Hugh Styles Report on a summer of Sailing 2004

This year has been very busy so far with my Laser Olympic campaign target at the trials in April, then the Laser Worlds in Turkey in May. It seems like I have not stopped since then with one event after another, each a little different and adding something else to my sailing repertoire. I have been fortunate to have sailed with some sailing legends and this has meant that I have learned a great deal.

I would like to thank all the people who have stuck by me through all the sailing exploits I have undertaken in the last year. Your support, advice, encouragement and enthusiasm have been awesome and vital to my successes. Many thanks to my family in Sandwich, and my surrogate family in Weymouth (the Shaw family). To my sponsors thank you and I look forward to working closely with you in all future ventures.

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Since the Laser trials in Weymouth in April I have been busy. The first regatta of my new life after the Olympic trials was the Laser Worlds in Bitez Turkey. This proved to be a strange event for me. I had worked incredibly hard to peak for the UK trials in Weymouth and going off to Turkey seemed like a bit of an anti climax. Now looking back on all the experiences Turkey was probably my finest hour in my laser sailing career over the last 12 months.

The conditions were very testing with the wind blowing as a fickle sea breeze for the initial part of the series and then settling into an offshore shifty thermal cycle for the latter half of the regatta. I gradually improved through the qualification rounds easily making the Gold fleet finals. However the start to my finals series could not have been worse with an RTD. I managed to bounce straight back with two races in the top 10 and the last a 16th. Going into the last day I was lying 30th and with these great results finished the regatta a very pleasing 15th overall an awesome achievement in 9 months!! I had managed to go from World ranked no 2 Tornado cat sailor in 2003 to top Laser sailor in 2004. What made this feat even more satisfying was that this was the year of the Olympics, everyone was trying their utmost to either qualify for the Games or prove they could win a major regatta (the standard at this worlds was the toughest at least in the last 4 year Olympic cycle if not in the history of Laser racing). 15th also meant that I secured funding for continuation of Olympic sailing, well within the criteria for Lottery funding on the World Class Performance Programme.

After a short break back in the UK working on my house the next event beckoned. The island of Texel was the location and 2 regattas ensued. This time I was sailing a Nacra F18 catamaran with Marcus Lynch. We sailed a great Dutch Nationals, clinching the title on the last day with two race wins. So after 3 days of the first regatta we were Dutch National Champions in the F18. The next day was the Round Texel race, with 600 entries and about 100Km of coastline to race around. The conditions were fabulous with strong breezes from the North West. We stormed off the start line and were in the leading pack all the way round the island, fighting hard all the way we managed to clinch a 6th overall, a great result out of the 600 competitors involved in the race.

Farr 40 sailing was next on the agenda in the middle of June, I was involved in two regattas one in Porto Ercole near Rome on the West Italian coast and the other at Porto Cervo, Sardinia probably one of the most famous regatta locations in the World. Racing was very close and all the boats are steered by the owners; I performed a couple of different roles as part of the team, Trimming the Headsails and Spinnaker at the first regatta and then Tactics for the latter. We had some good races placing in the top 3 a couple of times, which was great seeing as the owner was in his first year of Farr 40 racing on the circuit. It was good experience and great for gaining contacts to enable me to get into other big boat racing through the rest of the year.

Straight from Porto Cervo I traveled back to the UK to load up my kit into the RYA Laser team van and start a tour of Laser sailing events aiming at the Europeans in Warnemunde in the end of July. The trip comprised three events, Kiel week followed by training and then a regatta in Warnemunde and then after a break back to Warnemunde for the Europeans. So initially it was off to Kiel Germany for the Olympic classes' regatta in the end of June. This turned out to be an incredibly windy week sapping all the energy reserves, we only had 2 races of the 12 in less than 12 knots and all this in only 4 days of racing. I had some notable individual race results 3rd in a couple of the windy races, ending finishing 21st overall out of the 130 entries. I felt this was not a true reflection of how I had sailed as I was dubiously deemed OCS in the last race, when I was no where near the line (if not for that result I would have been 14th).

The team travelled straight onto Warnemunde and had 5 days of good hard training in some big waves and windy conditions. The training prepared us well for the 4 day Europa Cup regatta and I finished 8th out of 100 boat fleet. The best bit about the regatta was that I had a break through on my downwind sailing and as a direct result I won the only light wind race by about 1 minute from the next guy. This was a fantastic feeling I had been working so hard all year getting faster downwind and better technique on the waves in the light conditions.

Whilst the other Laser squad sailors went back to the UK for a rest I flew to Italy travelling to Punta Ala for the Formula 18 Catamaran World Championships. There are a number of different manufacturers in the F18 class and I was sailing as the Nacra team representative with crew Marcus Lynch. We had a few days practice which we used to familiarise ourselves with the boat again (by this stage I was getting quite used to switching boats having sailed so many different boats so far in the year). The regatta began with strong winds and very large swell and resulted in us having a disastrous start to the regatta. In the first race we were involved in a collision with another boat that damaged our boat so badly that we couldn't finish race 1 or compete in race 2. It took a night in the protest room to salvage some results from this mess, and we were awarded average points for the first 2 races. The windy conditions were good for us and we qualified for the finals in 5th place. In the finals we fought hard but as the wind dropped toward the end of the regatta we did not fair so well. In the end out of a 155 strong fleet we finished with a top result of 10th. I was pleased with this result as it was my first F18 worlds; also the competition was hot with many of the top Tornado sailors using the event as a warm up regatta for the Athens Olympics.

The timescale was tight for me to get from the F18's to the Laser Europeans in Warnemunde and involved an overnight stop off in Stanstead, not something I would recommend. The Laser Europeans was very competitive with most of the sailors qualified for the Olympics attending the regatta. I found it tough going and managed plenty of solid results but no real sparkle. I had moved forwards again on the downwind sailing though and was regularly taking places. Getting fast on the downwind legs has been something I have been working really hard on in the last 9 months. I felt that the Europeans were a good step forward into being one of the fast guys downwind in the end, and this helped me to finish 20th in the 110 boat fleet.

The Laser Europeans were the end of the Summer Laser campaign and signified the start of more yacht racing. After a break of a week or so to recharge my batteries and clean all the clothes I was ready for Cowes week.

Cowes week involved racing on Babalaas a Farr 45 race boat in the IRM class, this is the class with the fastest and best prepared big boats at the regatta. My job on board was trimming the Headsails and Spinnakers. This week was a great learning opportunity for me as I was sailing with many very experienced sailors. Adrian Stead from the GBR Americas cup challenge was tactician, Tim Powell Helmsman and in the past helm on the Tyco team in the Volvo ocean race, and Gerry Mitchell round the world sailor and very experienced mainsheet trimmer. We sailed well through the week, finishing 5th overall, second Farr 45 to Wolf and close behind the Farr 52's who were just too good on handicap for us to challenge for the overall IRM class title.

After sailing at Cowes week I was asked to race the Farr 45 Nationals up in Abersoch in the last week in August. On this occasion it was on a different boat Atomic and my role for the week was trimming mainsheet. The fleet was only 5 boats but racing was very close between the top three boats all week, Atomic generally the most consistent through all conditions, Wolf were able to win races but were involved in too many collisions to enable them to win overall, and Babalaas who improved through the course of the event. The series was so close we had a match race with Babalaas in the last race to try and secure the overall title. We managed to hold them out from starting and then made them sail to the wrong side of the course on the first leg only for it to be favoured on that occasion. At the first mark we lead with the rest of the boats all rounding together. We managed to sail away from them all downwind but unfortunately Babalaas managed to get into second place. We had to get another boat in-between us and them for us to win overall. We tried to sail them down the fleet at various occasions but this was to no avail. We won the race but ended finishing 2nd overall, slightly disappointing but a great result none the less against some quality opposition.

No sooner had the Farr 45 nationals ended than I was in my little car racing down to Pentewan sands in Cornwall for the F18 Catamaran Nationals. It was the first occasion that I had sailed with Adam May since we competed in the Tornado worlds last year in Cadiz Spain for the British Olympic Trials for Athens 2004. The Nationals were well run and we had a full range of conditions. Saturday brought 3 races in an offshore wind force 2 to 3 and very shifty testing conditions, this provided for plenty of place changing throughout the races. We sailed a superb day and won all of the three races. No one else could touch us for consistency and after one day we had a large lead already. The next two days saw offshore winds blowing anything from force 4 to 7, providing a full test of fitness and nerve with some big nose dives on the downwind legs. We dominated in the breeze through superior tactics, but our competitors were closer to us in the high winds than on the lighter day before and we had to work hard to earn our success. The last day saw just enough wind to race; we won the first with some excellent downwind speed and then followed that with a 3rd in the second race. At the end of the regatta we had won convincingly without even having to race the last 2 races!! Big thanks to Nacra and Mike Rogers for the use of the boat and in helping us to become 2004 National F18 Champions.

The last regatta to date was the IRM nationals sailed out of Cowes. I was skipper of the Farr 45 Atomic, with a good enthusiastic young team we showed the other potentially faster Farr 52's the way round. In 12 to 17 knots in the first race we managed to sail a clear race after a tough start and won by just 10 seconds. The second race was far more convincing winning in the end by about a minute from the next boat a Farr 52. This made us overnight leaders with two 1st places and with a comfortable lead over the other boats. Unfortunately the wind did not want to blow on Saturday or Sunday and the Solent was windless for both days. The race officer tried in vain to set a race course and had to abandon racing eventually. This gave us the title of IRM national champions and for me a fantastic start to my career as a helm on big race boats.

I have had a great summer of sailing a huge variety of craft from Yachts and Catamarans to Laser racing all at the highest level. I have learned a huge amount from those I have sailed with and I feel that I have moved my sailing on a great deal adding more depth to my big boat racing experience. The most pleasing aspects of the year have been the 15th at the Laser Worlds and then the two National Championships wins in F18 Cat and at the helm of the Farr 45 Atomic to win the IRM nationals. Many thanks to everyone for the opportunities, here's looking towards the future.

I am now deciding on my sailing future, an Olympic Medal is still firmly at the top of the list of things I aim to achieve. I am also keen to gain more team experience on big race boats. Whatever happens I will be working hard to keep at the top of the sailing game for the foreseeable future. Watch this space!

Regards

Hugh Styles