Life on the 470 trail with Wilmot and Page

by Malcolm Page on 9 Dec 2003 Hello Everybody

Busy times - Well that is exactly how things have been for the last three weeks.

Nathan and my Europe containers arrived two weeks late, and luckily one day before we went back to Japan (our 2nd visit in 1 month). So that we did not completely block Schenker's car park with trailers and boats, we had to unload the eight Australia containers on a Saturday, in segmented fashion.

This Saturday was the hot one three weeks ago. The outside air temperature was 38 degrees, and inside the container was exhausting. This was good training for Athens! Maybe this is an acclimatisation method!?!

After collecting six boats with two trips across Sydney the job was completed. We packed the final few items that afternoon before flying out to Japan the next day.

This time to Japan we flew into Nagoya and took a one hour drive east to Tsu
City, were the Japanese Nationals were to be held. Tsu City has a large
bay, not too dissimilar to Port Philip.

We had the same boat and equipment that we used three weeks early in the Japanese Olympic Regatta. Some friends were very helpful and delivered the boats from Fukuoka to Tsu for us.

Unfortunately, the boats were delayed two days, because their container from Europe was late as well. After some sight-seeing everything was delivered and the boats were prepared for racing.

After the first day of racing things turned ugly (not the racing, but the
weather). The land temperature dropped to 12 degrees and I would hate to
think what the Wind Chill factor (with 20 knot winds) brought the on water
temperature down to.

Luckily we don't have temperature gauges on our boat. Our feeling in the hands and feet was not known until later in the evening when we socked in the bath.

The regatta went very well, with us winning six of the eight races. In the other two races we finished with a second and third.

This was great experience for us with 75 Japanese entries and very similar wind conditions to what we will find in Athens next year.

The worst news in Japan was when we found out the Rugby World Cup final was
being shown on local TV at 1am in the morning. With racing starting at 9am
every day, this made things very difficult. Then things got worse when
England beat Australia. The problem is now, that the English sailing team
will be arriving in Australia in two weeks and we will never hear the end
of it.

Just a quick note about the toilets in our accommodation. They had a basin on top of the bowl! So when you flushed your business, you could wash
your hands immediately and the job was done!

We arrived back from Japan on the Wednesday morning. We unloaded our bags
of winter clothes, loaded them up with the summer ones and jumped in the car the next day and drove to Brisbane.

The Sail Brisbane regatta is the first of our Australia ranking series. We enjoyed some good weather and great racing. We had 12 entries in this regatta from four different countries. We had a very consistent regatta and managed to win the regatta with two races to spare.

The most interesting situation came when the Jury protested us. This was because we had been caught pumping in the race. So as soon as we arrived ashore I was in the hearing. We found out after this race that the Race Committee had turned the pumping rule 'off' halfway through the race.

We then managed to prove that the Race Committee had not followed the
correct procedure and signalled the sailors well enough, so the protest was
dismissed. Luckily for us, because this penalty can result in disqualification from the regatta or even a ban from Sailing for a period.

The worst thing that came from this protest was that my new Kaenon Sailing
Sunnies were stolen. Because the protest was held as soon as we hit the
shore, I left all my sailing gear on top of the rigged boat.

Two hours later when I returned everything was there except the sunglasses. I was NOT HAPPY!! So I placed notices and made announcements all over the place the following day, but as expected nobody returned these glasses.

Some very weird and what seems clumsy changes have taken place in Olympic
sailing of late. In the 2000 Games, sailing had 12 races with two worse race
discards.

ISAF (International Sailing Federation) decided that this format was too easy, and then changed the format to 11 races, one discard, but as recently as three weeks ago, at the latest ISAF AGM in Barcelona, they voted and have changed the format to 11 races no discards.

Never has a sailing regatta in the world held this format. This will put even more emphases on equipment and the possibility of damage. Not only now will sailors not be able to make a mistake in any races, but the Jury and Race Management will need to be more accurate as well, so they do not jeopardise anybody.

A simple example occurred this year in Athens Pre-Olympic Test Event when the race management allowed a fickle wind race to continue and only three boats of the 30 boat fleet could complete the race within the time limit.

At the last Olympics, the Australian 470 men's team won the regatta with an average score per race of 6.3 points. So if you were in 6th place in this race you would be still scored with a Did Not finish - this could cost you a medal, but we all now have to play under these new rules!! Bring it on!

The latest World Rankings just came out again this month. There has been no
changes with us still in the Number 1 position.

Thanks again for your support! Next update very soon.


'Thanks to our supporters'
North Sails Japan - Driveaway Holidays - Ronstan Australia - Ziegelmayer Boats -
Middle Harbour Yacht Club - Learsport - Kaenon Eyewear - Manooga Products - David Fuller - Fibre glass International - Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) -
New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS)

'and to the Australian Yachting Federation and their Supporters'
P&O Nedloyd - Schenker International