Sunday, 8 July 2007

Italy by pictures #2

We are home. And what a mission it was! Almost 48hrs of after leaving Torbole we arrived in Sydney and went straight to work. I only just survived this week at work... and poor John has ended up sick.

I should note that we had a 10 hr stop-over in Zurich so went into town and looked around. Beautiful city, although being a Sunday everything was closed!

Here are some more pics from the trip. For photos from the first part of the trip check out the post Italy by pictures.

Our day in Zurich.








Meet some of the WAGS...

The WAG RIB boat AKA team photographers...


The WAG report drew a crowd daily...


Gin who 'ran' team Bladerider.


Kylie, Karina & Kylie soaking up some sun at the club.


Lia - chief WAG Report Editor.


Karina.



John with one of his broken foils!


In the boat park.



























Torbole, Lake Garda (where the regatta was held and our home for almost 2 weeks).










Sirmione at the South end of Lake Garda.








Lazise on Lake Garda (from my trip to the South end of the Lake)






Photos from my walk up the Mountain above Riva.
















Riva del Garda - beautiful!






An evening in Riva with Andrew & Sandy.










Boating with Andrew & Sandy... in style!














Visiting Andrew & Sandy at Villa Feltrinelli... unbelievable...








Some of the WAGS getting lost in the bush... and getting a ride with an Italian construction worker!


The Moth arrives in Torbole, Lake Garda, Italy

Saturday, 30 June 2007

The wrap up

Regatta over.

John finished 9th overall - which is within his top 10 aim for the regatta. Just missed out on 8th etc but he didn't have a good race today. Oh well, he beat most of the other Aussies with far less experience - fantastico!

For official results see Circolo Vella Torbole web site

Well, the presentation, then party, then home... leaving at 6am tomorrow! Ouch!!

See you all back on home turf...

Nearing the end...

Last day of regatta today.

Yesterday spots 2 and 1 were decided. Rohan (AUS) smashed the field with 8 wins so far and Scott (AUS) secured 2nd spot. Team Bladerider are smashing them all!

The good news is that John is battling it out for 5th or 6th spot - amazing considering most of these other Mothies have been sailing these boats for years and years and years.

The last 2 days have been windy and choppy with 3 races a day. Consequently John has been stuffed at the end! Today will be 2 races to finish the series.

Thursday I went boating with Sandy and Andrew again and it was a bit chilly! I later found out that because of the unusual conditions (see entry below), the water temperature had dropped by 13 degrees over night!!!!!!! Yep, just because of the wind. Not only does this make it cold, but the foils cavitate in cold water = lots of capsizes!

Yesterday the water was significantly warmer than Thursday and back to normal. I joined team WAG on the RIB. I turned up looking like I was about to do the Hobart in wet weather pants and jacket. They laughed, but as soon as we got out there they all followed too! Laugh all they want.

We had the photographer in the boat so were in the thick of the action. And I got heaps of pics too.

Very exciting that Robbie T is turning up this morning to join me in the RIB. He is a potentially new Mothie...?

Anyway, I will let you know the wrap-up after today's racing... later!

Thursday, 28 June 2007

Its not normally like this...

Well, that's what the locals say.

We have spent the last 2 days waiting for racing to begin but to no avail.

Normally, in the morning the wind blows from the North until about 11.30am when it dies. Then it comes honking in from the South. By 1pm when racing is supposed to start, there is a solid wind and the waves are beginning to build.

On Tuesday we woke to find the breeze had not changed directions during the night and was still blowing strongly from the South. Consequently there were enormous waves breaking over the pontoon. This is not Mothing conditions. The race committee postponed until 4pm so we sat around.... About 5.30pm they called it off for the day. If they wanted to they could
actually start the race at 6pm because it does not get dark here until 9-10pm.

Yesterday we woke to a cool morning, clouds and some sprinkles of rain. Later in the day the clouds lifted and Moths were sent out to start racing. Meanwhile, I was picked up in a gorgeous wooden speedboat by Andrew, Sandy and the Captain to have a great day on the lake drinking Champagne, having lunch, sunbathing on the Day Bed and swimming.

Unfortunately racing was postponed for a few hours, then all of a sudden the race committee sent everyone in - quickly. They were expecting a huge storm and 60 knots.

We quickly cancelled the day of boating and I went in to help John and Scott unrig the Moths before the mayhem began. Lucky we didn't get 60 knots (although Andrew & Sandy got hail on the way back to the hotel in the boat!). Once again, we spent the rest of the day sitting around the club waiting to see if racing would be started later in the day... it never eventuated due to the "unusual" weather.

I must qualify that "sitting around the club" is actually quite fun! We watch the Americas Cup, chat, and update the WAGS website. Yep, we now have our own web page on the UK Moth Site. Lea who is chief Editor is hilarious! And all the Mothies and WAGS are really nice. Of course the English are a bit mad, but there are lots of Australians too.

In terms of non-Mothing exploits, after getting lost in the Mountains on Monday, some of my fellow WAGS (Karina & Kylie) decided we just had to find that Waterfall. So on Tuesday morning we made another attempt - and made it! Of course we were expecting some beautiful waterfall in the mountains with pond where we could have a dip in the crisp, clear water... No. We are in Italy. The Waterfall is a tourist attraction!

Tuesday was also the day Andrew and Sandy arrived at Lago di Garda and we went to visit them in their AMAZING hotel on Tuesday evening. They are staying in the town of Gardnano which is about 40 minutes drive from Torbole where we are. The hotel is Villa Feltrinelli which is where Mussolini lived... It is a castle on the lake with incredible
grounds, antiques everywhere, marble, flowers, trees, gold, fresco's... the list goes on. Imagine the most incredible Ville from a James Bond movie - then x10.

We spent the afternoon catching up over Champagne and caneps, watching the light fade over the lake. Then we had an incredible dinner. We had a great night!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right now its 10am in the morning on Thursday and the boys are at the club. I will go down soon and Andrew, Sandy and I are going out on a boat again to watch the racing and take lots of pics.

Oh, did I also mention the awesome camera I got? Its a Canon SLR with a 200 mm lens. My new toy! Sandy very kindly picked it up for me in Sydney.... and its first day of use yesterday I gave it a serious work out! I will try and post some more pics soon.

Monday, 25 June 2007

Regatta Report - Lake Garda, Italy

Apologies for not updating the last few days - I have been very busy!

Firstly a sailing update.

Today was the first 2 heats for the Moth World Champs, and the day started very well. For only his 2nd race in a Moth ever, Debaser ended up in 5th spot! Nice work babe.

Unfortunately, as I soaked up the sun on my deck chair I looked out to see a sorry looking John being towed back in by the rescue boat during what was supposed to be the 2nd race... Yes, a DNF. The rudder broke adding to the mountain of other breakages so far. If the boat stays together, he will do very well.

Overall, Team Bladerider did ridiculously well. Race 1 they got all of the top 5 places. Race 2 top 3 places also went to Bladerider.

Down at the club I have made friends with the other WAGS (wives and girlfriends), so check out our daily report at UK Moth Site
(it is very amusing).

Remember, for more sailing updates check out the UK Moth site and Scotts blog above.

In terms of touring news, I have done some MONSTER walks. On Saturday I walked up a massive mountain - just me, the Ipod, and the occasional sweaty German with Hiking Stocks. When I got to the chapel Santa Barbara there was a nice German who took a photo of me for evidence. You should see this Mountain! It is huge . The track is very steep and rough and the side drops off 2,000 metres into the lake... a little scary at times.

Today I convinced 4 other WAGS to come for a walk "to a Waterfall"... and we got a little lost. We ended up walking around a mountain, up to some georgeous little villages, past a waterfall (well, we heard it anyway) then back to Riva. All up, a 4.5hr walk! I will note, however, that it was a team effort in getting lost, also assisted by the friendly Italian road worker who gave us a lift out of the bush and onto a road in the middle of nowhere. At the time we thought he was doing us a favour! Very amusing and we made it back to the club in time to catch the sailing from our sun beds.

More fun to continue over the coming days, so stay tuned! (and please keep your fingers and toes crossed for John and Debaser!)