The 2023 Australian national event, so what was it like?
Let me walk you through the 6-day event:
We arrived a couple of days before the regatta. The last time I had sailed was a few days before leaving with some friends just to keep my feel fresh in the boat. It was also a week into the holidays from school so, I was feeling pretty fresh and energized going into it despite just finishing a year of school.
The first couple of days is when all boats entered the regatta are measured. My coach was there with us also two days before the racing began, I went out and did some practice racing. To get a feel for the venue. This went really well. I was right at the pointy end of the fleet. Most of the top sailors were training in the same range that I was. Most importantly, there were only about 25 boats training. This size fleet I’m used to. The most I’ve sailed in was in Optimist boat fleet of 28 boats at one regatta. But nothing like the 55 boats at the nationals.
Day One
Sailing in a fleet of 55 boats for the first time. I was excited but well, it was pretty full on. I like to launch an hour before the start of the first race so that I’m on the racecourse 40 minutes before the first start to be able to do all my pre-start checks and see what the wind and the tide are like and all that sort of thing, and the course layout. What I mean is, we’re told roughly, when we’re going to start and the order of the fleets. But we’ve got to get out there before the first fleet starts. Which in this case was the full rigs, the ILCA 7 fleet (this is the men’s Olympic class and current Olympian Matt Wearn was out on the water too, which was pretty cool). This is also good to do in case they decide to change the order. So, I treat it as if we’re the first start, just to be safe.
I’d never been out on the water when there were 200 other lasers; all 4 fleets going out at the same time. Plus, all the coach boats and then official race committee boats and media boats are on top of the competitors. It was pretty hectic!
Back to the first race, I had a decent start, I was the second boat. From one end of the line. But under me a boat didn’t sail very well so gave me a clear lane. But then, I wasn’t in a racing headspace .Then I was fourth at the top mark. But I hit the top mark. Did a penalty spin. The sailor in the third position hit the top mark too. Probably the same reason as me, just misjudged it. There wasn’t really any big tide or anything. May be nerves.
After the penalty turns, which you need to do if you hit a mark, I ended up sitting around 10th to 15th for the rest of the race. Which was still the top 20ish percent of the fleet. But again, back at state-level events, if there were ten people ahead of me, that’s half of the fleet because in WA and in most states in Australia we only get a maximum of 20 boats at most sometimes often less at the smaller events.
I guess I was being hard on myself and not adapting my mindset or expectations to the much bigger fleet size than what I was used to. Plus, at these national events, they are longer races of 40 to 50 minutes. Normally at home, it’s 20 to 30 minutes. I wasn’t used to being of the mindset that there’s a lot more time to gain back positions.
There was a lot for me to learn, which is why we went. Race One, I was 12th and Race Two, 15th places.
Day Two
I had a pretty bad first race. I was probably 30-something around the first top mark. Then the second time around, I took a really big risk because I knew it was going to be a bad race anyway, so I might as well try and make it a keeper. I ended up getting I think 14th (it was actually 13th place) because it paid off.
Then the second race. I retired because. I did the wrong course and then I capsized. I did the wrong course because I wasn’t focusing on the race and then I capsized when I was in last place. It was pretty hectic conditions.
Days Three and Four
The next two days it was too windy. There was no racing. But we still had to come down to the club and wait three or four hours for a decision. Which makes it still draining in energy.
Charles Allen Toyn 