By Matt Morris
2011 Men's Laser Radial World Championship
La Rochelle, France
131 sailors competed from 41 countries. RESULTS
Day 1) Winds were in the mid 20’s gusting around 30 knots. Conditions were challenging with 3 meter waves in shallow waters. This made for short chop with little spacing in-between. Through the day the left seemed dominant. This was due to an eddy in the current. Having said this it was crucial to watch for short righties caused by the storm front. My biggest issue of the day was getting off the line with a lane. The Europeans seemed to take everything to the next level. Starting in this fleet felt like getting in the blocks next to Husain Bolt. Race 1, an Australian was able to fully accelerate in 30 knots of wind in around 3 seconds. 10 seconds after the start I was looking at his transom. Finishes were 36, 35.
Day 2) Day 2 was a lot like day 1. Winds seemed to pick up slightly with big puffs rolling through. Waves were still large, steep and close together. In the afternoon an off shore weather buoy claimed winds in the low 40’s. My focus for the day was starts. I tried pushing the middle pin end of the line and copying the techniques I had seen on day 1. For example I only used half the whole to leeward of me and preset everything, even the vang. This allowed me to crack off immediately after the start and focus on nothing but hiking. Although this might have given me a lane for a while longer, my starts were still poor and I was ground down in the long run.
Being light did allow me to make up some ground on the down winds. Tall short chop like that found in La Rochelle was something I had never experienced. Surfing it was all about timing. Aggressive s turning and movement fore and aft paid big. With strong winds it was easy to get over the back of the waves. The difficulty came in going over the front without launching yourself into a pitch pole. Results were: 35, BFD.
Day 3) Waves began to moderate. Winds were back in the mid 20’s with smaller puffs farther in-between. Shifts seemed to play a larger role in tactics with the left not being quite as strong. My main objective was still getting off the line. Both races I used the same game plan. Spend the first 8 to 10 minutes focusing on clean air and going fast. From there, go left when possible. Keep an eye on the fleets ahead and keep an eye on the compass “stay in phase”. Finishes were 33, 34.
Day 4) Last day of qualifying and same conditions as day 3. Things started to click. I began holding a lane off the line. The course seemed to become more and more even as the regatta progressed. Down winds were much quicker with the reduction in wave size. Finishes were 29, 16.
Day 5) I woke up feeling much better. I had gotten sick on the plane. With the winds still strong and relatively flat water I turned my attention fully on starts, shifts and current. La Rochelle had some pretty interesting eddies and current channels. The wind seemed to now have a slight progression with an oscillation every couple minutes. I made it a point in my prerace routine to time these oscillations as best as possible. My finishes were 8, OCS.
Day 6) last day of the regatta. I went in not happy with my results. I had used both my through outs and thought it best to at least try to break into the top 100. I hedged my bets and went for broke. I came off the line. Put the bow down and stayed in phase. I went as far right as what seemed reasonable. This paid. I ended up 11th. Unfortunately there was only 1 race. I still didn’t break the top 100.
2011 Youth Men's Laser Radial World Championship
La Rochelle, France
272 sailors competed from 42 countries. RESULTS
Day 1) to my surprise the conditions were completely different than that of the men’s. The sea conditions had calmed down and were almost flat. The storm had just about died entirely so the majority of the wind was thermal driven out of the left. The strongest winds were 12 gusting to 15. Current was light and had little effect on the first day.
I had met up with coach Bunny Warren that helped immensely with local knowledge, anticipating wind shifts, and later on calculating current on various parts of the race course. Day 1 was all about staying in phase. Anticipating weather the sea breeze or gradient wind would kick in was a major factor. The courses for youths were much shorter and therefor starts wade heavily. Race 2 I made the mistake of going right when the sea breeze kicked in. My results were 26, 51.
Day 2) Winds moderated even further. Current built slightly as anticipated. This became a factor for mark rounding’s and starts. In Race 1 I found myself making some tactical decisions that coast me greatly. Again deciding whether to go with the gradient wind or sea breeze was crucial. Boats in the middle rarely did well. For me going right was a big mistake. Before race 2 I learned from bunny about how the cumulous cloud formations over the land could help decide whether to go left or right. This with a good start earned me a 7th place finish. My results were 32, 7.
Day 3) Similar to day 2. Sea breeze kicked in a bit later and the current became a factor (current was predicted to build intensity through the course of the regatta). Tactics were the same as before. Both starts I started pin. It was crucial to take what gains you could as soon as possible. On the down wind and reaches it paid to stay high and let the current carry you down towards the end. My finishes were 27, 19.
Day 4) Tough day, Current was strong. Winds remained unstable. I had an incident with the pin end of the start line. I should have bailed out early with the current ripping in. My biggest difficulty was dealing with myself and getting in the zone. My results were 39, 41. This was mainly due to poor starts and being forced the wrong way for clean air.
Day 5) It was a new day, but I was still a bit disappointed from day 4 and not being in Gold. I had to be content with sailing in the silver fleet. It was time to hit the reset button. I did my prerace routine, found that the right side of the course and pin end of the start line was favored. With a large pile up forming at the boat I decided to go for a port tack start. This worked great. I lead the fleet right and stayed in the lead until the last down wind. I ended up staying too high on the reach. This with one bad s turn and I ended up third going into the finish.
Day 6) Last day of the regatta. I knew the fleet was tight and a lot could be gained. My goal was to move up as much as possible. I took a gamble in going left which didn’t pay off. This in addition to mediocre starts led to a 105 overall.