2013 Chronicle #5 - F18 World Championships - Races & Results

Here is the final of our chronicles for the F-18 World Championships in Grosseto, Italy which includes the race results. Sorry that it has taken us a while to put this together but as you can imagine this last week has been very hectic.

Monday, July 7 – Forecast is for light winds shifting from off-shore to on-shore in the late afternoon. We get to the yacht club early to have our boat set up and down to the beach and it is very hot already. We attend the competitor’s meeting which did provide some good information. The course is going to be a trapezoid course with 2 upwind legs, two downwind legs and a downwind finish. We leave the beach around 12:00 for the planned 1:00 start but the wind is light and still off-shore. Once we get to the race area the wind is dead. The R/C puts up the postpone flag. We end up floating around for about 1 ½ hours before we see the sea breeze starting to fill in. When it arrives it was much stronger than expected. We get ready to race adjusting our shroud and diamond wire settings. We also need to put on more gear since it is now getting cooler. The race course is set and we go into the start sequence. We are in the first flight to race with approximately 90 boats. The first start results in a general recall which was disappointing for us since we had a reasonable start. Now the black flag (which means anyone over the line early is disqualified) is up for the second attempt. We ended up having a terrible start near the port end of the line and gybe around to head off to the right which has the stronger breeze. We work our way up the course as the wind builds to 15 kts. We round the first mark (top of the trapezoid course) towards the back of the fleet (~75%) and we set off on a double trapeze blast reach. This is where we achieved our peak speed for the race at 21.6 mph. We passed a lot of boats on this leg but the water was extremely choppy because of all the boat wakes so we had to be careful not to pitch pole. The first downwind leg was good with us going to the left side of the course and passing more boats. The leeward gate rounding was uneventful and then we were heading upwind again. We were playing the middle of the course to keep our wind clear and avoid coming into the starboard tack lay line too early. Unexpectedly, there was a 15 degree wind shift to the left came through which did not help us. We got around the weather mark and set our spinnaker for the second time. Boat speed was good but we had a close call with a leeward boat coming upwind which we had to give way to that slowed us down (but at least we did not capsize). It was close but Matt dumped the chute in time. When we gybed for the leeward gate we had wind interference from another a boat so did another gybe to clear our air. We ended up going a little past the optimal lay line so had an exciting run into the leeward gate but we made it. We then gybed and were on the last leg to the finish. With that many boats racing unless you are in the top 20 you have no idea where you finished. We were pleased to find out later that we finished 50th in our flight even with the terrible start and 99th overall so we are still within striking range of being able to get into the gold fleet. The other US boat did very well getting 7th in their flight.

Thunder squalls with lightening then started to move in on the fleet and after a short time the R/C decided to cancel the rest of the racing for the day. 180 boats heading to the beach at the same time was quite a sight. We even got a video of an awesome lightning strike on our Go-Pro.

Then the Italian Air Force performed a fly-over of our beach with four Euro Fighters in honor of the Worlds Championship.

Tuesday, July 9 – We started the day by looking at Lamma (an Italian weather forecasting site) and Wind finder for the weather forecast. Things looked light, but at least the wind was predicted to be a typical sea breeze which Steve and I know well.

Race one started around 12:20. We had two good starts, the first one being a general recall. Steve did a great job getting our bow out right at the gun, this allowing us to pull away from the majority of the fleet rounding the first mark in fifth. We sailed the rest of the race conservatively finishing in ninth. It is surprisingly easy to sail in the front of the fleet when you do not need to contend with the masses of boats in the middle of the fleet.

Steve and Matt coming into the weather mark

Race two also went well. We had a good start with a clear lane. Unfortunately we were forced further left then we would have liked to have gone. As a result we rounded the first mark in the high teens. We were able to hold our own for the rest of the race, but when we were on the final tight reach to the finish line, all of a sudden our spinnaker halyard let go. When Matt went to pull it back up he found that the halyard had parted (except for the core) and would not cleat. He then held it himself as we limped to the finish line. In the process we lost three boats and finished twenty-fifth.

Race three started hastily. We were the second start and decided to race into the beach and replace our broken halyard properly rather than jury rigging something and hoping it holds together. We made it to the starting area just in time to catch the five minute flag and formulate a quick plan of attack. We started middle of the line and found ourselves being pinched off from a group of boats below us while at the same time being reached over from above. As a result we tacked out early and had to fight it out for a clear lane. We recovered decently by going right and focusing on boat speed for the remainder of the race. We finished 44th out of 90 boats and at the end of the day we were 59th overall – well within the range for the top 91 boats getting into Gold Fleet. The other USA team was doing very well being in 10th place overall.

Wednesday, July 10 – Today started out light and the wind built as it clocked right. The first race we had a bad start, but luckily it was a general recall. The second start was very good. We were in the middle of the line and tacked right as soon as possible. Unfortunately the right came in so strong that we ended up rounding in the mid-teens. For a while it looked as if we might end up in the top five at the weather mark. Downwind we played the left side holding position relative to the fleet. Rounding the right gate we peeled off right as soon as possible. We ended up having to tack a couple of times finishing 28th.

The second race the wind picked up and we ended up starting closer to the pin. We had great boat speed going up wind, but tacked to get to the favored right side and had to duck a few boats. We ended up rounding the weather mark mid fleet. Luckily the next leg was Steve and my personal favorite (the long blast reach across the top of the course). We practiced this point of sail a fair deal trying to set new personal speed records. As it turns out mastering this point of sail can prove to be quite helpful in the race. We reached 22.2 mph and consolidated the fleet. After a good downwind we ended in the thirties. This put us solidly into gold fleet and in 61st place over all, but once all the protest hearings were completed there was not sufficient time to start the first Gold fleet race so in effect the regatta was one full day behind schedule.

Thursday, July 11 – This ended up being the only day with what is supposed to be the most typical wind for Grosseto. The R/C started races early at 12:20 and stated we would target for four races. Though the first race started lighter, the sea breeze filled in quickly getting up to 15-18 kts of wind. The first two races we were solid mid fleet with finished of 46 and 45.

Then for the third race we had a great start near the pin end and then sailed up the left side. We had Hugh Styles from GBR pinned under us and he ended up tacking to take our stern. Later on shore he complemented us on our great start. The wind shifted left so when we tacked to consolidate on the fleet we were looking very good. We rounded the weather mark in fourth place and the rest of the race was to hold on with all the top guns breathing down our necks. We were ecstatic about our 7th place finish.

For the final race of the day we had our worst start for the whole regatta. We were in the second row and tried to head right. We finally managed to start catching some boats to eke out a 59th place finish. This was also the day of the most carnage on the race course. Three boats were in the fiberglass repair pit with major hull damage from collisions and the Italian equivalent of Jose Morales was working most of the evening and into the next day.

Friday, July 12 – Steve's daughter Emily and her boyfriend Chris showed up Thursday evening and were present to watch Friday's races from a press boat.

The forecast and actual wind conditions were for light wind (6 to 10 kts). For the first two races we had great starts and excellent upwind boat speed. In both races we rounded the first weather mark in very good position and were able to hold it for the rest of the race. Our finishes were 10th and 14th.

For the final race of the day we were too aggressive with the start and were keeping up with other boats near us near the pin end. We did not realize we were over until we reached the weather mark in about 12th place and the race committee signaled us that we were “black flag” disqualified so we had to drop out of the race. Obviously we were very disappointed but as we sailed back to the beach Matt and I realized we had accomplished a lot compared with our first Worlds championship in 2012. The black flag disqualification became our throw-out race for the finals.

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Final Results

Here are the final results:

1st: France – Billy Beeson
2nd: Great Britain – Hugh Styles
3rd: Spain – Mitch Booth
4th: France – Gabard Francois
15th: Oman – Musab Al Habib (Our training partners before the regatta)
16th: USA – Taylor Reese & Matt Whitehead
24th: Netherlands – Mischa Heemskerk
39th: USA – Steve and Matt

Master Division (Skipper Age 50+)

1st: Spain – Mitch Booth
2nd: Italy – Ugo Ferrari
3rd: USA – Steve Stroebel

Youth Division (Skipper & Crew 23 or Under)

1st: USA – Taylor Reese & Matt Whitehead

2013 Youth World Champions – Taylor Reese and Matt Whitehead

In 2012 Matt and I finished in the 66% of the Worlds Championship fleet and in 2013 we finished in the top 24% of a much larger fleet so we are very satisfied with our results.

We were also extremely pleased sailing the Nacra Infusion for this major regatta. The boat is an excellent all around performer and we found it to be especially quick in lighter wind compared with the other boats.

Thanks to all our supporters who were following us. Matt and I are enjoying a little Italian R&R and return to San Diego on Saturday, July 20th. We hope to see you soon.

Ciao

Matt and Steve