Belcher/Behrens 5th at ISAF World Sailing Championships

by Mathew Belcher on 16 Jul 2007 Surviving a head on Collison - Mat Belcher and Nick Behrens had a tough regatta in Cascais as Mat Becher reports. Our European Campaign for 2007 has now drawn to an end in dramatic circumstances with the World Championships held in Cascais, Portugal.

Cascais is approximately 30 minutes drive west of Lisbon the capital of Portugal. It is a beautiful location with many beaches stretching well North. It is also close to Sintra which is renowned for its beautiful Palaces and ancient Castles.

The event was different in that all eleven of the Olympic classes were competing at the one location at the same time. Accordingly the entire Australian Sailing Team resided together at a Villa close to the venue. Daily briefings were held each morning with meteorology updates and other technical information passed on to the Australian athletes.

It was the highlight event for 2007, where for the first time this year; the wind delivered as promised. The majority of racing held between 25-30 knots; by far the windiest event that Nick and I have competed in since the San Francisco Worlds back in 2005. The racing was epic, big waves and the super strong wind made for awesome and very testing conditions. Lots of broken masts, damaged equipment and spectacular capsizes. Not exactly Qingdao, but neither the less, an imported time for teams to qualify their country towards Beijing.

For us it was the last opportunity to prove a performance before the Olympic panel. We went into the worlds with confidence to secure a top five finish.

Except for a slight hiccup in race 1 our regatta was going to plan. With almost all races in top five we were really thriving in the 25+ knot conditions; leaving us in seventh position out of qualification.

However the start of race 7 saw a dramatic end to what we thought was our regatta. We were approaching the top mark of race 7 on starboard when we noticed that we were on a collision course with one of the port tack boats.

After it was evident that the port tack boat was not keeping clear we bore away hard to duck their transom in order to avoid a collision. When we were within one boat length of their transom, the port tack boat suddenly saw our position and panicked; in an effort to avoid us they threw their helm towards us trying to duck and within seconds we collided head on.

Winds were well above 20kn at the time, both boats were going full speed; the collision was severe. Nick got flung against the other boats forestay breaking their mast while their bow hit me in the chest leaving me unable to breathe properly.

We were immediately pulled off our boat and taken to shore where an ambulance was waiting to take us to hospital.

Nick experienced a fractured right fibula (broken leg), strained muscles and I had severe bruising to my ribs. The injuries would have been even more serious had I not been wearing a life jacket. This must have been one of the lowest points in our sailing career; lying in hospital next to each other, knowing our regatta was almost over.

We were not sure if we would be able to compete in the rest of the event. Due to our injuries we missed the entire next day, the last day of finals before the medal race forfeiting our fourth position after race 6.

With the help of the Australian Sailing Team in particular Rob Brown, Michael Dunstan and David Tallet ( certainly not a bad support crew) we managed to gain redress for races 7 and 8 after 3 hours of putting our case before the jury panel. The Jury decided to put us into the medal race and in 6th position.

However, they did not give us redress for race 9. We are sure that had we been able to sail our results in those 3 races would have been better than 7,7, DNF given our consistency throughout the regatta and the windy conditions.

In any case we were grateful that the jury had agreed that we deserved to receive placings in races 7 and 8 as the accident had occurred
through no fault of our own and our regatta had been all but ruined.

We did not know whether we would be physically able to race the medal race until one hour before the start, but at the same time we wanted to prove to the selectors not only our determination but also our capability to perform at top level events not only grade one.

Nick and I truly felt this was our opportunity to show the fleet we will never give up.

With sheer determination, a lot of medication and some serious strapping we started the race rounding the top mark in third position. As it worked out we were almost in a bronze medal position, however, as the wind increased and with an unlimited pumping flag up our hopes and aspirations were pushed trying to maintain our position in the race. We managed to finish in fourth position, enabling us to gain another spot to 5th overall. You can check the race out on sail.tv via the ISAF Worlds’ website.

In spite of everything we accomplished our goal of top five albeit with a hint of disappointment knowing that if given the opportunity we truly felt we could have gained a medal.

Congratulations going to Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page for winning the regatta and demonstrating that they are without doubt the fastest boat out there when the wind is raging as well as to the whole Australian Sailing Team who really performed during this championship and supported one another remarkably. It is great being involved in such a great atmosphere.

We also want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support and words of encouragement when we felt down, also to the Race committee of the worlds in sending us a huge bunch of flowers.

We are now both traveling back to Australia for a well earned 10 day rest before traveling to China on the 1st August with the whole Australian Sailing Team.

The good news is that we will be able to compete in the Pre-Olympics after a few weeks rest.

We have done our part and now it is all up to the panel of selectors. Only time will tell where it was enough to represent our country in the Pre-Olympics starting on the 15th August. Fingers crossed.

Take care everyone and look forward to catching up with you all.

Mathew & Nick.