Andrew Campbell

Great Conditions, but.

August 17th, 2008 in General.

Just imagine the following scenario: 15-20 knots, direction steady between 75-85 degrees, 4-5 foot waves, dying ebb switching to flood tide (keeping the fleet off the starting line), start time an hour earlier than normal (posted at 1200), and three races scheduled. What could be more welcoming to a race committee? Unfortunately, with the addition of heavy rains and a few more knots of breeze, the entire day of racing was almost written off.

The Laser fleet arrived on course area C expecting to get a third of the regatta finished up in heavy winds and big seas with a huge amount of time spent on the upwind legs. Instead, we were subjected to an hour of general recalls and mid-sequence postponements until finally the adverse current finally switched on to cause enough sag that we could get a start off. The rain was torrential and coming down hard enough that visibility was severely limited during the actual race.

When the race finished and we lined up for a second start, the race committee boat unexpectedly blew the postponement with 25 seconds to go (not uncommon this week, in an apparent attempt to avoid general recalls and the use of the Black Flag rule). Minutes later it became obvious that the committee boat was adrift and had either pulled up anchor or had lost its ground tackle and was drifting downwind with the wind and current at about 2 knots. AP over H was signaled and the fleet could do nothing but follow orders and rip downwind for the harbor entrance.

Once we pulled our boats out of the water and took shelter out of the rain, we heard the boards and 49ers were also en route to the dock. The boards were the first to be postponed for the rest of the day (AP over A in signal flags), and then the Finns were signaled to begin their medal race on course A out in front of the pier. Seeing that the Finns and hearing rumors that the 49ers would soon follow the Lasers and Radials expected to be heading out at any moment… Then the AP flag went down and the fleet anxiously pulled their lifejackets back on and started putting sails up until we saw that they were indeed hoisting the AP over A flags for us as well. The riotous whistles, banging hands on boats and buildings, audible boos and hissing from the fleet of sailors being told that they couldn’t go racing was really intense. The disappointment from a group of athletes who only wanted to go out and race was obvious and frustrating.

The saving grace was that I got to hustle across the boatpark and onto the seawall just in time to stand by Zach Railey’s folks and a bunch of Team USA and watch Zach sure up his silver medal at his first Olympics. To be able to help the big guy up the ramp at the end of such a fantastic event is an honor as his friend and competitor for so many years. It should not be attempted to be put into words how proud I am of my friend because it cannot be, and it’ll inflate his ego more than it needs to be! What a regatta, what an effort! Congratulations Zach!

Us Laser guys are scheduled for three more races tomorrow (it will be the fourth consecutive day where we’ve been scheduled for three, so we’ll see if we can break form and get more than one race off). Hopefully I can break out of my mid-regatta funk here and get back into medal race form for Tuesday. After winning the pin in two of the general recalls, I was trying a slightly more conservative mid-line approach when I got picked off in the only black-flag general recall that we’ve had this regatta (instead of the usual mid-sequence AP surrender). That’s just one of those parts of the game that make boatracing all the more challenging. It was a bit unfortunate to have to sit in the driving rain, heavy seas and 15-25 knots flogging my sail for an hour and half only to be abandoned back to shore, but that’s life. And somehow I get the feeling that it probably beats a day at the office most of the time. At least that’s what I tell myself.

More to come from the Olympics in Qingdao.

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