23 December

The 2011 season has been a long one, beginning on 17 January in Key West, and ending on 11 December in Singapore with the last act of the Extreme Sailing Series. There have been plenty of highs and lows, but overall the year has probably been my most successful since turning professional in 2005.

The main source of success for the year has come from the match racing program. Team GAC Pindar has entered nine match racing events this year, seven World Match Racing Tour and two Grade 1 events that we used to bring the new team together and practice for the World Tour. Of those nine events, we qualified through the round robin in eight of them. We won three out of four quarter finals competed in. We won five out of seven semi finals. And we won all our finals/petite finals, giving us five event wins and two third places. Interestingly, in the events with five crew or more, we returned four wins and one third place from five events whereas we were less successful in four man boats with one win, one third place, a seventh and a tenth. I think there are two main reasons for the discrepancy. Firstly, my style of match racing certainly suits the bigger boats. Secondly, when I put the team together for the year, I aim to have the best five-man team possible as the season is always decided at the Monsoon Cup, a five man event. It seems that we miss whoever is not included when we go to four. When we had the full team of Gerry Mitchell, Mal Parker, Bill Hardesty and Matt Cassidy together we won three out of three events – the three WMRT events that we won.

Whilst the WMRT has got us all the headlines this year, I have also been pleased with our progression in the Extreme Sailing Series. Over 9 events this year we have been through 11 different crew members which has made it difficult to build the teamwork on the boat. Having said that, we have still had some results right in amongst the top teams, including a 4th place finish in Almeria, beating teams such as Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, Emirates Team New Zealand, The Wave, Muscat and Red Bull Extreme Racing, and a 6th in Cowes. This was a dramatic improvement on the first two regattas of the year in Oman and China where we were a long way off the pace.

For 2012, we plan to come back bigger and better on both Tours. It will be difficult to replicate the success on the WMRT again next year but that is the goal. We know we will have to step our game up another notch as the standard always improves year-on-year but we have a great base to work from. On the ESS, I have set the goal of being on the podium for the year and winning an event. To achieve that we will have to make a big improvement on this year and we are busy planning how to raise our game in every area.

Before Singapore I was able to spend some time in Dubai and visit the GAC Head Office at Jebel Ali. It was great to meet members of the GAC team who have not been to the events (I guess they are the ones that do the work!) and I was also shown around the GAC distribution centre there. I also joined the Dubai Marina Yacht Club for an evening where I talked about the two circuits that Team GAC Pindar competes in and how the World Championship was won. My wife Shareen joined me in Dubai and while we were there we also got to take in some of the tourist attractions including going on a desert safari and seeing a fine England victory at the Dubai sevens, where we were lucky enough to enjoy the hospitality of Ashurst, the law firm that I used to work for.

I'm looking foward now to a bit of a break in order to come back refreshed for what promises to be a very challenging year. Unfortunately my target weight for next year is 5 Kgs less than I am now so no mince pies for me!

27 November 2011

Williams wins The Monsoon Cup and The World Championships for the third time.
Well done to Team GAC Pindar for an outstanding performance last week.

22 October
“It’s a funny old game”. A quote normally used in relation to football but I think it applies equally to sailing. 3 weeks ago we were riding high in the WMRT, seemingly to many people easily on track to win the Title. Of course we knew it was never going to be that easy, but we were hopeful that we could extend our lead in Bermuda. Meanwhile, we were struggling to get the X40 going, well off the pace of the top 8 teams although at least at the top of the bottom group of teams.

How things can change. We knew all season that using 2010 sails was costing us boat speed in the X40, but we did not know how much. A new jib and gennaker for Nice really opened our eyes to how much we had been giving away and suddenly we were able to compete with the top teams. We had some great moments but unfortunately gave too many points away to finish in 8th place. But to put that in context we beat The Wave, Muscat who had won the previous 2 regattas. That gave us more confidence for the next regatta in Almeria. After the first day we were 3rd. The next day 8th. Then we had a great day which propelled us up to 1st on the leaderboard. A terrible day after that put us back down to 8th but we managed to finish very strongly on the last day to clinch 4th overall and really announce ourselves as a competitive team.

In between Nice and Almeria we were in Bermuda for Stage 7 of the WMRT. A 6-1 record in the round robin flattered us a bit and when we came up against Phil Robertson’s Waka Racing Team in the quarter finals we just were not comfortable enough in the boats in the shifty conditions. The IODs we use in Bermuda are about as far away from an X40 as you can imagine and for the first time this year I think the difficulties of doing both series caught up with me. There are three dangers with doing both Tours. Firstly, one series can take focus and planning time away from the other. Secondly, it is difficult to get a good “feel” for the boats going from multhi-hulls to mono-hulls. And thirdly the schedules actually impinge on each other in some areas. For Bermuda, all 3 of those factors affected us. We had 3 X40 regattas in the space of 5 weeks which really pulls away one’s focus. That combined with the X40 and the IOD being almost polar opposites and the fact that we arrived on the Monday evening having missed the practice day because of the Nice X40 added to the challenge. Finally, the format in Bermuda gives you only 7 races in the round robin before you are into the knock-out stages as opposed to the usual 11. We came into the quarter finals underprepared and Phil and his team were deserved winners. I do not think it is a coincidence that Mirsky’s results on the WMRT have turned around since he has stopped sailing on the ESS.

Despite all that, we are still in a strong position overall, and going into Malaysia our fate is in our own hands In both 2007 and 2008 we had a big lead mid-season but got reeled in before Malaysia so it is a familiar feeling for those on the team who were involved in those years. Having won the last 2 events, Mirsky Racing bring the best form into Malaysia and will be the team to beat but we are confident we can get the job done. In our favour is our record in the 5 man boats this year; 2 wins from 2 events. Also, there are no more X40 events between now and the Monsoon Cup so, while there is some planning to do for that series, there is ample time for us to prepare for Malaysia in the way we would like. The Monsoon Cup will be shown live on various TV stations and on the internet so please tune in 23-27 November to see us fight for the World Title!

24 September 2011

It's near the end of September and I realise I have not "blogged" since May. The Summer seems to have come and gone in a bit of a blur and we are now approaching the end of both WMRT and ESS seasons.

For Team GAC Pindar, the Extreme Sailing Series has really delivered on the corporate side, but it has been an up and down year on the results side. This series really is an exercise in pre-season preparation as there is so little time during the season for both training and boat maintenance. Since the season started in Oman, we have done 5 events and had just 4 non-race days on the water, 3 of them at one regatta in Cowes. Considering we have also had 9 different crew members over the year, I have been encouraged by the steady progress we have made. The key test for the success of this year will come in next year's results - have we learnt enough over the year to challenge for a podium position? Time will tell.

After a slow start to our WMRT campaign (10th in France then missing Germany due to a clash with Istanbul ESS event), we have really stepped up our game in this Tour and took the overall lead after St Moritz following finishes of 3,1,1,3. Not since 2007 have we won 2 events in one season and the wins this year in Portugal and Sweden leave us in 2nd equal in the all time list of WMRT event wins. We have 2 events left to go this year (Bermuda and Malaysia) and we'll certainly be looking for more wins. We are certain to be leading the WMRT going into Malaysia whatever the results at the Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda. But the points difference could vary between 0 and 24 so we will be doing our utmost to build our lead to make our job easier in Malaysia. However, with 38 points on offer for winning in Malaysia, we know that in any case we will still need to perform at the last regatta of the year to win our third World Title.

The sponsorship market is not an easy one at the moment so I am delighted to announce that I am to continue my relationship with getbuzzing who provide me with getbuzzing bars. Getting the right nutrition on the water is important and not always very easy from a practical perspective, so having buzz bars on board is a real boost.

10 July
Second victory in a row for Team GAC Pindar.
Ian Williams team showed precision and strength and became a convincing winner of Stena Match Cup Sweden 2011.

8 May
The World Match Racing Tour starts this week at Match Race France in Marseille and Team GAC Pindar are the best prepared that we have been since 2008. By securing the funding and committing to the Tour before the start of the year, we have been able to plan effectively and I feel confident that we can give a good account of ourselves this year. We have done 2 warm up regattas, the Congressional Cup in March and last week’s Open de Espana. Both were grade 1 events (the level directly below WMRT) and we have won both. In fact, we have not been beaten in a race in the final rounds of either regatta, with 10 wins from 10 races. So we deserve to feel confident. Of course, one of the hardest things about the WMRT is that every event is so different. We have been successful in Catalina 37s and Tom 28s but now the question is whether we can continue that success in J80s. The J80 is probably the hardest boat for us on the Tour as we tend to favour the bigger, more tactical, boats. The smaller boats are much faster to manouevre and the kinetics around the boat are more critical which tends to favour the younger teams and those with a stronger dinghy sailing background. That aspect can be a great leveller and we are expecting a tough challenge from any of the other 11 teams in the Event. Round robin racing starts on Wednesday.

This past week the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) has been meeting in St. Petersburg for their mid-year meetings. The governing body of sailing has a huge job in governing such a diverse sport and makes decisions on wide ranging aspects of the sport but the decisions that everybody seems to focus on is its choice of Olympic Events. I have some bitter experiences with this decision making process, having been all set to campaign a Soling for the 2004 Olympics before it was dropped only 3 1/2 years before the Athens Games. The reality of Olympic campaigning is that you rarely make it to the Olympics on your first attempt so really it is an 8 year commitment just to go to the Olympics. And if you build up your skill level in one class or discipline, it is very difficult to change. 4 years ago, ISAF voted multihulls out of the Olympics. That decision made them look pretty silly as the rest of the sailing world began to embrace the multihull, most notably with the introduction of the AC72 for the America’s Cup. This time around, the multihull is back (as a “mixed” event) and the keelboats are out. I have to say I really feel for the sailors who have committed a great deal of time and resources to Olympic keelboat sailing as their skills are no longer relevant to the Olympics. I think that many of the top Star sailors will find another outlet in professional sailing however, rightly or wrongly, professional sailing is predominantly a man’s world so the top female keelboat sailors will be extremely frustrated by this twist.

29 March
Great result for the new team last week under trying circumstances. All bodes well for the season of match racing ahead.

15 March

I’m now back from Oman and have had some time to reflect on our first regatta of the season.  What is clear is that the standard of the fleet is a big step up from previous years.  You always expect the top boats to be at a very high level, but what was less expected was that the depth in the fleet would be so strong. The level of preparation that all the teams displayed was extremely impressive.

I got to Oman about 14 days prior to the regatta to begin the catamaran learning process on a F18.  After three days of mainly sailing the F18 single-handed due to the relatively light winds, our boat arrived and we got into putting it together for the first time.  Then three of the sailing team arrived and we began our training in earnest.  Team GAC Pindar is running a crew rotation this year, with six different crew members sailing with me over the course of the year.  We started the training with Jono, Brian and Shannon.  Oman Sail put on a mini-regatta for all the teams that were there which was ideal for us to work up to as a group and complete before we changed the team.  This was the first time I had sailed with the crew so there was a lot of learning to do, in terms of getting to know each other,  the boats, and also  the racing format.  Despite that, we had some good results in the practice racing and made good progress.  In some ways it was frustrating to then have to change crew for the final lead up to the event, but I am sure the time with the first group will pay dividends later in the season when they join us for events.  Brian and Shannon left, and Brad, Gillo and Joe joined Jono and me for a fantastic delivery sail 40 miles down the coast to the event venue.  Starting off in about 12 knots, the breeze steadily increased to about 18 knots.  It was down wind all the way so was a great opportunity to get a feel for the boat and how to keep it going down wind.

As soon as we got to the regatta venue at The Wave, Muscat, we craned the boat out of the water and started taking it apart again.  The Race Organisation has decided to weigh all the components of the boat prior to racing this year. This meant taking the mast down then taking the trampoline and beams off so each piece could be weighed.  We quickly took it apart and took the opportunity to make some changes to how our cunningham was fixed to the mast. Then, once we were weighed, we got the boat back together again and were ready to race in time for the practice day which consisted of three practice races , which we did with our event team of Jono, Brad and Gillo.

Going into the racing, I think we all wished that we had been able to sail together more as a group and had more experience in the boat.  The first race day was a tough one for us with three 10th and three 11th places for the day. But we learnt a great deal, particularly about how to start the boat, and came out fighting on day 2.  With a bit more breeze we were able to post some results in single figures.  Day 3 was a big learning curve again as the breeze softened off and we moved to the very short course “Stadium Racing”.  We posted 10ths and 11ths before winning an exciting match race against ‘Nice for You’ at the end of the day. The last two days were very similar to each other.  By then we had very much improved our starting, but were not fast enough in the light airs to get away from the fleet.  Despite normally being in the top half of the fleet at the top mark, we struggled to make it stick often enough and finished the regatta in 11th place.

This is a new circuit for Team GAC Pindar and we certainly have a lot to learn about the finer nuances of the game.  The circuit is very unique and whilst there are similarities with other racing that we have done, there are also some stark differences for us to get our heads around.  Needless to say, the result was not what we had hoped for.  But we did make some good strides forward during the regatta including a 6th place finish on the final day.  Our team is probably the heaviest on the circuit, so we are hoping for a bit more wind at future venues.  I feel that once we get a hull flying our extra righting moment will really help us, but for sure when both hulls are in the water the extra weight can only be a handicap.

The next event on the ESS is Qingdao in mid April but I have some other sailing to do between now and then.  In a week’s time I will be competing in the Congressional Cup, a grade 1 match racing event in Long Beach, California.  I have competed there once before, in 2006, when we finished 2nd so there is definitely a feeling of unfinished business with this regatta.  However, more importantly, the event is a very good warm up event for the World Match Racing Tour which kicks off in May.  The format provides for a double round robin so each team is guaranteed at least 18 races before the knockout stages.  Bill Hardesty will be sailing with me as tactician this year in place of Richard Sydenham so the Congressional Cup will be a great opportunity for us to work out our communication and rebuild our relationship.  Bill was the tactician for our 2007 World Tour campaign so we have been successful together in the past, but of course we have both evolved in the last 3 years so for sure we will need to get to know each other again.

I am also going to spend some time in Palma with Lucy Macgregor and her team to help them in their preparations for the 2012 Olympics.  I have been working with Lucy for the past year and had the privilege of coaching them at the World Championships in September which they won making them the first British women’s team to become World Champions in match racing.  Thinking about it, that must be some sort of record as I was also the first British male skipper to become World Champion!

14 January 2011
I am blogging during Key West Race week for Sailing World. My blogs can be viewed at: http://www.sailingworld.com/blogs

30 December 2010 - After much procrastination, Shareen (for those of you who don't know Shareen is my wonderful wife) and I have finally got stuck into revamping the website - I hope you like it!

This year is shaping up to be a really exciting one.

Firstly, I am skippering Team GAC Pindar's Extreme 40 in the Extreme Sailing Series. It is going to be a difficult challenge going to two hulls with not much training time, but I am going to learn a huge amount and have a great deal of fun in the process. Better get the crash helmet out!

I am also sailing with David Murphy on the RC44 "Ironbound". The boat is brand new and has done just one regatta so far so we have a lot to learn in this class as well, but we have a great team together and I am confident we'll be able to make big improvements through the year.

I am hoping to do the World Match Racing Tour for the 6th time this coming year. A few things still need to slot into place (not least I need to win a bid for a Tour Card), but this is a great series that I would very much like to do, and win, again.

Finally, as if those 3 were not going to make me busy enough, I will be continuing to coach Lucy MacGregor and her team in their preparations for the 2012 Olympics.

Happy New Year to everyone and here's to an ambitious 2011!