Wildwind On Tour

It's all over!

2009-08-09T10:35:00.002+03:00

The feeling of general optimism in the Team Wildwind camp gradually slipped away over the course of Saturday. Just scheduled one race, that was all we needed to get the bullet to finish off the regatta nicely. Wind never came up and the sight of the race organisers deflating the marks and pulling ribs out of the water was a pretty strong hint that it wasn't going to happen.
Boat dismantling followed. Our boat GBR2 will now remain in Italy as our friend Franco decided he couldn't live without it in his life.
So we finished as the day before,
GBR2 Joe and Marko in 11th
GBR1965 Tom and Jon finished 19th

A big thanks to all of our sponsors who made it possible to come to this great event.

stephenreadsurveys.com, globosys.com, sail racing, minoan lines ferrys, trekking hellas(thanks for the leaky tents George) active shop vassiliki, ralf thalen, laura slater photography, quantum, dehler 34 for sale 40000e's lying lefkada, dirty dog sunglasses and Wildwind Sailing Holidays

We now will proceed to Venice where we will stay tonight, on the ferry tomorrow, back in Vassiliki hopefully in time for a jolly old knees up!

The Double Edged Sword - Day 2+3

2009-08-08T10:28:00.002+03:00

Day 2 of the europeans was not the best. Both teams made poor results due to bad starting and silly mistakes. At the end of the day GBR2 was still in 11th (due to a second discard being awarded) and GBR1965 was standing in 20th.
Not a great day on the water.
Day 3, Friday was it's name. A great day. We had such low expectations as we sailed out. All of the local dudes assured us that the wind wouldn't increase beyond 6 knots so a feeling of doom was with us as we began the usual drift out to the race course. After a bad day's results, to follow this by a day's racing was not what we needed. I didn't even take an apple due to the light winds expected - big mistake.
As we got to the course the wind had increased to around 15 knots, the strongest so far of the competition. We we very happy with this.
It became apparent very quickly that our boatspeed in these conditions was very good. Every leg taking places.
Race 1 saw us at the windward mark rounding in 3rd - just next to Mischa Heemskerk who had won every race so far. Very exciting!
Perhaps a bit too exciting as a catalogue of cock-ups unfolded;
1- helmsman decides to waterski whilst the kite is going up
2- once helm back on board and we crank it up, kite halyard jumps out of cleat, kite falls down
3- kite back up, power back on, block for kite sheet rips off deck, not to fast.

Running repairs followed around course, finishing 6th, our best result so far.

Race 2 was similar without the cock-ups, race 3 we , again were getting a bit excited, early on the start so had to go back. This put us a bit too close to the back of the fleet. Eventually finishing 17th (our new discard)
Race 4 - great start, 4th at the first mark, took 3rd downwind (very fast indeed) then kept that until some cheecky italian skallywags decided to do the all or nothing up the wrong side on the last downwind, got lucky and squeezed in just in front. 4th - not bad.

On board GBR1965, getting a bit too friendly with some of the other boats. Around the gate in the 1st race, boat behind charges into the rudders, causing a capsize pretty much on the mark. Tom and Jon not too impressed with this call protest at those anchors.
Protest hearing, Tom brings witness and a good arguement. Protest gets thrown out as anchors appeared to have done a penalty turn.
Then to turn it around, much to the suprise of Tom in the protest room, it turns out that the same boat has protested back for a simple port/starboard which as far as 1965 were concerned, never happend. 1965 DSQ. Balls.

Another violent thunderstorm followed that evening. I decided to try out improving the waterproof qualities of my dwelling by spraying the top with silicone. WE HAVE A WINNER! No leaks after a night of very loud rain. Fantastic.

Last day of competition 1 race scheduled GBR2 in 11th, 1965 in 19th both looking to improve. Forecast couldn't be much worse.

Europeans - first day.

2009-08-05T22:43:00.004+03:00

Sailing out to the course today with a feeling of doom. Very light winds, knowing that these were not the conditions that we would do well with.
First race, as expected, sh*thouse. 14th. Not a good start to the competition that we had such high hopes for. However, the wind did start increasing from the south, classic Como from what i've heard. Racked up a 8th, 9th, 12th? and another 8th puts us in 11th over all.
Big hand for the race officer, 5 races in an afternoon!
That was team GBR2. GBR1965 also punished in the light stuff, starts getting better, just being hindered by poor down wind performance. We have now all had a good look (sctath of the chin, recon the big end's gone) style look and now i think their boat will fly downhill as well as up.
They're now in 20th. Hoping to hit 15th by the end without upsetting to many more people on the water.
You could call it poor fleet management if you were that way inclined but lake Como is big. There's loads of space. We've got two courses going on, ours (with Hobie 14 and Fx1) probably around 60 boats, and the Hobie 16's - 120 boats.
Why on such a big lake the fleets overlapping? We today were sailing through the 16 fleet. I didn't seem right when there's so much space around.

Bingo

We Didn't Train For This!

2009-08-05T09:50:00.003+03:00

Tuesday morning, bright sunshine and a fresh northerly wind. Fantastic.
However, by the time the race officer had us start the wind had dropped right off to what could only be described as drifting conditions. Not only that but incredibly shifty as well - made those shifty days in Vassiliki seem quite managable.

Results for both teams were not the best.
The race commitee are perhaps being kind at this time by having still not posted them.

As Sweedish Jon said, ' our salty water, hot, high wind training. Is not paying off in these conditions. It's windier in the mornings in Vass than it is here!'

Training event done, now time for the Europeans.

More rain, but racing at last!

2009-08-03T20:41:00.004+03:00

Another night in the leaky tent after a night with a half decent Black Sabbath cover band, got up to more rain.
After a long time, rain eventually stopped wind came in from the north and a race was to commence.
Wind was nothing short of all over the place, from 4 - 16 knots making the race a bit of a lottery.
GBR 2 off the line what we considered to be conservatively to battle our way through the fleet through to third position. Some of our overtaking was down to favorable wind shifts. Luck can go both ways and we got shafted just before the finish by 2 boats giving us 5th. - Actually, by looking at the results we got 4th, not a bad first start.
Team 1965. It was their first ever international race. here's how they thought it went;

Tom Fish
'awful start, a bit overwhelming at beginning, then got our act together and overtook 5 boats to finish 10th (out of 19) Happy but could be happier'

Sweedish Jon
'yeah, i agree, we were about 10 seconds too far from the start line, then got a bit stressed and put in too many tacks up the first beat, downwind leg really good, that's when we overtook most boats. Really happy for the first time'

Incidently, the Italian Tiger Nationals are no longer the Italian Tiger Nationals as there are only 4 Italian boats in the event, so now it is an event with no name.
Looks like forecast is looking better so our hot weather training will be able to really pay off.

Team Wildwind are sponsored by;
stephenreadsurveys.com, globosys.com, sail racing, minoan lines ferrys, trekking hellas, active shop vassiliki, laura slater photography, Mr Mike Heath, quantum, dirty swine flu(easing off now), dirty dog sunglasses and Wildwind Sailing Holiday.

Sunday - Thunder and Lightning!

2009-08-02T19:13:00.003+03:00

We Arrived at Lake Como late in the evening, the d rive from Ancona taking considerably longer than advertised. After a few trial laps round the lake we eventually found the event site, got rid of the trailer, found somewhere to stick some tents up and at last made it into the village of Gravedona for a couple of remarkably expensive beers. Camping, having not done it for a few years, is more enjoyable than i remembered. Tremendous thunder storm with very heavy rain was perhaps more than we bargained for.
Sunday morning, more rain. Got boat built nicely, more sponsors stickers on the sail. Managed to convince the race office that we were in fact Italian and we could enter the Italian Nationals. After postponement dropped got to the start line with plenty of time with absolutely no wind at all until another squall came through. Great conditions with driving rain giving the eyeballs a good rinse.
Well done to race officer who decided that we should go in.
Suddenly around 100 catamarans all turned downwind, spinnakers up and a frantic race to get back to the slipway commenced. We won.
I did however get struck by lightning on the way. No harm done, Marko found it quite entertaining.
Gravedona has one slipway, around 5 boat lengths wide. This is being used for 250 boats. The bun fight that we witnessed after our boat was safely back in the compound was priceless.

Team Wildwind are sponsored by;
stephenreadsurveys.com, globosys.com, sail racing, minoan lines ferrys, trekking hellas(thanks for the leaky tents George) active shop vassiliki, laura slater photography, quantum, dirty swine flu, dirty dog sunglasses and Wildwind Sailing Holiday

Could have gone either way.

2009-07-31T14:12:00.009+03:00

Tremendous.
Just when things were going too well it appears that the Isuzu tour bus didn't want to come.
Chief mechanic and engine blagger Marko has a quick tweak and perhaps a bit of gentle adjustment with a micro-adjuster and there she is. Running sweet!

So we leave sunny Vassiliki today at 1600. Ferry leaves port of Igoumenitsa at 2300 which give us what would be plenty of time to convince Minoan Lines (ferrys) that
they in fact are sponsoring us and we can get on the ship.

If that works then we arrive Ancona at 1400 and then hoof it up past Milan(o) to Lake Como, erect tent. Bingo.
Have to get boat sorted and on start line by 1300
Sunday for race 1 Italian Nationals. Super

So now we set off not really knowing what is to come. I could go either way, and probably will.

Joe + Marko now sponsored by - Stephen Read Surveys, Globosys, Dehler 34 for sale 40000e's lying vassiliki,
Quantum
Tom + Jon now sponsored by - Sail Racing, Laura Slater Photography

Team Wildwind are also sponsored by Wildwind Sailing Holidays.

Photos By Chris Morgan.

1. Wildwind on tour?

2009-07-25T16:50:00.001+03:00

Wildwind on Tour?
Yes, that's right.

Team Wildwind are heading off next Friday to Lake Como, Italy to compete in the Hobie Tiger Europeans.

You're joking!

No, it's true, after much training, tinkering and tuning Wildwind are sending two teams to this event.
Who are the teams?

Team Wildwind GBR2 are;
Joe Bennett + Marko Reynolds

Team Wildwind GBR1965 are;
Tom'Fish'Nottingham +
Jon'Sweedish' Thalen

When does the event start?

the Europeans start 4th August until the 8th.
We're also planning on competing if we get there in time in the Italian Hobie Tiger Nationals as training.

What's a Hobie Tiger?

It's a Catamaran.
-with sails
oh, where are you now?

We're currently in Vassiliki, Greece where we're enjoying more heat and less wind than usual.

sounds nice.

It is. http://wildwind.co.uk

We'll be sticking another post up when we have more to report.

Team Wildwind GBR2 are sponsored by globosys.com, Stephen Read Surveys and Wildwind.

Team Wildwind GBR1965 are sponsored by Wildwind and are looking for other sponsors.