F18 Worlds Started Yesterday

I don't recognize him Mike. This is from 3:45 into the

Day 2 - No Wind

video:

He is obviously the guy on the phone, wearing the PRO standard

necklace

(hand bearing compass).

Looking like proper North Sea conditions there.

Doing the Jesus walk <img src="<>/grin.gif" alt="grin" title="grin" height="15" width="15" />:

Big gusts?:

Hobie's new wave-piercing jib:

He is obviously the guy on the phone, wearing the PRO standard

necklace

(hand bearing compass).

Very obvious from that pic. Judging by the conditions, he's obviously reaching for his gun with his left hand...

I also clearly recognize the dreaded

more current than wind

attitude of the boat vs. flags. I just got back from four days of RC out of the last five, and two of them were in similar conditions. ALL KINDS of fun for a PRO...

Mike

Mike, my earlier statement about 4 races in 4 hours was wrong.
There where

only

2 races per boat (which is 4 starts).
50 mins for a race is IMHO more than enough.
They probably did 3 laps today, IMHO there is no point in doing more since the leaders will just create a bigger lead and have more time to recover for the next race.
What I like about doing just 2 laps is that when the favorites make a mistake you actually have a chance to beat them instead of them being able to correct their mistakes during the last lap.

I just heard from Jill.

Robbie capsized while jibing without a spin along with 4 other boats. The mast got stuck in the mud and the current held the boat upwind of the mast.

She also confirmed it was blowing 25 today.

Thanks for the clarification Tony.

All races are supposed to hit the target time. When you want two laps, you have a longer beat (and run). When you want three laps, you move the weather mark closer to the gate.

Either way, even if you run five laps, you need to hit the target. (Of course, no one would do that, because the laps would be so short that the carnage at the marks would be incredible, since the boats won't have time to separate.)

Personally, I prefer three laps as a sailor, because it keeps the fleet closer together and allows for more tactical work at the marks. Other sailors prefer two lap races because they tend to be more strategic. Good RCs run a mix.

Mike

That sucks. Thanks Ding.

Results after 4 races: Quite a lot of FRA in the lead group: 3 in the first 5, 5 in the first 10...

PRO is Bob Leclerc

Awsome wipeout pics of very experienced teams giving it their all to save it = tough on the ankle til the point of getting hurled forward = good job finding a soft place to land.

Boat handling, yes, but tough to handle when you've departed the vessle <img src="<>/shocked.gif" alt="shocked" title="shocked" height="15" width="15" /> ALL HANDS ON DECK!

Checkout this gallery from pro photographer Sander van der Borch (Its only a preview, he should be adding more pics later):
http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/sander/gallery/F18-worlds-2009-Knokke-Belgium/G0000nB9KXYsBlNc/
According to a friends blog post there where 8 broken masts yesterday.

8 broken masts! Upwind, downwind or after a capsize? Do you know more about that?

INTENSE!

Robbie got a 4 this morning! JC got a 15!

Breeze is light again...

Wednesday video is up. Starts a little soft and finishes strong! Enjoy!

Sweet!

Where are you getting your info?

I have a chip in my head.

Kidding. Or am I? http://www.f18worlds2009.com/tracking

Tracking -> Provisional Results

Race 6 in sequence under a black flag...

You can see Jill, Robbie's wife, in the blue and white shirt in the shade next to the O'Neil tent.

What they did to O Fortuna in that video is a travesty. The original score would have been much more fitting and hard hitting at the end.

A+ on the video

F--- on the soundtrack. BOooo.

Pipe down you. Watch the video and eat your popcorn.

I'm sorry, but there are 1052784x10^54 better remixes of O Fortuna. They must have found the crappiest version to use.

I love the video though. I think I saw my boy JC in there somewhere on the Wepro boat.

Best sailing video I've ever seen.

That was one of the other WePro boats - there are three. Look for the Stars and Stripes on the mainsail - that's our guy. Both fleets, underway in last race of the qualifying.

JC got a 9 in race 6!

Woohoo!

Great job with the updates David!

OK, out of sheer boredom, and/or jealousy, one thing I am keenly aware of when looking at the video and pictures is that there are teams that REALLY get it when it comes to brand imaging for their sponsors.

Obviously, you need a single, big-daddy sponsor to pull something off as well as Team Tommy Bahama did here back for the Worrell, and here are my picks for the best ones I've seen so far for this event:

These guys take the top for branding the whole boat and sails (not just slapping stickers on white hulls and sails):
bulthhaup
Holmatro
Henri Llyod

These guys did a good job with relatively simple stickers (no custom hull or sail colors):
Baskalis

BNR Watersports did OK, but the sail graphics could have been better.

Nissan, McDonalds and some others did OK, but didn't have as clean a presentation (other sponsors/other info plastered on the sails).

The boat with the watch on the main and Gill on the jib looked pretty good too.

Yes, I saw the NED boat with the chick in the bikini, but what the hell was the company they were representing?

Overall, I think we can learn a lot from the Euros, some of them can really pull it together well with the right sponsor ($$$).

Mike

That's not a bikini, Mike - it's lingerie. I love that sponsor - check out their site.