Langkawi Vice

"So, are your kids in this flight?", Gerard Koeppel is asking the friendly officers.

This is our spectator/fishing boat

Mohammed's ark and fishing boat...(that's him waving in the back behind Gerard)

day two...

The US turned it up today. Duncan won race 4b, pictured above crossing line (pardon amateur photography by the blogger). Richard had the best US day, with an 8 and 7 (results now posted: www.optiworld.org/MiniSite/results.php). Chris had another very good day, Wade also a good day, and Harry finally broke through with a good finish in race 5.
Racing started an hour early (10a), we thought to take advantage of stronger breeze earlier in day. In fact, it was to get two races before Muslim sabbath observance. The kids sailed in from the race course around 1p, in the strongest breeze we've seen in nearly 2 weeks. The breeze during racing was 8-12kn, again with considerable shifts. Course was reshaped for R5 to account for a considerable right shift. Courses in general have been well-shaped, perhaps a bit shorter than might be expected for this level of competition.

day one...

have not seen full results yet (nor been able to watch tracking) but the best US performance of the day was by Christopher, who spent much of the day looking back at competitors. Christopher had two top 10s and a 15 (or so) in three races with typical conditions: light air, shifty, and current (strongest on right side of the course, especially adverse in R1). 3 relatively short races: R1: 8-11kn (35 mins), R2: 6-10 kn with left shift, R3: 2-12kn, with the first flight getting the 12kn beat in a rainstorm. R2c and R3c were both shortened to end at the gate, which denied Wade especially an opportunity to claw back on a second beat.
US parents were out in a typical local fishing boat "chartered" for the occasion (a picture forthcoming tomorrow), allowing us to get relatively close. early start (10a warning) tomorrow (presumably to get the morning breeze before it burns away)

Opening ceremony

On stage at the opening ceremony

the boys with their new wives, a Langkawi island honor for visiting sailors

practice race and opening ceremonies

the practice race was preceded by a rainstorm with some (but not a lot of) wind. lucas and other teams decided to use the course but start in a group after the official start, which made for a much better (rule-abiding) practice race than usually happens at international events. the breeze had typical shifts (at one point, boats on opposite tacks on opposite sides of the upwind leg were sailing 180 degrees from each other). wade and chris had the best race, but for all the learning continues...
off now to the opening ceremonies...race 1 tomorrow!

Some pics of our day off, visiting the Eagle and swimming in the pool in the Westin

so snappy beside the hotel pool...

Mr. Afendy...

...the chief of the Sailing Center. All people must comply with "Afendy Rules" (photo: Mario Sampaio)

Update Monday

Another good day on the water. The velocity peaked at about 15 today, a little higher than yesterday. Boys were actually hiking for a bit. The breeze generally settled in a little less than yesterday.
The daily practice group that had been 40 sailors got up to over 60 today. So after 3 races Lucas picked up his marks and set up a smaller group with Chile and 2 other teams.

The practice continued with hydro-therapy in the hotel-swimming pool, trying to kill Lucas.

Tracey Williford made it here this afternoon and after a long battle with both the front desk and the people at the Sailing Center, we got her a room...the room that had been guaranteed for months!

Tomorrow the boys are not sailing, we will be exploring the other end of town, the jetty where the ferries come in, the Yacht Club (which is very different from the Sailing Center), which has a marina with racing and cruising big boats and a nice lunch spot overlooking the harbour.

today's practice

turns out the breeze peaked in the lower teens this afternoon (started less than 10, picked up and shifted left and stayed left) and held on until the boys came in after 5p. as in the past few practice days, they raced with about forty kids (peru, argentina, chile, slovenia, others) on an opti trap (just a leeward mark, no gate) set up and managed by the coaches. something of an honor system at starts and roundings, and some countries' sailors are more honorable than others. in 3 races today, our guys had mixed to good results--a bunch of top 10s and some tops 5s--and came off the water feeling good. after the day off and the longer-than-expected-but-not-really measurement process this morning, lucas has them back into serious training mode. lucas won opti worlds in 2001 (after a second in 2000) and the coach for chile (with whom we share a coach boat and practice very closely) was 4th in worlds a few years before that, so our kids are with coaches who know how to achieve success...

wind forecasts/racing sked

for those of you checking the wind forecasts on windguru and windfinder, you'll note that the velocity is strongest at night, that some of it remains by midday and by afternoon it burns away. too bad that opti sailing is a daytime sport. the SIs (not yet posted online) indicate 11a first warnings, with 3 races anticipated each day (15 races max, 6 races for one drop, 12 races for 2). so, a key may be getting a good result in the first race of each day when the breeze is strongest...

measurement morning, practice afternoon

good news... the four north sails measured in. after a day off, the boys are back on the water this afternoon, with the first steady breeze since we've been here, about 10 knots...batten the hatches!

Today we had a fun day touring the island. See below the pictures... Langkawi is beautiful, just not around the sailing area

All the boys taking pictures of the monkeys, some were very agressive.

Fun in the waterfalls. Some great sliding possibilities.

After all this, we took the boys to the beach, were they took a tour on a banana boat. Christmas dinner in the Red Tomato was the best....

lucas with an early outlook...

Merry Christmas

Chris, Duncan, Harry, Richard,

Wade, Lucas, Gerard and Astrid

wish all their families and friends a

Merry Christmas.

Tomorrow we will be having the day off and will be exploring the island.....

The boys are rigging for the last practice day before Christmas

Wade Waddell

Chris Williford

Richard Schuurmans

Duncan Williford

Harry Koeppel

Team USA

harbor charts (better quality coming)

entire straight (Kuah town at upper right)

close up

from notice board

The flags are up

The country flags are up and the Sailing Center is almost ready to start the World Championshop

training continues...

the boys have been practicing full days this week, with various teams. lucas shares a coach boat with chile, so we are practicing with them, plus peru, singapore, argentina, and others. the wind conditions are as expected--light--but the breeze also changes direction through the day in patterns that the team is figuring out, and the current and tide also have patterns that will make this not just "a light air regatta." the sailing area is in the "harbor" of Kuah which is more accurately a tidal straight between islands, with all the complexities that that entails...

During the day Gerard en Astrid went sightseeing in town. Below is the giant eagle waiting for the ferry passengers at the Terminal

the latest guidance on how to track races...

http://www.optiworld.org/MiniSite/tracking.php

Sailing update for today

The kids are on their way back in. There was more breeze in the morning than the day before, but it was still very light and shifty. Lucas decided to make the day a bit shorter than yesterday, there was no more wind. Instead of going to the swimming pool, the boys decided to play games on the computer.
Dinner will be on the other side of town tonight.

The coach boats are waiting for us.......These are the local fishing boats, located next to the Sailing Center. There is about 2 foot tide, so here the boats are waiting in the mud.

Richard, Wade, Christopher and Harry are ready for a new day. Duncan was detained.

coach launch service

another astrid foto: team coming in from first practice

original launch ramp; larger ramp in foreground under construction for past three weeks, completion expected soon

sailing center from launch ramp

full practice

the team is out sailing this morning and expects to sail into the afternoon. lunch on the water, conditions permitting. the breeze is light, as expected. weather is unsettled. thunderstorm as the boys came in yesterday, more expected today and going forward.

for those who imagined langkawi an island paradise, be assured that it is not, at least not here in the main town of kuah where the hotel and venue are located. hoping for some beach and sightseeing on a day off around christmas.

on the water

the boys got good sleep last night, rigged boats this morning, and got out on the water midaftenoon. a few other teams are here, including peru, with current world champion sinclair jones.

Team arrival in Singapore

Enviado desde mi BlackBerry de Movistar (http://www.movistar.com.ar/)

We are all in Singapore

Dear family and friends,

Just wanted to let you know we all arrived safely in Singapore (coming from different directions, Richard even had his flip-flops in the snow in Moscow).

Part of the group is ready to leave for Langkawi in a few hours, Richard and Astrid will follow them later today.

the venue

IODA Worlds website (links to live tracking and results)

http://www.optiworld.org/MiniSite/index.php

57 countries, 240 sailors: Official website

www.sailing.org.my/iodaworld2010/index.asp