Royal Vancouver YC sent a team of women sailors to the Radial Worlds in Karatsu,Japan this year.
The group consisted of Keamia Rasa , Isabella Bertold and Jennifer Spalding.
We flew from Vancouver on July 18th to Tokyo and traveled to Karatsu via a local flight and a subway, instantly appreciating the heat and humidity of Japan in the summer months.
The plan was to arrive for the early boat charter and get as much time on the water to be acclimated to the local conditions. Isabella came a few days later on route from the Youth Worlds in Brazil (she finished 4th!).
I had chartered a coach boat and we were on the water by the 20th, giving us a week to get sorted.
We trained with the other Canadian women as well as some of the other countries.
Everyday at 2 pm the race committee had a organized practice race, which was great and unusual.
We saw every wind direction and strengths of 2 to 15 kts . There was a few days of sunshine but most days it was overcast and trying to rain or just raining hard, (there was flooding in many placers in Japan while we were there).
We all felt confident as the regatta approached that good results were possible.
We took the day before day 1 off and attended an excellent welcoming party , where the Japanese hospitality was in full display.
Day 1 of racing started with arrival at the club at 9.30 then on water at 10.30 first race at 11.30.,(I attended the coaches briefing at 9).
All our sailors were in the second start, so it was easy for me to observe the whole race.
Keamia made her mark early and sailed an excellent race through out finishing 4th, Isabella and Jen were solid in the mid teens. This race we saw the wind from the north at 8kts with a number of good oscillations.
The second race the breeze had picked up a bit and the current had switched. It turned into a go right parade and continued thru the race. Our girls were caught left and struggled to get back in the hunt. Jen got flagged on the bottom reach.
Day 2 saw more of the same wind direction and similar patterns, as in go right or at least rightish. Boat favored most every start. The wind was 8 to 12 from about 25 degrees.
We saw the first of the ocean swell that rose to 10 feet from time to time.
Isabella continued to get good races in and had an 9th the first race , Jen caught up and just nipped Keamia in 14th , so all was well for all 3 to get in Gold fleet.
The second race the wind went left at the start and temped many to start down at the pin , but as we saw before it was important to get right by half way up and all 3 of our team was stung by this , Jen got a 2nd flag on the run and had to head in.
Day 3 was stronger breeze from the north again and big swell, classic racing conditions, and overcast as usual, near raining from time to time.
My group had been in the blue fleet, second start for the last few days but today Keamia was in the first start. This mad it a little tougher to follow all. Thank goodness I had a good RIB!
The day started promising with a 16 and a 17 for Isabella and Jen and a 20 for Keamia , not great but qualifying scores. Jen was still very much on the bubble and needed a good final race.
The 2nd race was more of the same, the top girls knew the routine and really put on a boat speed clinic, with large separation in the fleets , Isabella had another decent race ,19th , Keamia was 9th to the top mark and ended 21st with a few unlucky events, but made gold fleet comfortably. Jen was 29th and missed the Gold fleet by 12 points, a shame.
Keamia is excited because her starts have been excellent and much discussion has been tossed around at our end of day debriefs regarding eliminating small mistakes. Isabella is very fired up, she is top Canadian at the moment in the low 30,s and
I think she can move up, she has had the most mature regatta to date I believe, she deserves it for all the hard work she has put in for the last few years!
The 1st day of gold silver split racing was another solid wind day out of the north again, actually at between 30 and 40 degrees consistently with pressure of 15 to 20 kts and good size seas
Isabella worked very hard after a tough first beat and climbed back to as good as 19th and ended in the low 20’s, she was saying how physically and mentally exhausting the gold fleet is!
Keamia had a tough start followed by a not too hot result but was keen to go again.
This regatta has been characterized by the need to get a good start, normally near the boat then a quick tack and hike hard out to the right side or right corner, depending on your nerve.
Jen was at the front of the sliver fleet all day and was on form against a few highly ranked women.
The second race of the day was just as tough and Isabella and Keamia pushed as hard as they could, but arrived at the weather mark towards the back and ended the race in the 30’s.
This put Isabella in 30th and Keamia 41st, Jen was 3rd in the Silver.
So we rode our bikes (the regatta organizers arranged for every competitor and coach to have a bike to ride for the regatta!) to the club for the 2nd day of the split and low and behold wind same direction and building to solid teens in speed, a bit like Groundhog Day!
Isabella had a couple of cracker starts but unfortunately she had a port tacker foul her and she ended up capsized, then later in the race she had to do a 720 so she was only ahead of a few boats, she keep her sprits up and finished the 2nd race with a 23, even with a very sore back. Keamia struggled again and stayed in the 30’s most of the day.
Jen again had excellent downwind speed and sits in 2nd in her fleet.
The final day of racing we mere met with overcast sky’s, wind building to 18kts out of the north , actually around 25 degrees , so a little left of usual, and good size seas.
Pretty close to a groundhog day. The Finnish girl won the opening race and headed in , having the regatta won. Isabella had an excellent start and went to port heading to the favorite right corner. She didn’t quite have the wheels and rounded the top mark in the high 20’s , Keamia was close behind her and had an excellent run only to go thru the bottom gate the wrong way , and fell back to the high 20’s. In the end Isabella had a low 30 and a high 20 to finish the regatta in 32nd place overall, an excellent result for an 18 yr old .
Keamia was in the low 40’s and would have liked to be the top 40% to receive the national team card that Isabella did.
Jen fought hard to the end and finished 3rd in the silver fleet.
All in all a true test for a classic world championship, where the leader were fast, fit and started well.
Our team went home with a solid list of things needed to reach their goal of being top 10 in the world. Training begins shortly to get ready for Scotland next July.
Thanks to Royal Vancouver YC for all the support
Al Clark
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