Byte Worlds at Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy - Overall

Racing on day two of the Byte worlds in Weymouth © Ian Bruce

Racing on day two of the Byte worlds in Weymouth © Ian Bruce

The Byte Worlds 2008 began in dramatic fashion on Monday 25th August at the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy. There were 30 entries representing 5 countries.

The warm up for the Byte World Championships was a three-race Pre-World series with no drop. The combined score counted as Race 1 of the Championships. Conditions could be described as severe with winds around 23 – 25 knots with gusts pushing well up into the top twenties. Due to the tough conditions, only two races ended up being sailed.

The course for race 1 was twice around a triangle. At the first mark, Jon Emmett lead but mistakenly headed straight downwind thinking it was a sausage course. By the time he realized his mistake, several Singapore sailors were well down the reach, but Emmett was still able to fetch to the gybe mark. He finally recovered to a close 2nd by the end of the race.

Emmett made no mistakes in the second race, a triangle/sausage, and lead cleanly after the first triangle. He opened up a large margin on the sausage to win by a comfortable minute and a half. Behind him a bit of drama unfolded as Herman Nurfendi (SIN), second at the bottom mark, had the stitching at the back of his hiking strap come undone and went straight into the drink! By the time he recovered, and hiked the rest of the beat on his leeward grab rail, he was back in 4th. Meanwhile Tom Nicholson (CAN) had started up the beat in fifth behind Eugene Woo (SIN) and Hannah Blore (GBR) but sailed off the left and ended up at the windward mark in 2nd place. He held this to within 50 yards of the finish when Fergyi Lei (SIN) got inside him for a 2nd.

Emmett continued on day 1 of the championships where he left off in the Pre-Worlds, sailing to four 1st place finishes. Racing in the first race of the day was close behind Emmett as the next five boats all crossed within 8 seconds with Blore 2nd, Lei 3rd and Nurfendi 4th.

In race 3 Michael Lousada (BRA) made a strong showing. He sails in Sao Sebastiao in the State of Sao Paulo where the winds are usually very strong so was home from home but found our summer weather rather colder than anticipated.

After a break for lunch people came out with greater protection against the elements! The Singapore sailors sporting full facial disguises. Again it was Emmett who led the 4th race from start to finish making the most the line sag and getting a clean start. In the 5th race Emmett’s margin was a little less on the three Singapore sailors and one Brazilian behind him getting the hang of the conditions.

Day 2 of the Championships showed the Singapore sailors really getting to grips with the venue and giving Emmett ‘a run for his money‘. The wind was well down from the twenties of previous days and race 6 was run in 8 to 10 knots. “After the last two days it felt like a drifter’” commented one competitor. It did not seem to matter to Emmett as he walked the first race and later the second one, sailed in 10 – 12 kts. Louzada got closest to him with two 2nd place finishes and while he was as fast, or maybe even faster than Emmett off the wind, he could not match him upwind.

After a lunch break, the competitors went out to find that the wind had increased and was up into the 15kt range. Once again the fleet got away with a clean start to race 8. Surprise of surprises it was Emmett again leading the pack from start to finish . However there were lots of individual duels in the racing behind him. Nicholson, Bill Tieman (USA) and Chris Tack (GBR) having a good battle to the finish.

Finally in race 9 it looked like the Singapore sailors would get Emmett and, at the first windward mark it was Ian Rezel (SIN) in the lead. However by the end of the triangle Emmett was back in the lead. Emmett was still leading Lei and Rezel at the windward mark of the second triangle but he felt himself slowing down. It turned out that he had pulled a toe strap screw out of the cockpit floor and was slowly taking on water. He then got flagged on the reach, did his turns right after the gybe, and Lei and Rezel flew past. However, they were still not out of reach and, by the finish, at the top of the beat, only Lei was still clear ahead and just crossed Emmett before tacking for the line and the gun.

Winds continued to drop and on Thursday, they were just below planing conditions for all but the very lightest who did manage some spurts. The course set for race 10 was two triangles and the top of the fleet all came in from the left, led by Emmett. At the top mark, he let off his kicker - completely, unfortunately - and the rope slipped through. With a jury rig Emmett maintained his lead to the end. 2nd was Shevaun Sethi (SIN) having her best result so far. Mary Stamp (GBR), the oldest competitor at 68, was out on the water for the first time and gained a very respectable 18th. Lei had his worst race to date with an 8th. Other than these three, competitor placings were fairly consistent with their previous results.

Race 11 saw Emmett over the line early at the pin end. After returning, he worked the centre of the course as the fleet had gone left. He was 3rd at the windward mark, took one place on the reaches and took the last two upwind. Sethi took another 2nd place, 3rd was Woo.

Race 12 was nearly lost by Emmett. He tacked over onto port too soon near the windward mark and several, including Louzada went a bit further. Leaving Emmett to arrive 4th at the windward mark. He got two positions back on the reaches, one more upwind, but Louzada held him off all the way until just before the finish line. Louzada had sailed high on the last reach home while Emmett sailed a straight line to overtake Louzada.

Race 13 saw Emmett lead from start to finish although just behind him there was very close racing between Singapore and Canada.

In huge contrast to the start of the competition Friday dawned with very light winds and the fleet was held ashore until a light breeze had filled in across the course. Crossing the start line proved a challenge for some sailors as the wind dropped at the committee boat end. The light winds saw some different sailors at the front, still led by Emmett, Richard Whitehouse (GBR) took a respectable 2nd place in the one lap race.

Unfortunately the little breeze there had been did not last and a final, 15th race was discarded.

Emmett was crowned Byte World champion and Blore Ladies World champion, previously won in 2005 at Lake Garda. The week was thoroughly enjoyed by all the visitors, both the sailing and introduction to British life including ‘Jaffa cakes‘. The Race Committee work was superb and always had the best interests of the sailors in mind, much appreciation to Richard Stevens and his gang for their great work.

Overall Results: