Adam Roberts Blogs
The first day of the event we had great breeze, 15-18 knots and steep chop. The conditions were very fun to sail in (with the exception of the really cold temperatures) because we had not seen that much breeze for a race day in many months. For the day we stayed consistent and scored 9-4-11, which put us in 11th in the standings, losing a tiebreaker to 10th. The next two days of the event brought on sunny skies and absolutely no wind. We did not race again until the final day of regular racing, where we got just enough wind to squeeze in one r...
This morning we were greeted with an unfamiliar sight- Wind! Over the last 4 or 5 regattas our breeze sailing days have been quite limited, so it was a relief to hear the forecast for over 15 knots. The outlook stayed true as well, we raced all three races in planning conditions with gusts occasionally hitting 20. Kiel however, chose to live up to its reputation of being one of the most miserable regattas you can possibly compete in. The on the water wind chill was marked at an astonishing low 4 degrees Celsius, or 39.2 degr...
Right after the Delta Lloyd regatta, we packed up the rig and headed to Weymouth, England for a training camp at the future Olympic venue. It was a great camp, we got every condition and were also able to train with some very high quality teams. The top Swedish and Austrian teams joined our three USA boat contingent, making for some awesome racing. After our 6 days of sailing, we again packed up the rig and set off on the 14-hour journey to Kiel, Germany. Well, I guess that in the end 14 hours was actually an optimistic estimation. We had trou...
The Netherlands is a great place. It is home to the iconic wooden shoe, but more importantly the birthplace of the naval engineering masterpiece called the leeboard that is unique to the Naples Sabot, our first racing sailboats. Throughout the event we had every condition (except for warm!), and even had a day where you could hardly take a breath without sucking in a bug, which there were so many of by the end of a race hundreds of them lay dead from being squashed or swatted out of the air. We are USA 1770- if you happen to be next to a local ...
The first two days of the regatta has been plagued with crazy inconsistent wind, cold weather and tons of bugs. So far the race officials have done a good job getting races in on our course, given the inconsistent breeze. On day one we completed three races, where we scored 28-13-29. Even though our score line was less than ideal, the day was positive because we accomplished one of our pre-regatta goals of improving our starts. So, we had all but one good start (ironically, our worst start was our best race of the day). Day two started with a ...
The Wilson Trophy is well known as the world’s premier annual team racing event, collecting 32 of the most talented teams in the world in West Kirby, England to do battle. This year was the first year I was able to make it to this prestigious event, and no doubt, it lived up to its reputation for being one of the best-run events accumulating over 350 races in just three days! Team racing is one of the most unique forms of sailboat racing. You are not just responsible for getting yourself around the course but also your two other teammate...
We have just completed the French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyeres, a venue known for it’s powerful northwest “mistral” breeze. However we saw none of that, in fact there was no race sailed in over 8 knots of wind. Luckily though, plenty of sunshine accompanied the pathetically weak wind which made all the time under postponement much more pleasant. The lack of wind limited the qualifying series to only four races, which we narrowly squeezed in over the first four days of the event. Normally, we are able to get in six races for...
Marseille has truly brought on the most confusing conditions possible for the Spring Cup, however the racing itself has been top notch and full of learning experiences for us. Sixty 470s are all starting on one starting line, causing many black flag starts and general recalls. Wind has come from all directions, with sun and rain, flat water and chop. It has truly been a smorgasbord of conditions! Our first day of racing we had a two o’clock start, which was timely as it took until that time of the day for the breeze to fill in steadily o...
The weather briefing this morning was one that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand straight up. Our weatherman, Doug Charko, called for 20 knots building until the middle of the day to possible gusts over 30, then dying off again. We were very excited at the chance to capitalize on all the big breeze and big wave training we had been doing in Miami. Alas, we were postponed on shore immediately, as the breeze appeared to have built a bit and the waves were massive. The Finn fleet, which was desperate for races opted to charge out and ...
The day began with our team meteorologist describing an impenetrable temperature inversion layer over the water keeping the gradient breeze high above our masts. We were then postponed, and just as many were thinking that there would be no wind for the day, the gradient made it down and we headed out for three solid races. The first race we had a great start, punched off the line, however still managed to miss a couple of shifts and round the first weather mark in the mid twenty’s. Throughout the race we were able to knock off boats here...