Dec 2013 Issue - the Aberdeen Boat Club

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Race report2013 Flying Fifteen World Championships:ABC Sailors WinTop Host-Nation PrizeThe ABC’s Cosmas Grelon and Rory Godman won theleading host-nation cup at the 2013 Flying Fifteen WorldChampionships hosted at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club2 – 8 November. Here, Kevin Lewis talks to Cosmas Grelon,18, about the event and the win.The RHKYC hosted the Flying Fifteen World Championships inearly November. How did you get the chance to compete?Cosmas: It was an amazing opportunity. We were contacted by alocal sailor, Clement Brunet-Moret, who found he was unable totake part in this race he’d entered. He offered us the chance to sailhis boat if we covered the entry fees. With a world championshipon our doorstep it seemed like an unmissable opportunity. Weapproached the ABC who kindly agreed to sponsor 50 percent ofour entry fee and to allow ABC Coach Rory Godman to sail.You have some keelboat experience but mainly sail highperformancedinghies like the 29er. A Flying Fifteen must be awhole different experience?Yes, I’ve sailed a few larger keelboats, Jeanneau 47, Beneteau40 and the smaller open 5.00 keelboat. I have competed in theTaiwan-Japan race, the Qingdao Regatta and the Macau race,but these days I spend nearly all my time on 29ers.In a Flying Fifteen I actually found starting easier and thefleet less aggressive. So we started well and had good upwindspeed, but for us, downwind was harder. In an asymmetricyou are looking at sailing the angles downwind workingwith apparent wind, in the more traditional Fifteen with itssymmetrical spinnaker we seemed to be working harder thanother boats and yet still struggling to keep up. The FlyingFifteen has a light helm but of course is not as immediatelyresponsive as what I am used to; also the boat was greatlyaffected by waves. Rather than surfing the waves as we do ina skiff, we seemed to get pushed sideways a fair bit; so it washard to use the waves for advantage.How much practice did you have in the boat and what was itlike sailing with your coach?Neither Rory nor I had ever sailed a Flying Fifteen before, soit was a steep learning curve. We did sail in the HK FifteenNationals the week before the Worlds and treated that asour main practice. Sailing with Coach Rory was tough atCosmas (L), and Rory race 6, day 7P.10
the start as we established we were helm and crew ratherthan coach and student, but after a couple of days we reallystarted to work together well. Of course I learnt from Roryduring the event, but I think it was a step further for us – wereally became a team.What did you hope to get out of the event?Well, we were definitely aiming to be the top Hong Kong boat;that was our target. The difficulty was we had absolutely noidea of the standard of the fleet and other sailors. Worldwide,Fifteens are dominated by Australian and British sailors, andthat was the case at the Worlds – the world champion this timewas British sailor Graham Vials, with Australian boats in secondand third. We finished 19th overall, the only boat in the top 20not from Australia or Britain.What specifics did you improve on, and what advice could youoffer? What are the traits of a top-level sailor?I learnt so much more about the value of the compass andusing it to advantage. Also, of course, symmetrical spinnakerwork was quite new for me. What advice could I give? Well,I can pinpoint three things that make a huge difference towinning: determination, belief in yourself, even when thingsdon’t go well, and above all else, concentration. During a racenothing else matters!Rory (C) and Cosmas (R) win top host-nation boatI’d like to add my own thanks to the ABC for supportingus in this race, and of course a big “well done” to ourfriends at RHKYC for running such a well-organised andprofessional event!P.11
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Dec 2013 Issue - the Aberdeen Boat Club

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