Klade Hauschildt

Well the laser radial World championships 2008 are now over and we are now home. In the last post I was 16th overall and I said that I wanted to come in the top 15 and that I did. Overall I ended up 14th in the world and i am stoked. Grant, Kelsey and I were talking bout what we should expect results wise before we went over to
New Zealand and we came to the decision that if it was to be a windy regatta my goal would be to finish within the top 15 and if it was a lighter regatta I was to finish in the top 5. Unfortunately for me it was a strong wind regatta haha none the less though coming right behind and often beating men much older and heavier than I in such strong conditions and decent waves was a pretty satisfying feeling. All those hours in the gym and hiking made a big difference to my speed and my positions. The last day was so frustrating for me though because I worked so hard in the first race of the day to end up 5th on the last downwind and all we had to do was the bottom reach and finish. There was a bit of wind on and right before the bottom mark I was surprised by a side wave the tipped me over. I got the boat up but not before a wall of 10 boats passed me at that moment and I finished up 15th in that race. After the race I had to sail away from everyone and release my frustration in private and after I did that the better I felt. 

The next race however was worse and was one of my overall drops. I was infringed off the start big time, the guy did his turns but it was already too late for me. Luckily for me though my closest competitors were in the same positions as me when we rounded the top mark so I was happy about that. I ended up sitting comfortable in 14th overall with a bit of a point difference around me. We had presentation on the last night in a stadium function room and after a few drinks the night became increasingly better and we all had a lot of fun and luckily Ryan and I had the next day to sleep in whereas others had early flights. Unlucky for them.  

Next on the agenda in teams racing open states and then our Laser state titles. Til then peace out… 

 The RQ boys!

Well a short download of what happened in the last few days. Everyday day has been windy ecept when it lightened off to 10-15 yesterday and thats when i finally staterd to get the good results like a 10th and an 8th. then today much like day 3 it was a constant 20-25 knots and it was bloody hard sailing. yesterday i was 13th oveerall and after today i lost a few places on the line and dropped back to 16th. I am happy with how i am sailing in the windy conditions though. keeping up with the heavier people is very satisfying and statying consistant is a good thing.

Its been so windy and mainly just a speed regatta so far!

Overall i am 16th and tomorrow is the last day i think. see how we go - got to come top 15!

Cheers

Well the racing on day 1 started out ok with my first start a beauty but ofcoarse it was a general! From then on things went down hill, i got smashed by a random guy on the start that i didnt see and got pumped in the race. The second race was slightly better but my main problem was that all i needed to do was just get off the start in good shape and thats it, so i tried that and it worked out ok - not great, but ok. From then i  played the race a little too conservative which lost me a heap of boats which pissed me off but im gettin there. The start line is hard to start on because we have a 70 odd boat fleet trying to start on a small line which isnt quite big enough for everyone. 

Day 2 (today) was different to yesterday because we had a heap more wind and the fullrig rig sailors loved it. i was pretty happy with my results today because i stayed in good shape most of the time and even caught alot of boats that should have been smashing me in this wind (heavier people with an average weight of 75 - 85kgs). Im not too happy with the results so far but there is 8 races to go and a chance to either stay consistant and better my scores…  

My results so far have put me in 17th overall, at this point i cant remember my individual results from the first 4 races.

 Give me more downwinds like these and i will be off no worries lol 

Until tomoz - peace

Righto, its been a while since the last update but this is whats been goin on with my campaign. In a nutshell cause i got a plane to catch!

It started out at Sail Brisbane where it was close competition for first and second between myself and international Radial Penny Clark (GBR). Penny eventually won the regatta and well done to her. Then we travelled to sydney for SIRS and then it was another close battel for either first or second place between myself and Ben Price a very close mate from Tazzy. He won SIRS and i announced that was our friendship finished from that poin onward lol (joking).

Then we moved further south to Melbourne for the nationals where i finished up 9th overall and 2nd Australian which i was happy about but i was more thrilled with coming first male overall, this qualified me for the pole position for words. Then we stayed in melbourne for SAIL Melbourne and the Asian Pacifics which i posted a 2nd and a 4th overall.

Well thats been the summer in a nutshell and today i leave for the Worlds in New Zeland and am feeing very prepared, i have checked everything of my list of things to do and get done and all is going well. Stay reading for regular updates during the regatta.

 pS. pretty annoyed to be leaving for worlds and missing out on the easter bilby regatta - it was a hard decision but i think i went the right way with worlds.

PEaCE

Well hello again, sorry I haven’t put the most recent post on since the regatta ended for I have been a very busy boy and most places and times that Ryan and I have been out and about there has been no chance of internet… well the last regatta was a disaster for me, I received a black flag and a few bad results which locked me in the silver fleet, however I was not alone - even in the silver fleet there is a lot of good sailors in the same position as me all receiving black flags within the first few days . I think it was the last day of the youths or might have been the second last day but it was a very windy day with big waves and made for a fun time on the water, a tiring one but still riding those waves was the most fun I have had in a long time. I even witnessed a spectacular crash on the water - a laser in front of me had capsized and turtled his boat, I was happy with this because I passed him but then I look around behind me and I see another laser flying down a wave loosing control and crashing nose first into the turtled boat in front, subsequently his boat cart wheeled and both people got nailed!! They we ok but a little shaken up, Great to watch though.

For the last part of the trip Ryan, Ben and I have been through Amsterdam and through Paris for a look and see how the locals spend there time and local night life, then it was onto
Singapore where they really do have a laser on there national currency! The flight we were on however from London Heathrow lost our baggage and we were left with nothing in
Singapore, so the airline gave us both $100 each to spend on essentials. We treated ourselves to a massive buffet in the hotel we were staying and we had to thank British airways for their efforts, it ended up being a fun night. The funny thing was though in the morning I received my bags, so I was happy and scored a free 100 bucks.

 Overall the 2 regattas that I participated in weren’t of great success and both I was reasonable disappointed with my performance in. However I learnt so many new things and lessons out of both - it may have been a bad regatta for me but it was the best regatta in terms of learning new things that will help greatly with my progression in sailing. This was the first time I had been overseas by myself and I was happy with how I delta with things also…

 Now im happy to be home, overseas was the most fun I have had for a while but you just cant beat home and your own bed - overall a fun and worthwhile experience overseas and worlds campaign - now it is onto nationals and New Zealand worlds in March… stay tuned

 Thanks for everyone’s help and support

  Peace - Klade out! 

Racing was called off yesterday after a 6 hour postponement onshore - because we didnt sail it meant i didnt get my good results which i was hoping for, this now means that i have 2 bad races and a bfd (black flag disqualification) and now i am stuck in tied 1st in silver fleet!!! This really pisses me off that im not in gold fleet and cant pick my spots back up!!! i missed out by 2 points

I am quite dissapointed with my performance in this regatta, not because of the result just because i know i am way faster and better than most of them and i dont have a chance to show that i am because of a couple of stupid mistakes that shoulnt have happened and that were out of my control. Ohwell things like this happen i guess, and i will learn from it… atleast i can try to  do well silver fleet if i get my head right! yay…

 peace out

Well there is quite a lot to report today including reports from yesterday.

I will start with yesterday… we had a postponement flag up all day so we were just chilling at the yacht club and when we thought they would realise what the heck they were doing and cancel racing for the day and send us home but instead they sent us out at around 3.30pm and try to get two races in, this in theory would be crazy just coming from experience of the last weeks and how long it takes to get a fleet away with all the generals. I was in the red fleet which was the last of all 4 fleets to start, we eventually got a couple of races in and in some tricky winds and extreme amounts of tide made it very hard to stay focused especially after waiting all day doing nothing. We eventually finished the races and came in, by this time it was 9.30 at night and I pretty much threw everything on the boat, road home had something to eat and went to bed.

Today the wind picked up quite a bit and I was missing the 4 odd kilos I lost after my cold last week, that extra weight would defiantly come in handy, now I am 62.7kg but over the last week I have been eating like crazy to try and build it back up to at least what it was. I haven’t checked recently but I think I have made some success. The last couple of days I have been starting very conservatively because I don’t want to get another black flag so I have been staying a bit far back from the line and as a consequence have been getting rolled each start and getting very bad positions and always having to catch back up but to still end badly. Today would have been better but I think over the last week the regatta has been that frustrating that I was more glad to get in on time today rather than hear of my bad positions. I had had enough of getting the bad positions and it wasn’t teaching me anything so I thought just go for the start and I if I end up with another flag then so be it as long as I have learnt a greater lesson. Just when I was doing this and about to get a good start another competitor sailed over the front of my bow and pushed me back on the line just in time so that I couldn’t recover. I didn’t see him so I couldn’t protest and I didn’t have enough time to get back on the start so as a result I was deep from the start and had to catch up, I was 3^rd last around the top mark and probably caught about 20 boats or so back up but still not at all happy with the result.

Some more news is that on the spare days Ryan, Ben and I went to a sweet water park in land a little bit. It was the hottest day they have had here for a long time and everyone was out at the beach, they even ran out of the Sunday paper at the corner store there was that many people. But anyway we went to the park and had an awesome time but just as we got out of a slide we saw a big fight between a gang of black people and the police and park security. It even got to the point where blood was spilt, pepper spray in the eyes and it even got carried by the wind into us and it wasn’t good (it stung my eyes and it tasted very bad) and physical abuse by the police, it was pretty crazy.

Overall very unhappy with how im sailing right now!

Well that’s all for now – time to go to bed – yet another day of sailing tomorrow! Missing everyone ; )

Cya

Well today was pretty shocking again, there was about 15 knots of wind at first and I thought we would actually get a couple of races in… Would be the first time! Then before we knew it the conditions changed again, the wind dropped out and we were forced into a postponement again… we were on the water for a very long time again today, just short of 7 hours i think. The wind eventually came back in after the two fleets in front of mine races got cancelled, then came the generals again… I was in the last of 4 fleets to go and so I had to still wait general after general through - this made me the most frustrated I have been all week because I was so eager to race today in that wind, I was itching to race so much and I just couldn’t. Finally it came to my start and we had a couple of generals and I think a combination of being to eager to get off the line and everyone around me moving forward on the line forced me over the line on a black flag start even though it was a general… it was the worst feeling seeing my number as being disqualified in the first race of the series and after being out there all day to do one start and get flagged on it made me soo angry it wasn’t funny. Then it began to rain and the wind dropped out again and we were sent in without a second race…

Oh well I had an OCS in my first race of the 4.7 nationals and I still won them by 30 points so I know I can do this also… not completely the same level of competition but still the same concept and I am staying positive. But still it doesn’t help my cause to get this amount of points straight off.

Well im tyred now, sorry this one was short but it’s been a long day and I need my rest… Until tomorrow – lata

Well hello

One regatta down one to go… the past couple of days has been relatively normal except for the extreme amounts of time - the only bizarre thing is how competitive the whole of the gold fleet is. Everybody (60 odd boats) are in such close range throughout the whole race, there is no room to breathe lol you could go from a top 10 position back to around 40th and then back to top 10 again - it all depends on what mistakes you make. And because everyone is that close everywhere you look, it makes every mark rounding an experience in itself. Buoy room no longer means anything because nobody cares about the rules only getting around the mark less than 10-20 boats wide but most times it just ends in carnage and if you play it smart you could pick up 20 places just by avoiding them even if it means going the wrong way!

Today was my best day though, well the first race at least, throughout this regatta I have been getting crappy starts and keep getting rolled and that makes me end up back in mid fleet somewhere and forced into catching up - today however I had nothing to loose and everything to gain and so I thought I would get a good start and after a couple of generals I did just that. I was about 8th around the top mark then 4th by the bottom mark and by then finish I came 2nd!!! Things are that much easier at the front!!! And the key is just being able to get of that start and into clean air. Then my second start I was still on a high I think and didn’t concentrate and got rolled again lol I didn’t mind though - it was a little too late but it put me at 25th overall and im happy with that - considering the conditions I am happy being the 25th best radial sailor in the world lol

Now the regatta has finished and they have planned a massive party on the beach and happy hour starts in 10 minutes so I got to get going lol a very good day in the office I think!!!

Talk again soon — peace

(Damn media boat got in the way) 

Hey everyone

This is gonna be really quick - i will put a more detailed one in when i am not so tired!!! Today was pretty much exactly the same as yesterday… we were on the water for another 8 and a half hours and only did one race. By now we were sposed to have about 8 races done but we have only done 4 so i think they will still split us into fleets - ryan and i will be in the gold fleet so thats good. but my result in our one race we did was so crappy!!! i got like 50 something it was impossible day though, they whole 60 boat fleet was in the space of about 20 metres of each other with tide pulling everyone together and made for absolutly impossible mark roundings. i was in an alright position and i caught back up only to be denied a spot in the last mark and about 30 boats passing me - a very frustrating day indeed and a very sunburnt one at that - only my hands thankgod!!! i dislike the decisions of this race committee alot to put it as nicely as i can. they even had soothing music playing when everyone came ashore so that everone would settle down and not be so mad… good idea!!!

 well i will elaborate more another time - cya