The Sailing Dog reports on his Europe adventure

by Andrew Palfrey on 6 Jul 2009 Sailing Dog - July Update

Happy to report that the reason for no blogging is that things have been busy for the past couple of months. I am currently sitting in Frankfurt airport, waiting to board the plane home after an epic 7 week trip in Europe. The year was looking decidedly quiet back in April, but the Europe trip saw a few events string together for me and I have not had a day off the whole time I have been in Europe.

First up was racing in the Star in the Holland Regatta with Flavio Marazzi of Switzerland. Flavio has been fourth at the last two Olympics. It was a privilege to sail with him. I learnt heaps, including some new swear words in German-Swiss. We came fourth (he hates fourth) out of approx 25 boats, but were only two points out of second place. A good experience and great to have the opportunity to jump back in the class for the first time since the Olympics last August.

Then it was off to Sardinia for one month, for two activities. The first engagement was to take on the role of tactician for Lang Walker aboard the massive Kokomo superyacht. This boat is 170 feet long and is 350 tonnes (plus fuel and wine - to quote Lang). Going from hanging out over the side of the star in freezing Holland to piloting the superyacht around the picturesque islands around Porto Cervo required some adjustment. We sailed two regattas. The average size of the crew was 50 people. We had a great time.

The day after the superyachts finished, I tacked over to the coaching role with team Transfusion for the Farr40 Worlds - also in Porto Cervo. This saw us train and generally prepare for eight days. Then the Worlds were a four-day affair. Our owner and steerer, Guido Belgiorno-Nettis had never been to an international sailing event before, so this was a new experience for him. We came out of the blocks fast and were fourth after day one, including winning the last race of that day. Going into the last day, the boys were placed fifth, but unfortunately the last two races were poor ones for us. We toppled to eighth place, missing sixth by only two points. All in all it was a great experience for Guido and the guys in what is a long-term campaign for the Worlds in Sydney in 2011. Lots of things learned technically and heaps learned about how to best approach events like these. The Italians were very strong as expected, but the Worlds were won for the third time by Jimmy Richardson’s team aboard Barking Mad.

From Porto Cervo, it was a dash north to Kiel, Germany to do a week of coaching with the Star crew of Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk. Between these two guys, there are several World championships in classes such as the Star, Laser, Finn, Farr40, Mumm30, as well as an Americas Cup win and an Olympic Silver for Craig. To be asked to help them in the Star was an honour for me. The week went very well. It was a build-up for the guys towards the Europeans, which is being held in Kiel, and also the Worlds, being held in Sweden during early August.

So, now it’s back to be a Dad for a few weeks. Can’t wait!

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