Chester Crew at 2018 IOD Worlds – Sweden
Sept 13, 2018
Intrepid sailor Dayna Nelder sent us this report from Sweden where she was part of a crew from Chester representing Nova Scotia and Canada at the 2018 IOD Worlds. They did a great job and had a pretty good time doing it.
“The 2018 International One Design Worlds was hosted in Stenunsund, Sweden the last week of August. The Canadian crew of six from the Chester NS IOD Fleet packed their bags and set off for Europe with various carry-on accepted boat items in our bags. We qualified in a regatta last year to be able to represent our local fleet in the 2018 Worlds and we set about training for the event all summer. The crew is headed by Ted Murphy, our Skipper, Jonny Sellar, Main Trimmer, Dave Wedlake, Jib and Spinnaker Trimmer, Jamie Blunden, Secondary Trimmer, Minette Murphy, as bow and Ted’s sibling, and me doing everything else!
IOD fleets from North America and Europe made up our 13-boat fleet, with several previous World Champions in the mix. We raced ten races over five days and had very different conditions to contend with.
In the IOD fleet the boats do not travel, during each international event the hosting fleet surrenders their boats to the competitors and for this regatta we changed boats every race! This is quite the endeavour for the transfer boats and for the crews who need to quickly figure out each boat.
On the first day of the regatta the wind was in the 20-knot range, this lead to some boats doing death rolls on the down wind legs and complete wipe outs. We were able to keep our boat in control and finished the day in second place with the team from Nantucket finishing in first and the defending champ, from Fishers Island Sound in third. The days after we were met with very light winds, it made for very difficult sailing, as we went from tied for first down to sixth place.
they raced us in this!
We were able to get one bullet and in Sweden they have a very interesting tradition. They say that you have “nailed it” and they give you a part of a plank from an ex IOD that has been destroyed with a nail hammered into it (we did not take this back to Canada in our carry-on, we had to find some checked baggage!)
We were very impressed with all the competitors and it was humbling to be on the start line with such amazing sailors and previous world champions. We think that sixth place is something to be proud of as we are the youngest crew with the youngest Skipper. We still have a lot to learn from the IOD sailors that have come before us!”
-Dayna
