| Wayfarer
Worlds XVI Heeg, Friesland, NL * July 16-22 Daily Reports ... |
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For the Worlds results follow link: http://wsheeg.nl/uitslagen-wayfarer-worlds/ |
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Update from Steph Romaniuk We had 4 heats - fleet split into 2 starts (5min delayed) of about 28 boats. Round robin style 1vs2 and 3vs 4, then 2vs4 and 1vs3, etc. They dropped one to rank the best by two best races. Hope that makes sense.We had 6-10 knots today. There is short chop waves. It was heavier the first race and calmed. Then up and down. Tomorrow is 3-4knots and the best wind of the week will be on Wednesday 16-20kt but that is our day off - phew! Lol Last two days to be beautiful: sunny and getting warmer. Beautiful quaint town with sailboats, boats and canals everywhere. |
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Message from Nedwa: Direct link to the results
from Monday and Tuesday. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/aajx445bas…/DEFAULT.HTM… |
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Update from Leo and Joanne Van Kampen: Monday we sailed the port
side of the course for the first race with little
chance for clean tacks and rounded the first mark in
roughly 22nd position. With some good downwind
spinnaker and positioning, we ended the race in 15th
place. We fared similarly for the 2nd race. In the
third race we experienced a great move by the Danish
on positioning which reinforced the importance of
having the inside overlap on a downwind mark where we lost 4 boat lengths
being the 4th boat out. We ended that race in
10th. This proved to be a few too many total
points to qualify for the gold fleet. |
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Ups and Downs of Day 3 of Racing from the Worlds - Steph Romaniuk update and link to the results. Thursday's forecast was 5kt building to 10 in the afternoon. It was blowing 25kt yesterday on our day off before the front moved in and cooled off the 33° humidity. We set out for the 10am race which was postponed 30min. We had a great start until the general recall and then had one boat on top of us at the next start. We tacked away and to our favoured side and after a few lifts in light air, we rounded the weather mark with a 5-boat lead!!! Rose Weirdsma cheered from the windward mark boat and hollered, "Go get 'em, Canada!" We changed our mind on the gybe set and bore off and instantly got buried by several boats. We gybed a few more times, cursing, and then the wind died and stranded the reachers, while the three boats on our side all capitalized on the shift and were back in form in 2nd as we fetched the leeward gate. To our utter disappointment, the RC sounded an abandonment. No idea what they were thinking - we met all the time limits and were only 30min in. We were livid! If we won that race, we would've defended our Race 5 Ian Proctor trophy... After 5min they posted a go home and wait for signals in shore. We were postponed until 2pm so we had lunch before going back out. The 2nd race was light again and there was another general recall, so the "U" flag went up - their version of the black flag, so we hung back and started late on Starboard. We were able to barge in as the Wayfarers fetching the RC boat were low. We overstood the port lay line and had to duck half a dozen transoms We had a great tacking duel with a UK woodie (the one we bumped in race 4). It was a beep-beep but he beat us by a nose - 9th. At the tail end of the 2nd beat in race 2 of the day the wind piped up to 12+kts and we had a nice run. The next leg was a tight reach we couldn't hold without broaching so we dropped it and proceeded to plane past one boat and pinched out another since they still had the spinnaker up. We cranked everything flat and hiked our little hearts out in the final beat and only 1 of the Danes passed us, so we finished 8th. A great accomplishment considering the wind! It was poetic justice when they signalled we were all done for the day due to the RC sticking to the printed schedule. All the heavy air sailors were unhappy as it was their wind. If we can't sail in light air it's only fair they didn't get their preference, either. So we stayed in 9th after 6 races with one drop (called a discard on this side of the pond). They will try to do three Friday, so we'll see. |
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Update from Leo and Joanne Van Kampen - good luck in the final day. As Steph reported, the
morning races were canceled due to low winds. This
was a good thing for us since we had a poor start
and did not get to our preferred side of the course
in a timely manner and ended in lower pressure
winds. By the time we reached the upwind mark we
were roughly in 12th place and had started downwind
with a flattened spinnaker when the race was called. For the second race we had
a tougher start, not getting to the line as early
and in a more crowded position. We maintained good
boat speed and one by one passed boats in our
fleet. By the time we got to the last upwind mark
to the finish we were in 5th position. Being too
close to the 4th place boat, we tacked for clean
air and ended ahead and in 4th position. On the
final approach to the finish line, we tacked close
to the 4th place boat to give them lee bow but
rolled the boat so aggressively with the
increasing wind pressure that we took on water and
slid sideways. We reaccelerated but the additional
water load kept us slow and we ended this race in
5th place. As the results show we have maintained 2nd position, and a 6-point spread between the top 4 boats. With another drop race to come, and three races to go…..wish us luck! |
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Final Worlds update from Steph Romaniuk: We are now reflecting, relaxing, and getting into rally mode. We had a third race scheduled Friday in an attempt to get 9 races in. It was light air again. We started clean at the centre of the line with good speed and worked the shifts up the centre. We tacked under and ahead of a crowd of 6 or more boats and a lucky puff and pressure allowed us to shoot the mark into 5th. We caught the next two boats on the downwind and protected for the rest of the race. The 5th-place boat that had a two-point lead on us placed 5th, so we were now tied for 7th. There is lots to learn on a crowded start line, especially if you get too close to a dirty or aggressive sailor. We tacked into a hole on a port favoured line and a fast moving starboard boat bore down on us and hit us to make his point. We did our 2 penalty turns and headed off. In light air and because we have boat speed, we do a good job of coming back! We did as well as we could and somehow saved a 9th. Last race... unfortunately our great start was a general recall and the follow up was our worst of the week. A wind shift at the start left us low and unable to cross the line on starboard. Comeback time again. We gained a pile on the downwind and lost more on a bad shift in the upwind. Nothing was working and the guy who hit us did so again! We kept on despite his protest as it was unlikely he was in the right. Yesterday we missed overtaking a boat at the finish and wondered if we could've leebowed him. We tried it in the same situation in this race and it worked like a charm. We came 13th a boat length behind the Hartleys and chatted on the way home. |
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Joanne Van Kampen and Leo with the Bacardi Cup  |
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Final Worlds update from Joanne Van Kampen - Joanne and Leo won the highest placing Canadian trophy which I think is the Bacardi trophy - well done: For the 4th and final day they
had scheduled 3 races back to back to make up for the
canceled races of the previous days. The winds were
light and very patchy when we started. In the first
race the wind was quite light and there was evidence
of even less wind in the center of the course and we
decided to favour the port side. With the stirred air
and non-aggressive helming, we were caught behind our
whole fleet and were the very last to cross the start
line. We stuck with our belief that port side was
favoured and made up a few positions through the race
but with the low winds and large fleet were always in
compromised winds and ended very near the bottom of
the fleet. |
