Light air was forecasted and thats what we got. What our team meteorologist didnt see coming was the mass amount of bugs… I tried to take a picture but it just didnt quite capture the whole image. Imagine mosquito sized bugs EVERYWHERE except they dont bite. Our boat, sails, and ourselves were completely covered in them all day long. We’re guessing that the light winds tend to bring them out, and there arent quite enough birds in the area to clean them up. By the end of the day, our clothes and boat were covered in squished bugs. yuck.

Race 4

Race 4 was very sketchy. The RC started us in marginal conditions and a very shifty wind. We started near the pin and tacked a few time trying to sort out which direction to go. By the time we had decided a big righty had filled from nowhere. We dug in expecting it to stay, only to find it was time for the lefty to come in. Big losses at the top mark. We got back in it briefly after the downwind but just to give you an idea of the conditions, 3 boats that rounded the same leeward mark behind us lifted off in a completely different wind that we could never reach and sailed right over us. A very frustrating race, crossed the line in 35th.

Race 5

Putting the worst behind us we had a better handle on the conditions and were ready for a good one. Just before the start we saw the fleet upwind of us setting kites to the top mark, telling us a massive righty was on its way. We fought hard for the boat an managed a decent start heading right. We got the shift and sailed across, rounding in a solid 5th. Downwind we one jibed it and rounded in 3rd, close behind the leaders. We continued to play the right in very marginal conditions. It wasnt until the top that sticking to our side paid and we made a good pass to round in 1st. We held first down the reach but didnt quite time our jibe right on the downwind and we got passed. We held 2nd to the finish as the breeze died completely. With the fleet very spread out, the idea of our finish time limit of 20 minutes came into effect. The fleet was so spread out in the fickle wind that only 12 boats managed to finish the race within the time limit. The remaining boats received a DNF.

At the end of the day we remain in 11th overall. The points are very close and tomorrow is expected to be quite windy which will be a change of pace for the fleet which hasnt seen a race in over 15 knots for a few months now. Full results here.

Here are a few photos from yesterdays racing.

The Delta Lloyd regatta can be one of the more fun ones. Competitors seem to turn up last minute, racing is very high quality, and the winner of the day gets a chance to match race the other winners of the day for prize money in small single-handed keel boats!

The one thing this event can be know for is the weather… Being so far north, we are subject to whatever England happens to get the day before. Temperatures can vary from 5c to 20c between 1 or 2 days and bring strong winds as well to bring the real temperature close to 0c.

Todays racing was as expected, cold (13c) and moderate. Shifts came in at 30 deg differences and with pressure which made racing extremely difficult. We did the best we could and managed a pretty decent day.

Race 1

In race one we got a decent start near the pin end and took an early cross to get most of the way across the fleet. We caught another shift to head left again and looked pretty good. We made a small error when we decided to take a shift right when the rest of our group headed left. The left won out at the top and we rounded 8th. Downwind we got stuck to a side and lost 2 Brits to round 10th. We hooked into a nice shift and got our heads back in the game to pass some boats and round 6th. We had a good battle with our ISR friends on the last downwind trading spots for 6th. In the end we positioned ourselves well to get them at the bottom mark and lead to the finish. A 6th it was!

Race 2

After a few general recalls and a black flag, we finally got under way. The frustrating thing was how good our starts were in the ones that got called back, and how poor our start was in the one that counted. We found a lane to head right but got tacked on almost immediately. We were forced left and that was that. We rounded well back in the fleet but had a great first downwind to get back in it. We got a big left shift on the bottom but didnt consolidate our gain when we should have. In the end we scored a 17.

Race 3

We got a alright start down near the pin and held our lane left. A nice big lefty came with pressure and that was about it! We rounded in 5th at the top mark, gained some distance downwind, played some nice shifts upwind, and climbed our way to 3rd.

At the end of the day we are pleased with the results. The 17th could have gone better but lessons were learned and tomorrow is a new day. We stand 11th overall and tomorrow should be cold and light. For full results click here.

A few hours later we finally were sent out in a southerly, typically not a very reliable direction. It was our final race for the qualifying series so we knew we had to make it count.

Race 4

With the breeze light and spotty we elected for a boat end start thinking the breeze was a littler stronger on the right hand side. Unfortunately at go we were a little behind so we had a lot of tacks to do to find a lane. We headed out right in nice pressure and made some nice distance on the course. By the top mark we rounded in a very surprising 17th and headed off on the reach. Unfortunately at the wing mark we made a crucial error that sealed the rest of the race. We jibed and should have gone straight instead seeing the pressure was better that way. We only lost 4 boats downwind but more importantly lost a lot of distance on the course, and to the lead group. The rest of the race went pretty standard, and managed a 24th at the line. Good enough for Gold fleet.

After race 4 we headed in to see the final qualifying results. Once ashore the protests got going, and kept us on shore much longer than we should have been. Everything finally got sorted and at 5:05pm the flags were lowered for race 5.

Race 5

Knowing we had nothing to loose, and everything to gain trying to get to the medal race, we came out with a fired up attitude and ready to get down to business. We picked a decent spot on the starting line and had a good start. We picked some good lanes and fought right. Just when we thought we were going well the wind swung 15 degrees right and we were positioned on the left side. We sailed all the way to port layline and had a rough sail back in to the top mark, only ahead of about 8 boats. We went low on the reach, and positioned ourselves nicely for the run. We jibed immediately and found ourselves already top 20! We had a strong conviction for the next beat and stuck to it, gaining even more places by keeping to the right. For the last downwind we managed to pass another boat, crossing the line in 14th! After the OCS’ were accounted for we finished an amazing 11th.

With a discard added in after 5 races, we stand 28th at the moment. Tomorrow is the last day of fleet racing, and we are 24 points out from 10th. Still plenty of opportunity but it will be tough work. Tomorrows forecast isn’t good at all so any racing we get in would be fantastic. Wish us luck!

Full results here.

With only 2 races finished in 2 days, the Race Committee was pretty serious about getting some races in. They scheduled us for a 10am start, which the 470 fleet quickly agreed was too early. Upon arrival at the boat part it was clear there was no wind. The normal launch time came around and no one could be bothered. No one really moved until past US 470 medalist Morgan Reeser belted out across the parking lot notifying the fleet that the RC would start on time and that we should all go sailing. So then people started to move. We almost started a race but the wind was all over the place and after leaving the harbor at 9:20, we returned at 12:30 for lunch.

Once ashore it was unclear when the next signal could be. Was it on land or on water? In the mean time we decided it was time for a nice lunch and sat down near the match race area. Unfortunately right after we ordered our food our flag was dropped and we were heading back out 45 minutes after getting back in.

This time we did get a race in!

Race 3

A light sea breeze filled in, similar to yesterdays conditions, but a little further right. Typically from this direction the right is much stronger because of the shore effect the bay has. The fleet lined up as usual wanting the right, but we werent convinced. After a few recalls we went to the black flag and we noticed a little more wind left. We started down the line a bit further, and had a pretty decent start. We picked a great lane out of the left to make it across the right group. Unfortunately we made a small error and didnt tack where we should have. We struggled up to the top mark rounding top 20. Downwind we did a little magic and caught up substantially. We had a decent second beat to catch up even more, and managed to pass 2 more boats on the final run to come across the line in 9th overall. Frustrated knowing that we could have been top 3, we took what we could from the race and got ready for the next one.

Race 4

Race 4 eventually got cancelled, but we had a great race going up to then. We had a great upwind calling good lanes, and managed to round 9th. On the run the breeze got pretty funky but we picked our way through moving up to 5th or 6th until the race was abandoned and we were sent in.

At the end of 3 races, we stand 25th. The fleet has a high points average meaning everyone is struggling to some degree. We have at least 1 more race for qualifying, but we dont know what the full schedule is tomorrow. With the RCs small error this morning, they’ve reconsidered and we’re now starting at 11am. We’ve all got our fingers crossed for some breeze but it doesnt look too good with a big high pressure moving in. We’ll just have to wait and see!

Full results here.

We now come at you live from Hyeres, France at the Semaine Olympique Francais (SOF). There are 90 Boats competing after some had difficulty traveling due to the volcano in Iceland. We got lucky and decided to do the Spring Cup just down the road in Marseille the week before.

Day 1
No racing due to lack of wind. We sat on the water for 6 hours and didnt even set a mark.

Day 2
Today wasn’t looking too hopeful but thankfully a little later in the afternoon a very weak sea breeze finally filled. The racing we had at hand was extremely difficult with 0-6 knots on the race course and big shifts coming from nowhere!

Race 1 we had elected to go left, but minutes before starting saw a massive right shift and puff moving across the course from the shore. We quickly made it to the right side but were a little late to the start. We played the right looking good, even top 5 for a moment. We made a crucial error of not crossing back to the left when we should have and were quickly shot out the back. We played catch up and got mixed in with the fleet to finish 21st.

Race 2 it was decidedly left, with there appearing to be no pressure on the right side. At go, a massive puff came from the right side which put everyone on the wire, and we tried to hold on. We tacked at a decent time to be lee-bowed by the Aussies. A few minuted later the Aussies beat us out to the next shift and we were hung out to dry. Aussies rounded top 5 and we were back with some work to do. We battled hard all the way to the end to come across in 21st yet again.

At the end of the day we’re standing 40th. There are still a lot of races to go and almost everyone had at least one bad race. We’ll have to see how the rest of the series goes but its never over till it over!

Full results here.

We last left you with our 5th place finish at the Rolex Miami OCR which we were very pleased about.

Since then we’ve been training in Miami and have now found ourselves in Palma de Mallorca, Spain for the 3rd World Cup Event of the season. There are 102 mens 470s competing which is a very large turnout. Palma tends to be a ‘Spring Break’ regatta for a lot of European uni students so we get a lot of boats on the start line which makes for some interesting starting…

In Race 1 today the wind had been progressively shifting right so we decided to look for a start on that end. After several general recalls because of an over-aggressive fleet we finally got a decent start off. Unfortunately we didnt, after fouling our Finnish buddies trying to bail out of our hole we had a full on t-bone collision. Luckily no damage on either end! So while we did our 720 penalty i continued to count down, 25… 20… 15… 10… and with a few seconds left we managed to be heading upwind but not in a good position at all. We tacked off to the right to stick with our game plan, had to make a few more tacks to get clear, and then ducked away heading right. We looked around and decided we were in a good position and kept going. We got a good enough righty with pressure and tacked, only to find the rest of the fleet below us. “How did that happen!?” we wondered out loud. We continued on and rounded 2nd behind a SUI team and chased them on the reach. Downwind we were able to jibe on them to slow them down and split gates with them on the bottom. We headed right again and made some good gains to take the lead. Later on the upwind the wind died and got quite shifty, making things very difficult for us with boats coming in from all sides. We lost 1st to the Kiwi kids but kept our cool knowing there was still a downwind ahead. We got boxed out and ended up looking 4th. Towards the bottom we got a little free and took advantage of the top 3 playing against each other to just barely sneak in 2 jibes at the bottom mark and take the lead onto the finish!

After that race the breeze completely backed off and were were sent in. With there being 2 mens fleets we currently share the lead with our Australian buddies. No idea who will officially take the yellow jersey tomorrow since there is no tie-breaker at this point. There are still plenty of races to go with Tuesday looking to be potentially unsailable due to too much wind which rarely happens.

For full results click here or check our Facebook Page ‘Team MB’ for more photos, videos, and other fun stuff! Stay tuned as tomorrows another day!

Race 1 got off after a few postponements and we got a pretty good start near the pin end. We werent able to hold our lane so well and we had to tack out to find another. We worked our way left and were able to round in the top 10. We worked our position and managed a few passes to take 7th at the line.

Great news was that 1st and 2nd places had bad results so with one regular race to go we were in 2nd!

Race 2 got off to a good start but unfortunately we couldnt find a lane to the left side and were playing catch up from the start. We sailed as hard as we could but in the end could only manage a 20th.

With the regular series over we stand in 6th overall with just the medal race left. Heres the breakdown:

1. ISR 7 60pts
2. AUS 11 61pts
3. SWE 338 61pts
4. GBR 828 62pts
5. FRA 44 68pts
6. USA 1713 70pts
7. GRE 81 81pts
8. FRA 27 88pts
9. AUT 3 92pts
10. FRA 7 93pts

Wish us luck!

Race 1 we got a pretty good start towards the pin end after much debate in the pre-start. We went a little too far left and missed our biggest opportunity to have a good top rounding and managed a top 15 rounding. We took the low lane on the reach and caught 3 boats to put us just off the top 10. We passed another 2 boats downwind and turned the corner for the final beat. We played to the right side of the fleet and looked good until we missed the final lefty. We were in striking position on the downwind but couldnt manage our position and we got caught jibing in the middle. We didnt lose but we didnt gain, and crossed the line in 11th. However 2 boats in front of us were OCS which moved us up to 9th.

Race 2 got off great but maybe a little too great… We had an awesome start at the boat end along with the Aussies and NED 77. NED turned around after the individual flag went up but us and the Aussies held tight. We tacked off to the right and then caught a great right shift to sail across the course on top of the fleet. We tacked in a near perfect lane on the top left to round 1 boat length behind 2x Silver Medalist Nick Rogers (who had to ask us for the course) but quickly managed a pass with some good kinetics. We got down in front of them and surprised jibed away from them to get away clean. They got jibed on by the Swedes and we were able to extend to the bottom mark. We played our position against the fleet on the upwind and continued to extend. On the reach we nearly doubled our lead and then came the final run. Hardly a word was said other than to jibe or where the marks were. We were in so much fear that we may have been OCS’d that not much was said. We held our breaths on the the final reach and stared at our coaches across the line to see what the reaction was. We crossed the line and BEEP we got a horn! 1st it was and our support team and coaches were ecstatic! We gave each other a big high five and a big fist pump for our solid day.

At the end of the day our 9-1 has put us in 4th with only a few points to a podium with one final day of racing to go before the medal race. Full results here.

The day brought similar conditions to where we left off yesterday, light, shifty, and puffy with winners coming from the sides.

Race 1 we finally got a good start but unfortunately found ourselves going the wrong way with a big shift to the right. We played our way that way to consolidate and got in a good position to make a lot of gains. We had a good downwind and decent second upwind but made a big move at the last mark to pass 2 boats on a skewed run to take 14th.

Race 2 we decided to go for and we took it! We had an excellent start at the boat end and tacked away and extended with our group. We called a brilliant layline from a mile out and it was the perfect call to put us just in front of our AUT training partners. We battled with team AUT the rest of the race but in the end held them off to take the race win! Very pleased!

Race 3 we decided to follow our strategy of winning sides and took it to the pin. We nearly had a horrible start after being boxed out but funny enough were given a hole after the race winning Brits tacked out and we filled in. In front of us were the Aussies who we let go on a tack and they came 2nd. We slung it out to the left side to catch our shift to round in 4th, and managed to pass a boat to take 3rd.

All in all a very good day considering how difficult the conditions were. The scores are really tight and it will be a battle the whole rest of the event. Our good day has put us in 6th overall with only a few points to 3rd. Full results here.

Yesterday we were postponed onshore all day waiting for severe storms to pass over the race course. By the time they passed it was a little too late to get everything going so they just decided to call it quits.

So with today being the first official day of racing, everyone was pretty keen to get out and race now being 2 races behind in the series. Today brought pretty good winds from 6-14 knots but rather shifty which made for some interesting racing.

Race 1 we didnt have the best start but were able to eject and catch a lane going right where we thought the best pressure was. Unfortunately the left side paid off and we were caught in the back. We sailed pretty well catching up to 17th by the end.

Race 2 we again didnt get a very good start but were able to catch a shift near the top to round mid fleet which put us in a pretty good position for a good result. We had a tough first downwind but hit all the shifts on the next upwind to round in 7th. We held off the pack to the finish and were pretty happy with that one.

Race 3 again started with a bad start, and we got bounced around in the middle until the top mark. Luckily enough for us it was an inner and we were able to have a good downwind to put us in a good spot for the next upwind. We played the shifts pretty well to come back to a 12th.

At the end of the day we’re standing 13th which is pretty good considering how difficult the day was. We know we could have done better but tomorrow is always another day. For full results check here.