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71 competitors, 12 countries, six races, 20+ starts, 60th place overall, and countless Shipyard beers. That about sums up our week at the Star World Championships in Marblehead Sep 7-12, 1997....
During the week we had a big range of weather from sunny and calm to windy and lumpy, to light and lumpy and fog where you could barely see the other end of the starting line, and sunny and calm on the last day.
First result is that we had a blast. On the water, and off the water. Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead put on a first class regatta, and Ron and I were kids in a candy store at our first world competition. Won't ever forget this one.... We met a ton of sailors from around the globe who we'll hopefully race against again!
60th. Not too psyched about our results, but it was our first really big star regatta. We got our asses kicked by Americas Cup alums, Olympic medalists, Olympians, former Star world champions, sailmakers, boat builders, people who've been sailing stars longer than i've been alive, and some damn good sailors. Not an excuse, and even though we learned a ton, we've got our work cut out for us in the regattas ahead to be able to crack the top of an elite fleet.
We had some good legs, and some not so good legs, but our 51, 54, 64, 47, 46, 47, although not completely glamorous, were consistent. We didn't foul anyone (DSQ), weren't over the line early (OCS), didn't get chucked for rocking (DND), didn't break down (DNF), and don't have any holes to patch ($$$). We had our moments when we were in the 20s and 30s, but we also had our moments in the 60s too....
We had boatspeed!!! Lining up against some of the top competition, we matched them in straight line speed, and pointing ability. What an improvement from the other boat, where we had the speed, but couldn't make her point! What separated the champions from the rest of the racers in this regatta is doing all the little things right, minimizing mistakes, and capitalizing on their opponents mistakes. We had the boatspeed, but we need to start doing the little things right, and minimizing our mistakes!
We are one for one in protests in world competitions. A boat tried to cut inside of us at the leeward mark where he had no business being. We bore off to avoid contact, and protested him. His crew barked at us so loudly as they rounded inside of us, that the jury boat took notice. In the protest room, it was our word against his. The international on-the-water jury was in a stake boat at the leeward mark, recording into a tape machine the order boats came to the leeward mark, and who had rights to round inside of whom.... The other boat said that he was overlapped for almost the whole leg, he had rights to round inside of us, and that we were intentionally rounding wide to let him in.
The on-the-water jury member was my witness, and his story agreed with mine. The jury found the facts in my favor, so the other guy was disqualified.
Of course I later found out that I had just chucked the European 2nd Vice President of the International Star Class. But he has to obey the same rules we civilians do....
check out my race reports if you haven't already
Local knowledge is important, but current weather patterns and conditions are more important; we might have done better at this regatta if we had taken our previous knowledge about marblehead wind/weather conditions, and just ignored it....
We were so preoccupied with our previous experiences at marblehead, and even seemingly similar conditions at previous races during the worlds, that we often convinced ourselves out of going to the *favored* side of the course.
Winning the final race at the Olympic Classes Regatta in June, coming back from 5th, in hindsight had been a bad thing. Before that regatta we had talked to etchells sailors about the local conditions with a south or southeast sea breeze, and they said at the end of the day, go closer to shore, as the sea breeze dies. We rounded the leeward mark in fifth, and the boats in front of us went left out to sea. having no other choice, we went right, got a righty when we got closer to Marblehead Neck, tacked, and rounded the windward mark well in first and won the race.
Hoping for some of that glory in the worlds, we relied too heavily on local knowledge, which was part of our downfall....
Look at the dark clouds. The final day of racing, the day we went left, and screwed the pooch (as the saying goes), the sky was pretty clear but there were series of low dark clouds on either side of the race course which at times 'sucked' the wind towards them. The reason that some boats went hard right was because they saw some black clouds on the right side of the course which was 'sucking' the wind to the right, hence the 40 degree righty. Not the most scientific explanation, but i'd heard the adage "sail to the dark clouds", and it seems plausible nonetheless.
This is much different than what we did at the J/24 Midwinters in Key West. The 'Analysis Paralysis' tactical team of Mr. Lynch and myself were so fascinated/preoccupied with the cloud shapes, cloud levels, and cloud direction, that we were paying little or no attention to the winds on the water. Which was a big mistake that week.
Our mark roundings were pretty good. In some cases we were too conservative because this was my second regatta in my new boat (new to me); at times i was a little gun shy, but it paid off!!!!
At one leeward gate rounding in particular, we were at the two boat length zone for the port mark with the wooden boat inside of us who was overlapped with three other boats who were in front of us. We had just broken overlap with an Italian boat behind us, but having observed their "aggressive" sailing at other mark roundings I knew they were going to try to cut inside of us, despite our yelling at them. We slowed down, and let them go. They tried to cut inside the wooden boat who headed up to try to dissuade them from doing so. The Italian boat hit the wooden boat, and pushed them into the three boats which were rounding outside the wooden boat. There was no noticeable damage, but they all stopped, and drifted downwind away from the mark, leaving us a hole to have a perfect mark rounding right inside of them all.....
Eric Doyle had phenomenal boat speed which enabled him to win three races. His tactics were good, but the reports I heard from the people at the top of the fleet, were that even when Eric made a poor tactical decision, he had a speed advantage over the other boats to make up for it.
We had pretty good boatspeed this regatta, but spent a lot of time hunting for clear air in the big fleet.
Not having clear air after the start was an automatic ticket to the back of the pack, as the fleet was so huge. If you didn't have clear air at the beginning, you would be fighting for a clear lane the whole leg, going very slow, and often in the wrong direction.
At one start I was pretty excited to know I was starting right near Vince Brun who was to leeward and Mark Reynolds, who was to windward. It must be the favored place to start. Yippeeeeee. That was all well and good, but when the gun went off, and we all headed up, Vince pinched us off, and Mark footed right over us, quickly leaving us at the starting line going backwards. enough said!
This is my third year in the star class. I love the level of competition, and I love the speed, beauty, and classic nature of the star boat as a one design class. There's a lot to racing the star, and Ron and I were a little overwhelmed by the quality of the competition. But hopefully we learned enough to get 'em next time around.
Well. I've had the new boat for two regattas, and still haven't come up with a good name yet for the new boat, and i think we may be stuck. here are names we've come up with so far, but have dissed for various reasons: the breakfast cereals... 'lucky charms', 'fruity pebbles' (which sounded REALLY REALLY FUNNY after drinking the bottle of Bacardi Limon we won at the secretaries cup). Still considering 'kudos' (breakfast of champions?), and 'oops.... wrong corner' which is based on our last race at the worlds.
Star's packed away for the winter. Will be racing in the 1998 summer fleet series in Boston Harbor, and a couple of star
regattas around New England, all of which are a practice for the 1998 North Americans in Lake George, September 1998.