Photos: top left: the Australian National Championship prizegiving (first classic prize)
top right: the World Championship Classic Prize (first)
Bottom: Maf and Andy relaxing at Holy Loch


Well, that's it. We put our boat into the container last night, and this morning helped the others load the remaining 2 in. So a busy morning, but its all over now. In a couple of months we will hopefully be able to pick up the boat safe and sound.

Last night was the prize giving and we got a great cheer from the rest of the GB team, as well as from some of the other classics, when we went to collect our entry. The silvers were won by a Kiwi boat (though we did beat all the silvers on the water) and the open fleet was won by an Aussie, making us the only GB winner of the 3 fleets.

In the main (open) fleet, the result wasn't decided until the last race. There were 3 Brits in the top 5 (2nd, 3rd and 5th) and Andy's Dad was one of them (in 5th) so we had a good family celebration but were all dog tired from the racing and containering, so retired at a fairly respectable hour.

And we get to bring home the Knopp Karr trophy, which is a carved south african bison. Its an odd trophy: unique would be a polite word. Its coming home in the container so it will be a couple of months before anyone in GB gets to see it.

So, that's it. We've had a great time. The club here has been great: they've organised the event well and made everything work smoothly. We decided to give some of the wine we won to our ramp crew for helping us launch each day and then helping pull the boats out each evening. They also gave us good weather tips and encouragament.

Its been a great experience sailing here, being part of the GB team and also sailing against people we didn't know. The two weeks were also a good contrast: the first week we enjoyed sailing in the big fleet of over 100 boats and with 3 finishes in the top 30 we were very pleased with our performance.

The second week was in a smaller fleet, but this made the racing really tight, meaning that we knew we would have to sail well each day. That meant that our disastrous start on day one of the worlds almost sunk (literally) our campaign. That made it tough but we managed to come back through so we were pleased with how we managed under pressure, and with 4 firsts and 2 seconds managed to get what we needed. The racing was tough both physically and mentally.

I've enjoyed sailing with Andy. He's a great helm and I've learnt a lot from him and from the 2 weeks sailing.

So that's about it for this blog. I'll add some photos in later when I get emailed them by various people, but otherwise thank you all for reading this and for leaving comments, which have really helped to keep us positive and motivated. So thanks to you all from the 2 of us.

See you back home

Maf

Well, we're back in, have washed the boat and the sails and are having our first beer. Racing is over.

And what a nervy race. Before the start the wind had built and there were heavy seas, so we were a bit nervous about getting too much water in the boat like on the 1st race. So we raked back the mast and sailed most of a beat to check we could do it.

We knew that we just had to get around in 3rd so needed to be able to sail well, but also needed to play safe.

Anyway, we raked back but 10 minutes before the 11am start the wind died. We ummed and arred but decided to take of the rake and hope that the wind did not come back strongly. It turned out to be a good choice.

The wind kept falling and was getting more and more shifty. 3 minutes ahead of the start there was a 20 degree shift on the line, but for some reason the race officer didn't abandon and restart. We were trying for the port end of the line but when the gun went had to tack twice to actually cross the line. Everyone was in chaos but luckily we managed to get free, get some clear air and get going. 962 had a reasonable start but 2251 was caught by the shift and was well down the fleet.

The first beat was difficult, but by the end of that we were in 3rd, with both 2251 and 962 behind us. We then stayed in that position for the next two laps, stuck behind 2 leading boats. We were faster on the reach but couldn't get past the 2nd place boat so suffered while the boats behind caught us up. That meant that going into the penultimate beat the top 8 boats were all bunched up closely.

We managed to call the shifts and wind pressure well on this beat and went around the mark onto the run in 2nd, with 962 just behind us. We went down the run almost alongside each other, and tried to ignore their friendly banter and to concentrate on the race.

At the start of the last beat we were still ahead, but with the winds shifting so much, with 962 and also now 2251 back in the race, and 5 other boats only just behind, we knew that if we screwed up we could still let one of those through and be far enough behind to lose.

2251 tacked off onto a flyer, and we let her go, concentrating on staying in front and on top of the bulk of the fleet, playing the percentages. We spent most of the beat like that, keeping ahead of 962 and extending our lead slightly. When we tacked and crossed over to the right side of the beat though we got a shock, finding 2251 coming across in good wind and on a strong lift. Luckily they caught a header near the end and we managed to stay in front of them, but they managed to move into 2nd place ahead of 962.

We were getting close to the finish line, but the wind was still all over the place. We looked for wind on the course and decided to head out to the right. 2251 came with us and 962 went the other way.

We tacked low of the mark and thankfully saw ourselves come onto this big lift which took us nicely into the finishing line, and in the end gave us a comfortable margin of a lead (it turned out to be about 30 seconds across a 98 minute race) over the rest of the fleet.

So we finished first in the last race, securing the overall victory in style. But the result doesn't tell you just how much of a high wire race it was, and we felt lucky and privileged to be able to get home across the line first.

So, that's it. No time for relaxing though: we now have to pack up the boat which needs to be in the container by 8am tomorrow, and before then we have a prize giving dinner to attend and a trophy to collect!

So, mission accomplished: Dovestone SC and Holy Loch SC now have world champion classic fifteen sailors amongst them!

Maf

PS: here are the results in full:

Sail	Yacht	Skipper	Heat 1	Heat 2	Heat 3	Heat 4	Heat 5	Heat 6	Heat 7	Total	Standing
2523	Feel Flows	Andy McKee	[19]	1	2	1	1	2	1	8	1
2251	Iffy	Clive Arnold	1	[4]	1	3	2	3	3	13	2
962	Affrodite	Reagan Bear	[19]	2	3	2	3	1	2	13	2
2672	Gazelle Iii	Phillip Lammonby	4	6	5	5	4	5	[9]	29	4
2116	Jakers	Peter Mullenger	3	5	4	6	9	[10]	5	32	5
2250	Euffamism	Robin Malpas	5	7	9	7	[19]	4	4	36	6
2352	Black Pearl	Lisa Deppeler	7	3	6	4	10	[11]	7	37	7
2030	Ffiesty	James Horman	9	11	7	8	7	6	[19]	48	8
2760	Wal	Paul Woodman	8	8	8	12	[13]	9	8	53	9
3064	Lock N' Load	Dave Raynolds	10	9	15	[15]	5	7	12	58	10
2243	Relience Vi	Michael McCartney	2	[17]	14	16	8	13	6	59	11
1129	Shalom	Ari Sherr	12	10	10	13	6	12	[14]	63	12
2671	Fee Fi Fo Fum	Cameron Taylor	11	13	11	11	11	8	[19]	65	13
2110	Mistral	James Simmons	6	16	13	10	12	[17]	13	70	14
2385	In the Pink	Amanda Millar	13	15	16	14	[16]	14	10	82	15
2114	Sweet Caroline	Thomas Thujis	19	12	12	9	[19]	18	15	85	16
1401	Mag	Shea Wilding	14	[18]	17	17	15	16	11	90	17
2115	Miniffini	Rita Nesdale	15	14	18	[18]	14	15	16	92	18

Today's race was abandoned because of high winds, and concerns about launching all the boats safely.

Which means a day off to relax, and hope that tomorrow we can get out onto the water. Tomorrow is the last day so if we don't get to race the series will be decided on the current results.

The last race will start at 11am Oz time, and will decide the championships. Not too many beers today then!

Fingers crossed we sail well and nothing breaks!.

Maf

Star of the day has to be Emily, Andy's sister. After coming in yesterday we found that our mast ram had broke because the aluminium bar connecting the mast to the boat (to move the mast while sailing) had sheared.

Emily went and talked to the slipway crew (who have adopted us as their boat), and this guy came over, had a look and said, "come with me". He took Emily off to find a guy who knew a guy.

20 minutes later she was in a shipyard encouraging the owner to do a repair for us who said, leave it with me and I'll go see my fabricator tomorrow, and so at 10am this morning she called him, and he said, yep, I'll have it back to you by 12.

So at 12.30 we had it back on the boat all fitted and ready to launch ahead of the 2pm race.

So, one race today... with two races to go. The wind had shifted and was a land breeze. And so it was fluky and the wind coming off the land was hot. We were racing by St Kilda beach underneath the Melbourne skyline so the view was impressive, but we had major wind shifts and speed changes to deal with.

Also, we couldn't decide whether to rake the mast or not, a big decision as once the race starts it can't be changed. We changed it twice, and in the end changed it to be raked back meaning that we would have less power but would be able to cope better if the wind picked up. We got it done just before the warning gun went so we were just legal.

For the race itself, we got a good start, and luckily for us 2251 was directly behind us in poor wind, with a group of boats also covering him. He had to tack off to find wind and we didn't see him for most of the race. We spent most of the race covering 962, and managed to hold him off, but we also spent most of the race wishing we hadn't raked the mast and the wind kept falling away.

When the wind got up we pulled away, when it died, he caught up. Going into the last beat we were still ahead, but then going up the beat the wind swung around 25 degrees. That put 962 above us, but worse put 2251 above him and coming up fast from behind. We hung on waiting for the wind to shift back but were most of the way across the beat, before the wind shifted back very slightly. We decided to take it, going behind 962 to cover 2251. The the wind shifted back further, meaning our 2nd place was safe but we had let 962 get away...

So, at the end of the day we had to be satisfied with 2nd. It was annoying because we had led all the way around, but it means that as long as we come in the top 5 we can win

Fingers crossed.

Maf


PS: last night we were introduced to Roy Windebank who built our boat, which was a nice moment. We were kind of hoping he would be able to recite the history of our boat to us, but unfortunately couldn't. However, he was really pleased to see us doing well and the boat in good condition.

Day 3 of the Worlds. Looking at the competition so far we're pretty convinced that it is going to be between us and 2 other boats (Affrodisiac - 952 and Iffy - 2251). This means that the points will be close as it is likely to be one of each of us in 1st, 2nd or 3rd.

So to win we need top 3 minumum, and ideally to win and one of these 2 to come lower down.

Today is a clincher day, there were 3 races already sailed and 2 today, so by the end of the day 5 out of 7 would be banked. We knew that a good sail and we could move into 1st. Also we knew that the discard would kick in after 7 races meaning our last place would no longer count in the scoring.

The first race start was delayed because of light shifty winds, but when it finally got going, we had a great start, and powered off the line in clear air. It was difficult edgy racing, but we moved out into 1st by the end of the first beat and managed to hold the first all the way around, though we never quite broke free of 952 who was in second. 2251 started badly but by the end managed to climb back to 3rd.

For the second race, the wind had built to maybe around 20 knots so we were fully stretched, but we decided to sail without raking the mast, which was maybe a mistake...

Anyway, we got a great start down at the pin end of the line and held 2251 underneath us all the way down the side of the beat. We tacked near the port layline, and headed across. Most of the rest of the fleet had gone right, so it took a while to find how we were doing.

Luckily we popped out in first with 2251 just behind us.

We held them off down the first run, but coming onto the first beat our mast ram broke (we found out later the aluminium lever had sheared)so we made emergency repairs using a water bottle to plug the mast step. Somehow we managed to stay in front but had lost some speed. However, we held our lead (just) up the beat, though it was hard hard work. We knew we could maybe hold out though.

On the reaches we pulled away slightly and then had one last beat to do. the wind had freshened slightly so we gave it everything we had. Both of us worked like dogs up the beat, but the end result was another 1st, and the one we worked hardest for.

So, end of day 3 we're in 1st, with 3 firsts and a 2nd. 2251 is 2nd and 692 is 3rd.

We have 2 more races to sail so need 2 good results if we're going to hold that.

Maf

Day 2 of the Worlds, and we've managed to put our campaign back on track...


There were 2 races today so it was an early start. We were both nervy and the pressure was on, what with us being in joint last place out of 18.

We also have to make every race count, and reckon that means a top 3 place minimum, as we think the competition will be down to 3 boats.
The racing started slowly with a light breeze for the first race. We made a good start and were towards the front of the fleet going up the beat, and managed to go around the first mark in 2nd, after 1 classic and also 1 silver. We followed them down the run and managed to pull level and then up the next beat, played the shifts well, and managed to climb up into 1st place. We held it the rest of the way around, but it was close, and we never managed to put much distance between us and the 2nd place boat, so on the last beat we had to cover them up the beat to make sure they didn't sneak past.

But by the end of the race we were pleased, and things were starting to go according to plan.

For race 2 the breeze freshened a bit meaning that it was a race we spent most of the time hiking, but it was perhaps about 15 knots, so the conditions suited us well. We didn't get a great start, so watched the top half of the fleet cross ahead of us about a 1/3 of the way up the beat. However, we started to pick off boats and tacked on some nice shifts, so that by the end of the beat we were 3rd.

Soon after we moved up into 2nd, but we couldn't get passed Iffy (2251) the lead boat. We caught them on the reaches so we were sitting right on their stern at the end of the reach (and start of the last beat), but we failed to pass them and they successfully covered us up the last leg.

However, at the end of the day we were chuffed, and a 1st and 2nd meant we had moved up into 6th place.

These photos by the way came from a really great guy who came up with a CD and said, here you are I took some photos of you last week. You can see that we're struggling a bit in the choppy sea, and I need to lean out a bit more so that Andy can see more clearly. Today Andy was teaching me how to "jump" the boat over the waves by moving quickly forward and back as we go over waves. Apparently it works better in a laser but it seemed to help today in the 2nd race when the wind and waves got up.

Maf

Not a good day, which is some understatement.

It was the first day of the Worlds racing, and race one (of 7) started at 2pm.

For the Worlds we are sailing in a different race area to the modern boats so there are about 25 silvers and classics racing together.

The wind started light, but by the 2pm start it had strengthened considerably and was maybe up to 20 knots. We were overpowered and struggling. However, we went off the line first and half way up the beat were ahead. But the waves were bad and we found that we were taking on more and more water and going slower and slower.

It was frustrating, but by the top of the beat we had taken on so much water that we couldn't actually continue, the boat was barely above the water and we both had to stop to bail, but we couldn't get the water out faster than it was coming in over the top.

So, we retired, annoyed at not making a good start, but managed to get the boat back into harbour safely with no damage.

We've made some repairs to make sure the front tank stays watertight, and we'll try again tomorrow. We have 6 more races, and the boat with the best 6 results (1 discard is given) wins, so there is still time.

One good piece of news (for us at least). ff698, which was the classic which came 2nd in the Oz Nationals was protested for missing a mark, and so were disqualified from today's race. That means that they are in the same position we are.

And one final thing. We heard some rumours but heard the full story this evening. Apparently the race organisers received a formal complaint about our boat claiming that it wasn't a classic but a more modern boat, and apparently a committee was gathered and an inspection made of our boat sometime yesterday! All's fine of course, but somebody doesn't seem to believe that it is just us that are managing to sail fast. We must be getting someone spooked at least!

Oh, one final thing, many many thanks to all you that have left messages of support, and sorry we've not had chance to reply. It means a lot and is going to help us tomorrow. We have 2 races to do and similar conditions to today to overcome.


Maf

For those of you that don't sail, maybe now might be a good time to give you some more information about just what in hell Andy and I are doing in Oz.

The event is the Worlds for all those that sail in flying fifteens. If you want to know more about that boat, then click the link below in the January 1st post.

There are basically 3 fleets here (though the boats are the same type), the open fleet, the silver fleet and the classic fleet. We are in the classic fleet. The fleets are divided up by age of boats, and classics are obviously the oldest. To get here to sail in the open fleet you have to qualify in your country (GB had about 25 spaces) but the silver and classic fleets are essentially open to anyone who wants to come.

We're the only GB classic here, and are racing against Australian and NZ boats. This last week the three fleets have been racing together: some people have been racing to qualify (a few places are up for grabs in this week) but most have been racing to practice ahead of next week.

We managed to qualify for the open fleet this week, but have turned down the offer so that we can race in the classic competition. This starts on Saturday, and there will be one race a day for the next week. These will be long races, around a set course area (what is called the Olympic course or sausage triangle sausage  (which describes the shape of the three laps sailed each time), and each race will likely last about 90 to 120 minutes depending on the wind strength.

While this week we were racing with all the boats next week we will be racing with classics and silvers so the fleets will be smaller. This means that it will be easier to sail the course, but that the racing will be much closer and the rankings likely to be closer and tigher right to the end. We're obviously favourites now after winning the Oz Nationals but we will have to be careful and have to sail hard and true to win still!..



Maf

Last day of the first part of the event. This was the last day of the Oz Nationals. We went into today ahead in the classic boats. The rules for this event allowed us one discard meaning we could drop our worst result (a discard) for the final score, so we had to sail one race of the two, and if we got a reasonable result in the first race of the day could skip the last one.

The day itself was cold and cloudy with occasional rain, and it was as cold as sailing in the UK: not the deal we were promised. Race one was a frustrating one: before the race we found our mast puller had broken so we had to tie up the mast against the foredeck to keep it stiff for the race, and we then had a very poor first beat in which we were pushed up to the port lay line of the beat, and found that we (and about 30 other boats) had to come into the first mark on port above the layline. Somehow we found space but we almost filled the boat up in the waves and swell and there were a few collisions going around the first mark. When we came in to shore we found two scrapes in the bow from where we must have hit another boat.

The end result was in the 50s and we were 2nd classic, so it was good enough to ensure we won overall, but the race was frustrating.

By the time the 2nd race started the wind had built up and despite the clouds and cold the sea breeze still filled in, but then the wind built further and a squall came in with the wind about a force 5. We decided that as we had won the Classic event we could sacrifice our discard with a "did not start" so came in early, saving the new sails and our arms from hard work.

So end of the day, and now after the presentation dinner its official, Andy and I are now the Australian Classic Champions 2009. Not bad eh! And we were 49th out of all the 100+ boats, which is also not a bad result.

Now we have 2 days off before the World Championships start. Time to do repairs, rest and look around Melbourne.


Maf

The third day of racing (this pic is from day 1 at the start of the first race). Today was the best day by far so far.. it was the penultimate day of the Oz Nationals and the breeze about suited us. And, nothing broke today either, for the first time.

Results wise we had two excellent results, with a 29th and a 16th: results that mean that we've qualified to sail in the Open Fleet for the main World Championship if we wish. We've decided to stick with the Classic Championship though.

For the 2nd race, we got an excellent start right of the line in the front row and at the left (which was the correct) side of the line, and then got a great wind shift which meant that when we tacked we got to sail across most of the fleet. Better though was that while we went round the first mark in about 20th, we then gained places on the next 2 laps.

Going up the penultimate beat the wind strengthened and we were starting to struggle, but the race was shortened. We dug harder and gave it pretty much everything to keep up with the leaders, and nearly beat Andy's dad, who came in 14th, 10 seconds ahead of us.

And once we'd finished we then surfed waves the 2 miles back into Williamstown Harbour: Andy played the spinnaker and I helmed as we sped down some incredible waves. It was like an exilerating but frightening roller coaster ride, which you're steering. The boat in front of us took some photos so if I can find them to ask I'll upload here.

Maf