Bully’s Blog #4
The world championship is looming ever closer. Today we have our measurement day and so no sailing except maybe for a brief stint in the evening if time permits.
The process of measuring is a lengthy one, the kids have to strip their boats and wheel them to the measurement tent. Every component is then presented and checked. Sails, spars, rigging, hull, rudders and centreboards are all measured and weighed. Once passed the boats are re-rigged and hence the desire for a quick sail to check everything. Anything that fails has to be re-measured tomorrow morning.
The Australian Cadet Team including friends, families and supporters.
We have had a great couple of days with Christmas Day a highlight. We were taken out by bus to Francisco Consentino’s family house. Lovely place and a real Aussie day of barbecue and backyard cricket was had. Thanks so much to Benjamin (junior) and Isabella Consentino for hosting us.
But outside of this the sailors are working hard, Christmas Eve was a big day on water. A debrief on previous days training is held each morning with video and feedback. Then an early lunch at boats, (thanks Mums) and then at 12 noon we sailed out to the course area, did a lot of training and returned at 6pm.
The team has been training hard ahead of the start of the regatta.
Yesterday was meant to be the same but we were held ashore with prospects of a severe storm. We took the opportunity to clarify the sailing instructions to all the skippers and Hugo Allison (current world champ crew) took a little mini master class with the other crews on jib trim. We finally got on the water at about 2.30 when the storm didn’t eventuate. We opted to train in the mouth of the river rather than sail the full distance to the race area. With a shortened window we concentrated on maximising our drills rather than using up time for the long sail to the race area. So we got in a good 3.5 hours. Some tired little ones at dinner last night.
Following measurement day we have the invitation race and opening ceremony. The invitation race is a bit like dancing with your sister, doesn’t really mean much. But it gives us a chance to evaluate the competition and race committee structures.
The opening ceremony is a highlight, it is so great to see the kids march under the Southern Cross. Helps them appreciate how privileged we are to be here in Buenos Aires.
Club Nautico Albatros, Buenos Aires.
