|
The 2011 Asian Opti Champs is underway in Singapore with Sam Barnett in the team.
New Zealander Hamish Clark won a race. From the tracking, it seems that clear air is the key.
The NZL1 Team came second in the Nations Cup teams racing.
You can follow their progress on http://www.facebook.com/pages/NZL-Opti-Asian-Team-2011/215917021781084
Here are some snippets from the reports:
Day 1:
At the Opening ceremony the haka was very well received. The afternoon was fun and games following the practice race. Sam won the hiking competition beating Iran and Kimberley Lim from Singapore. He held for 5 and half mins! NZ parents won the tug o war. kids had a great time meeting new friends.
Day one of racing was a mixed bag. Sam B and Ava OCS in first race. Some good results for James Jennings, Scotty and Sam Simpson. Sam B had better results in the second and third races. First race the wind died to about 1 knot and it was quite difficult. There were some DNFs as the top group were far ahead. Very hot. Sam drank nine bottles on the water! All the kids got a bit sunburnt too.
Wind came in after lunch and the last two races were about 8-10 knots.
Parents able to watch the racing on trac system and see the race course from the club as it is straight out in front. Our kids will really appreciate our clean waters when the get home as they launch into water thick with oil and rubbish. Sam had to tack to avoid a TV!
Challenges of being away from our normal food etc have mostly been ok but have to say breakfast is the worst. We have had to buy our own supplies! Parents have been slowly sussing out the best way to get taxis, almost a competition now. Everyone here uses them but there is an art to getting them. We waited for an hour in a taxi queue last night! not the best in the heat.
ID cards are the go here and they use these for sign on and sign off. Coaches sharing with Kergystan and Dutch Antilles.
Day 2:
One of the interesting things is seeing the small differences in how people do things. Everyone sits around, then suddenly the horn goes off and the kids dash to their boats and into the water. Quick launch! barely any parents in sight but kids all very capable. Kid volunteers pick up the trolleys. NZ team the few with their parents down by the water. Same when they come in.
Race one went well for some of the team but was the sort of race where the wind dies and the second fleet catches up. Some major pile ups on the mark roundings.
Day 3:
After a long day waiting the Nations Cup teams racing got under way with NZL 1 and NZL 2, USA and Aus. NZL1, Sam B, Sam S, Scott Inglis and Hamish Clark won every match in the round robin and thought they had won the event, but in near darkness they ran a final and we lost in a tough race to USA. Shame but we have a nice trophy and medals! We are looking forward to the rest day tomorrow. Having a great time, giving it our all. loads of photos of us on Facebook and our haka is on the IODA Asians website too. hope you are enjoying the snow - mid thirties here. By the way Thailand won the Asian Team Racing - we learnt a lot watching the skills of these top teams. |
