NZL 49er - Peter Burling and Blair Tuke report from Australia

by Peter Burling Blair Tuke on 3 Dec 2010

NZL 49er Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, Perth. Photo by Richard Langdon_OceanImages Richard Langdon /Ocean Images http://www.oceanimages.co.uk

NZL Sailing Team members, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke report from Australia and the 49er class:

Hi

We’re currently in Wangi Wangi on the shore of Lake Macquarie – 2 hours north of Sydney.

NZL 49er, crashing through a wave at Australian 49er nationals. Photo by Haylee Outteridge © Burling/Tuke Blair Tuke

A special thanks to our Aussie 49er sailing friends Nathan and Iain and their parents for hosting us in Wangi.

Last week we competed in the Perth International Regatta as part of preparation for our Dec 2011 Worlds in Perth– which is also the first Olympic qualifying regatta. 17 of the World’s top 20 ranked 49er crews competed - taking the opportunity to test the conditions.

Although we had thought this would be a windy regatta, the 'Fremantle doctor' (18 to 25+ knot seabreeze) didn’t show itself, and racing was mainly light-to-moderate. The hotter it got, peaking out just under 40 degrees, the lighter the wind - not a sea breeze as we know it. All the historical data suggests stronger wind in December than our training in November.

Day 1 was rather frustrating - a gear issue in race 1, now sorted, had us mid fleet. Race 2 and 3 went better but nothing special. We sat in 12th position at the end of the day. With lots of seaweed around the differences in speed between boats was fairly big at times; if one boat had weed and another didn't you would know straight away.
Day 2 went better for us with scores of 4, 1, 4, pulling us into third overall.
There was no wind on day 3 – and on day 4 we picked up disappointing scores of 13th and 12th in the Gold Fleet.

We went into the top-10 medal race in eighth overall, but the fleet was very tight with only 10 points separating third from 13th. Finishing second in the medal race (double points) saw us leap up to finish in fourth overall, only 2 points behind bronze. The regatta was comfortably won by Aussies Nathan and Iain.

Together with our coach Jez, we learnt plenty and it was great to have top-level 49er racing on our side of the globe.

We packed our 49er into the container for its train trip to Melbourne while we flew to Sydney. We have chartered a good Australian 49er for the 2 Sydney regattas – the Aus 49er nationals in Wangi, and Sail Sydney.

NZL 49er, Perth Medal race Photo by Richard Langdon_OceanImages © Richard Langdon /Ocean Images http://www.oceanimages.co.uk

The Aus 49er nationals held on Lake Macquarie over the past few days had a variety of conditions– up over 25 knots of exhilarating speed initially on day 1 – one competitor was taken to hospital with a dislocated shoulder, and a second suffered torn ankle tendons when his foot was caught in the foot straps in a capsize. The rest of the regatta was all under 10 knots with fairly typical lake conditions - wind direction shifting all around the compass. We led by a couple of points after the second day and although it was close the last two days Nath and Iain out-sailed us for us to finish second out of 17 boats.

Sail Sydney starts on Monday followed by the World cup event Sail Melbourne where we will be back in our own boat.
• Sail Sydney ... 6-9 Dec www.sailsydney.org.au
• Sail Melbourne, World Cup event ... 13-18 Dec www.sailmelbourne.com.au

We will try and get another update out after Sail Melbourne just before Christmas.

Thanks to our families, friends and supporters for their continued support and encouragement.
Peter and Blair