day 3 – End of Qualifying
Congrats to two of our NA teams! Erik Storck / Trevor Moore (USA) and Gord Cook / Hunter Lowden (CAN) qualified for Gold Fleet in 19th and 23rd places, respectively.
The other big story is Billy & Ian making a charge and moving up another handful of spots as the breeze suited their style a little better again on Day 3.
Racing continues through Saturday with the final series, followed by a medal race.
Day 2
The big story today was the better breeze. Tuesday saw 10 to 20 knots on the race course with big puffs and big shifts. Apparently there were plenty of capsized boats on the course! Jonathan Ladha (CAN) compared it to the Worlds in Bahamas: “(Racing) was close to shore, windy, and real shifty. It was so frustrating because we were launched sometimes, but as you can imagine, it’s easier to drop back when in front of the pros, but it hurts!”
The two big stories for the NA contingent are: Billy & Ian, moving up 30 full spots in the day’s 4 races, moving them from deep in bronze fleet to a comfortable silver fleet position; and Erik & Trevor moving up 14 spots to 15th overall after 7 races, including a bullet in the day’s final race. Erik commented, “The difference between a 10th and a 1st today was miniscule. We can tell from experience! The wind was at such an angle that the right side would generally have more wind as it was away from the shore, but the left side would have some phenomenal pressure and favorable shifts that were less reliable. It was important to get off the starting line clean and be able to play the wind where you were. That said, one boat could be in 18 knots and pointing almost directly to the mark while another only 10 boat-lengths away might be in only 8 knots and have no way of getting to the more favorable breeze. It certainly made for exciting racing!”
Racing continues Wednesday with2 final qualifying races.
Day 1
Conditions are light with crowded race tracks, as the 82 boats sail on two courses.
Jon Ladha of Newfoundland had this to say: “Today it was pretty light and shifty, but decent, challenging conditions. Our top speed was good . Our boat to boat decisions were good, but our big picture calls should have been a bit better. Tomorrow we’ll have a bit more breeze as a system moves in from the north west. We have two days of qualification left, then they split us into 3 fleets. We’re charging forwards, and tomorrow we’ll move up.”
Meanwhile, Erik Storck (USA) had this to say about the racing: “We had a fair first day at the Europeans. With the onshore wind at about 3-8 knots, free space was at a premium in the large fleet. We are happy that our third start was very good and that we improved in our scores throughout the day. It is a long event. As they say, you cannot win the event on the first day, but you can lose it! We have not lost it. We are very much in the game where we want to be, and we cannot wait for the next two days’ of qualifying series racing to get under way.”
Some NA teams are doing quite well: Gord & Hunter are sitting in 19th with a 4th in the first race. Carl & Peet are doing quite well in 23rd, and in Gold Fleet contention. Erik & Trevor are hot on their heels at 29th. Additionally, the newbie team of Oliver Toole and Hans Henken on USA 883 had a 4th place finish in the day’s 2nd flight!