By Andras Sigmond - Coach of Byte National team

The SIN team arrived 5 days before the championship to conduct a training camp at the venue of the Byte Worlds . This period gave the sailors a good opportunityto get know the conditions on Lake Garda , and gather more information on using the new C-II rig.

Training days:  21 - 26 Jun.

We had a total of 18 sailing hours in 22 - 28 knot winds and the team were able to test the new carbon masts. In the beginning there were numerous troubles with the new masts (first sleeves had bended, second sleeves had broken, and during the transportation two masts had broken) but the 5 training days were enough to make sure we had useable Carbon masts. On the other hand this selected team had never sailed in this wind-strength before, so they got a chance to practice their strong wind boat-handling and we could test the right strategy for the "Typical Garda Wind". After the training days the team was very tired, but they had gotten many new experiences about the C-II rig, about strong wind sailing (swimming) and about the special strategy of sailing on this lake.

Racing days: 28/Jun - 03/Jul

During the practice race we could see our performance and speed was not bad, but we needed to use more traveler for twisting of the sail and to de-power it in the strong wind. We got to know the very strict jury who gave 5x yellow flag during the practice race in 22-25 knots wind! Three of them were given before the start!

After the strong wind training and practice race days, as usual - for starting the championship we had a calm morning and later thunder storm with hail but without wind.

This also gave new experience for SIN Team as they have never seen "hail" before!

30/Jun/Thu

Wind strength was less then the typical "Garda wind" only 16 - 18 knots from south direction.

The course was in the center of the lake, but the strategy as usual: - after the start, tack and go to the west side of the lake towards the wall of rocks. The length of course was longer than here in Singapore , the time of one windward leg was about 15 - 17 minutes.

The favorite French sailor has won the first race, Kwong Ming was second and David third. We could tell that the French ex laser sailor was going to be one of the strongest opposite of our team.

01/Jul/Fri

The changing of weather has continued as during the previous night there was rain (in the mountains snow!) again. The "morning wind" from North had not finished at 10, it has stayed all the day and we had three races in this oscillated and gusty wind condition.

Wind strength in 1 st race was 18-20 knots and later only 8-12 knots.

Our sailors had a good wind strategy in the first race, but they did not understand properly the changes to the conditions in the coming two races. (Except Russel who won the 2nd race). The lighter wind gave a good chance for the "light weight sailors" and SIN Girls had quite good results in these races.

02/Jul/Sat

Light (4 - 6 knots only!) North wind in the first race of the day and later the wind changed to the more stable direction (South 16 - 18 knots) but less strength than usual.

In the shifty light wind condition our team sailed well, but later in the "well known" south wind direction they lost their way and lacked clear strategy. They had only a average start in the middle of the line, they did not fight enough for a better start position at the favored end of the line thus they let the French guy to collect a 1 st and 2nd places.

03/Jul/Sun

Nice sailing condition in 16 - 18 knots South wind.

We realized our chance of winning the regatta would be difficult but not unobtainable.

Kwong Ming had a very good start and first beat in first race of the day, but on the downwind leg while leading he capsized and lost his chance to grab first place overall.

In the second race Jun Hao repeated the typical mistake of young and inexperienced sailors, when in a leading position before rounding the windward mark, during the tack he dropped his tiller extension and his control over his boat. The two French sailors overtook him and this gave the overall win to Jean Baptiste.

Overall the performance and results of Singaporean Team was good, we won the silver medal - Low Jun Hao and the bronze medal Leong Kwong Ming . Five SIN sailors finished in the top 10 of the fleet and the other five in the top 20. Our performance has proved that the Byte class with using the C-II rig is really suitable for the light weight sailors. The right boat handling and sail trim give a good possibility for de-powering of the rig in stronger sailing conditions.