Point
Yacht Club
Interview
with Andrew Tarboton
Wrap-up
49er World Championships: 16 – 21 November
Settling
back home in Hamble, near Southampton in the UK, Andrew Tarboton is recovering
from one of the toughest regattas he, and his sailing partner Graeme Willcox
have ever had the honour of competing in.
The
only South African representatives took on the worlds’ best in this year’s 49er
World Championships in San Isidro, a province just north of Buenos Aires. The
six day regatta hosted by Club Nautico was their best hope for qualifying for
the Rio Olympics.
With
only three slots in the 49er class for Rio up for grabs, the hopeful Safa
sailors were in for a long shot, “The regatta was a fiercely fought spectacle
of the world’s best sailors, with all the top teams’ present gunning for the
three spots available. As it turned out, those three places were taken by teams
finishing in the top 10 overall, showing just how tough it was.”
“Buenos
Aires is a really challenging sailing venue due to many factors including the
brown water making it difficult to read the wind, the shallow water making the
chop really short and steep, and the storms...” emphasising, Tarboton regales.
“And
none more so than the fourth day of the regatta, the first day of the finals.
We missed out on Gold fleet and so the race committee had sent us out first for
the day. There were many storms swirling around the area, affecting the
wind and conditions dramatically. We got off to a decent start with good boat
speed and were picking off those in front of us well.”
“We
rounded the bottom mark in the top 10 and decided initially that the left hand
side would pay and thus picked off a few more places. We noticed a big right
hand shift near the top of the course and decided to go to the right on the
downwind leg. The five boats that rounded the top mark in front of us decided
to go left downwind, but we stuck to our game plan and pushed right into the
new wind and building pressure.”
“This
paid off and the boats that had gone left were far behind near the bottom of
the course. The downwind was really tricky as the big wind quickly built the
chop, but we managed to keep the boat going well and hold off the other boats
right to the victorious gun at the finish. This was a huge relief and a sense
of real achievement set in with that race win.” stated an obviously chuffed
Tarboton.
Talking
about the conditions and courses, Pietermaritzburg’s Tarboton said, “We sailed
windward-leeward courses - starting at the bottom of the course, making our way
into the wind, back downwind, into the wind again, and finally downwind to the
finish, generally a two lap race.”
“The
wind was generally light and switchy, with very little pressure behind it. In
the three weeks we were there, there were only two windy days which suited us
more.”
“Our
final result was 52 out of 61 boats. We were aiming for top 50, but just missed
that goal. Fifteen races were completed over the six days, and in those races
we scored a first, an eighth and a few results in the teens, so we are walking
away with a few positives.”
“Many
of the big names were in the Silver fleet with us – we were up against a
Chilean, Swiss and Uruguay team; the second Austrian, Belgian, German, Italian
and French teams; two British and Korean teams; a few teams from New Zealand
and Argentina; all of the Swedish and American teams and the top Brazilian, Indian
and Canadian teams. Among these teams were well-known competitors and
teams ranked in the top 25 in the world. Due to the strength of the 49er fleet
no one is guaranteed qualification into gold fleet.”
Chatting
about what they learnt while they were in Argentina, Tarboton recounts, “The
weather was very kind to us, providing warm temperatures and very challenging
sailing. Frequent storms meant the wind direction was never really settled, and
the wind strength was generally light. We found ourselves struggling for
straight line boat speed through the chop and due to lack of time training in
those conditions, so we have learned a lot about boat setup for power, and how
to keep the boat driving in such tricky conditions. We have learned also that
the work we have put in this year with our starts and boat handling is paying
off and we are moving up the fleet.”
Looking
ahead, Tarboton mentions, “We now have a week or so to gather our thoughts from
the regatta and formulate a strategy moving forward into the winter training
months here in the UK. We hope to get some coaching from one of the top guys in
the class and build up to our next event, the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma in
April 2016.”
But
for now, the dream of racing at Rio 2016 is not to be!
