Hey all,
This was a regatta we wanted to and knew we could perform at as we really like the bigger boats and know our crew work is sharp.Sailing the fully carbon fibre 'One Design Match' , 37ft long yachts. We started the regatta well with 2 wins on day one and one loss, which came against top ranked Ian Ainsle in 3-5 knots of breeze. We wanted the pin at the start, forcing him to tack off. With the daygetting late and the sea breeze had dying, he picked up a right hand shift right when he needed it. He crossed by two lengths and then sailed well to stay ahead.
Day two was much the same, very light again. This seems to be a very common trend in Europe!! We raced Keith Swinton our Aussie mate first. He won the start but we sailed well to keep it close. At the bottom mark he got a technical penalty which was handy for the boys. We stayed right on his tail upwind and did so round the top mark. He did a very good job of slowing up and managed to trap us, luffing us and getting the penalty off us. He then sailed off to win. Winning our next two races we then lost to Italian Simmone Ferresse. We got the leeward start but he managed to hold us to the lay line. He lead round the top and bottom mark but we were still close enough to attack. Sailing upwind we seemed to be a lot slower than him. We changed a few things but couldn’t work it out. We might have picked up a bit of weed but we were not sure and he just sailed away to an easy victory. This was disappointing as we know we can beat him more often than not. With one race to go we put our opponent away comfortably to end day two with a 5-3 win loss ratio.
Day 3 of racing we had one race to go in the round robin. It was a must win for us to have a chance of getting in the semis. The race was against Jacopo Pasinni from Italy. We have raced against him in 3 regattas now and are fairly even. We had a very rough penalty go against us in the pre start when it was a clear cut penalty on him. However we came off the line better than him and had a small lead at the top mark. We then got another penalty sprung on us for having our bow sprit out in the two length circle. ( only 100mm as it didn’t fully retract when we dropped the genaker before the start) We did the one penalty turn immediately and then hoisted the kite. Putting pressure on him downwind we managed to gain buoy room at the bottom mark but he didn’t give it and got dealt an immediate penalty. This didn’t wipe our one off but it put him behind. Upwind we managed to sailed him far out to the right hand side of the course and did our turn behind him. This put us right on his tail at the top and with a clean slate. After all this he then hoisted his kite to early causing it to trawl in the water and we managed to sail around him while he had issues. What a race, just mayhem.
With 6 wins and 3 losses on the board we had a very good chance of making the semis. There were still four flights to go and Jure Orel (SLO) had to win them all against the top 4 ranked guys. As we watched him top one, two and then the third, he had to lose the last race for us to get in. He hadn’t been sailing well the first two days and we couldn’t believe it came down to this. If he won the race he top qualified, if he lost he finished 6th overall. That’s how close the points were. We watched him jam yet another start and then sail away for a comfortable win which ripped our undies. Yet another huge disappointment for the team, missing out on count back to finish 5th.
We had a really good de brief today and discussed all the things we need to improve on individually and as a team. We identified that we had been sailing really well and not much has to change there but our preparation off the water needs improvement. We feel a much more professional approach and better organisation in the team is needed to be able to take those one or two more wins needed to crack into the finals. Finishing 5th this is not the result we were after and a hard one to swollow.
We now have 7 weeks off where there are no more match racing regattas. We are trying to find some other sailing to do so if you know of anyone or anything let us know. We have all gone in different directins at the moment but are going to try and sail in Cowes week together. Our next competition is in the USA for three grade 2 regattas at the end of august. We are hoping to come back bigger, better and with alot more hunger!!
We would like to thank Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ian of Tax Management NZ, Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity.
Thanks Guys,
Waka Racing
Monday, June 29, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
New Country Different Event
After arriving in the colourful city of Koper, Slovenia on Tuesdayevening. We had high hopes after last week competing with the best inthe world in Portugal. We were hoping to carry the intensity throughto this week
We were joined on the boat today by our local bowman Tosh, for thefirst time. Conditions on the first day were lite with seven knots ofbreeze.
The first race we had local Bojan Rajar. The start was non eventfuland we won the favoured left and extended to have a handy lead at thefirst mark carrying on to win our first race.The second race was against world ranked number 13 and local legend Jure Orel. This was much the same as the first race, managing to winthe favoured left hand side and the race.
The third race against world number 10 Ian Ainslie on the other handwas a different story with the breeze dropping to less than 5 knots.We forced him to tack off and he struggled to lay the committee boat.Therefore we had won the start and the left but with the winddropping it was starting to shift right and Ian ended up in a goodposition. When we tacked he crossed us and rounded the top mark justahead. There was a change of coarse at the bottom mark and we cameback to keep it close but couldn’t manage to get ahead.
All in all we were happy with the day but are looking forward to racing tomorrow.
We were joined on the boat today by our local bowman Tosh, for thefirst time. Conditions on the first day were lite with seven knots ofbreeze.
The first race we had local Bojan Rajar. The start was non eventfuland we won the favoured left and extended to have a handy lead at thefirst mark carrying on to win our first race.The second race was against world ranked number 13 and local legend Jure Orel. This was much the same as the first race, managing to winthe favoured left hand side and the race.
The third race against world number 10 Ian Ainslie on the other handwas a different story with the breeze dropping to less than 5 knots.We forced him to tack off and he struggled to lay the committee boat.Therefore we had won the start and the left but with the winddropping it was starting to shift right and Ian ended up in a goodposition. When we tacked he crossed us and rounded the top mark justahead. There was a change of coarse at the bottom mark and we cameback to keep it close but couldn’t manage to get ahead.
All in all we were happy with the day but are looking forward to racing tomorrow.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Portugal Match Cup
Portugal Match Cup.Gaining a late entry and with less than a weeks notice the team had to shimmy their way from Russia to Portugal to compete in this years 4th World Match Racing Tour event. We were stoked with the entry and had to jump at the opportunity and experience of racing at a world tour event. We flew in the morning of practice day and then had 2 hours to get used to the Swedish Match 40 boats and also a new bowman from Portugal, Rubrio Basilio, who very quickly gained the name 'Rangi' as we struggled to pronounce his real name. The weather here was a nice change from Russia. Sailing with strong tides again and up to 35 degrees we had no problem adapting. With the breeze generally light in the morning, dying by midday for a couple of hours and a sea breeze building in the afternoon. We had this most days making the racing days very long with early starts and late finishes.
Race 1 was a tough one. Coming off the line on his tail we tacked off and he followed. He then lifted inside and seemed to have a tad more speed than us, extending to a big lead by the top mark. We couldn't recover from there and took our first loss to Hansen (SWE)With around 7 knots race two started against Richard (FRA). We won the leeward position off the line but he managed to hold his guage to the layline and he lee bow tacked to take a 1 boat length lead at the top mark. He then sailed away a little downwind and held his lead for the rest of the race. We were happy with our speed in this race and knew we could build from it.Race 3 was against Presti in the afternoon. We gained a penalty in the dial up but managed to win the start. We tacked on some good shifts up the beat gaining a nice lead. We then lost a little on the downwind and again some more on the next upwind. Presti set up well to stop us completing a turn upwind and we tried to sail away and do it on the finish line but failed as we didn't have a big enough lead. A disappointment for the team but a big boost also!Race 4 against current World Champion Ian Williams. We were fired up for this one after the close loss to Presti. We won the start again and had a good upwind to hold a 2 boatlegnth lead. He gybed first and caught up but we managed to overlap him above and hold him out past the bottom mark. A big scramble by the team to get the kite down and jib up resulted in us coming out alot better having a 3 length lead at the bottom mark. We then sailed the beat superbly to extend our lead and win the race comfortably. The team was stoked with this win and a big boost for the confidence.We then raced local Alvaro Marino who knocked us out of the Open de Espana in April. We really wanted this win on the board. We controlled well in the pre start and managed to push him over the line and give him a penalty on the gun. We held a confortable lead during the race to take our second point.A great day for the team as these boats are known to be hard to get used to and get going fast but we seemed to adjust well and were happy with our speed.
Day two and again not much wind in the morning but with the see breeze building to 20knots in the late afternoon, it made racing exciting. This turned out to be a long day as we were 1st up at 10am and then last flight around 8.30pm. We sailed well again, winning only 1 race. It was a tad dissapointiong as we pushed alot of the top guys. Our races against world number 1 Sebastion Col and Peter Gilmour we managed to win the start and get the first cross. Against Col we lead at the top and had another big scramble at the bottom to come out ahead but gaining a red flag penalty for a port starboard insident during the drop. We couldn't then get back into the race from there. Aginst Gilmore he lead by a small margin at the top and held his small lead throughout. We won our match aginst Ian Anslie (RSA) in about 20kts of breeze. We lead upwind and then he passed us at the bottom mark. A penalty on him for taking too much room at the bottom mark helped and during the drop his jib sheets got tangled and we passed. Extending our lead up wind, we held on in the very puffy conditions. Our last race of the day was against Russian Abuzov. The breeze died to less than 10kts and with this came shifty conditions. We lost the start due to the other match rounding a temporary bottom mark on the start line at the same time as our start gun. We were affected greatly but caught right back up. We had at least two chances to take the lead but failed to capitalise both times losing by a small margin in the end. We were dissapointed with this loss as it was one we should've, would've and could've won.
Day 3 we had two races to go. One againt felow kiwi Minoprio and the other against Mirsky (AUS). Against Minoprio we won the start and had guage to windward. We held our lead up wind but made a mistake in a big dial down at the top mark and fell behind but rounded on his tail. We were then taken past the bottom mark to put pressure on our drop yet again and came out ok. We rounded behind and started to attack with a tacking duel. We fell a little behind but when he put his jib through his spreader it gave us the split we were after. We caught up and he lee bowed us at the top. He then luffed for a good amount of time so we didn't get buoy room and unfortunatly we lost our bow onto port and he sailed away to take the victory.Our last race was against Mirsky of Austrlia. We won the start yet again in about 15kts of breeze and held him off upwind. He tried to roll us downwind but we held him out till the bottom mark. We then made the mistake of gybing too early as we thought he had broken the overlap and he snuck inside us to gain bouy room at the bottom mark. He then extended to win the race. The media summed it all up in their report on the World Tour website "While finishing in 9th place and therefore not advancing to the next stage, its noteworthy to mention the extraordinary efforts put in by Phil Robertson (NZL) and his WAKA Racing team. In his matches against two other young Down Under talents, fellow Kiwi Minoprio and Aussie Mirsky, Robertson was extremely tough, taking both to their limits amidst heated pre-start and mark-rounding action. He and his team got beaten for not having quite that extra polish the others have in having spent the last two years in Tour competition, but his performance today certainly makes him one to watch for the future".
We are very happy with our perfomance in our first Tour event and feel we have earned some respect, which was our goal for the event. It is just having the experience and knowledge of what to do in pressure situations that we lacked and know this will all come with more events and practice. We are now looking forward to our next event in Slovenia, a grade 2 in brand new fully carbon 'One Design Match' boats. We are definately hoping we can perform well and put all the experience of the last two weeks together to gain a great result. Competion here will be tough but we know we can down the top guys.
We would like to thank Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ian of Tax Management NZ, Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity
Race 1 was a tough one. Coming off the line on his tail we tacked off and he followed. He then lifted inside and seemed to have a tad more speed than us, extending to a big lead by the top mark. We couldn't recover from there and took our first loss to Hansen (SWE)With around 7 knots race two started against Richard (FRA). We won the leeward position off the line but he managed to hold his guage to the layline and he lee bow tacked to take a 1 boat length lead at the top mark. He then sailed away a little downwind and held his lead for the rest of the race. We were happy with our speed in this race and knew we could build from it.Race 3 was against Presti in the afternoon. We gained a penalty in the dial up but managed to win the start. We tacked on some good shifts up the beat gaining a nice lead. We then lost a little on the downwind and again some more on the next upwind. Presti set up well to stop us completing a turn upwind and we tried to sail away and do it on the finish line but failed as we didn't have a big enough lead. A disappointment for the team but a big boost also!Race 4 against current World Champion Ian Williams. We were fired up for this one after the close loss to Presti. We won the start again and had a good upwind to hold a 2 boatlegnth lead. He gybed first and caught up but we managed to overlap him above and hold him out past the bottom mark. A big scramble by the team to get the kite down and jib up resulted in us coming out alot better having a 3 length lead at the bottom mark. We then sailed the beat superbly to extend our lead and win the race comfortably. The team was stoked with this win and a big boost for the confidence.We then raced local Alvaro Marino who knocked us out of the Open de Espana in April. We really wanted this win on the board. We controlled well in the pre start and managed to push him over the line and give him a penalty on the gun. We held a confortable lead during the race to take our second point.A great day for the team as these boats are known to be hard to get used to and get going fast but we seemed to adjust well and were happy with our speed.
Day two and again not much wind in the morning but with the see breeze building to 20knots in the late afternoon, it made racing exciting. This turned out to be a long day as we were 1st up at 10am and then last flight around 8.30pm. We sailed well again, winning only 1 race. It was a tad dissapointiong as we pushed alot of the top guys. Our races against world number 1 Sebastion Col and Peter Gilmour we managed to win the start and get the first cross. Against Col we lead at the top and had another big scramble at the bottom to come out ahead but gaining a red flag penalty for a port starboard insident during the drop. We couldn't then get back into the race from there. Aginst Gilmore he lead by a small margin at the top and held his small lead throughout. We won our match aginst Ian Anslie (RSA) in about 20kts of breeze. We lead upwind and then he passed us at the bottom mark. A penalty on him for taking too much room at the bottom mark helped and during the drop his jib sheets got tangled and we passed. Extending our lead up wind, we held on in the very puffy conditions. Our last race of the day was against Russian Abuzov. The breeze died to less than 10kts and with this came shifty conditions. We lost the start due to the other match rounding a temporary bottom mark on the start line at the same time as our start gun. We were affected greatly but caught right back up. We had at least two chances to take the lead but failed to capitalise both times losing by a small margin in the end. We were dissapointed with this loss as it was one we should've, would've and could've won.
Day 3 we had two races to go. One againt felow kiwi Minoprio and the other against Mirsky (AUS). Against Minoprio we won the start and had guage to windward. We held our lead up wind but made a mistake in a big dial down at the top mark and fell behind but rounded on his tail. We were then taken past the bottom mark to put pressure on our drop yet again and came out ok. We rounded behind and started to attack with a tacking duel. We fell a little behind but when he put his jib through his spreader it gave us the split we were after. We caught up and he lee bowed us at the top. He then luffed for a good amount of time so we didn't get buoy room and unfortunatly we lost our bow onto port and he sailed away to take the victory.Our last race was against Mirsky of Austrlia. We won the start yet again in about 15kts of breeze and held him off upwind. He tried to roll us downwind but we held him out till the bottom mark. We then made the mistake of gybing too early as we thought he had broken the overlap and he snuck inside us to gain bouy room at the bottom mark. He then extended to win the race. The media summed it all up in their report on the World Tour website "While finishing in 9th place and therefore not advancing to the next stage, its noteworthy to mention the extraordinary efforts put in by Phil Robertson (NZL) and his WAKA Racing team. In his matches against two other young Down Under talents, fellow Kiwi Minoprio and Aussie Mirsky, Robertson was extremely tough, taking both to their limits amidst heated pre-start and mark-rounding action. He and his team got beaten for not having quite that extra polish the others have in having spent the last two years in Tour competition, but his performance today certainly makes him one to watch for the future".
We are very happy with our perfomance in our first Tour event and feel we have earned some respect, which was our goal for the event. It is just having the experience and knowledge of what to do in pressure situations that we lacked and know this will all come with more events and practice. We are now looking forward to our next event in Slovenia, a grade 2 in brand new fully carbon 'One Design Match' boats. We are definately hoping we can perform well and put all the experience of the last two weeks together to gain a great result. Competion here will be tough but we know we can down the top guys.
We would like to thank Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ian of Tax Management NZ, Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity
Sunday, June 14, 2009
5th in Grade1 Russia
Hi all,
We arrived in wonderful Russia on Monday night to a cold 12 degrees and rain. It stayed this way for the next 2 days not making the first impressions good ones. We trained in the ‘wedge’ shaped boats on Tuesday and found them extremely strange and with a lot of drag. This adding to the cold, wet, light and very strong current Russia had to offer! Despite all of this we were pumped and ready for our second grade 1 event.
Day one started with rain and no wind and ended exactly the same. We then had to attend a fantastic opening ceremony…..40 girls doing a fashion parade in wedding dresses, funny dressed dancers strutting there stuff followed by two parties with plenty of vodka. Russia….
Day two, much the same as day one. It did clear up eventually followed by a light breeze so racing got underway. We started well beating Russian Eugeniy Neugodnikov who we picked as being one of the toughest. We then carried this form on to top 2 others in a row. With our 4th race of the day and our final we had a blinding pre start. We came off the line against Andrew Arbuzov with a double penalty on him. He tried to fit one in but we placed ourselves in his way, giving him another. We had a good lead with him still having to complete another penalty. He snuck this in on the second beat when he was still behind without us noticing. This proved to be devastating as we let him cross the line first as we were still in a controlling and safe position if he had the penalty. He won the race. Our score 3wins 1 loss.
The sun came out and bought the heat on day 3, about 25degrees. But once again light breeze. We only managed to do 3 races this day. The wind was from the opposite direction today making the up wind beats into tide. We capitalised on this by using our knowledge of beating into tide up the wall outside the Squadron so many times. Losing the start in one race which we lost we then won the other two. Score 5-2
On the 4th day we waited once again for the wind to fill in. The original format was for the top 6 to proceed, which is where we set our goal at, but the race committee cut it to the top 4 due to lack of time. With 4 races left we knew we had to fire to get into the semi’s. Race 1 we lost the start and fought hard to climb back into the race. We sailed superbly to get within a boat length at the top mark for the second time. Sailing with the current downwind gave us little time to attack and we just failed to roll him on the gybe, losing by two lengths. Race 2 went well, winning the start we extended our lead throughout the race. Race 3 we didn’t win the favoured pin end, and looking at statistics I’d say no one lost a race the whole regatta who got to the out of tide obstruction line first. Once again we fought real hard against Danish Peter Wibroe and had our chances but couldn’t quite capitalise to take the lead. With 6 wins on the board we knew we wouldn’t make the top 4 if it stayed. The last race was against top ranked Damien Iehl. We came off the line ahead but conceded a penalty. We held a little lead for the first beat and rounded the bottom mark ahead. He rounded the mark behind but then lifted closing into 1 boat length. We then we forced to double tack and he did also. He completed his tack first onto starboard and we then got another penalty. Doing one straight away we lost a lot of ground and he held his lead to the finish.
This put us on 6 wins 5 losses which we knew was going to be tough to make the top 4. We then had 3 painful matches to watch to see if it would go our way. It did for a few minutes and then it went horribly wrong as we watched someone run aground who we needed to win. We can’t blame the fact that others didn’t win who should have as we could have easily won a couple more.
After just missing out on semis we raced today for 5th and 6th. With the organising committee making it a one race decider we had to be on our game. This race was against Rui Boia from Portugal. We set up nicely in the pre start to lead back to the line. Forcing him to be late on the line we controlled the up wind. We had a handy lead at the top but turning into the current cut it in half. We then controlled the rest of the race to win and take 5th overall.
This is a fantastic result as being the 11th ranked team we set our goal at making the top 6. We achieved this but unluckily the light conditions didn't allow the organisers to get the whole regatta format in of having a top 6 round robin before the semi finals. We were a tad gutted with this but we defiantly had our chances of making the top four. We had a fantastic race with Damien Ihel and are now sailing at the top level we have been striving for. We just need to fine tune all our skills, strategies and tactics to be able to top the big guys and start getting those vital points that bite us in the ass when it counts.
A fantastic regatta for the team and we are thrilled with how we sailed and our result. We are now looking forward to the World Tour event next week in Portugal, with the plan of taking what we learnt with us to tackle the best in the world.
We would like to thank Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ian of Tax Management NZ, Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity.
WAKA Racing
We arrived in wonderful Russia on Monday night to a cold 12 degrees and rain. It stayed this way for the next 2 days not making the first impressions good ones. We trained in the ‘wedge’ shaped boats on Tuesday and found them extremely strange and with a lot of drag. This adding to the cold, wet, light and very strong current Russia had to offer! Despite all of this we were pumped and ready for our second grade 1 event.
Day one started with rain and no wind and ended exactly the same. We then had to attend a fantastic opening ceremony…..40 girls doing a fashion parade in wedding dresses, funny dressed dancers strutting there stuff followed by two parties with plenty of vodka. Russia….
Day two, much the same as day one. It did clear up eventually followed by a light breeze so racing got underway. We started well beating Russian Eugeniy Neugodnikov who we picked as being one of the toughest. We then carried this form on to top 2 others in a row. With our 4th race of the day and our final we had a blinding pre start. We came off the line against Andrew Arbuzov with a double penalty on him. He tried to fit one in but we placed ourselves in his way, giving him another. We had a good lead with him still having to complete another penalty. He snuck this in on the second beat when he was still behind without us noticing. This proved to be devastating as we let him cross the line first as we were still in a controlling and safe position if he had the penalty. He won the race. Our score 3wins 1 loss.
The sun came out and bought the heat on day 3, about 25degrees. But once again light breeze. We only managed to do 3 races this day. The wind was from the opposite direction today making the up wind beats into tide. We capitalised on this by using our knowledge of beating into tide up the wall outside the Squadron so many times. Losing the start in one race which we lost we then won the other two. Score 5-2
On the 4th day we waited once again for the wind to fill in. The original format was for the top 6 to proceed, which is where we set our goal at, but the race committee cut it to the top 4 due to lack of time. With 4 races left we knew we had to fire to get into the semi’s. Race 1 we lost the start and fought hard to climb back into the race. We sailed superbly to get within a boat length at the top mark for the second time. Sailing with the current downwind gave us little time to attack and we just failed to roll him on the gybe, losing by two lengths. Race 2 went well, winning the start we extended our lead throughout the race. Race 3 we didn’t win the favoured pin end, and looking at statistics I’d say no one lost a race the whole regatta who got to the out of tide obstruction line first. Once again we fought real hard against Danish Peter Wibroe and had our chances but couldn’t quite capitalise to take the lead. With 6 wins on the board we knew we wouldn’t make the top 4 if it stayed. The last race was against top ranked Damien Iehl. We came off the line ahead but conceded a penalty. We held a little lead for the first beat and rounded the bottom mark ahead. He rounded the mark behind but then lifted closing into 1 boat length. We then we forced to double tack and he did also. He completed his tack first onto starboard and we then got another penalty. Doing one straight away we lost a lot of ground and he held his lead to the finish.
This put us on 6 wins 5 losses which we knew was going to be tough to make the top 4. We then had 3 painful matches to watch to see if it would go our way. It did for a few minutes and then it went horribly wrong as we watched someone run aground who we needed to win. We can’t blame the fact that others didn’t win who should have as we could have easily won a couple more.
After just missing out on semis we raced today for 5th and 6th. With the organising committee making it a one race decider we had to be on our game. This race was against Rui Boia from Portugal. We set up nicely in the pre start to lead back to the line. Forcing him to be late on the line we controlled the up wind. We had a handy lead at the top but turning into the current cut it in half. We then controlled the rest of the race to win and take 5th overall.
This is a fantastic result as being the 11th ranked team we set our goal at making the top 6. We achieved this but unluckily the light conditions didn't allow the organisers to get the whole regatta format in of having a top 6 round robin before the semi finals. We were a tad gutted with this but we defiantly had our chances of making the top four. We had a fantastic race with Damien Ihel and are now sailing at the top level we have been striving for. We just need to fine tune all our skills, strategies and tactics to be able to top the big guys and start getting those vital points that bite us in the ass when it counts.
A fantastic regatta for the team and we are thrilled with how we sailed and our result. We are now looking forward to the World Tour event next week in Portugal, with the plan of taking what we learnt with us to tackle the best in the world.
We would like to thank Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ian of Tax Management NZ, Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity.
WAKA Racing
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Another Close miss....
Today started with no wind (big surprise!) and a long delay. Finally at about 12 o’clock a nice breeze came in alowing us to get out of the steaming hot marquee and actually go do some racing. Due to loss of time the race committee advised us that instead of going to a top six round robin after the first round robin was completed they would instead only take the top four. This was going to make things very tight to make the top four.
We had four races in row and knew we had to win a couple of them make the finals series. First up we had Jacako Pasinni. We lost the start but fought very hard to stay in touch. After two long one track beats we managed to make some small gains and round the top mark one legnth behind. With a short, down tide run to the finish we were unable to roll him and lost by two legnths.
Our next opponent was Manu Weiller of Spain. We won the start and sailed two superb beats to take the victory and a much needed point.
Race 3 was aginst Peter Wibroe from Denmark. He had been sailing well all regatta so we knew it was a tough race. The start was tough with the current making the lay line very high.Unable to win the favoured pin end we made the task ahead very difficult. We then fought very hard once again and managed to climb back into him by using our good knowledge of sailing in current. We had a good bottom mark rounding and turned up inside him. With the obstuction drawing near we tacked first back out into the tide. We then tried to tack back underneath him but stopped as we were going to clip him and came out in his dirty air. This made it harder and he sailed well to keep his lead and win the race.
Our last race was against top ranked Damien Iehl. With the start gun going we were both over but made sure we came off the line better. By doing this we conceded a penalty but were happy with the lead. We managed to get the first cross and get in out of the current. We then extended our lead but took a couple of unlucky knocks at the top and he gained a little. We rounded the bottom mark well but lost guage due to the tide. He then Rounded on our hip 5 legnths behind but lifted. We tacked back to cross by a legnth but he was then out of phase and out of tide. We came back and he dipped,we tacked at the same time as him but didn’t complete onto port in time and got another penalty. Taking the penalty immediately put us well behind and impossible to come back. It was a dissapointing loss but the lesson was learnt.
This put us on 6 wins 5 losses which we knew was going to be tough to make the top 4.We then had 3 painful matches to watch to see if it would go our way. It did for a few minutes and then it went horribly wrong as we watched someone run aground who we needed to win. We can’t blame the fact that others didn’t win who should have as we could have easily won a couple more. We are sailing at a much higher level now and just need to fine tune our skills and strategies to be able to win the races we should have won.
We now have to sail off for 5 and 6th place tomorrow morning so the boys will be pumped and ready to defend our position!!!
WAKA Racing
We had four races in row and knew we had to win a couple of them make the finals series. First up we had Jacako Pasinni. We lost the start but fought very hard to stay in touch. After two long one track beats we managed to make some small gains and round the top mark one legnth behind. With a short, down tide run to the finish we were unable to roll him and lost by two legnths.
Our next opponent was Manu Weiller of Spain. We won the start and sailed two superb beats to take the victory and a much needed point.
Race 3 was aginst Peter Wibroe from Denmark. He had been sailing well all regatta so we knew it was a tough race. The start was tough with the current making the lay line very high.Unable to win the favoured pin end we made the task ahead very difficult. We then fought very hard once again and managed to climb back into him by using our good knowledge of sailing in current. We had a good bottom mark rounding and turned up inside him. With the obstuction drawing near we tacked first back out into the tide. We then tried to tack back underneath him but stopped as we were going to clip him and came out in his dirty air. This made it harder and he sailed well to keep his lead and win the race.
Our last race was against top ranked Damien Iehl. With the start gun going we were both over but made sure we came off the line better. By doing this we conceded a penalty but were happy with the lead. We managed to get the first cross and get in out of the current. We then extended our lead but took a couple of unlucky knocks at the top and he gained a little. We rounded the bottom mark well but lost guage due to the tide. He then Rounded on our hip 5 legnths behind but lifted. We tacked back to cross by a legnth but he was then out of phase and out of tide. We came back and he dipped,we tacked at the same time as him but didn’t complete onto port in time and got another penalty. Taking the penalty immediately put us well behind and impossible to come back. It was a dissapointing loss but the lesson was learnt.
This put us on 6 wins 5 losses which we knew was going to be tough to make the top 4.We then had 3 painful matches to watch to see if it would go our way. It did for a few minutes and then it went horribly wrong as we watched someone run aground who we needed to win. We can’t blame the fact that others didn’t win who should have as we could have easily won a couple more. We are sailing at a much higher level now and just need to fine tune our skills and strategies to be able to win the races we should have won.
We now have to sail off for 5 and 6th place tomorrow morning so the boys will be pumped and ready to defend our position!!!
WAKA Racing
Friday, June 12, 2009
Great News!!
Hi,
Today we were informed that there was a space free for the Portugal Match Cup world tour event and we got asked to compete!! We are thrilled and really looking forward to it. Fantastic news for the team and great to get a foot in the door. Just a logistical nightmare!!
Today was also the second days racing here in the ''wounderful Russia''. With very little breeze, we had 2 wins and 1 loss. This brings our score to 5wins-2losses. We are going very well and are dealing with the light winds and strong currents well. All those days beating up the rock wall outside the Squadron are paying off and we are pulling out all the tidal relief tricks.
Four more races to finish off the round robin for us tomorrow. We will post a report tomorrow night (morning NZ time) on how the day went.
Peace
Today we were informed that there was a space free for the Portugal Match Cup world tour event and we got asked to compete!! We are thrilled and really looking forward to it. Fantastic news for the team and great to get a foot in the door. Just a logistical nightmare!!
Today was also the second days racing here in the ''wounderful Russia''. With very little breeze, we had 2 wins and 1 loss. This brings our score to 5wins-2losses. We are going very well and are dealing with the light winds and strong currents well. All those days beating up the rock wall outside the Squadron are paying off and we are pulling out all the tidal relief tricks.
Four more races to finish off the round robin for us tomorrow. We will post a report tomorrow night (morning NZ time) on how the day went.
Peace
Sail of White Nights
Hey guys,
We had a great first day of the grade 1, Won 4 lost 1. We were very unfortunate in the loss as he passed us on the finishing line when we thought he still had a penalty. Very dissapointing and a lesson lern't the hard way. We are just starting day 2 so we will post a report tonight and let you all know how we got on.
Cheers,
WAKA Racing
We had a great first day of the grade 1, Won 4 lost 1. We were very unfortunate in the loss as he passed us on the finishing line when we thought he still had a penalty. Very dissapointing and a lesson lern't the hard way. We are just starting day 2 so we will post a report tonight and let you all know how we got on.
Cheers,
WAKA Racing
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Poland Report from Russia
The Boats and the sailing area. Lake Pupuke?
Hi Team,
Last week we were in Poznan, Poland for a grade 3 event. This was on a lake that reminded us a lot of the familiar Lake Pupuke. It was fairly cold, either very light or windy, similar size and surroundings. It was sailed in funny little trailer sailors, Skippy 950’s. There were 12 teams competing, 10 from Poland and 1 from Brazil. They split the round robin into 2 groups as they only had 4 boats and 2 days of racing. We went through our round robin taking out all 5 races with only one them being close where we came from behind to roll the guy just before the finish line. We then won both our quarter final and semi finals 2-0. We were very strong in the pre starts and won most of our races by coming of the starting line in a comfortable position and when required did the business with the boat handling.
The final was against one of Poland’s best, Marek Stanczyk who is ranked a few places in front of us. We knew this was going to be tough and had to be at the top of our game to beat him. Race one we lost by a wind shift up the first beat and then we won the next two. We were then up 2-1 only having to win one more to take out the regatta. He fought back well and took the next race comfortably making the last race the decider. Score 2-2. We controlled most of the pre-start before being forced to split tack off the line. We were behind by two lengths at the top mark and couldn’t quite roll him downwind. His lead stayed the same for the rest of the race with us throwing everything at him. We attacked again on the downwind but the short course got us in the end and he won by a couple of lengths.
We were a tad gutted with 2nd place as we were so close but knew we didn’t sail badly at all throughout the regatta. We were just beaten by a slightly better team in the finals who really knew how to sail the boats fast. Hopefully we can hit a higher level for this next event.
We flew out of Warsaw on Monday morning arriving in St Petersburg in the afternoon. The sailing area is very small and has a strong 3-4 knot current that runs down the course. We believe we can use this to our advantage as it is much like sailing off the Squadron. We are all pumped and ready to take on the best , hoping to come out with a top result on these very tricky waters.
Thanks to all of you for supporting and following us. We must also thank Stefan Goldwater of Widex, South Pacific Sporting Trust, Line 7, RNZYS and Simon Dickey of Frontend Design for all their help and Support!!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Close but no cigar...
Hi all,
We have just come off the water from a long, hard days racing. We managed to win through to the finals undefeated. Unfortunately in the finals after being 2-1 up we lost in a close last race 3-2. A full report will follow in the next day or so as we have managed to hitch a ride from Poznan to Warsaw (normally 3 hour train ride!) tonight so we must go.
Tomorrow we fly to St Petersburg where hopefully we will have better internet access.
Cheers,
WAKA Boys
We have just come off the water from a long, hard days racing. We managed to win through to the finals undefeated. Unfortunately in the finals after being 2-1 up we lost in a close last race 3-2. A full report will follow in the next day or so as we have managed to hitch a ride from Poznan to Warsaw (normally 3 hour train ride!) tonight so we must go.
Tomorrow we fly to St Petersburg where hopefully we will have better internet access.
Cheers,
WAKA Boys
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Back on the water for WAKA Racing
Hi all,
Waka Racing team is back in action after a couple of weeks off. We are now in Poland competing in the Polish Match Tour, Poznan. Today was the round Robin. With 12 teams and only 4 boats they split the fleet in half to cut down on flights. We had a great day in the Skippi 6.50s winning all 5 of our round matches. We had fantastic pre starts in our first 4 races and managed to maintain a confortable lead in the very shifty lake conditions. Our last match of the day wasn't as easy, we came off the line 3 legnths behind. After a big tacking duel we came right back into him before a big wind shift at the top of the beat went his way, undoing all our hard work. Fighting hard we pulled him in again at the the top mark and had a much better hoist, setting us up to attack. We gybed ontop of him, rolled him and held a boat legnth advantage to the finish.
A great day and a positive start to the regatta. We now have quarter finals tomorrow and then they will finish the rest of the event.
link to the event website: www.polishmatch.pl
Waka Racing team is back in action after a couple of weeks off. We are now in Poland competing in the Polish Match Tour, Poznan. Today was the round Robin. With 12 teams and only 4 boats they split the fleet in half to cut down on flights. We had a great day in the Skippi 6.50s winning all 5 of our round matches. We had fantastic pre starts in our first 4 races and managed to maintain a confortable lead in the very shifty lake conditions. Our last match of the day wasn't as easy, we came off the line 3 legnths behind. After a big tacking duel we came right back into him before a big wind shift at the top of the beat went his way, undoing all our hard work. Fighting hard we pulled him in again at the the top mark and had a much better hoist, setting us up to attack. We gybed ontop of him, rolled him and held a boat legnth advantage to the finish.
A great day and a positive start to the regatta. We now have quarter finals tomorrow and then they will finish the rest of the event.
link to the event website: www.polishmatch.pl
Monday, June 1, 2009
Happy Days
Hey Guys,
Just an update on where the team is and what we have been doing the last couple of weeks. We have all been in different places, visiting friends and trying to keep the cost of living down. Phil has been to Switzerland for a week and then to England. James has stayed in London for most of the time, Garth in Valencia again with Mike Drummond and Sam has been to the Netherlands and is now in London.
Phil, Jimmy and Sam made a trip to Cowes for the weekend to compete on a J109 in the Vice Admirals Cup. We were stoked to be back on the water and do some more yachting and had a great time at Cowes. We finished the regatta in 3rd place but were kindly asked by 4th place to retire from the first day as the owners couldn't make it so Phil steered the boat. The owner decided to retire as he didn't want to cause and trouble in the fleet as he is new to the class. The fleets standard was very similar so the racing was always very close. A little bit more local knowledge on the tides in the Solent would have helped out tremendously as you can easily get up to 4knts of it. The weather was fantastic with blue sky and 10-15kts every day so a great first experience of Cowes.
We have all spent the end of last week desperately trying to get our visas for Russia sorted out and are hopefully going to pick them up today. We then fly out to Poland tomorrow for our next match racing event this weekend. After that we are off to Russia for the grade 1 event. This is then followed by a regatta in Poland again, then Slovenia and then hopefully back to Poland for their grade 2 regatta.
We will keep the site updated and let you all know how we get on. Bye for now.
WAKA Racing
Just an update on where the team is and what we have been doing the last couple of weeks. We have all been in different places, visiting friends and trying to keep the cost of living down. Phil has been to Switzerland for a week and then to England. James has stayed in London for most of the time, Garth in Valencia again with Mike Drummond and Sam has been to the Netherlands and is now in London.
Phil, Jimmy and Sam made a trip to Cowes for the weekend to compete on a J109 in the Vice Admirals Cup. We were stoked to be back on the water and do some more yachting and had a great time at Cowes. We finished the regatta in 3rd place but were kindly asked by 4th place to retire from the first day as the owners couldn't make it so Phil steered the boat. The owner decided to retire as he didn't want to cause and trouble in the fleet as he is new to the class. The fleets standard was very similar so the racing was always very close. A little bit more local knowledge on the tides in the Solent would have helped out tremendously as you can easily get up to 4knts of it. The weather was fantastic with blue sky and 10-15kts every day so a great first experience of Cowes.
We have all spent the end of last week desperately trying to get our visas for Russia sorted out and are hopefully going to pick them up today. We then fly out to Poland tomorrow for our next match racing event this weekend. After that we are off to Russia for the grade 1 event. This is then followed by a regatta in Poland again, then Slovenia and then hopefully back to Poland for their grade 2 regatta.
We will keep the site updated and let you all know how we get on. Bye for now.
WAKA Racing
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