Team HISC at the SAILING Champions League final in Porto Cervo
by Paul Childs 28 Sep 2016 14:59 BST
23-25 September 2016
Firstly, I must give a massive thanks to HISC for their support in aiding us to attend this event, without their support there would probably not have been a British entry! Secondly thanks must also be given to those who attended our fundraising evening back in August and to those who donated, bid on and won some amazing prizes. We had a fantastic evening and hope that you all did too.
Team HISC (Or HIYC, as was mistakenly printed on our battle flag...) consisted of Imogen Stanley, Paul Childs, Chris O'Neill and Chris Witty. We went into the event hopeful that we could do HISC and ourselves proud, challenging for race wins and aiming for a top 10 finish.
I think it is fair to say that we went into this event a little under-prepared. We couldn't get a J70 to train on, due to the short time between the UK finals and Sailing Champions League Finals. To compound this lots of the other teams were J70 sailors or had club J70s. A number of National Leagues have taken off hugely, with the Swiss and German teams having 5 events of this format (Short, sprint races with a target time of 12-15mins) that they have attended this year as well as last year's attendance.
Day 1
If there was one photo that summed up day 1, it was this:
We spent a long day on shore waiting and hoping to kick off the event, but unfortunately the wind did not want to play ball and racing was abandoned at 5pm.
The opening ceremony took place in the evening and we mixed with the other teams and the German film and TV crew. They seemed to take a shine to one particular member of our team! No surprises for which one, but let's just say it wasn't Team Chris.
Day 2
Again, not a particularly promising forecast but the race team did a fantastic job of getting in lots of races in a light, shifty and patch breeze. There was no doubt that for traditional fleet racing we would have struggled for any races, but the beauty of this format means that the beats were short. The race team could choose one of 3 laid windwark marks up to 1 minute before the start so we always ended up with a pretty good first beat.
A fantastic start to the event saw us pull off a fantastic #S4B (3rd)! The second race proved to be difficult, after a bit of gamesmanship from another team resulting with us spinning and finishing 8th. Undeterred Imo smashed the next start and we led from start to finish.
The finishing tradition for race wins, brought over from the UK Finals was caught on camera and the commentators loved the 'British enthusiasm'. (Day 2, Race 9 if you fancy a replay/laugh).
With the wind becoming more patchy and streaky we struggled in the next two races and scored two 8th places. By the time we arrived at dock it was 7pm. A long day and some fried brains...!
After a fantastic dinner at the beautiful Yacht Club Smeralda, we managed to catch up with Team HISC's travelling fans on shore and got some words of encouragement - It was great to see some friendly faces after a tough day and thanks for your support we loved seeing you all.
Day 3
Guess what... another light and patchy one!
After learning lots of lessons the day before and with a point to prove we had a fantastic day scoring 3, 6, 4 and finishing the regatta with another 1st. Winning by the largest margin of the whole event - 100mts or so! This one is also on film Day 3, Race 33.
With a strong day on the water we jumped up to 17th overall. 8 points off the top 10 and only 10.5 points of the top 5.
It was a fantastic event and we learnt lots as a team. The format of racing was brilliant and the competition fierce. This was a fantastic event and one that we hope we can attend next year with improved results. As winners of the UK finals we are allowed two entries to the UK Qualifiers next year and with some training I truly believe we could have two boats at the Sailing Champions League Finals and be pushing for the podium!
The last and largest thanks that I have to give is to Imogen, Chris and Chris. They have all done an amazing job both in the UK finals and last week. Probably their biggest achievement was putting up with the 'BFC'! Thanks guys – Love you!
Full results can be found here.