Montag, Oktober 22, 2007

Getting into Wintermode, but elsewhere they are sailing...


Drei Tage Eis kratzen am Morgen. Wird das ein guter DN Winter?

Ich habe selbst keine seglerischen Aktivitäten geplant in den nächsten Wochen. Um mich "fit" zu halten, lese ich natürlich einiges über das Regattasegeln. Stolpere heute morgen über bemerkenswerte Ergebnisse in der 505er Klasse. Nordamerikanische Meisterschaften. Immer sehr stark besetzt und darum freue ich mich über folgende Platzierungen: Boris Hermann/Kleiner segelten auf Platz 2. Tom Gosch/Mc Keige auf Platz 6 und Hasso Plattner/Alarie auf Platz 13. Glückwunsch! Die "Jungs" müssen Spaß gehabt haben in Annapolis.

Dienstag, Oktober 16, 2007

Motten Meisterschaft, Report

Mit Spannung erwartet wurde die Mottenmeisterschaft in Bad Zwischenahn. Einige Neuzugänge, wie Peter und ich auf Bladerider (GER-3170), dazu ex Spitzensegler Carlo aus der 470er Klasse und natürlich auch alte Hasen hatten sich für die Bestenermittlung 2007 im ZSK angemeldet. 27 Teilnehmer in der Motten Klasse. Foiler und Lowrider hielten sich in etwa die Waage. Einige gewagte Umbauten waren zu sehen. Was noch nicht ganz fertig war wurde fachmännisch von den Kollegen diskutiert und entsprechende Hilfe wurde angeboten. Für einen Neu-Einsteiger eine tolle Gemeinschaft. Hat schon was, ne Motte zu segeln.

Ich hatte kurzfristig auf einen freien Bootstrailer verladen, bin nicht sicher, ob mir das Ding vom Dach des Womos fliegen würde. Ist ja schon ein Bladerider von der Golden Gate Bridge geflogen... Der Aufbau am Samstag klappte problemlos, leider war die Slipanlage ein wenig eng. 420er und Motties gleichzeitig, das konnte nicht gut gehen. Die umsichtige Wettfahrtleitung hatte die Starts zwar zeitlich entzerrt aber wer die Szene kennt, die ungeduldige Jugend, dazu bei den 420ern zum Teil die ehrgeizigen Eltern im Hintergrund, der kann sich denken, was beim slippen los war.

Tja, und leider lies der Wind zu wünschen übrig. Es fächerten kleinere Böen um die 1-2 Bft über den wunderschön gelegenen See. Für Motties nicht gerade ideal. Luvkenterungen eingeschlossen. Natürlich gibt es Segler, die das Thema Leichtwind beherrschen. Leute wie Philipp Meurer oder Harald Steiner. Nur erste und zweite Plätze. Sehr gekonnt. Alle Achtung! Ich selbst habe wenig von ihnen gesehen. Bohrte in der ersten Wettfahrt, die zum Glück abgekürzt wurde, auf Platz 18 herum. Die Bladerider Kollegen Peter (8ter) und Carlo (6ter) zeigten, daß es besser geht. Vielleicht hatten Sie keinen Rückwärts-Ausflug dabei wie ich und schätzten die Anlegelinien besser ein. Am Speed hat es sicherlich nicht gelegen. Der war am Start und kurz danach recht gut. Bis zur ersten Wende. Ab da ging es nur noch abwärts bei mir. Nach der ersten Wettfahrt ging vom Wind her nichts mehr. Einige Stunden mehr sind auf dem Boot notwendig um sich zu verbessern.

Abends fand die Jahreshauptversammlung in sehr lockerer Atmosphäre statt. Wahlen, Kassensturz und das ganze bürokratische Zeugs wurden schnell und professionell von Christian abgearbeitet und man widmete sich netteren und aktuellen Themen und löste die Versammlung dann auch kurz nach Mitternacht auf. Es sollte ja mehr Wind geben am nächsten Tag.

Sonntag kam zunächst auch ein Lüftchen zustande, was einigen Foilern schon mal raumschots ein Fluggefühl ermöglichte und den Lowridern vermutlich ein flaues Gefühl bescherte. Es wurde auch kurz am Start gefoilert, dann brach der Wind ein um dann nochmal in der Böe des Tages kurz aufzuflackern. Ich hatte einen Bombenstart, niemand über mir, die in Lee weit genug weg. Es lief. Dann brach ich ein, verhedderte mich ein wenig aber konnte mich schnell fangen und hielt mit den vorderen Seglern mit. Dann die vorher schon erwähnte Böe. Es ging ab. Ich wollte noch mehr rausholen und verlor die Schot als ich voll im Flug war. Sofort tauchte der Luvflügel ein, ich ging fast unter, konnte mich aber im letzten Moment noch auf die Plattform retten. Nur stand ich fast im Wind und bis es weiter ging, war das Gros des Feldes an mir vorbei. Mit dem Wind war es auch vorbei und man bewegte sich nur noch schaukelnder Weise. Rhythmische Gleichgewichtsstörungen helfen. Nach einer Runde, ich hatte mich gerade an einige Erzrivalen, die wie ich auf den letzten Plätzen kämpften, dank nicht erkannter Winddreher herangearbeitet, gaben die Kollegen auf. Was bei mir auch so einen Impuls auslöste und ich driftete ebenfalls Richtung Club. Das war vielleicht nicht optimal denn es gab noch einen Drifter. Eine dritte Wettfahrt. Nur kurz aber effektiv für die Wertung. Ich reiste ab, bevor die Veranstaltung durch war. Hatte noch genug zu Hause zu tun. Die Messe wartet. Wer Ergebnisse schauen möchte, hier der Link: http://www.seglerinfo.de/cgi-bin/ergebnis07.cgi?97007101. Mit Sicherheit werde ich im nächsten Jahr bei der einen oder anderen Regatta dabei sein. Mit den Motten-Jungs hat es richtig Spass gemacht. Und das segeln mit dem Teil macht so einen ungeheuren Spass, bei Wind sogar süchtig. Was will man mehr vom Segelsport.

Montag, Oktober 15, 2007

Motten Meisterschaft


27 Motten in Bad Zwischenahn. Wenig bis kein Wind. Nette Leute getroffen. Bericht folgt.

Koos(Dutch Mothie) will write a report in English language on his website. My report will be in German language and follow later.

Freitag, Oktober 12, 2007

Counting down...

Counting down the hours like Koos,(Dutch Mothie, Koos)who said it all in a nice piece of text. Wanted to hit the road now for the 4-5 hours drive. Trouble is there are big traffic jams in front of the River Elbe tube at present. Just got a call that the queue is abt. 15km long. Better surfing the web for speed tips (on the Moth) instead of queuing up with all those holiday makers. Autumn school holiday is what causes this problem. Check in again next week for the regatta report from Koos and the one from myself. Koos, who wants to achieve a good result due to his long time Mothing (and recently jumping on to the Foiler Moth) and I will try not to come last due to only Foiler Mothing a couple of days sofar.

And by the way: Found interesting Moth news from Dubai. (Dubai Mothie, Chris) Chris hasen´t got his Bladerider Moth yet, he is anxiously waiting. Read about the Dubai sailing, which during our European winter is one of the best venues to go. If only there would not be such high shipping costs and waiting lists for shipping space due to the massive developments going on in the UAE.

Dienstag, Oktober 09, 2007

This one, I cannot believe!

In my morning mail today I got a letter from Roland Gäbler, German Tornado Sailor, (see picture) who has an Olympic Campaign underway for China 2008. Will it be his 4th Olympic participation if he manages it? He has got a Bronze, lucky him. What puzzled me in his letter is the criteria set by the German Sailing Association (DSV) for the Tornado Class to qualify for the one berth available. Actually we have three hot shots in Germany and the Tornado class had always been a hotly contested class. What I find strange this year in the elimination trial is the following:

Our German sailors have to participate in a regatta in New Zealand in February, have to sail one in March in Spain (Mallorca) and another one in April in France, Hyeres. All in the year 2008 of course. Just think about the logistics involved. The travelling. The Money needed up front. Than you easily catch a flu in the aeroplane. The jet-leg, which sometimes last longer in the body than you might believe. (Mmh, I heavily suggest the use of salt-water-spray for the nose to help avoid any such illness or bad feelings). Personally I think that this is not a good plan by DSV but my days are over and things have changed dramatic over the last years. We used to sail on the River Elbe. More hours in the boat, less travelling. Not that I got close to a berth in the ´76 Olympic in the FD class. Just a runner up. There were some better sailors like me. The Diesch brothers, the König brothers, the Batzill cousins. Silver and Bronze medal Winner winner Ulli Libor tried it again. Jörg and Eckard Diesch won Gold in Kingston. Rodney Pattison came second. I will never forget this as I had sailed together with Jörg and with Rodney. With Rodney on his Endurance 35, but that is another story. Nevertheless, I am wishing Roland fair wind and smooth sailing. May the best Team win the elimination trials.

Sonntag, Oktober 07, 2007

Laser Regatta, Schleswiger Stadtmeisterschaft

Well, it´s already been a week ago since we have sailed our yearly LASERV „Stadtmeisterschaft“. A regatta privately organised by the local sailmakers, Ger and Roger. HOLM Segelmacher. It happens once a year, always on the Sunday after the Blue Ribbon race from the local Club. The Blue Ribbon had to be cancelled due to the flood on Friday. The whole club and downstairs facilities had been flooded and were full of mud. You might have seen the pictures on my last blog entry. Anyway on Sunday the water had lowered enough to rig the boats and to get on with the business of sailing. PRO Henning had called for a minimum of four races with three upwind and downwind legs. 22 competitors, mostly from the region of North Germany, and some are only bringing their boats out for this regatta as I do with a chartered boat. As usual I had promised myself last year, when not feeling really comfortable in the boat (the fridge door) to give practise a priority this year before the regatta. But as usual there were too many other things on the agenda and the plan did not materialise.

Kerstin had chartered a boat at the local sailing school, which we had to rescue from in the “flood”. It had split from it´s trolley and was floating around with other “debris”. We pulled and pushed it on dry land, drained the water from inside and outside and Kerstin was giving it a thorough wash and wax on Saturday late afternoon.

I also managed to look after my boat on Saturday afternoon but Hartmut, the owner had already saved it from floating around in the shed. Lasers and Optis had piled up but the damage was very small. I checked for parts but not for water in the hull as the drainage was closed pretty tight. Next day through the inspection hole I found a lot of water and drained the boat before rigging. It is an old boat with an old sail and without the latest boomvang and things which make a Laser more trimmable. I pulled the sheet to max, fastened the vang and stretched the outhaul to the max. This will make for a decent trim once under way and these old ropes are always easing a bit when getting wet. The mainsheet seemed to be very, very long and I tangled with my feet in it during the racing. Maybe it had been the safety rope. You cannot just a cut a rope on a borrowed boat, can you?

The starting line was heavily biased on the boat (Henning´s X-79) which nobody wanted to hit of course and there was a pile up of boats. It seemed that guys who are sailing this area a lot wanted the right side. Maybe due to the high apartment tower which is sittingon the left side in the West of the course which had to be laid with a windward leg to 270°. I started mid line to get free air but could not use it as best due to one or two boats under me gaining. I tacked…uuuhps way too many boats still on starboard and I had to tack back. Got entangled in the sheet and lost big time. I promised myself not doing so many tacks, especially not after the start. Why falling back into mistakes which I thought, I would not do anymore. Bearing away at the windward mark in a gust had also been a problem for me. But there were others who did worse. And I immediately jibed to the inside which in the short legs gave me a nice mark rounding position. If only the boathandling had been better. I still happened to be in the top ten but Roger, one of the sailmakers had a nice lead. Last years winner Ger, the Boss at HOLM, was in the near distance but after half way around the course he was in the leading group of 7 boats and I was in the middle of nowhere. Between the top group and the backmarkers. Around 10 to 12.

I did two acceptable races afterwards with some placings around 7th – 8th (still no scoring sheet available) but in the fourth race, I did a very bad start, nearly fouling the anchor line of the starting boat, now placed at the pin end and nearly came last at the first windward mark. Gained some places downwind but finished around 15th. Beer and pizza after the races and applause for every participant from last to first at the price giving, held by PRO Henning. This year Roger won and Ger came second. The first five boats were equipped with Laser sails made by HOLM, which is not within the class rules and my gut feeling is, that the cloth which these guys are using, is a bit tougher and stronger than the standard Laser sail. No excuse for my 10th place which I must say, I am happy with. Having beaten two guys with a new boat, new sails and spending many hours in the boat practising together with hotshot Roger.

I do hope that I can get a photo or two from the event to post a little later. Today I used the nice autumn sun and some gusts around 3 Bft for some practise with my Bladerider Moth. Did some bad tacks, still not being able to foil through a jibe and having problems downwind. Foiling no problem but the VMG just does not look right. I will see next weekend at the class championship in Bad Zwischenahn how it is going within the class. Still so much to learn for me in the hot little boat. Really looking forward to the weekend with only onegoal: Not to become last of the Foiler Moths. Stay tuned.