2005 Optimist Worlds Reports,Results & Review

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Kiwi Campaigns

Daniel Willcox  wins Spanish Optimist Nationals

Congested starts were a feature of the Spanish Nationals

New Zealand's Daniel Willcox has won the 2005 Spanish National Optimist Championships. He had a poor first race on the final day, placing 37th, but recovered well to win the final race - his fifth race win in the 12 race regatta, to secure the title by just four points from Santi Mas Depares of Spain. With two Spanish competitors tied for third place. Sailing off Portosin in the Atlantic Ocean conditions were mainly light for the regatta. The championship attracted 120 entrants - all from Spain except for a second New Zealander, Mathew Jones, who finished 103rd overall.

Meanwhile in New Zealand, three of Willcox's team mates for the 2005 Optmist World Championships finished their training with sessions at Wakatere and Lake Pupuke on Auckland's North Shore. Sponsored again by Altex, the Worlds Team of Paul Snow-Hansen, Daniel Willcox, Carl Evans, Luke Deegan and Jason Saunders are heading to Lake Silvaplana, St Moritz in Switzerland for the Worlds Optimist Championships beginning on July 25th.

Three of the team have a final work-out on Lake Pupuke

In the 2004 World Championships, in Ecuador, Snow-Hansen finished second overall with Daniel Willcox a very close 4th, New Zealand won the trophy for the top country at the regatta. In 2005 the venue could not be a greater contrast with Silvaplana being located high in the Swiss Alps, the regatta will be sailed on a small snow-fed lake, with the predominant wind being a thermal breeze blowing from the Maloja Pass.

In addition to the Altex sponsorship, the Optimist team is supported by International Yacht Trust, the Scottwood Trust, the Southern Trust and the Lion Foundation.

KS030705

Following Kiwis' Overseas Campaigns

Start of the Great Opti Trek

Daniel Willcox is well placed at the Spanish National Optimist champs.  Daniel left New Zealand on the 19th June to join his father, Hamish, in Valencia, Spain. From there he teamed up with Mathew Jones, also from MBSC, accompanied by Jan Shearer, and travelled to Club Portosin to take part in the local National Champs.

 With 2 races remaining, Dan is winning the regatta after placing 1st in four races of the 10 races sailed so far, and is just 2 points ahead of local Santi Mas.

Conditions appear to be fairly light... for results and more photos go to http://www.cnportosin.com/campeonato/index.php. Dan will be very encouraged by these results with the World Champs only about 3 weeks away.

Paul Snow-Hansen leaves on 7th July. He travels to Milan then to Croatia in a round-about way. Paul will do a minor regatta in Croatia, then back up to Switzerland. The team will get there about a week before the regatta starts so they can get used to the conditions etc.

The world championships is being sailed on Lake Silvaplana, near St Moritz, high in the Swiss Alps. They will sail on a snow-fed lake which is renowned for its very low temperatures, and the thermal wind, the Maloja, named for the mountain pass from which it emanates - usually in the afternoon.

The regatta website is http://www.optimist.ch/

The NZ Optimist Association will be carrying reports and info on www.optimist.org.nz we will also be carrying full reports and photos on www.kiwispy.com and on www.sail-world.com in both the World and NZ section.

KS300605

Optimist Worlds: Email from Silvaplana

No racing reports from the Optimist Worlds, yet, racing starts on 28th July, however Kiwi Spy received the following email from Altex NZ Optimist Team coach, Hamish Willcox, which sets the scene for the World Championship in Silvaplana, near St Maritz, Switzerland:

Hi,

Two of the biggest pre regatta hurdles have been completed for the Altex NZ Optimist team. Measurement is a very stressful time before a big event and this year went more smoothly compared to usual. All the Kiwis are now through hull, spar, sail and foil measurements. We had a small issue with the supplied foils vibrating, but some words of wisdom from an Americas Cup designer solved this......thanks Mike!

Opti's racing on Silvplana during the 2000 Swiss Nationals.

The second concern is the accommodation. The OP Worlds regatta organisers have a very tight budget and often we have ended up in very shoddy places. This time we have been allotted a backpackers hostel on the base of the St Moritz mountain. It is run by an Aussie assisted by a really nice lady. Yesterday she baked all the sailors cookies and fudge and served up hot chocolate!!

They are really friendly and the team is feeling relaxed and at home in our new sleeping quarters. There are long games of cards 'Scum' is the games of the week. Down below is a football field and we play touch rugby most evenings.

The sailing.....really good........we have been out every day.

The winds on two days has been 14 knots. The organisers slipped me a coach boat which meant I was the only coach from 52 nations here that was out on water! You can just imagine the fuss these other 51 coaches made! Still it was well worth it.

Tomorrow we have a day off and away from the club. Re charge and relax.

Plan on a visit to a traditional cheese making place near by the foot of an enormous glacier. It is a train journey of less than 1 hr on the oldest and steepest train track ever made. There is a walk from the cheese place up onto the glacier, and for those of us who are energetic we can carry on up to the top at 2400 meters, 2 hrs walk.

Well that about it, still waiting for the classic thermal winds to re appear (we had 1 day of this on the 20th). As usual whatever you get in the week before the event won't be the weather of the event. At least i am hoping that is the case, we will welcome back the thermal with the sunshine.

That’s it, thanks for your support, Hamish

KS260705

Optimist Worlds: Email from Silvaplana - First day of Racing

All photos by Tim Wilkes

Photo: Tim Wilkes

See Official Results here and compare the top sailors performances with last year 2004 Worlds Results

See racing live on SportTV.ch

The first day’s racing has been completed at the 2005 Optimist World Championships in Silvaplana, Switzerland. All races have been sailed in the thermal Majolawind and beautiful weather.

From the International Optimist Association website:

'there should be days like this . . . . '

Take one extraordinarily beautiful Alpine lake, bright sunshine, 14-18 knots of wind and 260 young people who have dreamed of this day for years. This is as good as it gets.

With first class race management three races were sailed in these perfect conditions on Day 1 of the IODA World Championship. NO general recalls, NO black flags and just a handful of protests (the jury are confident of attending tonight's IODA Party!)

The promised Majola wind blew straight down the lake. Winds at 1,800 metres have less weight than elsewhere so Race 1 was sailed in the equivalent of 12 knots and Races 2 & 3 in maybe 14kts. The fleet, divided into six divisions to give three successive starts, had to come to terms with thermal effects and subtle shifts but ocean sailors seemed to have had no difficulty in adapting.

And this from Altex NZ Optimist Team Coach, Hamish Willcox, reflecting on the first day of racing

Hi,

Day 1 has just ended, protest time is not yet completed so I am here waiting, and the team is back to the backpackers for a well deserved shower. It is a long day with most of the team going afloat at 10.30 and arriving back ashore at 15.30.

Team Kiwi had a pretty good start to the event, actually about the same as last years world beating team!

Three of the sailors had races in the top three, Luke, Paul and Carl. Carl had the best day overall with something like a 12,3, 14, this should have him close to the top 10 overall. I heard some German girl had 3 races in the top 10!

Anyway the day was not so easy for most of the 248 competitors here. Good starts were essential and then making sure not to be extreme tactically was important. Carl minimised his risk keeping himself more in the middle of the course and being rewarded for consistently high results. Sailors too close into the lake shores were punished today.

Life for the coach is pretty different with all of us stuck on the shore trying not to get run down on the busy main road round the left side of the course!

More tomorrow, 12 races to go.....plus a day of teams racing in the middle, this to be staged right downtown St Moritz!

Thanks to the team product suppliers, Line 7, Ice breaker, and a very special thanks to the NZ Yachting Trust for their significant financial contribution - and of course NZ Optimist Assoc and the 100's of other supporters out there!

Thanks and regards Hamish (Willcox, Coach)
 

All photos by Tim Wilkes

KS290705

Optimist Worlds: Email from Silvaplana - SEcond day of Racing

All photos by Tim Wilkes

Racing continued for the second day of racing at Silvaplana in the World Optimist Championships.

Clear leader at this stage of the regatta is Tina Lutz (GER) who has been very consistent where others have not, finishing in the top ten places in each of six races sailed, and is the only sailor in the regatta to have achieved this feat. When discards come into play, the positions at the top of the table will close up, however placings on the third day of racing will be critical.

Further down the points table there are some interesting moves from the pre-series favorites. Runner up in the 2004 Worlds Paul Snow-Hansen (NZL) moved up 27 places to lie in 18th overall. However the one to watch is the current World Champion Wie Ni  (CHN) who is sitting in 30th place overall, but has two wins and a second in his score - plus an 82nd and a 30th which are pushing him down the table, but will come out when discards come into play. So it is a calculating game that has to be played by these two if they are to feature on the podium at the end of the regatta. Snow-Hansen probably has the biggger task ahead of him and he has several double digit placings in his score - and can't lose all of these with discards.

At the top of the table, the leaders will not be able to stumble and if they start picking up double digit places, then they will come back into the more experienced sailors.

Of the other New Zealanders, Carl Evans sailed consistently, but dropped seven places to lie in 21st overall - still a very good placing in a 246 strong fleet. Daniel Willcox dropped from 32nd overnight to 57th after the second day, with a 77th place in his fourth race pulling his score down - which will improve once discards come into account. Luke Deegan had a good day lifting 30 places from the first day. Jason Saunders dropped 12 places overall to lie 140th - again not too bad considering there are 246 in the fleet and entries are restricted to a maximum of five per country. Like the Olympics - just being here is an achievement in itself.

From Altex NZ Optimist Team Coach Hamish Willcox:

It was a pretty average day for the NZ OP team today. Again we had the famous thermal winds building up to 17 knots at times with the average about 13. Paul came out and scored 3rd in the first race and Dan had a 6th in the final 6th race. Carl would have been the most consistent with about 25,25,12. He was 14 overall before today.

The results are slow and they only just managed to finish yesterdays results by early this morning, i guess 9 races per day IS hard to digest!

I think there are two factors which make it difficult for the Kiwis. The first is the length of the start line, this was about double of what the race committee would set for the same size fleet in NZ. This long line meant that the smart or lucky group that got off the favoured end would make a large jump on the fleet. The second difficulty for the sailors is the fact there is no seaward horizon. This makes it hard for them to see the top mark and therefore sail on the lifted tack.

Today was summarised by long persistent shifts and periods of lighter winds that shifted rapidly. Some of the teams, the Chinese, British, others?
found consistent form today. I think these teams have spent a large amount of time sailing waters surrounded by land.

Anyway of course we are all so proud of them...even if some of the sailors are dissapointed. I keep reminding them that OP sailing is the beginning of their life....not the end! Remember that the 250 sailors here are the best 250 sailors in the world under 16 years of age! Amagine how happy any of us would be if we could claim to be ranked in the first 250 in another sport- like tennis or whatever.

I would guess that our team is ranked in the top 10 nations for sure right now and that individually i guess Carl to be about 20, Dan and Paul between
25 and 35 and Luke about 45, and Jason about 70. By the way Dan had a blond moment in race 5 capzising on the downwind....the first time this has happened for a long while.

Thats about it for now. 2 more races tomorrow, then the team sailing the following day. NZ must be ranked in the top 15 nations to qualify for the team racing at the end of tomorrows races.

C u Hamish

Thanks to the team product suppliers, Line 7, Ice breaker, and a very special thanks to the NZ Yachting Trust for their significant financial contribution - and of course NZ Optimist Assoc and the 100's of other supporters out there!

All photos by Tim Wilkes

See Official Results here and compare the top sailors performances with last year 2004 Worlds Results

See racing live on SportTV.ch

KS300705

Optimist Worlds: Email from Silvaplana - Third day of Racing

From Hamish Willcox, Coach of the Altex NZ Optimist Team

Day 3 is over and Carl Evan became just the 3rd NZ sailor in the history of the OP Worlds NZ participation to win a race. Carl has joined the exclusive club with Dan Willcox and Paul Snow Hansen.

Carl sailed a fantastic race, one of the best I have witnessed! He made a nice start and nailed every windshift (within meters of the perfect tacking point) all the way to the top mark. He was 30 seconds in the lead and continued to stretch to the finish.

In fact the day was all for Carl who ended up with a 1, 5, and a 40ish. My guess is he will be in the late teens after 9 races. Paul will be next Kiwi in the 20's followed by Dan, Luke (60-70) and Jason. Dan had a shocking last 2 races starting in the 3rd row and getting forced into the huge wind hole on the shore.

The great news is that NZ has qualified for the team racing to be staged in St Moritz tomorrow

See Official Results here and compare the top sailors' performances with last year 2004 Worlds Results

See racing live on SportTV.ch

From www.optiworld.org

OPTIMIST WORLDS: DAY 3

Friday 30 July

The weather stayed bright but the winds were notably lighter, especially for the last race. Races 7-9 were sailed to keep the regatta on schedule.

Tina Lutz (GER) has established an 11 point lead, despite sailing a discarded 16th in race 8, over Matthew Scott of Trinidad who also discarded one of today's results. They are followed by the two Chinese, Jianan Wu and reigning champion Wei Ni.

For full results see the Organisers website.  

Tomorrow individual racing is suspended in favour of the IODA World Team Racing Championship which will be held on the natural ampitheatre of Lake St. Moritz. Seeding is as follows:

 

It may help to understand how this table works to see the results from 2004

Some fascinating matches are in prospect. Croatia and Peru, both often medallists, meet in the first round , and it will be interesting to see whether the personal skills of China can overcome the team racing tradition of Argentina. The British team includes the Saxton brothers who may have a certain telepathy. As for 15th seed Trinidad they are just delighted to qualify in only their second time to send a team to the Worlds.

KS310705

Optimist Worlds: - It's Over - Regatta called off  - Germany wins!

With cold northerly winds again prevailing for the final day of the 2005 World Optimist Championships, the organisers decided about noon local time to call off the regatta and not sail the two races scheduled for today.

Tina Lutz from the Chiemsee Y.C. in Bavaria, Germany is the 2005 IODA World champion.  At 14 years of age, Tina is only the third girl to win the championship in its 43 year history and the first since Lisa Westerhof (NED) who won gold in 1996. Last year in the very different conditions of Salinas, Ecuador she was 12th over-all and first girl.

Top placed Kiwi sailor, Carl Evans (NZL 3958), chases 2005 World Champion, Tina Lutz (GER 11601)    (Photo Tim Wilkes)

Today the race officer made four attempts to start Race 12 but big shifts in the northerly wind caused him to abandon and at midday all further racing was cancelled.

Out of six days racing there were two days lost due to poor weather conditions. This means 12 races of a possible 15 were completed.

Silver medallist Matthew Scott of Trinidad has an astonishing history. With no family background in sailing he went on a basic training course in September 2003 and qualified from a home fleet of less than 20 sailors for the 2004 Worlds. There, to the astonishment of all, he took 7th place. This year he has proved that that was no fluke.
 

Reigning championship Wei Ni of China suffered two DSQs and could finish no better than 21st. but his compatriot Jianan Wu showed the growing strength of Chinese sailing to take bronze.

Second girl was Daniela Zimmermann (PER) in 8th place over-all and girls' bronze went to Karin Alkstedt (SWE).

The Altex NZ Team will return with the bronze medal in the teams racing (Photo: Tim Wilkes)

Top 10
1. Tina Lutz
2. Matthew Scott
3. Jianan Wu
4. Philipp Autenrieth
5. Nicklas Dackhammar
6. Jorge Martinez Doreste
7. Julian Autenrieth
8. Daniela Zimmermann
9. Jacob Bozic
10.Sean Bouchard

Altex NZ Optimist Team Placings:

Carl Evans 14th 113 points
Paul Snow-Hansen 25 132
DanWillcox 38 161
Luke Deegan 72 209
Jason Saunders 124 296

The Altex NZ team will take the podium for third place and bronze medal in the World Teams Race regatta.
 

The prizegiving was scheduled to be at 0600hrs NZT live on www.sporttv.ch

KS050805

Kiwi Campaigns

Junior Sailing

Optimist Worlds: - Email from the Altex NZ Optimist Team

Just in from Altex NZ Optimist Team Coach, Hamish Willcox

Hi,

Been a very long day. It is 1700 and the sailors have just got off the water. The Race Committee decided, after loosing yesterdays racing, to begin today at 10am. So that meant a 7.30 start and here we are 10 hours later.

 The Teams racing was held close to shore with huge crowds (Photo: Tim Wilkes)

Anyway the winds were from the opposite direction than the typical thermal.
Northerlies, rain and very cold. I was wearing 5 layers standing on the lake shore. The winds were very shifty with sailors laying the top mark from either tack off the line. Wind speed between 5 and 12 knots.

Carl and Dan had the best day with Carl about 12, and 19 and Dan 22, and 4th. My guess would have Carl still in the top 15 overall after 11 races.
Now they are allowed to drop 2 worst scores. There were many terrible scores today amongst the best in the fleet. Loads of disqualification for early starts and sailors getting caught on the shore with long persistent shifts.

This has been the problem with this event for all the sailors. With the sides of the lake creating a barrier means that with longer shifts, lasting more than 5 mins, sailors run out of runway and hit the shore before the wind shifts back in their favour.

 The Optimist Worlds take place in front of the backdrop of the ski resort of St Moritz (Photo: Tim Wilkes)

The only exception is the German girl, Tina. She will now be winning by 30 points! She sails here all the time as her parents have a holiday home in the area. She knows when to take your medicine and pass behind boats to get further into long persistent shifts. All the other top 5 overall had some shockers today.

For sure sailing on such a small lake has presented some interesting problems for all the sailors to contend with.

More tomorrow, it is the final day and races cannot be started after 1600.
Looks like the regatta will finish 2 races short of the expected 15 races.

Cheers Hamish,

PS all the NZers say big thanks for the ice breakers!... me too!

 

KS040805

Junior Sailing

Optimist Worlds: Team racing - Email from the Altex NZ Optimist Team

Silvaplana venue for the 2005 Optimist Worlds    (Photo: Tim Wilkes)

Report from Coach Hamish Willcox. Superb photos from Tim Wilkes (www.timwilkes.com)

NZ are on the podium with Bronze medal at the OP World Team Race Championships!!

Today the individual OP World Championship resumes. We have just finished two days of four boat teams racing. NZ qualified 13^th place- the top 15 nations after five races are allowed to compete in the Teams.

Third place was a supreme effort by Paul, Dan, Carl, Luke and Jason. The racing was staged downtown Saint Moritz - so the public lined the lake shore.

The sailing was very exciting throughout the two days. NZ had the hard draw with their first race against Poland and soon after by the times world champions Argentina. The draw works that if a team loses twice they are out of the event. If you lose once you will be fighting it out for third place- down the losers end of the table.

Our strategy was NOT to try and team race, but to start well and sail the fastest course to the finish. The reason we did not want to team race was that were up against teams that were very experienced at this type of racing, whereas we had just one day’s practice two months ago!!

Only in Switzerland! No wind so sailors test their dry suits in a snow fed lake!     (Photo: TimWilkes) 

Anyway our strategy worked and the team kept producing magic out on the water. We were amazed we only just lost to Argentina - right at the finish after leading most of the race. The team bounced back from this disappointment exceptionally well and fought hard into the top of the losers group to win bronze.

They achieved this by starting perfectly, staying out of trouble (only 2 penalties issued against NZ and 5 against our opponents), and sailing the windshifts fast to the finish.

We had an amazing race against the Great Britain the reigning European Champions. NZ had a winning combination with a first and second and GBR had to push us into last and second last.

Paul Snow-Hansen sailed an amazing last beat while being attacked by four GBR sailors he managed to stay penalty free and also move into third place from fifth at the bottom mark. At the same time one attack by GBR had GBR incurring the penalty.... and it was game over for them. Beautiful, and on we went to defeat Italy for the bronze medal.

Last night the organisers put on an amazing night with a trip up the highest gondolas in this area. We soared to 3,300 meters which is over 10,000 ft. There was a flying fox over a frozen lake and ice caves to explore. Then, a restaurant meal at 2000ft, and amazing views of all the fires and fireworks on the Swiss National day.

KS030805

Optimist Worlds: Team racing - Kiwis 3rd!

DAY 4 Team Racing - some information from www.Optiworld.org Photos by Tim Wilkes.

Sunday 1 August

Argentina regained the Optimist World Team Racing championship which had been theirs for five years until 2004. Defending champions, Poland, were beaten by New Zealand in the opening round, and then by Denmark in the repecharge.

The Maloja wind filled in around midday on the amphitheatre of Lake St. Moritz. The Swiss national holiday brought a large crowd of spectators marvelling at kids sailing bathtubs where normally the only racing is a Swedish Match event.

Better wind than yesterday did not end the surprise results. Malaysia, already victors over Sweden, gained successive wins over the traditionally strong Peruvians and then Great Britain to take their first ever silver medal in the event. Peru also went down to Sweden, and in the petit finale New Zealand came through the repechage to take bronze from Italy.

Ranking:
1. Argentina
2. Malaysia
3. New Zealand
4. Italy
5= Great Britain
5= Sweden
7= Denmark
7= Peru

Individual racing restarts tomorrow with seven further races scheduled over the next three days.

KS010805

Kiwi Campaigns

Junior Sailing

Optimist Worlds: Team racing & Defending Champion DSQ'd

DAY 4 Team Racing - some information from www.Optiworld.org

New Zealand has progressed to the second round of the Optimist Teams racing, after defeating the previous titleholder, Poland in the only round sailed yesterday.

The winds which had so far produced three superb days of racing today provided a frustrating day for the race officer at the start of the Team Racing Championship. Having waited for the southerly Majola wind until 1400 hrs he attempted to start in a light northerly, only to experience a 180 degree windshift during the first race as the Majola finally arrived.

The resulting light and fickle wind may have contributed to some startling upsets. As well as New Zealand eliminating reigning champions Poland and both the 14th and 15th seeds overcame more fancied opponents.

The team racing will continue tomorrow, the scheduled reserve day.

In a post script to the fleet racing, defending champion Wei Ni (CHN) was disqualified by the International Jury from Race 8. The decision drops him back to 33^rd on the overall standings (he had been in fourth place on provisional results). He will have the opportunity to drop this second ‘82’ points score from his results – having picked up a similar score in Race 3, on the first day of racing. Given the consistency of the series leader, Tina Lutz (GER) it would seem that the 2004 World Champion may have a steep climb ahead of him, if he is to defend his title.

RESULTS TO DATE:

KS010805

Junior Sailing

Optimist Worlds: Coaches Review

Firstly a few amendments from my last report. Actually only 11 of the 15 races were completed. Also the organisers mis calculated overall positions on the night of the prizegiving, the NZ team moves up 2 places with the correct calculation. This calculation is based on the countries best 4 individual sailors scoring all individual races. NZ won this prize last year.

For 2005 NZ team finishes 6th out of 50 nations.

For the teams race regatta NZ finishes with Bronze medal.

Carl finishes 14th overall from 241 sailors.

These are the highlights for the 2005 team.

There were also some dissappointments, especially for paul, and dan returning to the OP worlds to defend 2nd and 4th overall.

On the final day I gathered the team together for the last time. What were the lessons learnt? In summary as follows:

1) "Training and expectations" Paul brought this up. Very good point in that it highlighted the critical difference between last year and this one.
Last year the team was learning with a very steap learning curve, every day of their training was exciting due to this. Their expectations at the worlds were realistic.
Lesson learnt was that having spent up to 4 years in the OP, large amounts of training now would reward only small gains. Learning to deal with this is hard. For the future remember to factor in that after 4 years and about 2000 hours sailing in 1 type of boat learning curve deminishes and this can result in frustrations.
Lesson with expectations is to be careful with Junior and Youth levels.
There is no pecking order and sailors improve or not a very fast rates.
Also the obvious comments from the team about staying fresh before the event and concentrating on the process and NOT the outcome.

2) "Racing" Most of the NZ team suffered from poor starts. Last year the worlds were on the sea and recoveries were possible provided sailors were fast and sailed the lifted tack. For 2005 on the lake poor starts were punished because about 40% of the right side course triangle was on the shore! This meant that a poor start from the Race committtee boat with the wind direction in left phase put the sailors into the shore before the direction shifted back right. This happened on both beats with the reverse situation on the 2nd beat to finish.
All the team said with the benefit of hindsight they would have sailed a much much better regatta....definite lessons learnt in this area. The world champion produced front row starts on the lifted tack from mid line (remember the line is 1/3 longer than in NZ) for every race! Her worst race place was 15th.

3) "Sailors weight" Being super fast makes for great tactics! To be super fast sailors must be 35 to 42 kg. Last year Paul and dan were super fast in this weight mode. This year only Paul and Carl fitted into this mode, while Dan, Jason and Luke were all over 48 kg. Sailors over 42 kg have to except slower speeds and lower positions. Example the 2 x world OP champ (2003 and 04)Filip from croatia was just 10th last year weighing about 48 kg and 30th this year weighing about 55kg. This brings us back to the first point- expectations.

4) Lessons have been leart about lake sailing in general. More wind near to shore lines and often less wind in the middle. Wind blowing onto steep shorelines mean less wind, winds that blow off or along shorelines mean more wind near the shore. The shape of the shoreline dictates where the holes form. The restrictions of the shoreline mean sailors are not able to sail out to laylines waiting for the wind to shift back in their favour.
Disorientation as to where they are positioned on the course due to the shadow cast by the shorelines all round-clustraphobic.

It was easy to see that sailors who did well this year had put allot of time into sailing on lakes. These countries included Germany and Sweden in particular.

That all I have time for now, if anyone has any questions then please email.

Thanks for all your amazing support for this team and remember Carls 14th overall and 6th nation for out top 4 sailors in the individual is actually pretty amazing.

Cheers hamish