Andrew Campbell - An interesting week of Firsts

by Andrew Campbell on 14 Oct 2009
This past week has been quite a week of sailing. Lots of firsts. It was my first time to Bermuda. It was my first time racing the IODs. It was my first Grade 1 match race. It was my first time racing as a bowman. It was the first time I’d seen a judge boat sunk by a competitor. And it was the first time I’d commuted to a regatta by scooter.

The regatta is a rare glimpse for amateur match racers into the World Match Race Tour as more than 20 teams compete with the best in the world for $100,000 prize purse. From my perch up on the bow, I was calling tactics and struggling with the spinnaker pole for Dave Perry, along with Doug Clark on the mainsheet, and IOD whiz Jonathan Farrar on the jib and spinnaker trim. Making it out of the opening round was the first major task of the week, and one not easily accomplished considering that names like Sebastian Col and Peter Gilmour were eliminated from the event after the first round. With major victories in big breeze on Wednesday and Thursday, we almost qualified for an automatic quarterfinal berth as one of the top two in our group, but readied ourselves for the repechage. In the repechage we struggled to get off the starting line and were only able to snag one win from Damien Iehl (pictured in the link).

There were some major lessons learned from the experience though:

Wins are hard to come by at Grade 1 events. Take them when you can get them. We took three critical wins against Col, Hansen, and Marinho that made the difference in getting into the second round of the event. Minor mistakes against Ainslie, Minoprio, and Viltoft cost us a spot in the quarterfinals. The good teams really know how to pick up your misakes and make you pay for them. There are no bad teams…

We watched more than a half-dozen people get black flag penalties (which means DSQ in match racing… don’t be confused with teamracing!!!). So do your turns as soon as you can, because the jury was out for blood if you waited too long.

We watched some gnarly wipeouts on the windy days (check out the video to come later this week). I learned that nothing can prepare you for heavy air in funky boats like the IODs. We sailed more than one race in non-spinnaker conditions. There were other races with full spinnaker-up broaches as well as chinese gybes. Sometimes you just had to go for it, and other times a little conservatism went a long way. Knowing when to apply each plan was paramount.

We watched some seriously close-to-the-wall-action that made for some very non-traditional racing situations. Great teams made grave mistakes and mediocre teams looked like heroes because of weird boat handling mistakes in close quarters with the seawall and heavy air. Having a go-to plan as well as a back up plan in case of a boathandling mistake was always a good idea, and control was not always a luxury you could count on.

Remember the dress code for Bermuda (as confirmed by Jonathan): shorts, blazer, straw hat, sunscreen, and leathers so you don’t get scooter rash like a couple of other guys in the regatta.

Next regatta on the docket is the Melges 24 Worlds coming up next week in Annapolis. Video and photos from the Gold Cup are coming up later this week!

www.campbellsailing.com