NZ 470 Olympic crew report from their Europe tour
by Peter Burling and Carl Evans on 19 Jun 2008
Peter Burling and Carl Evans racing in the 2008 470 Europeans on Lake Garda Burling Media
Peter Burling and Carl Evans report from the 470 Europeans and training sessions in Europe:
Hi all, the countdown is on - 53 days till the Olympics start.
We have just arrived home from our Europe training and regattas ready for a few more days of school – three seats each on Singapore Airlines meant we could get some sleep.
More invaluable experience was gained on this trip, and all our Olympic gear is on its way to China – we’re in Qingdao in a couple of weeks time with Nathan for a 'coaches regatta', back home for a short break then back to China for the Olympic opening ceremony on Aug 8th with our racing starting on the 11th.
We arrived in Holland from NZ in the middle of May for the Holland (Spa) regatta – our car and boat were in storage from our last trip making life much easier ... picking everything up and being ready to go sailing within a few hours. Our fleet size was larger than usual with 60 odd boats on the start line (usually they split us into around thirties) requiring slightly different tactics. Brown freshwater, windmills on the water near the race area and heaps of small insects were our first impressions of Medemblik.
This regatta was a very high scoring affair reinforcing how tricky the conditions were. A 50th in race3 when we were holed on the start line was no fun - we were awarded average points by the protest committee for that race. We just made the top 10 medal race where we finished 5th to be 10th overall.
The next event was at beautiful Lake Garda in Italy – on the way, we stayed at a couple of 420 sailing friend’s homes in Germany. Experiencing another culture and their hospitality helped break up the long drive. Our new
Euro-lease car recorded over 6500km for our time in Europe. If you think NZ fuel is expensive ... we were paying NZ$3.30 for diesel.
A few days training at Riva was followed by the Italian nationals in Venice. The drive of 250km to Venice was frustratingly slow at 5.5 hours but the poor Israeli team took 10 – no one told us it was an Italian long weekend with massive traffic jams. The venue was great – sailing not in the canals but in the open ocean. Everyone stayed in a massive camping ground (containing a supermarket, 50m swimming pool. restaurants etc) backing straight onto the beach. Light wind, current and the ISR/USA/ITA teams to race against was very beneficial to our program.
We made the time to catch a ferry into Venice and have pizza beside the Grand Canal. 6 Euros per drink was a bit steep though. We walked back to the ferry at St Marks square through the narrow streets and canals that were right up against the buildings/houses.
Back to Garda for the 470 Europeans – the 100 men’s boats were split into 3 fleets for qualifying - we made gold fleet. Clean water and the sheer cliffs rising up into the mountains were spectacular. The mountain bike trails and walking tracks close to the town were great for entertainment and keeping in trim.
The classical thermal Garda breezes never really eventuated – the wind was supposed to be from the north in the morning then up to 20+ knots of southerly in the afternoon. Most of the racing took place in a light shifty breeze and due to the lake being over 300 meters deep it was very difficult for the RC to adjust the course. Snow in the hills on the last evening finally created a stronger more stable breeze for the last day of racing. We had hoped to make the top 10 medal race but just missed by finishing 11th overall. A couple of race wins were nice but we were not quite consistent enough. Still it was one of the most amazing places we have sailed at.
A huge thank you goes out to all our sponsors and supporters who have helped make our Olympic campaign possible.
Till next time, Peter and Carl.
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