Swiss Nationals 2014

27 August 2014

• Clay Poulson Bericht der Schweizer Meisterschaft,
  
  Report of the Swiss Champioship,
  
  28 Fireballs made the trip to Brunnen and the Urnersee to compete in the 2014 Fireball Swiss Championship. Brunnen is a beautiful venue with steep, wooded cliffs surrounding the lake, picturesque villages dotting the shore, and looming Alpine peaks beyond.
  16 Swiss sails, 8 Czech boats, 2 rigs with German sails, plus one GBR (German sailors) and one CAN boat made the show. All anticipating four great days of racing action.
  
  The event started Thursday with nearly perfect conditions. With sunshine over the Alps, the mountains heated up drawing the heavy thermal winds up the lake.
  
  Race one started with good wind blowing in the high teens. The teams in the know took off heading either far left or far right to get near the cliffs where the wind would be condenced and give all a bit more push. Those that stayed in the middle of the lake where left behind. The first win went to 2014 Worlds participants Christina Hardi-Landerer and her brother Cedric. Followed closely by two Czech boats, helmed by Milan Hajek and Milan Snajdr respectively, and then German boat commanded by Jorg Nolle came in fourth. Fifth and sixth were Swiss boats Regula Baumgartner and Kurt Venhoda.
  
  Those who were paying attention realized that the far right had the advantage. The second race had Baumgartner out front from the beginning to the end. With Czech sailors Petr Koran in second and Martin Mudra in third. Hardi-Landerer was fourth and Hajek placed fifth. The Canadian team of Jochen Mikosch and Rune Lausten had there best run in this heat with a sixth place finish.
  
  Here the committee decided to move us farther down the lake to follow the wind. This change of course meant that what was learned earlier was of no avail. The Czech boats took advantage here with the win going to Koran, second to Hajek, third to Baumgartner, then came Venhoda and Czech Jaroslav Verner.
  
  Day one ended with Swiss sailor Baumgartner in the lead followed by Hajek and Koran.
  
  Friday again looked to be a fine day of racing in the thermal winds of the Urnersee.
  
  The first leg of heat four was led by Venhoda with several Czech boats in persuit. Again the far right was the best place to be. But in the second beat something changed. For some reason the middle played faster. Venhoda again played to the far right. The Czechs saw the change, tacked early and made a direct line to the buoy to make the pass on the leader. This heat ended with Hajek in first, Koran second, Venhoda third, followed by Verner and another Czech Jiri Cechura fifth, and Baumgartner on Grumpy Sunshine in sixth.
  
  In heat five, the Czechs started to really take command of the regatta. The Czechs took the first four positions with Hajek again out front. Then came Verner, Koran, and Jan Jedlicka. Fifth and sixth place saw Baumgartner and Venhoda still fighting for the Swiss.
  
  The end of day two had Hajek in first, Koran in second, and Baumgartner fell to third.
  
  Saturday brought a change in the weather. Clouds reigned over Switzerland and this would spell an end to the great thermals so loved by the Swiss sailors. We headed far down the lake to see what would happen. Fortunately a nice eastern storm cell hit the northern part of the lake and it's winds, but not the rain, hit us down in the south. We were all suddenly bouncing around in choppy waves and the committee got us going. A rough first beat had the German Nolle in the lead with the regular Czechs right behind and Swiss sailor Hansueli Bacher also with the front group. The storm started to pass and the lake calmed into a nice smooth second beat. The Germans couldn't quite keep the lead and fell to third. Petr Koran took the bullet, Hajek second, and Bacher had a fine fourth place finish. Fifth went to Verner and Snajdr was sixth.
  
  Only one race was registered on Saturday as the storm and the wind passed and the committee boats lined everyone up for a long tow back to port.
  
  On day four, again a cloud cover meant that the thermals were not going to carry the fleet. We waited ashore for several hours and the sailors were getting ancy to pack up and hit the road.
  
  Around two o'clock what little wind we had turned from east to west and the AP flag was lowered. A vote was taken, 'Who still wants to go out?' A bit of mixed feelings here but in the end we decided we were here to sail. The committee took us to a completely different part of the lake where we could sail into a light westerly breeze.
  
  Off the start the fleet seperated. Those that went far to the left or right were lost. Time to play the shifts in the light air and dance through the middle of the lake. Swiss sailor Kurt Liechti took full advantage of a great start and good sailing to take a commanding win. Second, third, and fourth went to the Czechs Cechura, Hajek, and Mudra. Bacher had a good run for fifth and Verner took sixth.
  
  Only one heat on this day as the regatta was coming to an end.
  
  In the end, the Czech sailor Milan Hajek with Michaela Preibischova hijacked the regatta with great sailing in every heat. Second went to veteran Czech Petr Koran and Milan Kvasnik. The Czech sweep was avoided as the Swiss team of Regula Baumgartner and Stephan Scharer finished in third overall.
  
  It was time to toss Hajek into the lake and pack up the boats.