Posted By: Sydney ••••••DATE: August 10, 2009

International 420 World Championship Wrap Up

At the conclusion of the 420 World Championship in Athens last year I wrote an article describing the event. I included in this article, that it was such an amazing learning experience but that next year I wanted to come home with a medal…and that is exactly what Caitlin and I did! The World Championship commenced July 30th at Fraglia Yacht Club in Riva del Garda. 30 countries were represented with 84 teams competing. We trained in Garda for three weeks so when the first day of the Championship came we were excited to race because we knew that we were prepared for the event and it was now our opportunity to show everyone that we were going to be tough competitors.

While training in Riva, we got to know the venue, our boats, our sails, and ourselves. Our coach, Elizabeth Kratzig, had us on a regimented training schedule. Each morning started at 7 am with sit-ups, push-ups, squat thrusts, and a 3-mile jog followed by a full day of sailing, which generally finished around 6 pm. During this time we were also fortunate to work with North Sail Designer Kei Takakuwa. Kei was very meticulous about the tuning of the sails. He emphasized that the most minute adjustment to outhall, cunningham, boom vang, board height etc. would have a significant impact on the boats ability to sail at maximum potential. Having the opportunity to train on the event site was a huge benefit. It allowed us to begin the regatta with the confidence.

Day 1 of the event Caitlin and I arrive at a boat park, desolate of all people at 8 am for a 12 o’clock start. It was perfect. I love to be the first person at the boat park so that I can leisurely rig my boat, making sure that everything is working properly and that I have time to sit and relax before heading out to the racecourse. The first two days of the regatta were scheduled to be the qualifying series. Our goals for these two days were to sail clean and consistent and if we did that it would be enough for us to qualify into the gold fleet. After the first day’s races we were on our way to accomplishing our goals. We raced in an afternoon Southerly breeze (the “Ora”) that is generally the best sailing conditions that the lake has to offer. The Ora was not steady that day though, with the velocity continually increasing and decreasing within an 8-knot range throughout a single race. One of the most challenging aspects of sailing on Lake Garda is the ever-changing velocity and having to constantly be changing gears (outhall, cunningham, vang tension, and board height) to adjust for the various conditions. We finished the day with a 2, 14, 14, which was good enough for us.

Day 2 of the event Caitlin and I found ourselves to be the first at the boat park yet again—this pattern continued for the entire event. We rigged up for the day with a new goal in mind—to finish the qualifying series top 10. Unfortunately, due to poor wind conditions, we were postponed on-land for many hours waiting for the morning gradient breeze to die and the Ora breeze to fill in. The gradient breeze persisted for quite a while so the race committee decided to send the Open Class out to race in the Northerly breeze and after they completed 3 races the race committee sent the Women’s Class on the water. We finally made it to the racecourse in the late afternoon and managed to finish two races right as the sun was disappearing over the mountains. We finished 7, 10, definitely both keeper races. Because we only completed five races in the two days of racing and 6 races were necessary to complete the qualifying series, we had an 8:30 am start the next race day.

Day 3 of racing began quite early for our team with our alarm going off at 5:30am. I don’t think I have ever woken up that early for a race, especially growing up in California where everyone knows we wouldn’t even consider a starting time before noon. Preparing to sail our last race of the qualifying series we knew that we would qualify for Gold fleet regardless of our position in that race. We decided to push it a little harder and see how strong of a result we could get in this final race. We were the second start, which allowed us to watch the first start and gage what the rest of the fleet was thinking for starting position and race plan. It turned out that the entire fleet had the same idea as us—to push the envelope in the final race. Looking down the line from the pin with one minute left until the start I could see the flag on the committee boat behind the sterns of every boat on the line. It was clearly a general recall and the black flag went up. We managed to get off the line clean for the final race of the qualifying series and finished 8th. We had a bit of a situation with a GBR boat on the final leeward mark rounding heading to the finish where GBR failed to give us mark room. Instead of forcing the issue, we hailed protest and rounded behind the GBR boat. Although I generally avoid protests, we decided to follow through with it because GBR was blatantly wrong and I wanted to set a precedent before the final series began that we would not be intimidated. GBR was disqualified from the race. After the fleets were split into Gold and Silver all of the sailors had to regroup and get ready to head back out onto the water for the first two races of the final series. We placed 4, 15 in those two races and were content with how the regatta was going so far.

Day 4 of the event was a very long day. The race committee sent us out on the water in hopes of running a race in variable and light breeze. We waited under on the water postponement until a thunderstorm rolled in and we were sent into shore. Once that storm passed we were sent back to the racecourse. The lake was surrounded on all sides by storms and we could hear thunder not far away. Still, the race committee started a sequence, but just as they did yet another storm went through the course. Boats began to sail in but the race committee called all of the boats back to the racecourse once again. The thunder and lightning was getting closer by the minute so we decided to take our sails down and tie up on a tow. We barely got tied to US team coach Zach Leonard’s motorboat as huge gusts of wind accompanied by hail entered the race area. With the main down in the boat and the jib flogging the boat was on the verge of capsizing. The hail was pounding down on the boat and there was no land to be seen. It was definitely the most intense storm I have ever experienced on the water!

Day 5, the race committee announced an early start for the open class but a 12 o’clock start for the Women’s class. The Open class sailed 3 races in great conditions in the morning with 16 knots of breeze from the north. The wind then died and the race committee sent the Women’s class out to the racecourse. We waited and waited for the wind to fill in from the South and it finally did after 2 hours sitting on the water. The breeze that we got that day was not the typical Ora breeze. It was a breeze generated from really cold water due to the rain we had the previous day and the air temperature being a bit higher than the water temperature. The breeze was very light and could only be found in the middle of the lake and not at all near the shores. This was our toughest day of racing with finishes of 42 and 18. Both Caitlin and I were really upset and could feel a good result at the World Championship slipping out of our grasp. Fortunately, the unusual and really tough conditions led to many of the leaders in the regatta having some deep results.

Day 6, the final day of the 420 World Championship began bright and early with an 8am start!! In the morning, the Northerly breeze was very strong so there was no time to leisurely ease into racing that day. It was 20+ knots and we had work do to. Going into the last day I told Caitlin that I didn’t want to know what place we were in overall. It really didn’t matter at this point, we just needed to have a great day of sailing and as long as we did that I would be happy with however we finished. Sailing was so fun that last day. We were really fast, had good starts and could sail exactly where we wanted to go on the racecourse. After finishing the last race of the regatta Elizabeth Kratzig came up to our boat and said, “Sydney, I need to tell you something. You were in 6th place going into today and after these three races you finished somewhere between 2nd and 4th!” We were so excited! It was such a good feeling to end the regatta strongly, knowing that we sailed close to our best. All of the US Team coaches and fellow US Team members were so happy for us. Caitlin turned around and gave me such a big hug that I was sure she was going to push me out of the boat! When we got in and looked at the results we were in 9th…my heart sank. After looking more closely at the results I saw that the race committee had scored us as dnf for the first race of the day. I immediately went the race office and they changed the dnf to an accurate finish of 8th place. When they reposted the results we were in 3rd place overall! It was very gratifying to learn that we received the Bronze Medal at the 420 World Championship.

Throughout the event we had moments of brilliance and moments that were definitely not so brilliant, but it all averaged out to produce a very solid finish. I think one of the most important things we learned at this event is that when things go wrong you have to take what you can from the race and then press the “reset” button as coach Leandro Spina would say, reminding yourself that each race is completely separate from the one before and to sail as if every race is the first race of the regatta. We learned so much preparing for this event with the help of the US Team coaches, in particular Elizabeth Kratzig with our pre-worlds training. It was truly an amazing experience and we were really proud to represent the USA on the podium.