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Posted by zero  |
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Never had I sailed so well as in the last Auckland Regional 3 race.
I was there with the big boys, side by side with Jepsom, Winston, Theviking and many others. At one point I was even in 1st place in the leader board. Exciting. My crew was performing flawlessly as always. Here on SOL we all have the best crew ever, the weak link is always on the navigator. I have to admit that it was an easy race to navigate. By help of Mother Nature most of the rhumb lines were at max speed. All we had to do was sailed at the TWA that gave max Boat Speed. Easy. Max speed TWA to Little Barrier Island, to Channel Island 1 and to the Gannet Rock. Fantastic, side by side with Winston. Theviking a tiny bit ahead, we all zooming with the kite up. Them it came the final leg. Upwind leg. Again I made the right decision to go right since I knew the wind would be shifting right at some point. No brainer, everyone in the leading pack went right. Perfect, or so I thought. Them one of my crew said, captain there is an island in the way, what you want us to do, pass south or go north? The Rakino Island was in our way. Oh Boy! Big decision, tack south of the island or delay the tack and go north? The wind was shifting fast but was it shifting as fast to go south and still make it the channel without an extra tack? Big decision. The only real decision to make in the race. This whole race, all 18 hours of it came down to ONE decision. ONE! And I got it wrong. I went North. Hew565 and Winston (as always) got it right and tacked early to pass south of the island. I went from podium to 30+. My point is, 18 hours of perfect sailing, perfect crew work, perfect gybes. All spoiled by ONE bad decision of the Navigator. Me. If this was a real life boat I would not know how to face my bowman, my skipper, the grinders and everyone else in the crew. ONE bad call spoiled the smile of a whole group of good guys. Who worked hard for almost a day nonstop. I was well awake, I can’t blame sleep. The interesting point here is about SOL. I’ve made many wrong tactical decisions on my years of sailing but never was it as crystal clear as is in SOL where the bad decision happened. I’ve spent countless hours sitting on bars after each race going thru the mistakes. We blame the sail makers, the crew (of course), the bottom paint, you name it. The most blamed of all was always the boat designer which happened to be me (most of the times). The truth is now clear, it was most likely due to a tactical error at some point during the race(s). The navigator. (Most of the cases where my job, so I am not blaming anyone else but me. Usually in those days the boat designer ended up being the navigator as well. I wish I had SOL when I was starting sailing. Evidently in real life we don’t have wind arrows floating on the ocean, or a sliding scale to see exactly what the wind will do in the near future. But, if you sail regularly in the same location you will, with time learn the wind pattern of the place. I did. The question is, once you know well your sailing grounds what to do with the information. I never did know. I never act with all the information I knew. I never took advantage of being the “local guy”. I didn’t have SOL. Some people are fortunate to have talent and “get it” without needing an explanation or some literature to learn from. Those are the super stars of Sailing. For everyone else, SOL is precious. So, if you are young, still with a long way ahead of real sailing take advantage of lessons we learn here and apply them in real life sailing. Finally, I would like to hear stories of you who felt that the real sailing results have improved because of SOL. Please post here in this tread. Thanks, Antonio |
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Posted by Yuan Hang  |
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My story is a little (well, massively!) different....
In the real world I sail a little junk rigged cruiser named Yuan Hang - my SOL name. I have no particular interest in racing, I just go out for a relaxing time. Although I'm the wrong side of 50 years old, I'm a relative newcomer to sailing, I've had my own boat for about 2 years and sailed for a year before that. I only took up sailing after my body decided it was too old for climbing! I think SOL has already taught me a lot, watching for weather patterns and planning routes days ahead for instance. Hopefully it will help improve my sailing! I still don't think I'll be entering any real races, but you never know..... I can see SOL keeping me busy through the winter. --- Last Edited by Ken Powell at 2010-09-17 17:48:25 --- |
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Posted by SWE54  |
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This i one of the reasons for my blog. It's a personal debriefing, a good way to summarize and pin point things that went wrong and could have been done differently. We used to do this a lot after each real race back when I was racing, also personal things like crew work were analyzed of course. In SOL there is also another issue, time. Most of my own really stupid things is traced back to time issues. Things are forgotten under time pressure. Still it's a fantastic way to keep your head going..
Not all of my races will be published on the blog for the simple reason that it was obvious what happened or went really bad.If I can't sail the whole race at least at 75% capacity there is not much to debrief. --- Last Edited by SWE54 at 2010-09-18 08:22:51 --- --- Last Edited by SWE54 at 2010-09-18 08:23:19 --- |
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Garagiste's Test Lab
Race #1939
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Patricks Test
Race #1932
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Joanne's Test Race Zone
Race #1847
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Marstrand to Cowes 2025
We invite you to another race, which will kick off the third quarter of our ARCH series. We'll set off from Marstrand, Sweden, which, along with Skagen, Denmark, marks the line commonly recognised as the border separating the Baltic Sea from the North Sea. The 650nm route will take our Ripitide 50 across the North Sea and the English Channel to Cowes, England. Watch out for the fast ferries crossing the Channel from Calais to Dover 😊.
Race #1935
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Nantucket Sprint 2025
Welcome to Nantucket, from whence Herman Melville’s Cap’n Ahab sailed round The Horn into the northern Pacific Ocean to hunt the gray whale - whose migrations are celebrated elsewhere in SOL’s Q4 schedule - he never to return. And whaling too, as the 19th C progressed, like Ahab disappeared from Nantucket as the harbour silted up and mainland Massachusetts whaling stations benefited from rail connections. But beach life, yachting and nostalgia has rescued the island from oblivion, so to celebrate leisure, SOL gives you the Nantucket Sprint - 25nm in 29er_XX’s from east of Tuckernuck Island across the sound to a finish just inside the mouth of the harbour. Enjoy!
Race 1936
INFO by brainaid.de
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Puil's Practice Palaver
Nearly there; only 2500nm to go, round the Horn and up the Red Sea to Suez into what will more than likely be more headwinds for this sixth leg of our African circumnavigation, to be followed in September by a final sneaky dash up the canal back to where we started all those months ago. We’ll be sailing a not entirely appropriate-for-upwind-work 60ft Trimaran!
Race #1859
INFOby brainaid.de
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Gulf of St Lawrence - test - Mirek
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Race starts: Apr 21st 17:00
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Stefan's Duck Pond
PRIZE: SMPF
Race #1900
INFO by brainaid.de
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Trapped Camel
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Race starts: Aug 21st 15:03
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Caravanserai
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Race starts: Aug 08th 17:00
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Patrick's Playpen
Welcome to the legendary "Westcoaster," a race that has tested sailors for over 50 years. Spanning 435 nautical miles, this iconic journey takes racers from Melbourne, across the formidable Bass Strait, and around Tasmania's rugged west coast to the finish line in Hobart. Organized by the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria, the Westcoaster is renowned for its challenging conditions and adventurous spirit. This year, our SOLers will tackle the course in the swift and capable First 47.7, a yacht launched by Beneteau in 2000, built for speed and endurance in long ocean races. Get ready for an exhilarating ride in one of Australia’s most celebrated yacht races!
Race #1841
INFO by brainaid.de
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Mirek's Mess & Canteen
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Race starts: Apr 26th 18:00
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Antarctica 1 of 3
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Race starts: Jan 27th 21:57
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Flinders Island TIMED Race 2024
Race #1776
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Tasman Double 2023 - Hobart to Sydney
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Race starts: Jan 02nd 02:00
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John's Test Zone
It's time to test your ocean racing skills in a variety of weathers as we head the 6400 NM between Hong Kong and Auckland in a fast Super Maxi 100. We'll be heading from a northern summer to a southern winter so keep plenty of cold weather gear and warm rum on board!
PRIZE: SMPF
Race #1597
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calm's Practice Race
Last raced in 2021, we return to Boston for another race to Newport. And just like in 2021, the chosen boat is once again the speedy R/P 66. This is a TIMED race so pick your winds wisely and see how quickly you can complete this 132nm run! For reference, the winning time in 2021 was 6:12:28.
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Race #1700
INFO by brainaid.de
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ZONA DE PRUEBA DE MANUEL
Please note the displayed course is provisional; the actual course will be set after the IRL course is announced at the skipper's briefing 48 hours before the start, and no later than 24 hours before the start.
Race #1561
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San Sebastian to La Rochelle 2021
Once again, our SOL race will be shared with a group of Polish sailors, representing one of the stages of their Virtual Training Cruise around Europe. 171 nm in Delphia 47s across the not always calm Bay of Biscay from San Sebastian to La Rochelle will undoubtedly be one to test their skills. Welcome/Witajcie and we wish you all fair winds.
Race #1441
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Aland Sea TIMED Race
Norrtalje Segelsallskap, 70km NE of Stockholm was founded in 1920, and time was when the society’s season opened with a challenging offshore race from the club line off Flaten island at the mouth of the long and narrow Norrtaljeviken, out onto a triangular course around the Aland Sea, to finish at Simpnas slightly to the north on Bjorko island - some 78nm in total. A fine race that SOL, being from these parts, ran annually up until 2013. Last run in autumn 2018, we return here to race the course again in the form a TIMED RUN in spanking new Club Swan 50s.
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Race #1444
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Bimmer's Test Zone
What about a speedy X-362 380nm race in the waters off S America, just to blow cobwebs away!!
Race #1415
INFOby brainaid.de
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Antarctica 3 of 3
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Race starts: Sep 16th 11:13
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BLANK POLAR
Race starts: Feb 16th 00:00
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