Hi this is Jacob again. I just returned from my trip to Florida and the Mid Winter Regatta a couple weeks ago. The trip was a success, my crew Joss and I placed top Canadian boat at the regatta, qualifying us for the 2009 Volvo Youth Worlds. The conditions for qualifying to represent Canada at the worlds were to compete at the Canadian Youth Champs, then to be the top Canadian Male or Female boat in the top 50% of the fleet at Mid Winters.
We are pleased to have accomplished our long time goal of qualifying for the Youth Worlds. However, the rest of our regatta was not terrific, we finished 26th out of 73 boats. Our other goal for the regatta had been to place in the top 10 overall. The conditions on the first two days were the toughest that either Joss or I had ever raced in. The wind was all over the place and unfortunately we were consistently making tactical errors that set us back several positions.
Going into the third and last day of the regatta, Joss and I were top Canadian boat but we were not quite in the top half of the fleet. We didn't think that making the top 50% of the fleet would be a problem for this regatta. Going into the last day though we had to make up 3 or 4 places as well as stay ahead of the second Canadian boat (who were only 1 point behind us) in order to qualify. The weather forecast during the whole regatta was calling for high breeze on the last day of racing. The forecast turned out to be correct, the breeze was around 13-15kts when we got out on the water at around 9:15am, and building. First race was scheduled for 10:00am. The race committee was going to try to get 4 races in that day.
Our first race went well, we would have finished 2 or 3rd had the race been counted. However due to an error made by the race committee the race had to be re-sailed at the end of the day. Meanwhile the breeze continued to build and was now consistently above 15kts. Physical fitness became a major factor in determining who won races near the end of the day. After 7 hours on the water and 5 hour long races with only 4 of them counting, Joss and I were exhausted. Our coach Oliver Bone fired us up at the beginning of the day and told us that we had better collapse from exhaustion as soon as we get off the water. In the end the whole day was worth it, we had all top ten finishes (with the exception of a 4th that had a Z flag penalty) and we moved up about 10 places. We finished 4 places ahead of Ted Murphy and Alex Scales, the second Canadian boat.
Unfortunately none of the 3 girls boats from Canada broke the top 50% of the fleet and Canada won't be sending a female 420 team to Youth Worlds. The girls and the other Canadians at the event saw it as a learning opportunity though and were happy with their results.
The next sailing trip on my schedule is possibly going to be a clinic in New Jersey in early April. The clinic will offer International 420's, which is the boat that Joss and I need to race at the Youth Worlds. The problem is that in North America only Club 420s are raced so Joss and I have never sailed an International 420. The I420 is closer to a 470 (Olympic class boat) than a Club 420 is. If this clinic doesn't work out then Brasil will possibly be my next trip. the regatta starts on the 9th of July.
Here's something you should check out. This is my coach Craig Guthrie's Youtube account where he has all sorts of sailing video from fall sailing in 2008 along with a bit from the summer.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=dinghyboy&view=videos
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