(Newport, RI)- While sailing the J/24 World Championship, top Canadian J/24 sailor, Rossi Milev, was commenting on his experience each day and having it published on SailingAnarchy.com. Rossi’s
crew included trimmer Chris Ball from Port Credit YC, tactician Chris
Snow from San Diego YC, mastman Mike Mckeon from Port Credit YC and
bow-girl Whitney Prossner from St. Petersburg YC in Florida.As usual, Rossi had some poignant insights on sailing J/24s over the years and what it was like to sail in this tough class with 70+ boats on the line. Here are the entertaining excerpts and links to each “daily” he posted:
Tuesday- Not So Clear
For day one of the J/24 Worlds, the RC sent us outside on the ocean for some seriously epic conditions. Some of the biggest ocean swells we’ve ever seen on a J/24, well over 6 feet (2m) with much bigger mountains rolling through from time to time. Winds out of the W/NW at 15 gusting 20, and the waves were so big and so strong on starboard tack that if your crew missed a puff call, you wiped out upwind. And on port, you were surfing down waves upwind.
No
question that many locals did great in these conditions while lake
sailors like me struggled. I was so worried about the boat not behaving
as I’m used to in the pre-start tune up that I talked my crew into a
late headsail change, switching to the jib with less than a minute to
the first gun. Definitely not a great start and had to tack soon after
the gun, but the boat behaved well with the jib and our boat speed was
great! We tacked in a few small shifts – more than anything to move the
jib car positions – and by the time we looked around, we were in good
shape. We rounded in fourth and for us at least, the jib was the way to
go. The big boys all had the genoa up, and somehow, made it work.
Local sailmaker Will Welles led from the start and never looked back,
leading solidly over John Mollicone and the HH boys. Chilean Vern
Robert and the Team Gringa DC took third. Mark Hillman, filling in for
his boat owner (after a car vs. man incident in the parking lot), fought
all the way round to finish fourth. As for Team Clear Air/ Lavalife/
Sailing Anarchy, we lost a few boats on the second upwind, finishing
eight. Not a bad start, considering! Continue reading more here- http://sailinganarchy.com/2014/09/23/not-so-clear/Wednesday- Black Tuesday
After two hours of postponement for Day Two, we were off the dock at 11 – the best call the RC made all day! By the time we got out on the ocean, the Newport sea breeze was building nicely. We waited for a short little postponement on the water while the wind shifted between 200 and 230. Waves were much smaller if any factor at all.
The RC had a tough time holding the three-boat line on station, with one end always favored; Race Three for the championship hit a few General Recall snags; finally, a Black Flag start sent the fleet off with a handful picking up BFDs. I again screwed the start up, and we were hosed – tacking to port to salvage. Halfway up the beat I second-guessed my tactician Chris Snow and made him go hard right; that was expensive at the top mark when the left came in hard on our approach. Oops.
Continue reading more here— http://sailinganarchy.com/2014/09/24/black-tuesday/
Thursday- Over the Hump
We had an on-time start on Wednesday for three scheduled races thanks to an unpredictable forecast for Thursday. Another gorgeous Newport fall day on the ocean course, with wind at 75 true on the way out and 90 soon after passing R4. 12 knots with trending right breeze and the RC again had a hard time lining the three-boat startline up. Around 1230 we went off with a few U flags awarded. I have no idea what a U flag is but I’m happy we didn’t have to learn it.
We
again had to tack to port and duck a couple of boats, but within a few
minutes of the start we were going to the right with a great lane and
following our game plan. We got a nice right shift, tacking over
together with Helly Hanson and Will Welles. It looked great under the
boom (though I’m no longer allowed to look under the boom) until only
one boat crossed…and tacked on our lane. Two tacks and a new layline
was expensive, and we lost out to everyone leeward who didn’t need to
tack. And of course the left came in strong at the final approach. And
of course, we round in about 10th – again!I don’t understand why gybing immediately at the offset under this big fleet has been working consistently but Mauricio won the race doing the same thing and HH got into second. Travis Odenbach had a great race to take 3rd; we stayed only long enough to clear the fleet and then gybed, but it was too late – we lost ten boats in that one and had to play catch up again. 17th place! Continue reading more here— http://sailinganarchy.com/2014/09/25/over-the-hump/
Friday- In the Groove
The RC made a good call racing us inside the Bay, North of the Newport bridge, with wind forecast to increase to upper teens gusting in the twenties – too rough for the RC to anchor outside (and here is a good time to thank all the volunteers on and off the water – without you, we can’t race so thanks!). The bay is plenty big and made for a good tricky race course for 70+ boats. The local guys maybe had a small advantage, but conditions were very tricky for everyone.
We had a good start and headed to the left shore with Will Welles, Hillman, and Tony Parker just to leeward. It looked like our side was favored and we could tack and cross the fleet but we were convinced the left was the way to go and did not want to give that up. Well, a 20 degree right shift came in half the way up the beat and we went from wining to salvage mode in a hurry. We took many transoms to make it to the right and rounded the mark in the 40s or 50s. On the other hand, team HH and few others that I could not even see were well ahead of the fleet.
We gybed on the mark and few more righties helped us pass a pack of boats that went straight. Rounded the bottom mark in the mid 20s, finally a small break for Clear Air! A few more breaks came our way on the upwind, and we passed a few more to finish 14th. Again, out of the top ten but we were happy about decent recovery. A few boats got stuck on the left and could not get out – one of them was regatta leader Will Welles, making life harder for his team with a 46.
Continue reading more here— http://sailinganarchy.com/2014/09/30/44785/
Saturday- The Last HurrahBrad Read made the call at 830 AM – it’s the Worlds, and that means we’re going out to the ocean again. And what an EPIC day it was! Very windy on the way to the course, and we were thinking the jib was the call again. Waves were 90 degrees to the wind and looked a lot like day one, but the wind was from the NNE. I wished it was day one and I could start this regatta over again from the beginning.
We had a nice 30-minute tune up with Will, with our boat finally moving really well upwind. We’d moved the mast butt forward a bit to get less forestay sag, and the boat felt lit up. It’s always amazing when you find the sweet spot with the tune just right, and the boat just transforms herself into something beautiful. Maybe she is called a ‘she’ for a reason!
In Race One, we again had a solid start just under the midline boat, burning boats off our hip until we looked good again. The breeze was dying a bit since we tuned up and the shifts becoming bigger and more unpredictable. We tack to port and look launched – until the next righty came in again and we can’t cross. A few more tacks back to the left and we’ve gotta win our side. Some things never change. Continue reading more here— http://sailinganarchy.com/2014/10/06/last-hurrah-2/
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