Monday, August 31, 2009
My last blog continued...
I accidently sent my last posting without finishing it... Oups
Jac went out with the boys, hit the town, got into mischief (the boys that it ;) poor Jac ended up driving them home) Sounded like a fun night though :) Jacqui had an earlier flight to me next day - wow it's all gone by so quickly. She is now off on holidays and travelling until end of Sept - so a sailing break for us both.
After a quick pack up this morning, I did some walking around town with Matt, Mal, Fi & Victor before they drove off to Germany- they also very kindly drove me to the aiport after - I still can't believe we fit all my luggage, sails and all into the car!
I'm now at Heathrow waiting for my 'very late' flight (sigh)... So many hours until I get home to see my James and Blythe. I've missed them do much!
Our trip was good fun and an amazing learning experience. We may not have received the results we were hoping for but the whole point was to give it a go, know where we stand, know what we need to work on and take it from there - we both feel we've achieved that :) and we had fun on the process. Considering we were probably the only team competing who have only been sailing 470's together since April (and most other teams have been training hard for years- Olympic teams and all)
, it was a pretty good effort :)
Well... Back to my aiport loitering
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Last day and home
Our last day was short and sweet, only one race (came 19th), short pack up since we had chartered the boat. Then a couple of drinks, presentation ...
I went out to dinner with Matt, Malcolm, Fi and Victor - lovely little restaurant on the harbour and the best bouillabaisse I've had in ages! So hard to find good bouillabaisse in OZ and where better than the capital of fish :) I had my fist glass of red wine in forever - that was a long time comming!
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Saturday, August 29, 2009
Day 6 - rainy day
It's been threatening to storm all day, we had a few showers and it should thunder later tonight. Got a 17 in our first race. Wind has been building all day, 18 knots at times - it came in as we we getting ready for the second race (as forecast) so we dropped down to 4th gear expecting it will continue to build. Five minutes into the race, it died off... we were cought out and so slow. Came 22nd - Wind came in on our last reach to the finish... and stayed in, still building, we were just that little bit too early - you get that.
Fiona arrived today, good to catch up. We'll probably all go out for a nice dinner and a few drinks tomorrow after last race - looking forward to it :)
Fiona arrived today, good to catch up. We'll probably all go out for a nice dinner and a few drinks tomorrow after last race - looking forward to it :)
Friday, August 28, 2009
Day 4
12-18 Knots today and a couple of good races - happy with a 14th in the first race. We still feel like the boat doesn't want to 'go' up-wind although we have good speed downwind and try to catch up any lost boats on the upwind leg. Had our best start of any race yet in the second race - well up front and (touch wood) no OCS ;), wind kicked in and we were doing well until the last reach to the finish when the bobble pulled through the kite knot again (the other bobble this time)! Luckily this happened on the last leg, didn't lose too much ground and came 15th. Our bobbles must be jinxed! We now have two new bobbles - please please please don't break again!
Overall a good day, mostly happy with our starts, both our backs feel good today too :) Still felt like a hard day on the water, very glad they didn't want to squeeze 3 races in. It will be a big day tomorrow - +20 Kts forcast and rain.
Overall a good day, mostly happy with our starts, both our backs feel good today too :) Still felt like a hard day on the water, very glad they didn't want to squeeze 3 races in. It will be a big day tomorrow - +20 Kts forcast and rain.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
First day of final racing
Another relatively good day racing (10-15Kts but very shifty), we feel there are always some easy things we can do to continue improving- which is a good sign. We got a 15th on our first race even though we went the wrong side of the course for 2 legs, got good starts on both our races. Came 14th on our second race. We're slowly edging our way back up there :)
They had free ice-cream when we got in, and not just a mass hand out of cornettos - proper tubs of good 'scoop out' ice-cream in several flavours. mmmmm chocolate was bitter, vanilla tasted like beans, hazlenut was the best... as you can tell, Jac and I made the most of it :)
Physio recons she may have pin pointed my back/ neck/ shoulder problem, which is chronically on the left side - she 're-aligned' my pelvis, hip, will have to wait and see now. I'll be totally stoked if that's the root cause of all my little ailments :) a very exciting little discovery - for me anyway ;)
B passed on some pics of us training before the regatta that I'll also post up.
They had free ice-cream when we got in, and not just a mass hand out of cornettos - proper tubs of good 'scoop out' ice-cream in several flavours. mmmmm chocolate was bitter, vanilla tasted like beans, hazlenut was the best... as you can tell, Jac and I made the most of it :)
Physio recons she may have pin pointed my back/ neck/ shoulder problem, which is chronically on the left side - she 're-aligned' my pelvis, hip, will have to wait and see now. I'll be totally stoked if that's the root cause of all my little ailments :) a very exciting little discovery - for me anyway ;)
B passed on some pics of us training before the regatta that I'll also post up.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Day 3 - last day of qualifiers
Had a good day today - lightwind, maybe 10 kts, OK start, generally held our lanes - bar getting bumped a couple of times- maybe 12th around the first top mark, good speed down-wind, played the game a bit more and came 16th. We're both happy with that - We'll be in silver fleet tomorrow, only 4 more days to go.
It's nice to have only one race, it gives us more time to do other things. Have a pretty stiff neck/ shoulders and Jac wants to get her lower back checked out, driving out to the Physio later on - pity she's not seeing us at the boat park today (much more practical... still no complaints :) )
It's nice to have only one race, it gives us more time to do other things. Have a pretty stiff neck/ shoulders and Jac wants to get her lower back checked out, driving out to the Physio later on - pity she's not seeing us at the boat park today (much more practical... still no complaints :) )
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Day 2 - long day
Had a huge day today. The race comitee squeezed in 3 races which meant we were on the water for 7 hours - some tough racing.
Better first race, good start, finished 21st.
We were T-boned at the start line on the 2nd race, the offending boat did their 720 and shot off, leaving us in the piss and trying to right the boat (grrrrr...) - no use protesting for redress, no damage and they did their penalty... sometimes life's just not so fair. We did fairly well catching up from our drama-filled start, got to the top mark then on a reach and the knot pulled through the bobble on the kite sheet, took us ages to sort that out - also meant every time we were on that jibe from now on, we needed to take the time to cleat the kite sheet (and cleated in two places on a reach, as one cleat doesn't hold it...). I'm proud to say, despite all this we finished 24th.
After waiting over an hour for the race commitee to to sort themselves out, 20 kts blew in for the third race ... not much to say about this race, we had to pull out - our kite shedded in two on our first down-wind after a quick capsize - we got the boat up so quickly (yay for us), I think we could have continued if it weren't for the kite.
We're both rather shattered now - my view is that we did exceptionally well considering the number of set-backs today :) That is my positive thought for the day and before callapsing in bed. (and 3 races today means only 1 race tomorrow!).
Better first race, good start, finished 21st.
We were T-boned at the start line on the 2nd race, the offending boat did their 720 and shot off, leaving us in the piss and trying to right the boat (grrrrr...) - no use protesting for redress, no damage and they did their penalty... sometimes life's just not so fair. We did fairly well catching up from our drama-filled start, got to the top mark then on a reach and the knot pulled through the bobble on the kite sheet, took us ages to sort that out - also meant every time we were on that jibe from now on, we needed to take the time to cleat the kite sheet (and cleated in two places on a reach, as one cleat doesn't hold it...). I'm proud to say, despite all this we finished 24th.
After waiting over an hour for the race commitee to to sort themselves out, 20 kts blew in for the third race ... not much to say about this race, we had to pull out - our kite shedded in two on our first down-wind after a quick capsize - we got the boat up so quickly (yay for us), I think we could have continued if it weren't for the kite.
We're both rather shattered now - my view is that we did exceptionally well considering the number of set-backs today :) That is my positive thought for the day and before callapsing in bed. (and 3 races today means only 1 race tomorrow!).
Monday, August 24, 2009
Day one
Races were postponed today - probably longer than they needed to be - not much wind to begin but it picked up thoughout the day to maybe 12- 15 Kts. We did two races and we were buried at the start line for both of them - at the back end of the fleet today.
We did plenty of catching up in the first race, and caught up a few boats especially on the last leg. Despite our average start on the second race we had a good first leg, then the wind kicked in, we should have been in 2nd gear instead of first... among other things. We learnt a lot today, we were both also pretty exhausted by the end of the second race.
Made the most of the team physio when we got in (stiff neck, upper back). The post-race food is actually surprisingly good (salads and lasagna), we'll continue to each dinner at the club before going home now :)
We did plenty of catching up in the first race, and caught up a few boats especially on the last leg. Despite our average start on the second race we had a good first leg, then the wind kicked in, we should have been in 2nd gear instead of first... among other things. We learnt a lot today, we were both also pretty exhausted by the end of the second race.
Made the most of the team physio when we got in (stiff neck, upper back). The post-race food is actually surprisingly good (salads and lasagna), we'll continue to each dinner at the club before going home now :)
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Tune up day and Imke's visit
Imke (One of my greatest friends, German uni friend and flat mate when I lived in France) flew in last night to visit - So great to see her, grabbed some pastries from the bakery for breakfast this morning and we went by the lake (so pretty) to eat our breakky and a good catch up. She's one of those friends who you might not see in ages but when you do it's as if you had never been apart :)
We all went down to the boat park together for a tune up (even Imke got a photo by the club photographer :)), went out for the practice race which we started - did an upwind, 7th or 8th to the top mark then a short down wind and back to the club... ready for tomorrow :) I thought the GPS tracking would be working (we were asked to take them on the water) but I can't see/access anything from the website - maybe tomorrow.
Imke and I went out for dinner - my first meal out and about in Copenhagen! We went looking for a good restaurant in Lingby city.... slim pickings - Danish people LOVE Thai food and Sushi, it's everywhere! (I'd rather eat Thai and Japanese in Sydney). We eventually found a humble pizzaria. I'm sure I simply haven't been to the right places, but I will not remember Denmark for the food.
Jac and the boys went to the Opening night - brief welcome, good food (good to know as it will be provided after each day on the water) and open bar (fun but not a good deal of use to a bunch of athletes before a regatta)... and like good little athletes we're all home and early to bed :)
We all went down to the boat park together for a tune up (even Imke got a photo by the club photographer :)), went out for the practice race which we started - did an upwind, 7th or 8th to the top mark then a short down wind and back to the club... ready for tomorrow :) I thought the GPS tracking would be working (we were asked to take them on the water) but I can't see/access anything from the website - maybe tomorrow.
Imke and I went out for dinner - my first meal out and about in Copenhagen! We went looking for a good restaurant in Lingby city.... slim pickings - Danish people LOVE Thai food and Sushi, it's everywhere! (I'd rather eat Thai and Japanese in Sydney). We eventually found a humble pizzaria. I'm sure I simply haven't been to the right places, but I will not remember Denmark for the food.
Jac and the boys went to the Opening night - brief welcome, good food (good to know as it will be provided after each day on the water) and open bar (fun but not a good deal of use to a bunch of athletes before a regatta)... and like good little athletes we're all home and early to bed :)
Saturday, August 22, 2009
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Chistianshaven and Chistiania
This is our last sailing free day before 7 days on the water- Took it easy in the morning then went to visit Christianshaven, an island just to the south of Central Copenhagen - to one side hippy, alternative, drugs... and to the other exclusive, expensive and the gorgeous modern Opera house - a place of serious contrasts.
The opera house side is gorgeous, old barracks converted into luxury water side appartments, Apple trees everywhere... I would buy there any day (when we win lotto :)). The opera house is also famed to be an architectural icon.
Only a few blocks south and over a bridge is Christiana, a small closed gate hippy community, delapilated, very cool graffiti everywhere, a world unto it's own - touted in the guide book as a place to check out. Plenty of druggies, random drunks - we really felt like outsiders - No Photos of all the illegal activity happening there (open selling of Hash and other drugs on the dirt streets... among other things i'm sure), a drugged out skin-head angrily yelled to see my photos and wanted to see me delete them all in front of him, or he would smash my iphone....wow, that got my adrenalin flowing (learnt my lesson here, don't bring your camera/iphone into Christiania), so not many photos from Christiania to show you how insane it is. Now on the 'wrong side' of these drung gangs, we left pronto. It's crazy, you walk 2 blocks and you're back to the 21st century civilisation and scandinavian sophistication.
Some of the old boats on the canals are stunning old wooden gems - although never in my right mind would I own one for fear of the upkeep, which could be why so many of them are lying there in disrepair - so sad and beutiful.
Found an H&M and bought up for Blythe and a couple of items for me. It's such a pity they're not in OZ.
The opera house side is gorgeous, old barracks converted into luxury water side appartments, Apple trees everywhere... I would buy there any day (when we win lotto :)). The opera house is also famed to be an architectural icon.
Only a few blocks south and over a bridge is Christiana, a small closed gate hippy community, delapilated, very cool graffiti everywhere, a world unto it's own - touted in the guide book as a place to check out. Plenty of druggies, random drunks - we really felt like outsiders - No Photos of all the illegal activity happening there (open selling of Hash and other drugs on the dirt streets... among other things i'm sure), a drugged out skin-head angrily yelled to see my photos and wanted to see me delete them all in front of him, or he would smash my iphone....wow, that got my adrenalin flowing (learnt my lesson here, don't bring your camera/iphone into Christiania), so not many photos from Christiania to show you how insane it is. Now on the 'wrong side' of these drung gangs, we left pronto. It's crazy, you walk 2 blocks and you're back to the 21st century civilisation and scandinavian sophistication.
Some of the old boats on the canals are stunning old wooden gems - although never in my right mind would I own one for fear of the upkeep, which could be why so many of them are lying there in disrepair - so sad and beutiful.
Found an H&M and bought up for Blythe and a couple of items for me. It's such a pity they're not in OZ.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Measurement Day
Spent all morning prepping and getting the boat measured, they were running late but it wasn't too painful. Will post a couple of photos the Club Photographer took of Jac and I in the boat park - We both have our "I'm busy" faces on :)
NB- when the racing starts on Sunday we will all have GPS tracking devices - So you'll be able to see how we're going live or replay races... so nerve racking.
http://www.worlds470.kdy.dk/
We went for a brief sail up and down a few times after measurement. I've given up on forward tacking, it's just even more awkward than backwards tacking with the jib cleats a little forward. So rather than change my whole technique just before the worlds I'm just going to get used to the the jib cleats in a funky spot - backward tacking is now so natural it would be silly to change if I can avoid it.
We've got the day off tomorrow, although we're 'umming and ahhing' on how we want to spend it - probably cooking up as many meals as we can so we don't have to cook much over the comming week. boring but practical :)
NB- when the racing starts on Sunday we will all have GPS tracking devices - So you'll be able to see how we're going live or replay races... so nerve racking.
http://www.worlds470.kdy.dk/
We went for a brief sail up and down a few times after measurement. I've given up on forward tacking, it's just even more awkward than backwards tacking with the jib cleats a little forward. So rather than change my whole technique just before the worlds I'm just going to get used to the the jib cleats in a funky spot - backward tacking is now so natural it would be silly to change if I can avoid it.
We've got the day off tomorrow, although we're 'umming and ahhing' on how we want to spend it - probably cooking up as many meals as we can so we don't have to cook much over the comming week. boring but practical :)
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Not as much wind today (8-12Kts from the Sth, warm :) ) but a long day. We felt rushed this morning, should have left more time for boat fiddling. We were also on the rusty side today, there were three races - got some really crappy starts on the first two races, felt like we were playing catch up the whole race, my 'forward' tacks left plenty to be desired and did pretty averagely (we are bound to have some shockers... sigh). On a positive note, the fleet was pretty tight and even though we were at the back end of the fleet, we held our own and everyone was close together (leaders and trailers).
Got our act together in the 3rd race, good start, good acceleration and we were about 7th to round the top mark. Nice to finish on a high note, here's hoping we don't take so long to get into the groove next time.
Got our sails measured (you could fund your campaign on what they're charging! 60DKK per sail), getting the boat measured tomorrow morning also then we'll go for a sail (no official training tomorrow)... assuming they're on time with their measuring schedule etc.
Good to be home, but we still need to put sponsor sickers on our main... such a pain, we should have done this earlier. Oh well :) Got our SLAM gear from Y.A too, YAY, better late than never.
Got our act together in the 3rd race, good start, good acceleration and we were about 7th to round the top mark. Nice to finish on a high note, here's hoping we don't take so long to get into the groove next time.
Got our sails measured (you could fund your campaign on what they're charging! 60DKK per sail), getting the boat measured tomorrow morning also then we'll go for a sail (no official training tomorrow)... assuming they're on time with their measuring schedule etc.
Good to be home, but we still need to put sponsor sickers on our main... such a pain, we should have done this earlier. Oh well :) Got our SLAM gear from Y.A too, YAY, better late than never.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Coach boat time
Jac and I were both on coach boats today (Victor's and Belida Stowel's respectively). I was a little dissapointed not to be on the water, but what Victor says goes. Was pretty breezy, 20-24Kts, would have been good practice.
Matt and Mal capsized comming out of the harbour, still getting dressed in the boat, coaths and gear everywhere...hehehe poor things, but still funny :)
Belinda's a really gorgeous gal, very honest, direct and down to earth (which is refreshing), also very switched on. Had some good boat talk, team talk.
I clarified the coaching situation with B - She's happy to coach us on the Women's course, which is a huge favour, really lovely (B is actually paid by WAIS - WA Insitute of Sport - and in a way has no obligation to help us. WAIS and NSWIS also have a history of competitiveness). Victor, technically our coach, will be on the men's course and obviously can't provide us any support other than in training sessions.
We've made it all work but not such a great system. Tessa and Elise want to lobby for an official national Mens Coach and a Women's Coach, which may makes a lot of sense in these international regattas (even if at home, I don't think it will make a huge difference).
All in all, we didn't get to sail but we sorted out so much that it was well worth it :)
Matt and Mal capsized comming out of the harbour, still getting dressed in the boat, coaths and gear everywhere...hehehe poor things, but still funny :)
Belinda's a really gorgeous gal, very honest, direct and down to earth (which is refreshing), also very switched on. Had some good boat talk, team talk.
I clarified the coaching situation with B - She's happy to coach us on the Women's course, which is a huge favour, really lovely (B is actually paid by WAIS - WA Insitute of Sport - and in a way has no obligation to help us. WAIS and NSWIS also have a history of competitiveness). Victor, technically our coach, will be on the men's course and obviously can't provide us any support other than in training sessions.
We've made it all work but not such a great system. Tessa and Elise want to lobby for an official national Mens Coach and a Women's Coach, which may makes a lot of sense in these international regattas (even if at home, I don't think it will make a huge difference).
All in all, we didn't get to sail but we sorted out so much that it was well worth it :)
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Sailing healthy again
We both finally feel great and healthy and went training - YAY, back to normal! The boat feels good and I think we've got it generally set up right. We had a practice race (2 laps) for the first time with maybe 30 of the 50 (or so) women crews - we're pretty stoked and how we went. We were 5th around the top mark and 5th again around the bottom mark - ahead of both of the other Aussi crews too! We then missed a shift on the second work and fell just behind the other 2 Aussi crews and a few other boats - but overall we know we've got some speed and can do well. Fingers crossed when the rest of the boats are thrown into the mix!
Victor wants to spend some coach boat time with Jacqui tomorrow, and I'll be on the coach boat with Belinda. We'll still go out for an early sail before training officially starts.
The carpark (boat park) is getting seriously full, only a few more days to go. It's a bit of a serious atmosphere - serious athletes, serious coaches, olympic team vans everywhere - a very different afmosphere to the F18 worlds (which had more of a "fun competitive" vibe to it). Some great people about though. Really looking forward to 'day 1', will be intense and exciting.
Victor wants to spend some coach boat time with Jacqui tomorrow, and I'll be on the coach boat with Belinda. We'll still go out for an early sail before training officially starts.
The carpark (boat park) is getting seriously full, only a few more days to go. It's a bit of a serious atmosphere - serious athletes, serious coaches, olympic team vans everywhere - a very different afmosphere to the F18 worlds (which had more of a "fun competitive" vibe to it). Some great people about though. Really looking forward to 'day 1', will be intense and exciting.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Parliament House or Christiansborg Slot and Tivoli Gardens
The Tivoli Gardens are ment to be quite the Copenhagen landmark/ attraction - basically a huge theme park in the centre of town. Seriously expensive to enter, so we've left that for 'next time'
Chamber of Commerce
Bit hard to see from this photo (My iPhone only goes so far!) but the spire is brilliant - dragons inter-twining.
The Round Tower
Originally built as a medieval observatory attached to church - We didn't climb it :)
Day off
Victor banned us from sailing today (pandantic), so that we can be 120% (hmmm), so we did a little bit of land boat training this morning to get our heads around forward tacking and went into town. We walked a fair way, seeing plenty of great things along the way... right now my feet just hurt. I'll let the photos do the talking :)
Looking forward to actually doing some sailing tomorrow!
James - the cat looks awsome! do you have any shots of the whole thing?
Looking forward to actually doing some sailing tomorrow!
James - the cat looks awsome! do you have any shots of the whole thing?
Sunday, August 16, 2009
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