Issue date
An awesome week of sailing at the 2013 ISAF World Cup event here in Palma has just wrapped up. We were greeted with some great conditions over the course of the regatta, with a range of breeze including some windy days with huge waves making for exciting racing!
From left: Alex Maloney, Andy Maloney, Sam Meech and Molly Meech
In the build up to the event I enjoyed training against all of the other top foreigners who had arrived to battle for the title. It was great to line up with everyone again and get a feel for the BIG fleet European racing which I hadn’t experienced since racing in Kiel in July last year. Our Laser Standard fleet had a great line up for the regatta, with the majority of the top sailors entered to race and our event quota of 120 competitors filling up quickly.
Racing began with a ‘Qualifying Series’ being held over the first three days. We sailed six qualifying races and I had some consistent results including two race wins, to qualify for the Gold Fleet ‘Final Series’ racing in second overall. The ‘Final Series’ was where the real racing began with all the top sailors in the same fleet making for some very close battles. I sailed well on the first day of the finals series, but followed that up with a couple mediocre results on the last day of finals. This put me in 3rd equal going into the final day of racing which consisted of two, double points ‘Medal Races’ where only the top ten boats compete. With a new scoring system of gaining zero points for winning a race, there were a heap of points up for grab on the final day and it was all to play for.
The ‘Medal Race’ day dealt us some different conditions from the rest of the week. The breeze switched to an offshore North West direction of 10-18 knots, making for some tricky racing. The first race I sailed well upwind with good pace and patience, coupled with some solid positioning for the gusts on the downwinds giving me the race win. It was a great start to the day, but all of the other medal contenders had decent races too, meaning it would still all pretty much come down to the final race.
The last race I managed to nail the final shift into the first top mark and round in third place. On the first downwind I closed the gap on the leaders and took the lead by the final top mark. I held on down the final run and took my second race win of the day; a zero point day, couldn’t ask for much more! Tom Burton (AUS) had a decent lead on me going into that final race but unfortunately for him he was OCS in the final race for starting too early, which gave me the overall regatta win!
It is my first ISAF World Cup win, so it is a pretty good feeling! It was also cool to share the podium with my NZL Sailing Team mate Sam Meech who got the bronze medal.
I am staying in Palma for a few days of fitness and chilling out before heading to Hyeres, France for the next ISAF World Cup event, which begins near the end of this month. I’m looking forward to these few days off the water, and then getting back into it all when we arrive in Hyeres!
Check out this clip for an insiders look into the NZL Sailing Team Laser Squad…
