2011 China Cup (Shenzhen, China)

Website Link: www.chncup.com

During the China Cup I was helming for Rick Pointin's Beijing Sailing Center team, our team of 10 included the below,

Skipper/Keyboard - Rick Pointin
Helmsman - Simon Cooke
Tactictician - Stephen McConaghy
Mainsheet - Mike Fountain
Trimmer - Tim Davis
Trimmer Assist - Tim Sommerville
Pit - Soren Hesselberg Jensen
Mast - Aaron Xiaoming
Mid Bow -Alfie Rowson
Bow - Jordan Smith

Report

Pre Regatta
Prior to the regatta we had 3 days of training, which included, tuning, maintenance and some practice for triming and manouvering. Having 10 people certainly helped as we managed to get a lot done on the boat including a full sand of the bottom for a 40 minute window allocated equally to all teams.

Day One
The morning began with us checking out of the hotel in central Hong Kong and then passing our bags to Ruby the teams manager, who was taking all the bags through to China for us during the day. We then motored out of Causeway Bay and headed out of the Hong Kong harbour to where the start line was positioned.
The first race was from Hong Kong to Shenzhen a total of approx 35 nautical miles. On the way to the start it was about 20 knots and big waves as we headed out between the islands at the mouth of the harbour entrance.
Race 1
Two general recalls started proceedings off. Then the breeze began to quickly drop and we swtich from the numebr 3 headsail to the number 1 just before the last start. This start we postioned in the middle of the line as it was slightly boat end and we liked the left hand side looking to windward. This worked well for us as we started the first hour in 3rd as we beat up the coast line, mostly on starboard tack. We did a great job at tacking and working the shifts comign around a few headlands to take a handy few minute lead as we approached the 1/3 of the race.
Just before taking the long tack across to the China shores, the wind died away to nothing and we parked up for over 1 hour. During this time, most of the back of the fleet sailed around us with more breeze off shore by about 2-3 miles aay from us.
Finally a breeze developed from the mainland and started to fill back in. However this was not enough for us to make up for lost ground as wind strength appeared always stronger further off the shore. Although we did manage to get back into 7th place before taking the last tack back onto starboard heading towards the finish line.

Day Two
Race 2 & 3
Two short course races were sailed with us getting two fantastic starts near the middle of the line at much higher speeds than the boats around us. This launched us nicely off the line and everyone did a great job to defend the favoured left hand side of the track down the runs and up the beats. We did manage to do some nice work on the runs passing a few boats, by pushing them into the corner and gybing on them jsut prior to the layline and soaking over the top of them on the way back to the bottom mark rounding. This all resulted in us scoring a perfect day with two wins from two starts, I was particularly impressed with the whole team and how we were able to do manouveres with little flaws, which helped us take the day prize.

Day Three
Race 4 &5
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Day Four
Race 6 &7
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Results

Place	Sail Number	Team	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R5	R6	R7	R8	Points
1	CHN55032	Beijing Sailing Center	Rick Pointon	7	1	1	2	2	1	1	8
2	CHN55030	Simpson Marine	Gordon Gregor	2	5	5	8	3	2	2	19
3	CHN55023	Yachtfinders Global	Jayson Herbert	9	4	3	12	6	5	9	36
4	HKG2023	Team Eurosport	Han Willem Kotterman	3	9	7	6	4	9	11	38
5	CHN55011	Sea Wolf	Wang Shao Jun	13	16	2	3	8	14	5	45

Pictures

Note: See more pictures in gallery.












2011 J80 Hong Kong Nationals (Middle Island, Hong Kong)

Website Link: www.rhkyc.com.hk

At the Hong Kong J80 Nationals, with a team of 4, I was headsail trimmer and also called downwind tactics. Our team included the below,

Helmsman - Peter Backe
Trimming/Tactician - Ante *
Trimming/Tactician - Simon Cooke
Bow - Marcus *

Report

Pre Regatta
This was non existant, with me arriving late and pushing off the dock as soon as my bags where put into the locker at the middle island yacht club. We did however manage to do a few manouvers prior to racing to make sure we could match the other teams in tight situations. Also with a few quick line ups on other boats, we appeared to be going the same speed as other boats (which was a comforting) prior to getting into the first start sequence.

Day One
**.

Day Two
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Results

**

Pictures

Note: See more pictures in gallery.






2011 PNB Paribas Match Racing Event (Middle Island, Hong Kong)

Website Link: www.rhkyc.com.hk

At the PNB Paribas Match Racing Event sailing J80's and a team of 4, I was mainsail trimmer and also called up and downwind strategy, leaving Peter to do placement and boat on boat tactics. Our team included the below,

Helmsman/Boat on Boat Tactics - Peter Backe
Mainsail Trimmer/Strategy - Simon Cooke
Head Sail Trimming - Mark Parker
Bow - Tim Somerville

Report

Pre Regatta
We managed to get in one tack and one hoist after doing some essential reworking of the boat, prior to the first warning signal for race 1.

Day One
After getting in our short practice and the sound signals going up, we realised we were not going to make the start entry time limit. our opposition hunted us down outside the box to prevent us from entering. Luckily after a gybe at full speed with the kite up onto starboard, we managed to get an infringment on our opposition. This was shortly evened up as we were not able to enter the start correctly. So after a even start we managed to put this race away in light airs just on the other side of Middle Island.
Our following few races were sailed in the same waters and we managed to secure and protect the favoured side on the left hand side of the track. It was also evident that our racing the weekend before was helping us as we had excellent boat handling against the other boats and this was most useful in tight situations. Tim and Mark, also were doing a fantastic job on trim and boat work and this meant we finished the day on 7 wins and 1 loss 2 wins ahead of second place helmed by Gordon Gregor and skipper of Jonathan Rankine.

Day Two
Began with the same forecast as day one, although the breeze was much weaker when we went out past middle island. Fortunately the wind outside the headlands was holding in from the north and we managed to get racing in with a 5-8 knot Northerly. We started the semi finals, racing one of the Thailand Match Race teams. This went well winning 2-0 and we securely protected the left hand side of the track thorughout each race, dispite having some close calls down the runs, where they managed to come down with good inside pressure. This was noted carefully by us and in the finals we decided to do very flat hoists and early gybes out of the top marks to hold the favoured side down the runs.

The first race started well with us gaining a penalty on Gordon and Jonathan, on a port starboard situation when they lost control in reverse from a dail up. But as we came into the final count down we lost the left hand side advantage as we come off the line.
We did do well to keep the racing close and round just on their stern. After coming around the top mark we were given a penalty that was very unusual, apparently we launched the pole too early in the hoist. Anyway we raced on and managed to get into a sitaution near the second top mark where we were trying to dip them on port tack and they opted to tack. But they tacked in our water being just past head to windwind when we needed to avoid a collision with them. Then we were given a penalty for this situation unfortunately, which was unusual as they were past head to wind and did change their tacking angle due to us un anyway way oterh than opting to tack. This meant we needed to do the turn straight away. Game over.
The next race we did a nice job and started just to windward and after a number of tacks we were able to secure the left hand side of the track and then dominate the left hand side upwind and also carefully lead back on starboard gybe first with a little loose cover down the runs. This stretch out to a comfortable win by the final lap and finish line.
Race three was very similar and Gordan did a nice job of starting to leeward of us again. We had a large tacking dual and half way up the beat we hunted them on starboard and forced them to do a large bareaway on port tack. This gave us the ability to keep our speed on and tack back after a few lengths putting a loose cover on heading towards the top mark and with us up to windward on the favoured left hand side. This gave us a handy lead that we continued to extend over the race until the finish signal.

It was great to win another event, but also learn more about starting in Match Racing and also a few little tricks around the course. It was also clear to me that boat handling and good team work is essential in Match Racing and Tim and Mark did a fantastic job and were a key reason in our success at the event.

Results

**

Pictures

Note: See more pictures in gallery.




Note: I was on my way to the airport when the prize giving took place. So I am not in this picture.