ASB Finn- 'Weed is still a massive problem'
by Dan Slater on 18 Jul 2008
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Dan Slater was runner up in the 2008 Finn Gold Cup. Event Media
New Zealand Finn sailor, Dan Slater, who is training in China for the forthcoming Olympic Games at Qingdao sent this report to Sail-World. Dan comments on the state of the weed problem on the sailing course. It seems that despite the massive efforts of the hosts in clearing huge amounts of the stuff and placing barriers to prevent encroachment, some work still remains to be done before the sailing starts in just three weeks time.
Hi
Training is going really well here we have some equipment that I’m really happy with and some that we are still ticking off on. I have sailed five out of six days in not much more than 10 knots with an average of 4-5 knots most of the time.
The Finn fleet have all been sailing together on our race course area for the Games which has been great to keep a tab on how I'm going against the others. Some of the other classes have gone off into small training groups looking for that little edge or re invent the wheel.
I have seen some new radical designs in sails and masts in all the development classes, which is really cool to see people having a go.
The weed is still a massive problem and the last two days it has got lots worse. This has made racing and testing really difficult and almost unfair. On one half-mile beat today I had to clear the rudder and centerboard six times.
Some patches are up to 25m long on the course area.
The air temperature has gone up 3-4 degrees the last few days that seems to have set off the bloom again. The locals have a massive job ahead to clean it up while it's still growing before August 9th for the first race.
Below are a few pics of the weed:
Dan
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