Coaches blog #7 by Tony Bull.
Buongiorno
Well lay day here today in the beautiful Riva Del Garda. We have finished 8 out of the 12 scheduled races. It is a time to assess what lies ahead.
Whilst we are still doing very well as a team, it must be said we are a little disappointed in the winds we have got over the past two days. The afternoon Ora has been present each of the past two days, coming in right on time but it has lacked the intensity we experienced in our training last week. It is a very warm wind and does not have the density of a cooler breeze. The wind is coming in at 12-14 knots but feels like it is 8-10 in strength. This is verified by the hiking of the crews, in most similar breezes the crews would be at full hike, but this only occurs intermittently in the heavier gusts in the wind here.
We are hoping for some stronger winds to finish off the regatta, better for a team who have grown up sailing in the stiff afternoon sea breezes prevalent around the Australian coast. It must be said the best sailing breezes have been in the later afternoon after we have finished for the day.
Having said all that, we as always will concentrate on the things we can control and take in our stride the things we can't. I am so pleased with the performance of the team as a whole on and off the water. We still have four boats in the top 10 and all are sailing well. It was very pleasing to me personally to see Ollie Manton and Ben Garner score an 8th in the last race yesterday. This means our whole team has had a single digit result in the racing so far. We have quite a young team this year and all are eligible to sail again in the next world championship. Most have expressed interest in going on and that augurs well for the team going to Argentina in 2016.
Back to the present, the protest room has been very busy in this regatta. We have been involved in a couple with mixed results. Dominic Randall and Ella Purnell had a protest dismissed as inconclusive only to have it re opened after some very dodgy (in my humble opinion ) long range photographic evidence was submitted. It showed them in the vicinity of the protesting Argentinian boat and that was enough to rub them out? Dom actually has no recollection of the incident at all! However when the umpires finger goes up, you head back to the pavilion. We accept the verdict. The other case against Mart Hood and Jack O'Donnell was dismissed as invalid.
The English sailors who have a huge contingent here are going very well and Jamie and Bettine Harris have opened up a 10 point lead over Sam Abel and Hugo Allison who will be doing their best to haul it back.
Other Australian placings:
Angus Price and Archer Ibbot 5th
Marty Hood and Jack O Donnell 8th
Julian Sasson and Mischa Suda 9th
Will and Laura Cooper 14th
Ollie Manton and Ben Garner 20th
Dominic Randall and Ella Purnell 27th
In a 58 boat fleet.
Over on the promotional course, run concurrently with the worlds,Alanna and Cooper Field are 11th in a 63 boat fleet.
Ciao Bully.
