Wednesday, August 18, 2010

J/24 Worlds Report- by "Moose"

"The Moose Is Loose" Report- Moose McClintock from Dimension-Polyant gives you a J/24 Worlds report from Malmo, Sweden--  "Well, here we are in Malmo, Sweden, getting set to do another J-24 World Championship.  Attendance is strong (55 boats, 5 American with a good showing from Japan and Australia) and though there aren’t a lot of people here I know, there are the last two World Champions so there is more than enough competition, hopefully we’ll be in that mix.  Conditions have been spotty, certainly no shortage of rain (and as I write this I’m looking out the window at grey skies and 20 knots, some of the rain has been epic) but the wind is up and down.  The Swedish Nationals, held last week, saw good breeze but since we’ve been here the wind has been on the light side (the practice race was postponed an hour and then sent off with a fetch from the starting line).  Hopefully the addition of Peter  Reggio as the PRO will straighten that out though  running the races right off the marina entrance will make things pretty interesting if the wind shifts more inland.

Sweden is a nice place, very friendly (and blond) people everywhere who are very helpful and almost all speak English (I thought this was just another example of dumb Americans only knowing English until I realized that of 17 channels on TV, 13 are full time English speaking shows with Swedish subtitles, the kids grow up on English).  Despite the usual measurement hassle (and only two boats found with illegal lead encased, other than that it went pretty smoothly, though long, for the fleet) we’ve had a pretty good time getting acclimated to the area (though reading street signs here is no easy chore).  We’re staying right next to the Twisted Torso (shown) which has aptly been named the Twisted Sister.  We’re told this is one of the top ten innovative architectural designs, it just looks cool when you get next to it and look straight up.  As a landmark, it works because it towers over everything, whenever you’re lost you just head for it and viola, boat park and apartment.

Winner of the practice reach was Tony Parker of the US (2nd in last week’s Nationals), we were doing just fine but made the decision to tack for the weather mark right around the leeward mark while in 3rd, we were overstanding again when the mark got picked up and moved to the other side of all the boats reaching down from the mark.  Mark change?  Well, no one said there would be one, no signals.  Whatever, it’s a practice race, hope it gets better for the real deal.  In practice runs, everyone we’ve sailed against seems fast, particularly the Italians, defending champ Mauricio Santa Cruz and Americans Parker and Mike Ingham.  I’m not sure where we are on this list, we have a charter boat from Italy that seems quite good but until we actually get on the starting line in earnest we’ll be guessing.  Forecast for today is starting around 20 knots and dying to about 12 by the end of the day.  Forecast includes, of course, rain.

Update:
Nice day today, 15-25, small jibs all day (though we thought about the big jib (read: me pushing for it….it would have been a mistake) for the last beat).  Matias Periera smoked everyone, 1,2.  We had two really bad starts but were able to hang in for a 2,4.  Mike Ingham did a great job in the 2nd race, lost Periera near the finish but got him at the line, we were able to pass Southworth on the last beat to complete a comeback from 15th just before the weather mark, long painful race.  The committee was having a hard time keeping themselves anchored before the 2ns start, giving one boat time to go in and get a kite to replace the one they blew up (not sure where that stands in the J-24 class rules) but were able to get the race off, some funky stuff that may lead to a protest of the race, hope not.  First race had lots of broaches, best shot though was an upwind broach of a port tacker who didn’t see the starboard guy coming along, full on bat turn with the jib cleated, keel completely out.  Who says J-24’s aren’t entertaining?  2nd overall to a Periera and just ahead of a very fast German boat, forecast for tomorrow is not a lot of breeze.  Also, not a lot of rain.  If it doesn’t rain again I don’t care how we do, I’m sick of being wet."  Read more about Moose's exploits this week sailing the J/24 Worlds on Sailing Anarchy.com- http://www.sailinganarchy.com