Reaching new heights at the European championships
What a couple of weeks! As I explained in the past newsletter the last six months have been leading up to a busy fall regatta season. The European championships and the World championships are the two biggest regattas of the year and offer great chances for proving yourself on the international scene as well as qualifying for National Team funding and support.
The first half of my summer was spent in Malta training with a group of international athletes as a few of my training partners prepared to go off to compete at the Olympics. Then I headed to the UK for a month and a half of focusing on fitness and spending some time with the British team training and racing in Weymouth. After this I headed back home to Burlington to get some final rest in and more fitness before my final preparations for the Fall racing season.
After three weeks at home away from the boat I was dying to get back out on the water. With two and a half weeks before the start of the European championships which would be on the Black Sea in Varna, Bulgaria, the Italian National Championships on Lake Garda just East of Milan provided the perfect warm up before the big dance. I had never been to Garda before, but it is well known in the dingy sailing community as simply the quintessential sailing destination. With world class cycling in the 1200 meter high mountains surrounding the lake, a steady 20 knot sea breeze which funnels through the mountains just about every afternoon and absolutely stunning views in every direction, Lake Garda completely blew me away. After just a few days, there was already no doubt that of all the places I have traveled to for sailing, this was by far and away the best. It was no surprise that the Italian nationals were a windy regatta, bringing 20 knot winds from the south for three afternoons straight. Racing three races a day left us absolutely exhausted and ready to bust out one quick race on day four to complete the ten race series. The wind gods however, as they so often do, had other ideas. Day four was rainy which meant no sea breeze and so we waited. Five hours of waiting and people were starting to lose hope in any racing at all. Some local teams were so sure the wind wouldn’t fill in they started to pack up the trailers. And perhaps out of spite, or maybe a stroke of meteorological genius with only an hour until the last gun and still absolutely no wind, the race committee gave the signal to launch. And the mad rush began. Everyone racing to unpack what they had just been packing, people launching their boats in their boxers, and changing while being towed out to the race course at full speed. Anything to get to the start line on time, and sure enough by the time everyone was out on the water a steady breeze from the north had filled in. One more light and shifty race to finish off the series and with that our time in Garda had come to an end. A strong showing and the perfect warm up which left me feeling strong and confident heading into the European Championships.
That evening was a late drive to Venice in the pouring rain where the sailors would fly to the next stop in Varna, Bulgaria as coach Alex and team boss Trevor drove the trailer. Varna, Bulgaria: The lovely little ex-soviet beach town on the Black Sea. Just a stone’s throw away from Russia, Varna certainly doesn’t top most people’s list of vacation destinations even at the best of times. Let alone now; in early October with a large weather system coming in bringing rain and wind from northern Russia expected to last a week. At the risk of sounding like I’m complaining about the incredibly exciting life I live let me put it this way, it wasn’t Garda. Yet I am a firm believer in that you need to love the place you are racing in to be in the right mindset for racing at the top of your game. So, what are some good things. First off, the wind from the north was strong and brought these interesting skewed waves which bounced off of the big break wall at the bottom of the bay. This happened to be very similar to the conditions in which I sailed over 200 days last year in Malta. So, I knew I could be bloody quick, and better yet I was showing just how quick I was on the training days. Second, food was insanely cheap. I’m talking about going out to dinner at a nice restaurant, ordering three courses and a drink and then at the end ordering a second main course because you’re still a little hungry and the bill comes to $18 cheap! It was amazing, we ate like kings for the whole trip. And finally, if the weather outside sucks, and there isn’t anything to explore in town, the best thing to do is to go see a movie. The day before racing after everything was set and the only thing left to do was wait, I got out to the cinema for the first time in almost 2 years and saw the new James Bond. Suddenly Bulgaria wasn’t looking so bad after all.
Aside from the technical points I am working on, my main goal for this regatta was to show “Grit”. This is something I really admire about my training partner Vishnu; he shows maybe more than anyone I have ever sailed with before true grit and determination. It’s because of this that he wins little battles around the racecourse, and he is always gaining boats as the race goes on. You can never count him out, because he will always be there fighting tooth and nail to the last straw and it’s this grit which I am aiming to emulate in my racing. It is not an easy thing to do, when you’re down and out your brain is constantly playing tricks on you trying to get you to give up. Even when you are doing well sometimes your brain tries to convince you that you aren’t deserving, or its just luck. The first day of racing put me through the ringer. It was in all honesty one of the worst days of racing of my career. I knew I had put the work in, I knew what I was capable of and yet after two races and one day of racing I was sitting in 87th place. And 40 points out of qualifying for Gold fleet. I had 2 more days and 4 more races to make up that 40 points or this regatta was going to be a major disappointment.
I laid in bed that first night reading over my notes from the training days and thinking about what had unfolded on day one. I read a text from my coach Alex bluntly saying that I needed to step my game up tomorrow, he was right, but it was going to take some grit. Day two brought similar conditions to day one, 13-16 knots from the north east patchy winds, and skewed waves. The only issue being that the race committee could not set a course to save their lives. We waited out on the water for 5 hours in 12 degrees and rain before finally starting a race. I rounded well, around 15th at the top but after making a mistake and getting caught out by the wave skew on the first downwind I ended up finishing 29th. A much more accurate showing of my skill than the first day but it wasn’t the fireworks I needed to make up the points to get into gold fleet. To make matters worse with only one race being completed on day two this meant that only two more races were scheduled for qualifying before we would be split into gold and silver finals fleets for the last three days of racing. I was in 82nd place, the cut off for gold fleet was 58th place. The gap was over 30 points and there were a lot of talented sailors from around the world standing in my way.
Day 3: 10 degrees, raining, and 20 knot winds from the north. Heading out on the water we knew we were in for a wait when we got to the course and the race committee hadn’t even begun setting the marks. 3 hours of waiting and warding off hypothermia later and we were ready to go. I knew the conditions were in my favor, and I knew what I had to do. Now it was just time to deliver. Good start, Tack on the first shift, tack on the second shift. All of the sudden I am approaching the mark and I’m realizing that I am rounding in second place! All I can think to myself is “You better not mess this mark rounding up, all the photographers are watching!” a hard fought downwind and a decent second beat saw me finish the race in 9th place. Perfect! That’s more like it… now I’ve just got to do it again. Second race comes after another hour of waiting, everyone I see around me is cold and miserable but now I’m amped. Second start is another good one on the boat end of the line, about three minutes in and no shift yet, boats that started at the favoured pin end are starting to tack and cross me, this is when most people would have tacked. Played the low risk move, stay with the fleet in a decent position, but I knew that I needed more than decent. I held out to the left side of the fleet letting boats cross me and finally tacking over on the hip of two-time world champion Pavlos Kontides. On this tack, going into the waves on port I knew I was very fast. And this is when that left shift I was waiting for finally decided to come in off the land. Before I knew it, I was climbing on Pavlos and slowly putting the fleet in my window. I get to the windward mark and I’m in first place! Unbelievable, don’t mess it up! I held my own on the downwind but the second upwind had a few tricks to play. A right shift saw me lose a few places and I end up finishing the race 17th. I knew I had had an extremely good day, and I had a feeling it would be enough, but I wasn’t sure. The whole sail in I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. But I couldn’t celebrate because I knew it would be close. Finally, after waiting for two hours for the results to come out I finally saw. In one day, I had moved up 30 places into 52nd place and qualified for my first ever Gold Fleet at a senior Championship.
The final three days of gold fleet racing were an experience. I moved up another 9 places over all to finish the regatta off in 43rd place out of 115 boats. I also finished second Canadian, only 6 points off of the first Canadian in an event where the whole national team was there. There were so many learnings and take always from this event. I am very proud of how I finished though still left hungry for more with that allure of top Canadian being so close. Most of all I am proud of the grit I showed after the first day of racing, fighting back and sailing better and better as the days went on.
With the world championships coming up in only a few weeks there are so many take always from a positive event like this to apply and emulate the results I know I am capable of. For now, the team is taking a week off the water as we focus on fitness and recovery after a week of extremely heavy load. On the 22nd of October we will be arriving in Barcelona the site of the European Championships for a few weeks of training and venue prep before racing starts on the 5th of November.
Like always you can follow me day to day on my Instagram @james.juhasz, and any contributions to my campaign can be made through my website www.jamesjuhasz.com . The Athlete Influence program still also remains the easiest way to support my campaign if you or anyone you know is looking to buy or sell any real estate in Canada. Thank you all for following along with my journey and I hope to bring you all some more good news after the Worlds in Barcelona.
Cheers,
James