UKLA Chair blog #54
What a great week we had at the Nationals in Hayling Island !
It was sunny most of the week with decent light to moderate winds giving some glamorous days on the water (even though we lost one day). These events do not happen without super volunteering at the event both on and off the water and my thanks to everyone that helped both from HISC and UKLA. Not all participants fully understand the planning and complexity of almost 250 competitors and their supporters across two race courses and three fleets and I appreciate the efforts of those of you assisting for many months in the preparation of the event.
It is worth appreciating the diversity of our fleet. We have an age range from young teenagers to those in their seventies. We have club sailors to full time British sailing squad members. We had 60 female sailors including 42% of the ILCA4 fleet that also included some masters sailors. We had sailors from Scotland to Cornwall as well as a bunch of international visitors In the ILCA7 and we had 6 parents racing who had children in one of the fleets. That’s what makes our class so strong.
The standard seemed so much higher this year racing in the ILCA7 fleet (and I am sure in others) with an influx of experienced younger sailors and some of the elite sailors. So I thought I would share a couple personal observations on my racing.
I managed to get to the first mark in or around the top 10 in half the races. Why these and not more ? Well getting off the line and holding a lane was very hard and apart from a small number of the very fast sailors, a fluffed start meant even a top 20 at the first mark was hard. Boat handling to protect your position on the line is a core skill. I did notice a couple of other master sailors getting excellent top 3 first mark roundings - Nick Harrison won the pin in the light air race (although a foot over the line in the end) and he did it again at the Committee Boat in another race as did Stuart Hudson both heading right on the beat and holding off most of the fleet. They certainly showed what was possible with a good start.
However a good start was not sufficient ! As Ben Elvin said at one of the daily prize givings, boat speed was probably the main determinant especially in the first half of the regatta. The top sailors are able to keep the boat moving quickly upwind in the gusts and lulls, steering high in the flat bits and sustaining speed a bit lower on the bigger waves that can slow you down. This marginal speed difference over several minutes is enough to free them to make their own tactical decisions - the old adage that a bit of boat speed makes you look like a tactical genius !
For me the biggest speed difference was downwind in marginal surfing conditions - mastering the techniques requires lots of practice and time on the water and this is where the top sailors come into their own. I did find though that their advantage narrows once it is possible to surf most the waves and link them together.
After some good starts and some decent boat speed, avoiding major mistakes is imperative and I made a certainly made fair number of them ! First race, first mark, on port tack crossing the starboard lay line, I hailed to go past two starboard tackers (by calling me through they round the mark ahead) but failed to do the same with a third on starboard - result was a 720 and 15 or more places lost. I put this down to a lack of recent racing in a big fleet. Worse was to follow …. third race of the day in 13 to 15 knots, feeling tired but strong on the second beat and in the top 10, I dropped the mainsheet ducking a port tacker, capsizing to windward. I struggled to pull myself up inside the cockpit and then get my leg over the hull on to the daggerboard. When the boat did come up, I went over again and I found myself in the water a second time. A minute later I was back upright in the cockpit totally out of breathe having lost all will to continue. For us masters of a certain age staying in the boat rather than the water is essential as it was amazing to go from total control to zero control in a few minutes. (Talking about this afterwards it was suggested that it is best to release the kicker straightaway as it avoids a further capsize and this seems to me to be correct).
Of course, even with a good start and decent speed, heading the wrong way is certainly a major mistake! It happened to many of us who kept going left after the start of the second last race. The difference was profound as heading hard right out of the tide was way better.
Even though some of these lessons have been learnt before I have resolved to try and avoid making the same mistakes for the rest of this season!
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Snippets:
Youth Open 2-3rd September (Royal Lymington YC)
This event is part of the Youth Ladder.
Available until Wednsday, 30/08/2023
UKLA Qualifier 4 - 16-17th September (Paignton SC)
Available until 11/09/2023