Just like Largs- apart from the Hakka

The wettest opening ceremony on record but it was great fun

Hakka in the rain

So it has poured down for 2 days, and yesterday was the practice race day.

Minibuses picked us up becasue the rain was a full monsoon downpour, and we had breakfast in the massive tent with about 20 other countries. Then we went to get the boats but found that the sides were still a bit rough so the boats were polished fo another 2 hours and are now good.
We went out to the practice race in rain and a light southerly wind [we have not had a southerly yet and it was pretty shifty and light.
The race officer fired off 2 starts and the fleet was all over the place, our plan was to bail out at mark 2 and do some speed work with the NZL team, but just after the non start we decided to in no knots from nowhere we started to pick up our sailors and tow them back, then the race officer abandoned the race and we all went in, . Just as we got in the rain started and didn't stop until well after the outdoor opening ceremony in Napier-

It was the wettest opening ceremony we have ever been to- Full on warm rain for 2 hours.

Oh yes- happy new year, we have had breakfast, now we are chiiling befroe race 1, but outside isn'y promining, grey and overcast and not much wind with thunderstorms forecast for later.
Recent quotes,
Milo, 'I woke up and thought I was in England'- Jo' I woke up' - Matt-' I wasn't on the toilet that long' Jen - The boys are like a box of frogs' Jamie- hot fuzz is the best film ever even if I am too young to watch it.
More stuff latter happy partying.

North Wales Revisited

Book your place early on this start line



Hi all, well, some tropical cyclone which has come down from the north has been downgraded to several pretty wet days, and today it poured all day- which was more like North Wales on a good day.
The final results of the pre worlds are now up- Jamie 30th, Jo 60, Milo 62, Sarah 79 and Matt with some good scores carrying 2 bfd was 84, a painful 6th on his bfd, so sailors making good progress.

We noticed that the bottom of our boats were rough as a a road kill possum and Curly Morris the head of measuring said we could get our bottoms smoothed out. Well what happened was that last week a big fishing boat was being resprayed and it seems that some of the white spray paint went over our s and a few other boats upturned hulls- so today very kindly the Far East boat people spent 5 hours in the rain polishing the boats so now they are 'sweet as'.


Iain the 'boat tweek', bought a flamethrower today, and nearly burn't a hole in Milo's sail-so we have banned the flame thrower. Its a good job that Carole is now fit after a tummy bug, hopefully she can rein in the big man.

Some went to the aquarium this afternoon, and some swam with sharks, or at least sharks which had had their teeth removed, so they could only be gummed to death.

Jamie also saw a tortle, a turtleything which was a metre long too eating a haggis- strange that.


The sailing correspondent for the Independent appeared out of the rain and we talked about optimists, the Menai Strait [he had sailied a wayfarer there], where Ben Ainslie came in the oppy worlds, Hannah Mills, and other GBR ex oppy worlds sailors, John Derbyshire [ in the nicest possible terms], oppy sailors who shave, children who spend their junior years oppy sailing and have personal tutors and - Oh yes- we talked about our team, what they wanted to achieve, where they might go next etc. We also taked about how nice Pwllheli and Abersoch are.




I nearly forgot, today we went out for a little light training at 0900 to 1200, we were the only team out in the rain. We worked on starting, hovering for 2 minutes, no tacking allowed, start and windward leeward in chop, its hard work but it works. After 4 races Sarah won the 10 dollar prize.



This afternoon we let the sailors go off for a few hours, while we did the coaches and team leader meeting- all good stuff, and tonight Sarah went rock climbing with all the girls at the worlds- which was great fun.

Jen and me went to art deco Napier and were driven by a man who had lived in Betws y Coed.

Tommorrow is the practice race, opening ceremony, and new years eve which happens 12 hours earlier than yours.

We are sharing a RIB with NZL which we have done for nearly 10 years which is good, we might have been sharing with Australia and the Jerwoods, but all is good in the dinghy park. Chris Steele who won the worlds in 2007 in Sardinia is the NZL coach and we know the sailors from our nationals last summer.

Check out the worlds website for stunning pictures of the pre worlds.

Ravi is going to poison the parents tommorrow night with his special 'fish curry'- book your toilet seats early folks.

More pix and sailor comments and stuff tommorrow.

Bye now, sweet as.

Shifty Winds in Napier

Today was day 2 of the pre- worlds here in Napier, a more difficult day today, we started with a north easter and about a metre of swelly chop, then the wind backed round to the north.
That weas really weird, right to left waves and cihop coming down the course. Anyway some good races and some not so good.

The team were interviewed by NZL TV today, some great comments.

Spot the zinc on the noses

Really difficult starting even Singapore struggled.

Happy Milo

Jamie was apprehended by a policemon for sculling on the startline, he is also eating a lot as you can see.

Pre Worlds

Yacht broaches next to Norway

Kia Ora, today started with a 16 mile ride at 0700 with Iain Calder- who resorted to the granny ring early on but nevertheless enjoyed the scenery over the first hill.

The pre worlds started at 1100, with 200 sailors from 33 countries. It stared off at about 10 kts and built to 15kts during the day, it was pretty choppy all day.

We had 4 races, Jamie is 31st with a 6 and 11 as his best results, Matt is 56 but was bfd on a 6th. Milo is 69 but had a z flag on a top 10. Sarah hasd a string of 20's. Jo had a 13 and 12 - the 12 was dnc but ha will get that back later. During the first race the pin dragged a lot but it was sorted later, after that there were more pinend lines.

It was so rough that lots of people were sick

Were is Jo.

You can find the results of the Pre worlds on

http://www.optiworldsnz.org.nz/results

We are just off for a TV interview.

Get up and go- another day in paradise

Measurement and a great day afloat.

Hi Possums, - [they seem to be lying all over the road here after road kills].
After our Xmas break we are back on the water today. Measurement this morning - no issues so thats all good. Then this afternoon we sailed in 12-18 kts and a biggish sea, windward leeward followed by rabbits out to sea, then downwind, leeward mark roundings and stuff. Finally we used the team racing course to do some team racing, and we came in at about 1830- sweet as.

Now did we tell you about the NZL police, no well here goes, Most parents have been breathaised- and passed, but Ravi didn't pass the driving 'fast' test, so he needs to be relegated to a slow car.

On the day off Matt and Joe went surfing and rafting, Sarah went to swim with dolphins but only saw a shark and a pengiun, Milo went surfing and Jamie went to play crazy golf and chilled with his dads famous Kiwi friends.

Measurement was great - even the North sail numbers were ok- Curly Morris the chief measurer was impressed.

Exciting conditions donwind in great waves, get the timing right and away you go, just like Sparky skiiing in the Alps. Matthew demonstating that he doesn't need a boat to sail fast.

And now for the arty stuff, this is the Lady Knox Geyser near Rotarua. They make it go off every day at the same time, by throwing some stuff done the vent.

The spitting image of big Iain, after a few too many shandies. A black swan on a pretty unpronouncable lake inland. Duncan Truswell in Maori get up before he took up road biking. Or what Jamie Calder will look like if he doesn't slow up on the food- did we say we had a slow eating food competion tonight, Sarah won, and Jamie and Milo were hoepless.

Well thats all for now, we have just had a debrief and are going to bed, we are doing the pre-worlds tommorrow, only 25kts from the east forecast- could be big.

More soon, the team.

Happy Xmas- Sweet as, as they say around here

Father Xmas came here early this morning, it was so hot at 0830 that he almost melted. After 5 days of training the team are having a well earned break over Xmas. Most of us are going to a BBQ with the Gill Taylors this afternoon, The Norburies are swimming with Dolphins, and Matt and the rest might be going surfing to the aplty named Ocean beach.

Looking out on a sunny Pacific Ocean, people walking and cycling by, its only 0830 but we still need suncream as we have our outdoor breakfast.

Iain, fine tuning Jamies sail. Team GBR well covered up Everyone is working hard and getting on the pace Vinyards galore

Arty shot of a shag or cormorant on a post by the club Tony with the snapper he cought close by where we are sailing- thats his Xmas lunch

So thats all for now, have a great day.

Yesterday Xmas eve, and during the day most of the parents arrived so now we have the Norburies, Calders, Whitfields,Gill-Taylors, and Burns's all here. We had lighter easterly wind so we went out over the lunchtime period with lunch, speed work, setting up the rig, and a lot of starting followed by some short races.

The RIB broke down in the middle of the bay- the battery was flat- interesting, I was about to txt Jen to get someone to come out for us when a tiny RIB turned up, it was Tony and his wife who had been out fishing, so they joined us for an hour and then towed me in.

The Fastest Binmen in the World and a New Technique

Today we developed a new technique downwind, extreme kiting, pump, lean out, dump, lean in , bear away- [ Robbie will be happy up to now] but then you stand up, hold it overetake a few boats or capsize! Nice one Jamie.


Most parents turned up today which was good, we are sailing on Xmas eve and then having a break for 2 days then right back into it before the pre - worlds.

Today we watched the local binmen [ recycling operatives], empty bins at an astonishing pace, they must have been the world record holders- all black [orange] binmen.

We tried to take a picture of the cycling postman but he was just too quick, maybe we'll get him tommorrow.

Today we continued the fitness programme, a 10 minute bike ride and a 9 minute run. The only trouble was that Milo needed several sorts of post race recovery food.

Jamie fancies himself as a bit of a film star, I think he will be prime minister of a country someday, but that will have to be after he gets his voice back which he lost shouting at the Brazilains yesterday.

More teams arriving by the hour, its getting busy.

Thats all for now, some more nature /culture stuff and video clips coming soon.

No Worries.

KiaOra as they say here in NZL

Jamie and Jo lead the pack in training

Eating Milo for breakfast

No worries here today, nice and sunny. A restful morningfollowed by 6 hours afloat!

This is a NZL Xmas Tree

Today, local sailor Tony Hill came over and explained what the Seas breeze does here in Napier, then we went out in a building sea breeze.

A long upwind followed by a long downwind, then 2 hours of working on boat end starts, holding position for 2 minutes, no tacking allowed then accelleratre and go.

The new scoop method was what we were using- we invented it yesterday. Basically a very narrow s with either a straight or flat rudder- now this all paid off because when the BRA's turned up to thrash us again we walloped them!

Then FIN, PER,SIN, also joined us for 3 twenty minute races. Race 1 was good for GBR who worked the right, race 2 was good but after 6 hours of intense traning race 3 was a race too far so we all went home. A good day and stronger starting .

This is our shed, accommodation for 5 boats and Rigs- no worries.

Ravi and me went for a 25 mile cruise on the bikes before breakfast in the local hills, very nice it was too, we can see why people like living here.

More botany for the botanists tommorow.

Brazil and Peru join GBR

So the sails arrived and we re- rigged, which was a bit of a faff.
Then a man came to see us called Tony Gill who was originally from Glastonbury [ 40 years ago], he said we could use his large garage /lock up at the club to store the boats. Nice one - he used to sail OK dinghies and Flying Fifteens. We went out in glorious sunshine and a 10-15 kt easterly. We went about 2 miles out to sea doing rabbits then a long down wind into the middle the bay.
Then the Brazil and Peru teams asked if they could join our racing, and one of the most competitive and memorabe couple of hours I have seen took place.
It would be true to say that BRA and PER were very good, some don't even go to shcool, they sail and have tutors.
The first few races were a bit tough for GBR but gradually we started to do much better onthe 14 minite windward leeward races. One of the sailors was the south american champion.
Milo won one, Jamie had a second, Jo a third, Sarah a 4th and Matt had several good windward marks.BRA and PER sailors could hold very narrow gaps for 2 minutes without moving. Our sailors had to 'man up' to starting and be much more aware of what was going on around us. Lots more practice to come and some better pictures. Just off to dinner.
Bye now.

Ah sorry about the picture, from my phone, I left my memory card in the laptop so I didn't get any pix today!

Arrived in NZL

Hi everyone, you will be pleased to hear that we have arrived- maybe we won't come back as its really nice here!

Where did Sunday go?
On Saturday we drove down from North Wales, the Calder’s flew down from Edinburgh, The Norbury’s drove down from Staffordshire, the Whitfield’s crossed the bridge from Cardiff, and the Gill Taylors and Burns made the short trip from the home counties. We met at Heathrow at 1800 and checked in then started flying at 2100. Alan and Ravi’s bike were loaded for £35.00 each, unfortunately it had cost the Calder’s over £100 to fly one of Jamie’s bags just from Edinburgh to London and more again to New Zealand. Our plane was a Boeing 777, the captain welcomed the team on board which was a nice thing to do.
We flew over many countries including the Mountains of the Himalayas and China before landing at Hong Kong late afternoon on Sunday after 13 hours of flying and 9700kms. At 7pm local time we boarded the same plane after the refuelled it, and we flew over the Phillipines, Papua New Guinea, and the Torres Strait before crossing over Australia’s northern tip then out over the Great Barrier Reef and on over the Pacific Ocean to the north coast of NZL and onto Aukland, landing at about 1100 local time after a flight of about 11 hours and 9000kms.
All baggage was accounted for, and we walked about 1km to the domestic terminal, it was like a warm summers day at Pwllheli but the light was much crisper.
Then we boarded a 50 seat Bombardier plane complete with propellers, for the 50 minute flight to Napier. It was pretty cloudy and bumpy, in our tiny plane but they still served water, tea and sweets- all good and with a smile.
We came down through the cloud and landed at the tiny airport next to the sea, it all looked strangely familiar. We were picked up by Deb and Phil in Lime Green people carriers, for the 2minute drive to our Marineland Motel which is right on the sea front.
We have 2 self catering apartments which are good. Matt went to the beach and has already lost a flip flop. And Jen and Sarah have gone shopping to the supermarket.


We got up early on Tuesday morning well 0600, then went back to bed. Breakfast outside with a great view across the bay. Then we went off to the club and got the boats, unfortunately the sails haven't turned up yet you might but at least we know where they are.
They started at Eastliegh, went to Stanstead, Colne,Seizehn [ China], Changi, Aukland and might arrive here today.


So our first day afloat was using NZL sails- it is quite common for us to have to borrow other sails. Dinner last night was fish and chips, well 3 fish and chips, 3 fish ? well thats how it is.



Cycling is good too , my and Ravi's bikes made it here and the sailors have been doing time trials along the coast, Jamie is the current leader on 11.40. This morning I did a quick loop of 20 miles past some wineries and to an apricot farm.





Matt has gone shopping, then we are off to the club, a 2 minute walk away for afternoon training.

Did I mention that we were leaving the harbour when I saw a Welsh flag on a yacht, the lady abourd was from Merthyr Tydfil!
More news soon mates.

So have you arrived??? (the abandoned Williams children)

Milo

Has anyone seen Milo who might have been abducted by a Russian seafarer in Vigo, we need him to fly to New Zealand tomorrow night? See earlier blog.

Last bit of packing

Just packing the last few things.....ooh, mustn't forget our flat pack Christmas tree !

The Norbury family

Early Xmas

We are having Xmas dinner with our family on Friday night, before or after digging ourselves out of any snow which might fall. Then, after a nice breakfast on Saturday morning, I had better pack a few things in the bag, remember the passport and we drive to the airport.
Hope all your packing is going well.
Yesterday I went to Henri Lloyd in Manchester and to see my Mother who lives in Crosby north of Liverpool- which is now famous for the cast iron lifesize Gormley statues on the beach. See below looking across the Mesey towards North Wales.
Bye now, Alan and Jen

3 days to go

There is chaos in the Gill-Taylor household

Nearly Last Post from Vigo

This post is back to front, we sold Milo to a Russian seafarer of the Russian sailing ship- to become a cabin boy. Bye Milo

We are coming to get you New Zealand- the worlds team.

Joe gets 8th place and a great prize he was also 3rd overseas sailor.

Sarah learning all the time- a few less tacks and bolder starts next time.

Mimi in 9th place in this race.

Jo 2nd in this race a small mistake here cost him 2nd- live and learn

Jamie in 3rd at the leeward mark

One of the largest sail training ships in the world, the Russian Kruesentern or something like that.

Last night dinner was served by a mad Spanish lady and we played chinese whispers to add to the entertainment.

Today up at 0700 for breakfast, then rigged and afloat before 0900, clear skies and and easterly at about 8 knots. race 3a Matt about 6, went left out of the tide on the second beat, Jamie 8 stayed in the tide too long, was 3rd. Jo 3 but could have been 2nd.

Mimi about 11 and sarah about 15. Not bad at all.

Race 4 the wind was starting to fade a little. 4a, Jamie about 5, jo about 12 and he made a big recovery from the 20's Milo was 12-15 and Matt slightly lower in about 20 as he got stuck on the pin. Sarah tacked too many times after a good start and was in the early 20's.

Race 5a started in a light east wind, Jamie 7th at mark 2, Milo winning his race with Jo 3-4th and Mimi good too, Sarah was in the teens. Guess what it was canned then we waited around for an hour before the racing was binned for good.

Charter boats back, in good oreder and bag packing followed by the prize giving.

Jo was promoted to 8th overall and 3rd overseas, one of our best ever results at Vigo.

Everyone learned a lot and with one better race would have been higher, Mimi was about 30, Jamie 32, and was robbed of a race win. Matt early 40's Sarah 50's and Milo who had a good day today had to count his OCS.

We are leaving at o700 in the morning for an early flightand we will be home at 1500.

Final word later.

Alan

Much Later

Its now later and we have gone to bed after dinner and a very indepth debrief on the day.
Up at 0700 in the morning, READY FOR SOME NICE WINDS- NO?

Canned Racing

Dim Gwynt

We were up at 0715 this morning and had breakfast with the Poles and Nestor. It was still darkish outside when we went down to the club full of anticipation of good winds.
We launched at 0900 just as one of the worlds biggest sail traning ships arrived.

The wind was supposed to be south and windy but it was easterly and light as.

Race 2a saw big Matt Whitfield leading in 2 knots from Hun 5. Matt led at the leeward gate and up the final beat until the race officer intervened and canned the race, thats 2 races Matt was doing well in when he was canned.

Canned Matt- winner of canned racing.

Jamie was less lucky, and was some way back, back at mark 2 whern the race was canned!

Race 2b had got under way with Sarah and Mimi doing ok, until canned. Race 2c Saw Milo leading and Jo 3rd when it was canned.

Then the wind went North West and after an aborted restart of race 2a the wind died away and then came from the south, it was all over the place, with impact zones, bouncing wind, killer gusts, holes and stuff. Jamie made the most of it and led by 1 minute at the leeward gate.

Jamie at the leeward gate.
Jamie did an excellent job of herding the fleet up the beat and Matt got up to 6th. Unfortunately the wind died and started to fil in on the left leaving all of the leaders stranded- an impossible position which required manning upto. It was a great effort - just unlucky.

Mimi and Sarah had great starts but Sarah put in one too many tacks and slipped back, into the bunch and Mimi managed a nail bitingly close finish in the top ten.

Jo and Milo were close to the top ten at the gate, Milo went right into oblivion and an OCS and Jo went left and finished about 8th in another close race.

The wind at this time was about 2 knots!

Then the wind came from the south west and race 3a started with Matt and Jamie, doing well off the start, the race was canned, at the windward mark with both doing well.
Race 3b started but was canned too.
Then we noticed that the wind was starting to come from the north west , a yacht onthe north shore was heeled well over, and the cloud darkened and the rain started, then it got quite windy and the vis disappeared. The rain was really heavy.

The wind then dropped so the race officer started race 3a again, Jamie and Matt had good starts, and then half way up the windward leg the wind died again so we went home 6.5 hours after going afloat.
Milo's quite of the day....' I spend my life being wet'
mimi 'excuse me are you Romanian'
Jo's quote of the day ....... 'The weather is just like at home'

Sarah's ' was it a small...... or a big .........'

Jamie's quote 'Vigo hates me'

Matt ' the winner of canned racing'

Alan, 'today it was good no?'



More news later, Alan