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Master-ring the Moment in Australia

Posted 9 months, 16 days ago

Master-ring the Moment in Australia
Anyone who sails a dinghy has likely heard of Peter Seidenberg, or his unbiquitous Seitech dollies. In Newport, we know Peter more for his ability to routinely shows the younger members of the Laser Fleet 413 (i.e. everybody) that age is no excuse. Anytime the wind is under 15 knots, he's a threat to take a win. Peter's competing in the Laser Masters Worlds in Australia this week and has been sending us some regular reports. Enjoy. For more on the regatta, here's the link, http://aus08.laserinternational.org/ --SW Editors Saturday, Feb. 15 The stage is set for the 26th Laser Masters World Championship. Three days of boat allocation, measuring in, and practice sailing are behind us. Also gone are the storms and the rain which had plagued the Open Worlds that came to an end last Wednesday. The weather has been warm and sunny, yet breezy since Thursday. The forecast calls for much the same weather for at least the next four days. The venue couldn't be any more convenient in terms of reaching the race course. All one needs to do is round the reef at the end of a short peninsula that forms the cove where the Lasers are launched and the committee boats are anchored, and one is in open water. The boats are stored on a rugby field which is is connected to the beach by two concrete ramps. The rugby clubhouse is used as the regatta office. Most competitors are accommodated in four luxury condo buildings, only 100 yards away from the boat park. With 25 sailors here, the US is the third largest contingent after Australia, with 228, and New Zealand, with 49. One can almost call this the "Australian Masters World Championship." Unfortunately, Charley Williamson from Syracuse had to pull out because of severe lower back problems, and our own Mark Bear, because of work problems. District 7 [New England] is represented by John Bentley, Ted Moore, Derek Stow, Halsey Bullen, and yours truly. Tomorrow's racing is scheduled to start at 12 noon, first for the three Radial fleets, then for the four Standard fleets. The starting order then alternates for the following day, and so on. The second fleet is required to stay on shore until the first fleet has completed its first race. They will then be sent out to get ready for their start after the first fleet has finished their second race. The reason for this is a limited supply of support boats due to the relatively small mooring space in the cove. There are not enough support boats for two race courses which would be ideal for 350+ Lasers. Sunday, Feb. 16 The weather continues to be "abnormal," according to the locals. The "typical" weather here on the Central Coast should be sunny, warm, and dominated by a steady sea breeze from the NE. This has happened on only on one day during the Open Worlds, and not yet so far during the Masters Words. Yesterday, just as the Radial fleets were leaving the shore for the first day of racing, a squall came through that killed the S breeze. So, it was slow going to the race course. More showers hit the general area preventing any decent wind to establish. Starting was postponed for 2 1/2 hours until the sky cleared somewhat and a 10-12 knot SSE breeze developed. The 3 Radial fleets had all clear starts and a fair race. The RC decided against a second Radial race and called the Standards out for their first race. Unfortunately for them, after starting, the wind shifted first to the right and then hard to the left, so that the RC was forced to abandon the race and sent the Standards back to shore. The regatta started promising for the US Radial sailors, with a 3rd for James Liebl in the 31-boat Apprentice fleet, a 3rd for Chris Raab in the 45-boat Masters fleet, and a 1st for yours truly in the 29-boat Great Grand Masters fleet. In the evening, there was a North American team meeting in one of the 4-bedroom condos in the Star-of-the-Sea complex which gave the US and Canadian sailors an opportunity to form new or renew old friendships. Today's weather looks a lot more promising. The sun is out, and a good breeze is blowing form the East. Monday, Feb. 17 Today's sailing conditions came very close to being "normal," with a sunny NE breeze of 10-12 knots blowing all day. The swell was 6 ft, down from yesterday's 8 ft. The Standards raced first at 12:00 p.m. and, while they were finishing their first race at around 1:30 p.m., the Radials were called out. After the Standards got their second race off, the Radials had their two races. The last Radial fleet finished around 4 p.m. In my Radial Great Grand Masters fleet, the competition for the top has narrowed down to a two-way battle between Australian Kerry Warraker and me, as expected. We traded places throughout the two races, with him winning the first race, and I winning the second. Other North American sailors who did well today were Canadian Andy Roy with a 1 and 2 in the Standard Masters, James Liebl with a 2 and 2 in the Radial Apprentices, Chris Raab with a 3 and 4, and Canadian Al Clark with a 1 and 5 in the Radial Masters fleet. The complete results can be viewed on the ILCA Masters web page. Wednesday, Feb. 19 The weather was back to being "abnormal" yesterday, with the wind coming from the South at 6 knots. As the Radials rigged up their boats for a noon start, a rain squall came through that killed the breeze and caused a 1-hour postponement on shore. The Apprentice Radial fleet was started at 2 p.m. only to be called back in a race abandonment before they had reached the windward mark due to a drop in the wind speed to almost nothing. During the ensuing second 1-hour postponement the Standard fleets were called out indicating that the RC were counting on only one race that day. After the sky had cleared and the S wind had re-appeared to 6-8 knots, all 3 Radial fleets and 4 Standard fleets were sent off to a light-wind race in 5-ft swells that required enormous concentration to keep the boat moving. The increasingly strong NW current and softening wind added to the challenge. The last two Standard fleets had their races shortened after 5 legs at the bottom of the outer loop. I had a perfect start at the pin, tacked soon onto port, cleared the whole fleet and never looked back. My main rival, Kerry Waraker, had a fourth place finish which increased my lead over him to 6 points after 4 races. Other notable performances by North American sailors were James Lieble's 1st place finish in the Radial Apprentices, Chris Raab's 3rd place finish in the Radial Masters, and Tim Landt's 1st place finish in one of the two Standard Masters fleets. After three days of racing, the regatta has reached its halfway point. So far, the Standards have accomplished three races, and Radials, four. Today, Wednesday, is a scheduled lay day which is used my many to take part in a bus tour to the Hunter Valley wine country. Full Story »

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