Issue date
It was great to be joined by an additional group of foreigners’ straight after our Nationals finished, to up the quality and intensity of our training and summer racing even more. Joining our local talent, the Duchies and Omanis who were already here, were sailors from Australia, Sweden, Ireland, Norway, Singapore and Korea. It has given us some competitive racing both in training, at Oceanbridge Sail Auckland and during the OKI 24 Hour Race this past weekend.
The week after Nationals we began our training with the whole group of international sailors by running a ‘coaches regatta’ for the second year in a row – The Aotearoa Cup. With the additional foreigners who had come for this training and Oceanbridge Sail Auckland the following week, we now had a decent fleet with five sailors from the top 20, and nine from the top 30 at the World Championships a few months ago in Oman. We raced the 2014 Aotearoa Cup off Takapuna beach and were treated to a range of conditions over the three days, from 25-30 knots offshore South-westerly’s, to 5-10 knot onshore sea breezes. The great thing about a well run ‘coaches regatta’ is the high intensity of racing you get, without spending all day on the water so that you can keep to a normal training routine off the water too. We had 10 races in total including a medal race, making for some very valuable practice that relates to an ISAF event, and the Olympics. I won the event with Rutger (NED) finishing second and Nicholas (NED) finishing third. It was a good warm up for Oceanbridge Sail Auckland starting a couple days later!
Wave on... Racing during day two of the Aotearoa Cup
Over the next couple days the fleet of Lasers migrated from Takapuna to Akarana in preparation for Oceanbridge Sail Auckland. It’s quite a change adjusting to the Waitemata Harbour conditions which combine a wide range of variables from complex currents, choppy waves, shifting breezes and lots of harbour traffic to create some tricky racing. You definitely have to be on top of it all and be switched on the whole race to come out on top!
Racing in the Waitemata Harbour during Oceanbridge Sail Auckland...
The conditions we experienced during the four days of racing were pretty much everything. Rutger (NED) sailed a great first two days of the event compared to the rest of the fleet, making fewer mistakes and finishing strongly in each race to open up a decent lead going into the second half of the regatta. I felt I put together a bunch of solid races towards the latter half of the event after having a couple shockers on day two, but Rutger remained consistent and comfortably won the regatta. I finished second with Colin (SIN) rounding up the podium. Being pipped by an Aussie last year and this time a Dutch sailor, I think we will have to put an end to that foreign dominance next year!
Reflecting on a race after just finishing - day one of Oceanbridge Sail Auckland...
The added quality at the front of the Laser fleet by having the international competitors really made Oceanbridge Sail Auckland a competitive affair, and increased the intensity of racing to be comparable to an international World Cup event. That has made it a very valuable event to learn from and a great way to continue my build up here in NZ before heading overseas towards the end of March for the first big European events of 2014.
The final event to finish up our ‘NZ summer of racing’ was the unique OKI 24 Hour Race staged on Lake Pupuke over the past weekend. This event is always a real challenge and this year was the toughest one I have done yet! I teamed up with Nicholas Heiner (NED) this year, to create a mixed nation team.
A hectic looking lap one of the OKI 24hr Race - congestion!...
A typical OKI 24 Hour race has decent wind until about 11pm at night when it starts to soften on the lake and a little bit of a ‘drift-off’ occurs for a few hours during the night, before the morning breeze comes back in. This year though, the wind was perfect and even increased during the night to make for some very physical, exciting racing! After rushing to the start line due to some unforeseen last minute fixes on the boat so that it would hold up through the 24 hours, Nic managed to have a solid start (leman style) and was battling at the front of the 40 boat fleet from the get go. Three hours later and it was transition time, with Nic having sailed into the lead and pulling out a slight advantage over Thomas Saunders and Mike Bullot in second place. Mike was hot on my heels for my first few laps as I tried to get a handle on the tricky lake conditions, and he shortly got passed me to take the lead. Over the next two hours we had an epic battle, with many lead changes. Mike swapped out for Thomas a few laps before me, and I managed to open up a nice lead on them towards the end of my stint, to hand it back over to Nic with a decent gap. It was a very mentally and physically draining first three-hour shift for me!
Nic right in amongst it on the first lap, chasing down the leaders... Having started a few OKI's in the past, we decided to give Nic the honours. Was pretty exciting watching from shore too!
Into the night we went, and Nic and I both kept the intensity high throughout all of our three hour night sessions to come into the morning light with a one lap lead over second place. The final 6 hours was just about continuing some consistent laps and managing any minor breakages so that nothing major could put us out of the race. Two O’clock FINALLY came around and 24 hours had come and gone! Nic crossed the line to seal the win and earn us some well-deserved rest.
With the silverware, 24 hours later!... Solid team effort.
Once again the OKI 24 hour Race was an epic. Thanks to OKI and Murrays Bay Sailing Club for putting on the awesome event, and all the other sponsors for making it possible. Cheers to Nic for being a committed team mate and giving it his all for the whole race!
Sail World wrap up here.
It's been a great 'NZ Summer of Racing'. Now it’s time to have a day of rest, before getting back into the next six weeks of full time training in the build up to leaving for our first European event of the year, the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Palma, Spain.
Thanks to everyone for all of the continued support!
Cheers,
Andy
