9:25 PM Wed 25 Mar 2009 GMT
In 198 days time, the sun will rise over Sydney Harbour and shortly afterwards one of the most magnificent fleets ever assembled in this city of sails will take to the water. What makes this particular collection of sailors remarkable isn't that they're particularly fast, fit or competitive. What makes them special is that they are all over 35 and somehow they've managed to scrape together the time away from work, family and friends to spend time competing in the sport they love. If you sail Lasers, Laser Radials, Access Dinghies, Hobie cats or Tasars you really should be there.
The 7th World Masters Games is all about the numbers: 25000 competitors to visit Sydney; 28 sports represented; over 5500 events; 35 the minimum age for sailing events; the oldest competitor is 100 and an estimated 48 million dollars will be pumped into the local economy. The games run over 9 days between Saturday 10th October to Sunday 18th October 2009 with the sailing events divided between Woollahra Sailing Club and Dobroyd Aquatic Club.
Classes include Hobie 16, Access 2.3, Access 303 (one and two person), Tasar, Laser and Laser Radial (open and a women only event). Age brackets are 35+, 45+, 55+ and 65+ with the same age divisions in the Women's Laser Radial event. Sail-World hears that there has already been strong interest amongst Laser sailors in the event, and with the Australian Lasers Masters scene already thriving, we're expecting to see many of these competitors on the water with many others lured back into the sport by the publicity surrounding the event. Former Laser Australian Women's Champion Vanessa Dudley is one of the veteran sailors who recently re-entered the Masters dinghy scene after decades spent racing keel boats. And actually, the word 're-entry' with it's NASA space station flavour accurately describes the wild ride that Dudley went through to get back into dinghy-sailing shape and eventually embrace a new generation of techniques and tactics. She confesses to spending a lot of time cuddling the centreboard, dark times when she found herself 'whimpering' during a hard race in a stiff breeze and having a weakness for tricky, flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants manoeuvrers that inevitably ended up with the boat turning turtle and Dudley renewing her acquaintance with the centreboard.
Dudley documented her experiences in the popular Master Class column in Australian Sailing Magazine, striking a chord with readers struggling to make time for their sport and battling sedentary lifestyles. Although it was hard work, she concluded that the whole re-entry process had been more than worthwhile:
'Dinghy sailing is such good fun. You forget how much fun it is, and the Laser's good because if you're busy you don't have to coordinate with someone else; you can go and have a sail when it suits you. I can get it in and out of the racks at the club on my own and it's very physically challenging, so as you get older it's good to have a motivation to get fit.'
Performance Sailcraft Australasia, the Australian manufacturers and distributors of Laser, helped Dudley back into Lasers by giving her a demonstration boat which she then raced at a number of regattas and sailed regularly at Middle Harbour Amateurs. Her involvement with the club meant that she was able to access top level coaching and race alongside talents like Gabriel King and Richard Bott. She said that the involvement with a group of dedicated sailors had been one of the things that kept her motivated and determined to improve.
 | Racing in the Laser Radial class - © Rolex/Dan Nerney |
'The racing is really close and some of it's a bit of a walk down memory lane because there's people who were sailing them years ago that have come back as well, so it's really nice catching up with people. There are lots of new people as well. I'm really enjoying the social side.'
With many people taking time away from sailing to raise families and manage work commitments, the World Masters represents a great goal to aim for if you're thinking about a re-entry into the sport. Although it's only 198 days until the Games begin, this still represents about six months of preparation time, and includes the winter months when nothing much happens anyway, so why not aim for the Masters? Whether you subscribe to the 'best way to train for a sailing event is to do more sailing' view or approach training by mixing other sports with an occasional trip to the gym, rest assured that many of your fellow competitors will be facing a similar uphill battle.
'I was really hopeless last season' confessed Dudley 'and it can be a bit frustrating at first because you have to put the time in, but it's worth it because it's really good fun. It's not like the grind of having to go to the gym because you've got a motivation to do it: I'm much fitter now than I was 18 months ago.'
If it's not lack of time that's stopping you from competing but lack of a boat, consider contacting Performance Sailcraft and asking them about their Laser hire deals. PSA are offering Laser hire at the Masters Worlds event for $950 AUD including foils but excluding sails. A $350 AUD damage deposit and competitors can bring their own sails or purchase them from PSA. Anyone hiring a Laser will, of course, need to organise their own third party insurance in case the start line turns into a demolition derby: not likely in a Masters event.
As a multiple former Australian Champion, Dudley's re-entry into Laser sailing was probably complicated by the fact that she placed high expectations on herself, whereas someone who had always sailed happily at a club level may find even the smallest improvements in their performance satisfying. One of the great things about Masters scene is that it embraces the full spectrum of sailors: it allows superb sailors the opportunity to stretch their wings without placing the slower members of the fleet under ridiculous pressure to perform.
Any event that helps us all to escape our sedentary lifestyles and experience the joy of small boat sailing has got to be a good thing. If you're facing down the barrel of a tough winter training schedule, need to shed some pounds and have recently realised that your core strength is non-existent, take heart in the fact that getting to the start line will make it all worthwhile. Dudley puts it best:
'I'm really happy I'm doing it. Often people just read about people that win things and most of us don't: most of us accidentally capsize at the wrong moment and hit marks and do all those stupid things. That's certainly been me, but I'm getting more competitive so that's a bit of a drug, I think. You just want to do better all the time.'
See the following sites for more information:
www.2009worldmasters.com/
www.lasersailing.com.au
rssailing.com.au
Performance Sailcraft contact details:
Performance Sailcraft Pty Ltd
Lot 7 Catamaran Road, Ourimbah NSW 2258
Australia
by Jardine Media
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