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Andy Maloney returned home this morning from France, after competing in an Extreme 40 event in Nice. Here he tells all about what he has been up to in the last two weeks, including Laser training and racing, as well as how their Extreme 40 team went in Nice.
Following the Melges 32 Worlds I had ten days at home before I was back to Europe for the next Extreme Sailing Series event.
My Laser coach (Mark Howard) and I had planned to begin my laser 'on the water' training again in this time, and get a solid training block completed in these ten days. It was great to be back in the Laser and although I was definitely rusty to start with, by the last few training days I was starting to feel more like myself in the boat and Mark began to see the "old Andy" coming back. It was a much needed week of getting the feel of the boat and the basics back up to a decent standard! Takapuna dealt us a great range of conditions over the week, with 'Super Monday' being a highlight with a nice 20 knot NE and big waves providing us with some fun sailing.
We incorporated the Murrays Bay Winter Champs regatta into the training block which was also a good way to work on every aspect of racing, while lining up against some of the other Kiwi Laser guys. The weather blew out the racing on Saturday but four races were completed on Sunday in shifty ever-changing conditions. It was good to race again and get back into some Laser specific tactics after racing bigger boats for the past few months. I won the regatta which was great, thanks to MBSC and the sponsors for putting on a great event!
During the ten days I was home I also made a visit to the Maersk office in Auckland on a Friday afternoon. Jason Saunders, Jo Aleh, Olivia Powrie and I joined Jez Fanstone to spend a bit of time with Maersk who are a major YNZ sponsor and help the entire NZL Sailing Team out massively with shipping our boats around the world. We arrived at the office as all the employees were having their Friday afternoon work drinks. Jez said a few words about his role at YNZ and coaching, then Jo and Polly did a short speech on their build up to the Olympics and shared their Gold Medals around with the employees.
Jason and I were presented out ISAF Sailing World Cup series trophies and then we all socialised with the Maersk staff over some food and drinks for an hour or so. It was a nice relaxed environment and a cool way to meet some of the Maersk staff who are a huge help to us year around. I'm sure they enjoyed getting to hold Jo and Polly's Medals and getting to know some of the sailors too.
By the time I got on the plane late Saturday night to Nice, France where the extreme 40 event was to be staged, it is fair to say I was well and truly exhausted from a great week of training and being home.
Nice is a cool city, there are a lot of modern shops, cafes and restaurants, as well as an awesome 'old town' where the little alley ways and roads run in all directions. The city has a long waterfront which is lined with many flash hotels, restaurants and cafes. Our race course for the week was tucked in nice and close to this busy waterfront area.
Nice was expected to be a light air venue this time of year. Last year when the X40 series made the stop in Nice, it was super light! But, it is never what you expect is it... For the four race days we had strong winds and some very exciting racing!
After being sent out in 25+ knots on the first day, we sailed around for 30 minutes before being sent back to shore as it was too windy to race. The next three days were awesome, completing 28 races in 10-25 knots of breeze. Our Oman Air team had many highlights during the racing including multiple race wins. A personal 'lowlight' for myself was running up the tramp to the windward hull after rounding a bottom mark, missing the hiking strap and doing a back flip right off the side of the boat! The whole team was pushing hard to catch the boats in front of us at that point in the race, and unfortunately I pushed myself a little too quickly...straight off the side! Rookie. We also had a couple of close calls in the breezy conditions, including one in particular pictured in the 'submarining' photo.
We were leading the race and bearing away around the mark in a solid 25+knot gust which was always going to be sketchy! Our rudders were all the way out of the water at one point, and Morgan said "we're going over, hold on guys!", just as the bows popped back up and the rudders reconnected and we managed to complete the bear away, going on to win the race. There were some decent waves coming around a headland and into the bay on certain days, making for some good launching off the waves upwind too!
We were third overall going into the final day and after a great start to the day we were right in contention. Unfortunately a few average races near the end of the day left us third overall for the event. Our team wasn't satisfied but still, not a terrible result. Again, I continue to learn heaps from top sailors on the teams that I am involved with. Guys like Morgan Larson, Charlie Ogletree and Warwick Fluery all have amazing amounts of experience and a huge wealth of knowledge that I am privileged to be surrounded by and am learning so much from.
I am happy to now be home in NZ until the end of November! Some great Laser training plans are in place for the next five weeks, and then some Australia Laser training and racing come December. Between the two I will be in Rio, Brazil for the final Extreme 40 event of the year. It will be a cool chance to check out the 2016 Olympic venue too, and I've never been to Brazil so it should be a fun experience. But first, I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the Laser training for the next five weeks being based out of home!
Thanks to all my supporters and everyone for following,
Cheers!
Andy
