21 January 2008
Trip to Australia is history. Our sailing was better than before but being left without a place in the Olympics is painful. In the end our position was 39th which is a clear improvement from last year’s 53rd.
Our experiences include e.g. falling in heavy wind and Heikki flying head first against the mast. He got two deep wounds on his forehead so we had to stop and couldn’t participate in the last events of the day. Luckily he was able to continue the following day. Anyway, we fell to the silver fleet to sail the finals. The winds were really fluctuating. Towards the end we managed to beat the wind and get some good positions. Then the last day there was practically no wind at all so we couldn’t sail.
All in all we have to be satisfied with those starts that we were able to sail. There are a lot of “ifs” but if we had been able to sail the last two starts in the elimination, and finished last in them, our position would have been 29th with a country place in the Olympics for Finland.
What is positive is the clear improvement in average wind speed and starts. We need more hours on water and confidence to sail more evenly in marginal weather.
Next we are going to head for Palma de Mallorca. We’ll get company from Sweden, the Netherlands and Britain until Easter.
Lauri and Heikki
January 2008
Greetings from sunny Australia!
Tomorrow will mark the start of a six days’ job of 18 starts. At stake are the last 5 places for Olympics. There are still 15 countries without a place. Many countries that have secured a place already consider these events internal tryouts to select the representatives for the country. It is likely that we’ll see some careful fleet sailing and tough duels. For many these are the most important events in four years and the teams have a lot at stake here.
The last days have been very warm. This warm continent has created a strong sea wind approaching our upper wind limit of 25 knots. The really shallow bay creates nasty waves if the wind blows from the north across the bay. The lowest points have only 90 cm of water.
In the training events we have had good speed and have been able to compete among the very first. Finland’s strength is a big team and even races in changing weather. Many other countries succeed in certain weather but in another kind of weather they are clearly weaker than we are.
Happy New Year to you all! On our web site you can read our daily reports. The event can also be followed at www.sailmelbourne.com.au.
Lauri and Heikki
November 2007
The first snow has landed and the sailing season is over in Finland. For us it ended already six weeks ago when Lauri had a shoulder injury. Now it’s been five weeks since the surgery and the healing process has been fast. However, a lot of work is still needed to get all the nerves and power in place.
Heikki has been active in the gym lately: he made his records at the physical test a couple of weeks ago. We have both gained weight with Australian heavy winds in our minds. Our goal is to have 148-150 kg total weight when going to Australia. Hopefully we’ll get new speed and confidence in our sailing.
We have also been studying quite a lot. We have tried to pass many exams now in the fall since in the spring we probably won’t have too much time for studying.
We have been planning to fly over to Melbourne just after the last exams on the 19 December. We’ll start sailing after Christmas – there will be two weeks for practising before the first event on 5 January. Our boat was transferred directly from China to Australia already in August.
The last five country places for the Olympics next year will be given out at the World Championships. In addition to the Finns there are at least eight countries that need to be taken into account. Our target is high but realistic.
In the spring we are going to concentrate on sailing and forget the studies for a while.
Arcada will have open doors event on 30 November. See you there!
Lauri and Heikki
June 2007
A June weekend in the Mellsten beach in Espoo saw the opening GP of the season. Warm and sunny weather invited people to spend a day on the beach and to watch the event. On Saturday we had to wait for a while for the sea breeze to settle. We had a great start for the season winning the first start and getting our first GP point by winning the qualifiers. In the A-final we failed in the start but managed to get back to the competition and finished third.
On Sunday it was windy already in the morning. The event started according to timetable. We managed to get into the A-final where we had a good start and got a safe lead together with the leading boat. During the second round we even caught the leader but during the last headwind leg its route selection was better than ours and we had to settle for silver.
At the moment we are third with equal points with the second Team Osmo Color; only one point behind the leading Team Gant.
After the event we packed our boat in a truck leaving for Cascais, Portugal, on Monday. We will follow by air to unload, practise and get familiar with the circumstances.
We have practised for one and a half months on our home waters and have managed to develop areas that turned out to be the weakest in the spring events. Our pace has improved clearly and now it is interesting to get to the international waters to see where we stand at the moment.
In Cascais our aim is to get a place for Finland for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. 75 % of the places will be given out in Cascais. The aim is hard but not unrealistic. With good luck we will be able to finish in the Golden Fleet e.g. within 25 best which would give us a place in the Olympics.
Keep your fingers crossed! You can follow us via our website at www.wartsila-arcada.com.
Have a nice summer!
Lauri and Heikki
