story of aus

So let me start by being upfront. I thought i would access to a computer... but i was wrong. So i apologize for the lack of updates

Well, i arrived on the 26th, which was a very warm boxing day. i ran into no problems flying, in fact, i got to cut a few lines cause when asked what i was carrying and found out i was a sailor i got some help. things looked good. finally when i was reunited with my bag and sailbag i got picked up from my polish contact and we were off to McCrea!


after a few wrong turns, i was dropped off at any empty house, appropriately nicknamed the the Cathrine street bachelor pad, dropped off my junk and went down to the club to find my house

mates. and not surprisingly enough over half the group was out on the water enjoying the

picturesque water. after finding del and my boat. once everything was sorted out, i did the most sensible thing any person would do after 18 hours of flying, i rigged up and went sailing. it was the best sailing i ever had. 12-18 knots of wind with very flat water. it was beautiful.

next day the pre-worlds started. a great opportunity to get use to the water and the wind. and of course, two of the three days was a drift fest. the day we did get wind, we finished one race and the second was canceled due to too much wind. that day was interesting. the morning started off really light and then died completely. and then within 15 min the wind swung around 180 degrees and built to 15-20knts. i believe that was what the aussies call a southerly buster. i did reasonably well during the pre-worlds. after six races i took 7th overall in the pre-worlds and the third ic to finish (in the pre-worlds, ic's dc's, and ac's race at the same time). i like to think that my penmanship gave me those results (you had to sign on and sign off before and after sailing).

the next day (30th) is measurement day. i managed to get there early and put my boat in the front of the line. i started getting a little bit nervous, not about my boat not measuring in, i was just worried about finding out how much over weight my boat was. turns out everything measures and my boat is not fat! the min weight is 83.5 kilos and my boat weighed 86.5! i was excited. as soon as that was done, i took a ride to melbourne to pick up john's moth. john was unfortunate or fortunate enough to sail the sock puppet. the pre-cursor to the developmental rule. very interesting boat. anyways we decided to go pick up the moth to play around on lay days.

after seeing the melbourne free way systems we came back to a no wind day. good, because the next day was the invitational race, and early to bed sounded very good, especially with the knowledge of a early start. we started out in a decent breeze that slowly died off as the day wore on. i had a terrible start, but tacked over and sailed to the right side of the course, whereas most went left, which was the wrong way to take and 75% of the fleet sailed into a massive hole. the shore was were the pressure was. i did well, played the shifts right and stayed in clear air all the time. i ended up finishing in 5th in the ic's. the funny thing that happened that day was the boat leading did not see the leeward mark, so once the we rounded the gybe mark we all sailed far past the mark. in fact most of the boats in front needed to beat to get to the leeward mark. (that was another place i gained spots). that night was a big new years eve party at the yacht club with a live band. it was good fun. alot of people showed up and the party lasted to about 3 from what i understand. i crashed around 1230. (the picture is of themembers of the "pad")

the morning o the worlds i had major butterflies. it was the moment of truth. rigged up. double checked everything. dressed and even sailed out early. and of course i capsize with 30sec before the start. at that point it was blowing 12-15knts. it looked like a decent day of sailing. right after the start the wind died off and not only did i screw the start, but i picked the wrong side of the course each and every time. i finish the race in 13th. by the second race the wind gets a bit more steadier and a bit windier, have a great start, full speed and in the top of the pack. unfortunately a competitor to leeward me tacked on to starboard which forced me to make the decision of either cut him in half or crash tack. so i crash tacked and ended up going for a swim. the rest of the race i played catch up, and i finished in 12th. not the best day of sailing.

the next day we had 3 races schedualed but it was to windy, so we had a layday. the day after that was good enough to go sailing. 15-18 knts in the morning. looked like a good day. i was excited because i do better in wind. i reached out to the race course having a good time and then all of a sudden i hear this wiered sound... i thought it was just a wae crashing across my bow. next thing i know everything felt sloppy and depoward. capsize the boat and there is my daggerboard broken. 15 min of cursing and getting my mainsail down, i got the boat upright and and sailed back to the beach. and that was end of my day of sailing. this is the second thing that delaminated on the boat... oh well. shit happens.

eventually i borrow a spare daggerboared and case. so the next day i was out on the water. not that i wanted to be. i dont think anybody wanted to be. it was light. really light. and it was supper wavey. the wave must have been 4 feet tall. it made launching interesting. the wind continued to die. we only finished one race. the final day of racing, the 6th, was another blow out. winds ranging from 25-30 knts of wind. that didnt stop me from going out and sailing. haha. that was fun. i think everybody enjoyed the pitchpole i did right before the beach. it was stupidly windy. (yes there are pics, i just dont have them yet.)

the 7th was the new york cup, but most people were more interested in sailing. alot of people swapped boats to see what people have been up to. also there were two moth flying around. yours truly took one sailing and foiled and all. it was alot of fun. later that day was the closing dinner/award ceremony. it was a fun evening. i was third place junior and i won a watch in a bit of a popularity contest. after that we had a great dinner and an awsome party. it was a great way to end the event.

the next couple days were spent getting boats ready for the container, putting boats into the container and enjoying the landscape. it was quit special.

i had an amazing time. i met some people that i will never forget. i learned so many things and tried many new things. i think the most important thing that i learnt is that there are some really amazingly nice people out there. i got so much support in australia. i am new to the fleet and yet after this event i felt like i have been part of the ic family for twenty years. this was probably best 3 weeks of my life. i wil never forget this amazing experience. and once again, i would like to thank everybody who has supported me.

cheers

mikey