This is the official blog of Andrew Campbell and Brad Nichol's Star Class Campaign for the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Regatta to be held in Weymouth, England in August 2012

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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Off to the Races

The 2010 Star World Championships kicked off today with Race 1 inside the bay in Rio de Janeiro.  It only took two attempts to get a clean start right next to the Rio airport with an ebb tide pushing the boats towards the line.  With the committee boat end favored in the current, Andrew and I played it safe, starting one third of the way down the line looking for less confusion and some clear air.  We found neither, but Andrew did a masterful job of managing traffic and working our way to the right to get out of the current.

To say that the tidal flow inside the bay was confusing would be a drastic understatement.  It was easy to be in one knot less current only one hundred feet away from a competitor.  As we approached the mark along the starboard tack layline, we thought we were fetching the mark easily until we saw the lead boat stop in their tracks.  Only 50 feet from the mark there was a tide line with a two know differential.  Needless to say we did not lay the mark, and on our second attempt to round, we were swept into the mark.  (The leaders, and countless others made the same mistake.)  This double oops cost us 20 places according to a friendly spectator.

Both runs were a game of when to jibe and cross the current line.  On the first run we guessed correctly and passed boats, on the second we waited too long and dropped four boats.  The second and third beats were all about finding the current eddy that would give you an upwind advantage.  World Champions, and locals Torben Grael and Alan Adler both showed the fleet where everyone should have been, passing boats on either side of them.

In the end we finished in a tight battle with the Irish, Germans, Argentineans, and Greeks, all shooting towards the line at the same time.  The Greeks we just on our weather hip across the line but we were 12th and they was 16th.  One boat length means al lot at the World Champs!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Rio Worlds 2010

Andrew and I have been in Rio this week training for the 2010 Star World Championships, which begins Saturday January 16th with 81 teams, representing 20 Countries. So far the training has been excellent despite the oppressive heat, with local fleet racing this past weekend, and Team USA coach Ed Adams running drills and practice races this week.

We expect this World Championship to be very strong with our competition including: 2009 World Champions George Szabo/Rick Peters (USA), 2008 Olympic Gold Medalists Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson (GBR), ISAF top ranked star team Flávio Marazzi/Enrico de Maria (SWI), and past world champion skippers Xavier Rohart (FRA), Fredrik Loof (SWE), Alan Adler (BRA), Robert Scheidt (BRA), and Ross MacDonald (CAN). Not to mention 5 time Olympic medalist and world champion sailor, Torben Grael who was named Rolex International Sailor of the Year in 2009 after winning the Volvo Ocean Race.

We are not daunted by the level of competition, only driven to show our best stuff and start 2010 off with a bang! Stay tuned this week for more  from HOT sunny Rio de Janeiro.