The Indian Women’s Team came back heroes from their ISAF Grade 1 competition in Busan, Korea last month where they beat the China and Korea to stand 9th out of 11 international teams in their first international outing.

Below is a detailed day-by-day report passionately and painstakingly put down by none other than one of the team members – Ayesha, which allows us to believe that there is only more going to happen with Women’s Match Racing and Women’s Sailing in India.

Ayesha…

Prelude

It all began during the Nation’s Cup regional finals Asia, we were competing against India’s finest sailors. We were lucky to have Alfredo Ricci who was the international umpire for the event here in India and it just happen that he was chief umpire for the Busan Women’s World Match Racing Championships which is a grade one event hosted by WIMRA and ISAF. He told us about it and we thought it was a great opportunity and how we wished that we could participate in that event.

The next day Alfredo found out that one of the Japanese teams dropped out and Liz Bailyis asked him if he had a substitute team to replace them, he thought maybe he could give the opportunity to his own Italian girls sailing team, but when he saw the enthusiasm and fighting sprit amongst the two Indian girl teams he immediate came to us and gave us a heads up on the event. He told us it was a 36 meter boat for a team of maximum 5-6 members. We, of course were quite thrilled about the opportunity at hand. I had to think things through because I had my junior college (STD. XII) first preliminary exams going on. My principal had granted me exemption from the first five papers that overlapped with the Nation’s Cup, now I had to get more exemption. Even though I prepared for these papers, I decided I needed to do this camp.

The invitation for the event from Korea stating the confirmation of our participation came out on Saturday. We heard that there was a training camp so we thought that it would help if we attended it. This didn’t leave us with much time as the training camp started on the 25th of October and it was already the 19th of October. On Sunday we got all our papers together for Monday. We got our visas on Wednesday and left that very same night for Korea. We were so excited about everything that was going to happen over the next few weeks.

Introduction

Since we were allowed a six member team, we merged our two Indian girl teams to form one strong team for the country, three girls from each team.

The team that represented India were:

1) Palavi Naik- Skipper

2) Ayesha Lobo- Tactician and Main sail trimmer

3) Rohini Rau- Jib and gennaker trimmer

4) Taramati Matiwade- jib trimmer and halyard trimmer

5) Alekhya Sudam- halyard trimmer, helped with Deck work.

6) Dhanya Pilo- bow woman

Our aims for the event were to learn, be the leading Asian teams and give India a place in the world ranking. All of us wanted to improve ourselves and this event was a great opportunity to do so.

We arrived at the ‘Pusan International Airport’ on 24th October from where we caught a bus which took us to the accommodation. The event began with the training camp and then the round robin after which the semi-final and the finals would be held according to the completion of races.

Women’s world match racing training camp – Busan (25th -27th October 2008);

Coach : Liz Bailyis and Molly

Boats used : J24s

Emphasis during the coaching camp – pre-starts

1st Day – The day started early at 8:00am.We were introduced to everyone and she started with the basics and main manoeuvres. She taught us the pre-start routines for practice with one mark & start line and with/without another boat. The morning briefing ended with the practice schedule after which everyone (3 teams) got onto their boats and sailed out to the practice sailing area. On our boat the work was divided according to how things would work out and be done on the k30, To make the training equal they made us shift boats giving me a chance to learn and practice After we ate lunch and then the afternoon session was cut short because all of us went for the ceremony to christen the K30‘s, the ceremony was good, We realized that there was a lot of awareness around regarding this event. That evening, we went back to the room changed and went looking for authentic Korean food and we were quite lucky because the place we went to was really good…yum! Thankfully it wasn’t expensive.

2nd Day – The next morning the same routine this time it was better for me as I helmed and Dhanya learnt a lot. We did both sessions practicing mostly pre-start and routines the briefings were quite intense but simple. Afternoon briefing was tough because everyone was tired but eager to know more we kept going, this sailing sessions was not so intense as the morning sessions. We finished by 7:00pm and we decide to go out for dinner with Liz Bailyis and Molly straight from the sailing club. So we went to this slightly expensive restaurant and ordered every fish and meat dish on the menu …I ate every fish in Korea that night!

3rd Day – In the morning we practiced starts and manoeuvres. Since it was the last day of the training camp we decided to do races in the afternoon. The races went good except for our pre-starts which were bad in the first two races we won one. Then I got a chance to helm for two races, to my surprise we won them both.…Liz was quite impressed with me, she thought I had great potential and expects me within a few years to be one of the best. Molly who was helping with the training camp said she liked the way I used my mind and tactical skills, coming from them this made me quite happy. Both of them thought that Pallavi and I came to train and decide who was going to helm in the championship but she did not know it was already decided in Bombay.

The training camp was a good experience and extremely helpful & resourceful as I felt I now have better knowledge and if I continue to practice what Liz and Molly taught us my boat handling and tactics would improve tremendously. My little Note book was almost full trying to put to paper what I learnt.

28th October – The day off, we spent looking around the town and trekking to and on one of Busan’s famous forts. Mentally preparing for the championship ahead.
The match races

Eleven skippers from Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania competed in Busan, but the competition was dominated by Sally Barkow (USA) and Claire Leroy (FRA), both two-time winners of the ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship title

Round Robin

29th October – Schedule was for the registration, practice and opening ceremony.
‘D day’ all the teams to sail the K30 for the first time, for us it would be the first time we were to sail a big boat, with a gennaker and without a coach. We registered quickly that morning, weighing in 335kgs which was under the required weight limit, thanks to our morning routine burnout-workout.

After which we attended the skippers meeting where we were allotted our practice time which was for about 2 hours in the afternoon.

The afternoon wind was strong and very gusty. We started the practice with the basic manoeuvres that Liz taught us then, we decided to do the course. Our beats were ok for starters according to me. I had to play the mainsheet like crazy (it was like a laser mainsheet) in that wind our boat was forever healing, ever time I stood up I ended up sliding to the wrong side. But that was only on the beats our real nightmare was still to come, our rounding were good our hoist was good but then afterwards everything just went all over the place with every gybe and drop ….oh the horror the gennaker just kept getting twisted in everything. I really regretted that the team did not invest in bring along our coach.

As soon as sailing was over we rushed back to the room to get ready for the opening ceremony. The ceremony was good the organizers said a few words and announced the teams that were participating in the event after which they made a toast to the event and invited us to eat dinner. The dinner they served was really good with the assorted fish and meats; one serving wasn’t enough to satisfy me.

We weren’t that happy with our sailing that day we thought we should break away early, go back and discuss every problem. After sailing and the ceremony, we were the only team that looked as if we were lost at sea for days but that’s not what we wanted so, we stayed up late figuring out our allotted jobs, clarifying maneuvers with other teams, oh how I wished we bought a coach along to help guide us!

30th October – The first day of the round robin, we woke up preparing for the worst with a bit of confidence hoping not to make complete fools of ourselves. We ate a good breakfast and sat for the briefing which was in the breakfast room itself. There we got our racing schedule (pairing list) and weather update.

Our first race was against Liz Bailyis, we knew she wanted to see if we learned anything. So Rohini and I discussed our moves carefully along with Pallavi’s approval. This race, we were using as a practice race because we never got to do one the day before. What an experience! Our first race and ‘damage’ totally not our fault. The incident happen at the 5 second to the start we both pulled up on to a beat and while pulling up she didn’t judge the distance between the boats and bang! Her bow went straight into our starboard stern. There were protest flags everywhere, the jury decided to penalize Liz. We sailed the race hoping that we would beat her considering we were ahead and she had a penalty but instead, she did her penalty and rolled us on the run. Even though we lost to Liz who ranked world no.4, we had a pretty close finish. Liz was happy with our performance and we were thrilled!

With a lot more confidence we raced against Europe and Australia even though we lost to them we had close finishes with the worlds best match racers learning with each race.

With some more hope and courage we raced Korea. The Wind picked up and we started to wear out. We knew we had a chance and so we put in all our energy and began the race. We were leading on the beat and round the windward mark nut then to our luck the gennaker twisted despite all of us being very tired we somehow found the energy to hold our position but the gennaker twisted we lost part of our lead.. we won in the end, Yah! We won our first race of the championship.

The last race of the day was our race against Japan we really wanted to beat them but we did not seem to find our reserve energy. Our pre start went well giving us a windward lead. With every gust that hit us we seem to get more and more drained of energy, toward the end of the last leg we began to make mistakes which resulted in Japan rolling us, Some how we manage to get on to her tail and near the finish line we gybed to cross ahead of them but they gybed and got a gust lifting them past us giving them their win.

After the race we just headed back to the marina we shifting places to chill. We were so glad the day was finally over and just wanted to curl into bed and sleep.

31st October – We woke up not very early, ate a heavy breakfast and sat for briefing. In the morning we were to sail 5 races which happen to be our last races for the round robin, we were warned about lightening which was forecasted. With a deep breath we geared mentally prepared for everything.

By 10:30am we were on the water to race the world number one Katey Spittal …there was no wind but one it came it would not stay still there were shifts from 90° to 180°. So we had to drop our jib sail while the race committee reset the course. While waiting (3 hours) we sang songs and cracked jokes and took pictures with the race committee, jury and other competitors this was a great bonding experience which I am sure will last for ever.

At around one o’clock we finally began our first race of the day in this race we found out why Katey is ranked world number 1. At the pre start we gave her a penalty but she got the start. Oh my God! She then gave us a penalty to nullify and took of with such speed and finished with almost a ¾ leg lead. She and her team were amazing from what we could see. This memory is now registered as what I would need to get me and my team to be.

Our second race was against China; using our shot in the arm experience from Katey we rolled them at the start and sat on their wind the whole race “we matched them” (we matched there every manoeuvre to win by 2 boat lengths. We thought we sailed this race very professionally, the way all our tacks, gybes and rounding came out perfectly. Our second win felt good tying us with China
The third race was with Denmark was sailed badly as we kept tacking onto headers and having to double tack I felt this was the outcome of poor teamwork in short wind shift conditions. Our fighting sprite kept close on their tail till the finish line.

The fourth and last race of the round robin was against Poland. This was our worst sailed race through our championship at the pre start we were in control till the 10 seconds where we messed up big time and ended starting 1 and ½ boat lengths behind them. They closed the door at the committee end which made us gybe away and tack to start the race which was like doing a penalty at 5 second to the start. This was another teamwork mis-coordination. We managed to maintain the gauge between the boats while rounding the windward mark as we hoisted the gennaker the wind picked up and began to have trouble controlling the gennaker staying to play safe we decided to drop the gennaker early but while dropping our untidy heap of control line formed a big knot causing us to over shoot the mark and out of the racing area and heading for the rocks. After all the chaos and panic aboard we finally opened the knots in time to bring the gennaker in and pull up onto a beat. Our skipper was very upset and decided to abandon the race I, on the other hand have learnt from Farokh to keep fighting and working inch by inch so I finally convinced her then we realized our crew were chilling out saying ‘saving up for the next race’ ok so I tried to eat their brains and to everyone shock we abandoned the race.

The fifth and final race was with China this was because we were tied with them and we needed to win this too….in that race against China our pre-start was good but then we tacked onto a header and lost to China in the mark rounding. They, in their excitement hoisted the gennaker and we were told by the judges that no gennaker’s were to be used. So we Immediately protested and then kept racing to the finish, they were one boat length ahead of us, but we protested along with the race committee and jury members, and guess what, we won the protest, so we finally finished 9th overall. Oh what joy, we were so happy. We returned back to our hotel and fell asleep shortly.

The results after the complete Round Robin:

Barkow 9-1
Leroy 9-1
Ward 8-2
Spithill 8-2
Baylis 6-4
Sato 3.5-6 (.5 off for damage)
Boyd 3-7
Tylinska 3-7
Li xue 2-8
Naik 2-8
Lim 1-9

Semi-final pairing:

Barkow vs. Ward
Leroy vs. Spithill

Race for 5th: Baylis vs. Sato

Race for 7th: Boyd vs. Tylinska

Lower placings: 9th: Naik, 10th: Li Xue, 11th: Lim

My highlights of the other teams and their races

1st November: now our racing was over so we woke up late. By about 10.30 am, we dressed and went to check out the racing. They Had the same problem as we did, the day before…..wind! So we decided to get a massage since we were stressed out and had odd aches and pains. We had a Cairo masseurs who told us that our muscles were knotted doing god knows what! We finished that quickly and went to watch the races. We enjoyed watching the pre-starts… mentally absorbing every move they were making. The semi-finals were sailed with such poise and they made everything seem so easy.

But, the highlight of the day was the Japanese team, while racing, the bow girl was doing work on the deck when suddenly, while pulling up the jib or dropping the gennaker, she just slipped and fell into the front hatch and she fell in such a way, that she broke two ribs….ouch! That race just came to a standstill as they carried her out onto the land as the paramedics took her away, everyone could feel her pain and we were thankful that none of our crew was hurt. During the practice days, one of our crew fell in a similar way and I panicked and thought she got hurt, but thank god she only got bruised….but she was pretty strong in a way to handle it. After that incident, all racing ended slightly earlier than usual. The semi-finals were sailed as the first to reach three points win and the fight was for 7th & 8th and 5th & 6th positions.

That evening the Japanese girl came back from the hospital and was resting in the room, we heard that she was doing much better. She got her ribs fixed.

Since we had some time till we decided to finally go and visit the aquarium which was just next door. They invited us for a Halloween party at the end of the visit. The aquarium was beautiful especially the tunnel which was inside the fish tank and this gave us a feeling of being under water. We finished early and went off to bed soon.

2nd November: Today was a very relaxing day; the races (finals) were at 12.30 noon, so breakfast and briefing were at 10.30 am, which we awoke and dressed just in time for. The briefing was basically regarding the schedules for the day and if there were any changes to the RRS or the MRR and the Appendix C. We decided it would be very beneficial if we watched the finals, so we got ready and went onto the jetty and began watching the races. There was a commentator, but we were enjoying our own commentary. We timed the starts and analyzed all the races. The races were as close as all the teams (4 teams) wanted that 25 thousand dollar prize money. The tacks and quick decisions were so well planned and co-coordinated…every move they made was benefiting them. Oh! It was amazing. There was this one race during the fight for 1st and 2nd where the leading boat after rounding the windward mark hoisted the gennaker and as the gennaker began to fill, it got caught and within seconds it tore into half…literally into half! Everyone watching the race had their mouths wide open and the boat that rounded second just shot past the leading boat. It was such sad scene as it was the deciding match between USA and France. USA won the championship after fierce competition.

The sponsors wanted more entertainment after the finals so, they decided to have a fleet race so all the teams (5 teams) decided to participate but what was most admirable was the Japanese girl who broke her ribs, was back on the boat the very next day sailing the fleet race. Everyone was really impressed with her, congratulated her and wished her luck.

We had the prize distribution ceremony at the beach where the top 3 champions were awarded a Cheque and like the Grand Prix prize distribution, they sprayed champagne on each other, it was fun to watch. Later on that night there was a formal dinner for all the competitors, where everyone exchanged emails and autographs and lots of photographs were taken. Here they made all the competitors say a few words, which I thought was a good way to perceive the competitors feedback on the event.

Final Results

1. Sally Barkow (USA)
2. Claire Leroy (FRA)
3. Katie Spithill (AUS)
4. Susanne Ward (DEN)
5. Liz Baylis (USA)
6. Maiko SATO (JPN)
7. Katarzyna Tylinska (POL)
8. Samantha Boyd (NZL)
9. Pallavi Naik (IND)
10. Li Xue (CHN)
11. Lim HwaEun (KOR)

Special thanks to:

Alfredo Ricci (chief umpire) – for getting us this opportunity to participate in this prestigious event and during the event helping us to learn more Liz Bailyis(San Francisco women’s team and president of WIMRA)- for teaching us practice manoeuvres and tactics at the pre-start and clarifying doubts about racing during the training camp…also for what she’s doing for women’s match racing and trying to make it an Olympic sport and spreading the word of WIMRA.

Molly Complet(San Francisco women’s team) – for helping us understand and plan the upwind and down wind legs of the course during the training camp…without her help we wouldn’t have known why we were doing certain manoeuvres in other words she made things easy for us.

Shaila (San Francisco women’s team) – for helping us during the championship with the gennaker drills and finding easier ways to handle/control things on board.
R.Mahesh and F.Tarapore( Heads of the MRAI and our coaches)-for support and guiding us prior to the event …without who we wouldn’t even be where we are to day…

The other match racers (guys at INWTC and the RBYC/CSC sailors) – for helping us practice and improve on the water by finding time to come and help us when ever we needed it

My team mates (the team that went for the event):

Rohini Rau – Her international experience and fitness level helped us to focus and improve our selves and her knowledge about the sport helped us to gain tips during the championship….pre event planning and getting our team a sailing kit with India and our names printed.

Pallavi Niak – Trying her best to do well and, forcing us to put our best foot forward.

Dhanya Pilo – Helping us by doing all the deck work even thought she got hurt on the first day itself, her level-headed fighting sprit kept us going.

Taramati Matiwade – Using this event as a stepping stone to improve herself and with her sailing passion pushing ‘a break in the wall’.

Alekhya Sudam – Her improvement during the event she helped make all our work easier especially me when in heavy wind and I needed help to pull in the main.

Summary

In this report I didn’t get very technical as this would end up as an instruction manual instead of event report.

This event has been a huge learning experience and I was grateful to have learned a lot from this trip to Korea, thought I strongly felt that we should have taken a coach along……but I think we did very well and managed to survive the hard way, with the help of other competitors and all our friends in Korea.

Thanks and Congrats once again Ayesha…

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