Last
month I
completed in the
Korea Match Cup
Qualifier. I was
doing Mainsheet
for Laurie Jury.
The Story starts
off with our
trip from Seoul
to The Rolling
Hills (Our
accommodation
for the
regatta).
Myself, Will and
Geezer were
traveling
together, we had
a rough idea on
what we had to
do to get to our
accommodation.
Our first step
was to get on a
bus which went
from the Airport
to Suwon, a
nearby city.
This trip took
an hour longer
than expected
and when we
hopped of the
bus we didn’t
know where we
were and there
was no one there
to greet us like
planned. So we
waited around
for a while
until we then
decided to call
someone from the
regatta, this
took some time
as no one spoke
any English.
Anyway we got
through to
someone and they
told us we would
be picked up
shortly, and
then literally 1
minute later a
taxi arrived for
us with a young
girl called Amy
inside who had
come to take us
to the Rolling
Hills. She was
very fond of our
Western Culture
and asked us who
was famous from
New Zealand, so
we said “ummm
Flight of the Concords”,
“no”, “Ummm
All Blacks”,
“no”, “how
about Russell
Crow” “Really!
I love him”
She said. We
then told her
Brad Pitt and
Tom Cruise also
came from New
Zealand as well,
she totally
believed us it
was hilarious.
We then arrived
at the Hotel and
couldn’t
believe our
eyes, It was one
of the flashest
hotels I have
ever seen. Once
settled in we
decided to check
out the hotel we
found the indoor
swimming pool,
spa’s, sauna,
squash and gym,
you name it this
place had it.
That night we
ate at the Hotel
Restaurant where
we were
introduced to
Korean food for
the first time.
The others went
for pasta
whereas I went
for a
traditional Soup
which came out
with a lot of
delicacies on
the side
including Kimci
there national
food (spiced
cabbage which
had been buried
in the ground
for a couple of
months) I tasted
old as well a
very spicy.
The
next day was practice
day. Laurie got
used to the
massive steering
wheel, I got
used to the
water
temperature as I
fell in and Stu
the trimmer had
to get used to
the massive mast
head gennikers
we were going to
have to deal
with. However
all in all it
was a good
practice session
and we had a
good debrief on
how the
communication
would be run
whilst racing.
This was a good
insight for me
as to how bigger
boats are
normally run.
Basically Will
would feed me
the information
on which side
was favoured and
where the next
gust was, then I
would tell
Laurie what we
were going to do
and when. All
Laurie focused
on was the
Pre-start and
boat speed
around the
course.
We
went through the
Round robin and
Semi relatively
unchallenged
apart from one
race against the
Japanese who had
good 4 boat
length lead on
us at one stage
until we
positioned
ourselves on the
inside after the
last top mark to
roll them on the
last gybe into
the finish.
The
final was a
different affair
we had a very
tough first race
where we came
from behind to
get a penalty on
Rueben the other
New Zealand team
on the finish
line. We then
lost the second
race by a large
margin as we
received 2
penalties. In
hind sight I
think we got a
little worked up
after the
previous race as
is was so close,
we didn’t
abide by the
teamNZ rule of
no man love
until the end.
After our
massive lose We
came back strong
to win the last
race comfortably
after giving
Rueben a Penalty
in full on
luffing dual
coming into the
bottom mark
where we had to
drop the massive
kite as we
rounded up to go
round the mark.
However we were
told that it was
a best of 3
final and Reuben
was told best of
5, so we sent it
back into the
marina while he
waited out on
the course. We
then waited in
the pouring rain
and freezing
cold conditions
for 1 and a half
hours while the
judges decided
what would
happen. They
eventually
decided they
were in the
wrong and you
can’t protest
a judges stuff
up so we ended
up with the win.
A
totally over the
top Prize giving
followed the
racing where
they had huge
amount of press,
and VIP’s from
all over. Laurie
was being
interviewed for
about an hour
afterwards.
This
was a really
Good regatta for
me to learn lots
from some really
experienced guys
and I hope to
effectively
bring what I’ve
learnt back to
Wellington so we
can make the
next Step.
Cheers
Matt
11th May 2009
2009 European
tour
4th May 2009
2009 European
tour
7.….6.….5.….4.….3.….2.….1.…GO.
I’m away! I’m
working the boat
as hard a I can,
I have got my
nose in front, I
keep pushing for
every last inch!
The breeze
knocks, I tack,
I cross the
fleet. I am
away, lets win
this.
James and I,
about to leave
Palma with boats
on roof.
Over the last
month James
Sandall and I
traveled to
Europe to
compete in two
World Sailing
Cup events. We
traveled to
Palma to compete
in Princess
Sofia, then we
made our way to
Hyeres, France
where we
competed in
Hyeres Regatta.
I sailed two
outstanding
regattas to pick
up an 11th and
8th
respectively.
This leaves me
lying 9th on the
overall World
Cup standings.
Our trip was a
lot of Fun, We
saw a lot of
really cool
things. We
visited the
super yachts in
St Tropez,
Played Bingo
with the oldies
in Palma, drove
the narrow
streets of god
knows where (we
were lost), had
a hot chocolate
in Marcella,
had dinner in
Barcelona and
walked the main
street of Nice.
Not every thing
went quite as
planned though,
I got suspected
of smuggling
drugs in
Auckland, We
cracked the
glass roof of
our car, almost
missed a ferry,
couldn’t find
the guy with our
boats, got lost
many a time, and
suffered severe
thunderstorms,
rain and
tornados.
Palma was
awesome, even
though it rained
a lot. We were
all launching
off this huge
sandy area and
by the end of
the regatta a
lake had
developed in the
middle of it,
30cm deep, and
probably 50m
wide in all
directions,
which was quit
funny. I felt
like I was
sailing out of
my skin all
regatta, and day
after day I
moved up though
the rankings to
finally be
placed 11 at the
end, only
missing the
medal race by 2
points!
Celebrating
after an awesome
day (Hyeres).
If Palma was
awesome, Hyeres
was magnifique!
Warmer, sunnier,
better venue and
genially a more
exciting place,
but then it is
the south of
France.
Baguettes were
bought fresh
every day and
the walk though
the marina to
the yacht club
was spectacular.
Almost every day
we would end up
sitting on the
rocks waiting
for the breeze
to come,
eventually we
got a light
breeze and we
would head out
on the water. We
had some long
days, with the
longest being a
9 hour stint. We
got in at 8:30pm
and it was
pretty much
dark. I sailed
well to be
within a couple
of points of a
medal the whole
way through the
regatta.
Unfortunately I
was over the
line in the
medal race,
dashing my
chances of a
medal in this
event.
Overall I was
stoked with my
results, it is
awesome to be
currently lying
9th in the World
Sailing Cup. I
am now really
looking forward
to the world
champs the be
held in Halifax,
Canada later in
August.
I would like to
thank Barton
Marine for
providing me
with ropes and
nzsailing.net
for all the
rooster gear. I
would also like
to thank The
Wellington
Yachting Talent
Development
Programme as
well as Port
Nicholson
Yachting Trust
Youth Scheme for
all their
support.
Cheers Josh
27th March 2009 Off
to Europe for two world cup regattas
JJsailing has had some huge success over the summer. In match racing Wellington Match had four podium finishes out of five targeted events. The highlights of this summer were a third in the New Zealand Keel Boat nationals and then a win in the 2009 National Bank Cup held in Auckland. Wellington Match also enjoyed getting smacked by Dean Barker in the New Zealand match racing nationals. We did manage to beat his coach Rod Davis and almost took Ben Ainslie out, twice. We have learnt so much, and are looking forward to doing it all again next summer.
The whole of Wellington Match was recognized at the Wellington talent development programme awards, with Matthew Steven taking out the supreme award. Chris Jones and I received excellence awards. These were presented by Mayor Kerry Prendergast and Yachting New Zealand CEO Des Brennan, with Grant Dalton as guest speaker.
Matthew Steven takes out the
supreme award.
My Laser sailing is progressing nicely, I traveled to Sydney and Melbourne just before Christmas to compete in three events, Sydney International Regatta, Go For Gold, and Sail Melbourne. After a lot of big boat sailing, I struggled to find my feet and a string of capsizes and silly mistakes followed. However I sailed a great regatta, to take the top spot at Go For Gold. After a tough trip to Australia and after two OCSs in the New Zealand Laser Nationals I still managed to qualify fifth equal to secure a spot to compete in the 2009 Men’s Laser World Championships to be help in Halifax, Canada in August.
As a build up to the Laser World Championships I am traveling over to Europe to compete in two ISAF grade 1 regattas, Princess Sofia, to be held in Mallorca, Spain, and also Hyeres Regatta held in Hyeres, France. Both of these events are part of the World Cup of Sailing and will count towards the world rankings.
There could be up 180 of the world’s best Laser standard sailors competing at these events and it is going to provide some truly awesome racing. Princes Sofia and Hyeres are not only Laser events, they also include the other Olympic classes. To give you a scale of how big this could be, in the bay of Palma (Princess Sofia) there are four yacht clubs, and each yacht club is looking after four classes. So the yacht club that we are sailing out of is hosting the Laser, the Laser Radial, the RSX men, and the RSX women events. There could be 500 plus boats sailing out of this yacht club alone.
Be sure to follow all the progress on the 2PEAKS supporter’s club page.
Where do you follow the results (apart from JJsailing.com of course)?
19th-22nd
February 2009
CentrePort Youth
Match Racing
Tim Coltman,
Josh Junior and
Chris Jones,
winners of
CentrePort 2009
Wellington
Sailors dominate
youth
championships
After four days
of racing on WellingtonHarbour two crews from the Royal Port
Nicholson Yacht
Club finished
first and second
in the 2009
CentrePort
International
Youth Match
Racing
Championships
over the
weekend.
Tim Coltman
sailing with
Josh Junior and
Chris Jones, and
Josh Porebski
sailing with
Matthew Steven
and Matthew
Clough,
dominated the
round robin
phase of the
regatta with
each team losing
only one and two
matches
respectively.
Their form
continued into
the semi finals
where Porebski
beat Australian
Olympic squad
sailor Lucinda
Whittey and crew
from the Royal
Sydney Yacht
squadron 2-0.
Coltman achieved
the same score
against
Stephanie Hazard
and crew from
the Royal New
Zealand Yacht
Squadron in the
second semi
final.
The stage was
set for a local
derby in the
final. Porebski
came out firing
quickly
establishing a
2-0 advantage in
the best of five
final. Coltman
thought back in
race three
leading from
start to finish
gaining one
match back.
Josh P and team
Lead Tim C in
Race one of the
finals
Race four saw
Porebski lead
across the start
line. Coltman
threw twenty
tacks at
Porebski up the
first leg of the
course and was
neck and neck
going into leg
two. A slight
error saw
Porebski gain a
two boat length
advantage down
leg two forcing
Coltman to throw
a further twenty
five tacks at
Porebski on the
third leg.
Coltman gained
the advantage at
the final mark
forcing a
penalty on
Porebski and
then backed this
up with a
further penalty
down the final
leg allowing him
to sail off to
an easy victory.
Race five became
a sudden death
affair. Coltman
gained a two
boat length
advantage off
the start line
and held this
throughout the
match to take
out the
championship.
“It was great to
win the finals
against Josh”
said an elated
Coltman on
returning to
shore. “To be
honest the
finals could
have gone either
way it was that
close.”
Wellington have
finished this
season’s Trans
Tasman Match
racing league
with wins in the
final two
events,
including last
week’s National
Bank Cup in
Auckland and now
the CentrePort
Champs in
Wellington.
Wellington
Yachting Coach
Dean Stanley
said “we are
delighted with
how the guys
have gone over
the past
fortnight. We
are particularly
pleased to see
the older guys
supporting the
younger skippers
through to first
and second in
the CentrePort
Championships.
We now will have
a quick review
and start
planning for the
National
Championships
later in the
year”
Written by
RPNYC events
media
12th-15th February 2009
National Bank Cup
We have a winner! Josh Junior from
Wellington took out the title for
the National
Bank International Youth Match
Racing Championships in the final
against RNZYS
William Tiller today. An easterly
breeze of 8 – 12 knots made perfect
conditions for
Match Racing in the harbour today.
All the competitors of the 2009
National Bank Cup
Despite having a clean sweep through
the two round robins, Junior had to
fight hard
to come away with the win. The first
race of the day between these two
saw a tight
pre-start, with Tiller gaining a
penalty for not keeping clear in a
luffing situation.
However, with an extremely strong
incoming tide, Tiller was first off
the start line,
forcing Junior to tack away into
tide, causing a big split at the top
mark, where Tiller
had a comfortable lead. He held that
lead all the way to the finish,
completing his
penalty just before the finish line
with time to spare. Obviously an
upset for the young
Wellington team, they came back
fighting in the second race,
dominating the start and
sailing straight to the sea wall
(where there was minimal tide). The
third race saw
some more smooth pre-start action
from Junior, and he took the race.
The fourth race
came right down to the wire, Tiller
leaving the start line with two
penalties, one for
tacking in Juniors water. Having to
take one turn immediately, Junior
took a lead from
the start. However the upwind beat
brought the boats neck and neck at
the top mark,
Tiller just edging in front. He had
just enough of a lead to do his
penalty before the
finish line, where a nail biting
finish saw both boats cross a split
second apart. With
Tiller taking the race, it was all
down to the last one. After a good
start in the 5th race,
Junior was able to get to the side
he wanted, and get an advantage by
being out of tide
to lead at the top mark, win the
race and the regatta.
Article written by RNZYS
Wellington Match sending it down
wind
We had such a great time in Auckland
and we are over the moon to have
finally won an Australasian Match
Racing regatta. We would like to say
a big THANK YOU to The RNZYS
for having us, We would also like to
thank Rooster and nzsailig.net for
all the team gear. Finally we would
like to thank the Royal Port
Nicholson Yachting Trust for
continuing to support us to go to
these events.
Cheers Josh
5th-8th February 2009
Sail Auckland
Sailing hard in the 2009 Sail
Auckland Regatta
The amount of world spots got
increased to 7. I still had it all
to do. I was ranked 8th new
Zealander after nationals, so I
needed a good regatta. This was a
really tough regatta, with 3 of the
races being near enough to a
complete lottery. My lotto tickets
near useless (most of the time). I
sailed well throughout the regatta
to finish 5th, and therefore making
me 5th Qualifier for the world
Championships to be held in Canada.
Sailing in the men's laser fleets at
the moment is so much fun! everyone
is pushing and the racing is so
tight.
I
would like to thank my great uncle
Beau and great aunty Myree for
letting me stay at their place, and
also Jill for looking after me while
I was up there. I would also like to
thank Rooster for there support with
my gear.
Cheers JJ
1st-5th
Febuary 2009
Hardy Cup
2009
The boys going hard
After the Warren Jones three of the
guys flew to Sydney to compete in
the Hardy Cup. This also is an under
25 event with the majority of the
field the same as in Perth. The team
was Myself Jono and Chris. We were
one of three teams to be sailing 3
up and the rest of the 12 teams had
4 crew members. After the first few
races which were held in a fairly
windy sea breeze, we figured out
that we had a slightly less speed
than the others so we started
trimming the boat differently. We
then found ourselves to be faster
than the other teams, which was very
pleasing. The time we found our
speed was against our usual foe
Phil, we were leading comfortably at
the bottom mark until the halyard
got stuck and we went around the
bottom mark with the kite up. From
the race after that race we won 5
from 7. This put us on a three way
tie with the two home club teams to
get through to the top six. They
decided to break the tie by letting
through the team who beat the top
ranked, unfortunately this was not
us. We then proceeded to sail a
round robin to decide the minor
placings, the muppet cup is the
common name. We carried on our form
to win every race convincingly apart
from one against Tom Spithill where
we incurred a penalty for colliding
with another boat that was starting
whilst we were entering. Again we
learnt heaps from these regattas as
well as having a great time. A big
thanks to the Chapman family who
hosted us and again the Youth scheme
for sending us.
Cheers Matt
27th-30th
January 2009
Warren
Jones 2009
A
bunch of young Wellington boys
attended the Warren Jones Youth
regatta this year in Perth. The team
consisted of Myself, Matt Clough,
Chris Staub, Chris Jones, James
Hakes and Jono Clough. The regatta
is known as the toughest youth match
racing regatta in the World not only
because it is an under 25 event but
because of the names it attracts.
Previous winners include Adam
Minoprio and Torvar Mirsky both are
now leading contenders on the World
Tour.
Matty and team lead eventual winner,
Phil Robinson
This regatta was also the first
regatta to be run under the new
racing rules which added another
element of toughness. We went into
the regatta knowing we had the skill
to do well but we learnt that
experience is also a crucial factor,
this was something that we lacked.
We only won three races in the round
robin stages but this did not show
how competitive we were at times.
Two of our closest races were
against the eventual winner Phil
Robertson from Auckland. In both our
matches against him we led him
around half the track until we would
incur a penalty in each race after
intense luffing duals. We also had
other races where we were in similar
situations and although we were
disappointed by defeat we always
learnt something from every race. We
would like to thank Pam and Tony who
we were billeted with, Brian Budd
for looking after us while we were
over there and the Port Nicholson
Yachting trust for sending us.
Cheers Matt
23rd-26th
January 2009
New Zealand Laser Nationals
Glorious sailing conditions out of
New Plymouth
The plan was to get a top 3 at the
2009 New Zealand laser Nationals.
After 4 days of racing in moderate
winds I found myself in 11th
overall. I was only 5 points off
5th, so the points were really
close. I think 2 OCS's may have been
my problem. Andrew Murdoch showed
why he was our Olympic
representative, putting on an
awesome display of speed, skill.
This would be one of the most hotly
contested New Zealand regattas I
have ever done, and there was some
great racing to be had.
15th
January 2009
Bring on 2009 !!
Happy new year to you all !! We hope
you have all had a great holiday. I
took a few days off, (because there
was to much wind for training). Dean
and I built a set of stairs out the
back.
Yet another big year is
planned for jjsailing. The next
month is chocker block full of
regattas from the Laser nationals to
Warren Jones. To view the upcoming
events we have planned, click
here.
You may have noticed some changes on
jjsailing.com? On the Wellington
Match page there is now a series of
photos of Wellington Match competing
in different regattas. We have also
got rid of all the links at the top
of this page. Hopefully it makes it
a little bit simpler.
The
biggest change that has been made is
that we have taken the
comments button off the front page.
The way you now get to the
comments page is by clicking on the
2PEAKS Supporters Club button down
the left hand side of every page.
