Jonathan Goldsberry & Charlie Smythe

Well we went out today knowing that the trials are over for us and that the pressure is off now. Goal today was to leave it all behind and try to enjoy being here competing with the best in the world in the most difficult skiff there is to sail. And it worked.

First race we started near the boat end of the line and held our lane high, staying in the sheer and even though a couple boats rolled over the top of us, in a situation we normally would have tacked, we just held high and let them reach off. This kept us in pressure and in clear air, and we sent it. All the way to the beach and tacked back to right pretty much on layline. The top right came in just slightly and the 2 boats that got out a touch earlier than us rounded just in front of us. But we rounded 3rd and held this all the way to the bottom mark. We did a right gate rounding and headed back to the left. It’s amazing how much the rich just get richer at the top and from here it was easy to play the game and play the fleet once out in front. The Brits, who are winning the event right now, put the petal to the metal and extended a little in us but we played a seamless beat and rounded the top mark in 2nd!!! The Swedish made 1 better decision than we did downwind and ended up passing us but we finished a strong 3rd with the French right on our heels. What a relief that was. It was awesome to come back from such a downer yesterday to boost our confidence and keep us going.

The second race the breeze was veering left and we had 2 postponements and a general recall before we all got it right. We had a good start and sent it left again but only rounded in the top 15 as boats played a little better than we did. We got ping ponged around a bit but by the finish we had a good finish of 14th in a shifty race, could have done a few things better but all in all it was a lot of fun and just what we needed for the day.

Erik and Trevor had their worst day yet and finished with a 15, 20 and dropping from 2nd to 13th and we moved up from 45th to 35th. The fleets are now split and they are in gold and we in silver. They have qualified the country and for the Olympics, in what has been a great battle for the past couple of years. We hope them all the best as country men over the next 9 months.

As for us we are going to fully enjoy the last 7 races here and keep giving it our best. We have so much to be proud of and we want to thank all of our supporters so much. What you have shared with us and the opportunity you have given us will never be forgotten and will carry carry us for the rest of our lives. Keep cheering us on over the next 3 days and we will do the best we can to finish as far at the top as possible. Thank you and much love from down under.

There are days that everything seems to go your way, which I know all of us enjoy. Then there are days where it just seems nothing is working for you. We had the latter today on the course. We were in the blue group again today which meant that we would be the afternoon fleet. Yellow group was going to do all 3 of their races and then we would do all 3 of ours after them on the same course. By the time we got out to the course there were still some rolling thuderclouds milling about and everything seemed a bit unstable with systems on both sides of the course and breeze sheering all over the place. We knew it was going to be tough to have a consistent day in these conditions.

Of course we didn’t know just how bad it was actually going to be. The first race we had a huge shift right at the start and right as the gun went off we tacked out right and held a thin lane heading out. We tacked back about a minute later in what we thought was a building breeze line from the right, and it actually worked well for us the first half of the beat. The boat that leveraged out right of us were into it just a bit more and lifted up off of us more and more but we were gaining on the boats to the left. Then when we were getting close to the top mark the boats on the left gained big on us in a big lift and the boats on the right of us stayed lifted and we got squeezed. We were still rounding about 12th and I made the call last minute for a gybe set, which in the end was the death of us. It was a beautiful set and a very near collision with some port tackers but as we came up quickly to avoid I reached for my trapeze handle and missed but my body was still going out and I fell into the water and away from the boat causing us to capsize. GAME OVER. To make things worse as we watched everyone sail around us we quickly got the boat righted again but when we went to set the kite it had an incredible twist in it that we couldn’t get out, so we tried gybing, well that didn’t help either and we flipped again. This time by the time we got the boat upright and going the top of the fleet was sailing upwind around us and we knew that there was not going to be time to finish within the time limit. This was a crushing blow to our day really, Jonny tried to cheer me up but I was super disappointed in myself for missing the handle, worst feeling ever.

Shaking that race off and knowing we would have to use it as our discard, its was time to refocus our strength for the next race. The breeze had shifted to the right about 40 degrees at this point and increased in pressure to about 18 knots with more choppy seas building. In the pre-start we could see that the breeze was shifting up coarse to the left with pressure so we were luckily one of only a few boats to realize this and started at the pin to get into it first. We had a great start and were punched on the whole fleet. But things deteriorated as we kept digging to the left and the right kept coming in at the top. We lost a ton of boats on the first beat and the first downwind when they all gybed inside of us downwind in pressure that we had sailed out of. We finished another disappointing 22nd.

We had a good pep talk with coach Dave after the race and he said it pretty simply, stop doing so much. He seemed to think we were just doing too much on the first beat trying to stay in phase. Simplify the game boys were his words. In this game its all about getting around the first mark in the top 10, if you can do that your gone, the rich get richer. This is something we have not been able to do all week so far. We tried the best we could the last race and I won’t bore you with another explanation of what happened but we didn’t get it right and ended up with another 22nd.

We put a lot of pressure on ourselves today and I know we didn’t perform to the best of our ability but that’s part of playing the game. If you don’t play then you will never know what ups and downs there are. The pressure was also on because our American competition was in the morning group and honestly they crushed it. They posted a 1, 3, 3 this morning and we knew that meant that it was game on. We have to hand it to them, they seem to be at the top of their game and are peaking at the right moment. Being a sportsman we have to say congratulations to them, they have performed when it meant the most. They move up from 19th to 2nd today and we moved back from 34th to 42nd. With 3 races left before fleet splits this means that they have won and it looks like they will qualify the country for the olympics this go round as well.

We came down here knowing that anything can happen in sailboat racing and we were not ready to just give up and let them have it, and we still arn’t. We will go out and give the rest of the regatta our best, there is no other choice. As soon as we step on the boat that’s the mentality we take naturally. We were here to win against them, but it seems that they have won and now it’s time for us to finish up our regatta on some high notes and do the best we can.

Mark Ivey pulled us aside earlier this week to give us a pre game pep talk and one of the most important things he said was that we should go into this event knowing anything can happen, but most importantly go into it knowing how much Jonny and I appreciate each other and the friendship that we have shared over the past few years. We have raced together, lived together, eaten together, cried together, laughed together, and perservered together. Its been an emotional roller coaster, we have given this campaign everything we have had financially, spiritually, physically and that’s what doing an olympic campaign is all about. It’s about the destination of making it to the olympics of course but the journey that it takes to get there is just as important. We made it as far as you can, we were right on the cusp of it all and we will always be better men for it and what it has taught us.

Enough of that now, we still have a regatta to sail, and we wish Erik and Trevor the best of luck as true sportsmen should. I want to thank everyone who had a hand in molding us and supporting us over the years. We will carry you in our hearts as we finish this event over the next few days. You mean everything to us and it is incredibly touching to know that you have sacrificed so much and stood by our side for so long. Thank you and stay tuned for more updates as we finish out this event. Thank you.

Show that we are in 34th and only 10 points out of gold fleet with 6 races to go. Tomorrow is moving day!!

Well today came as a surprise. We all knew that the low pressure system to the north was going to make its way to Fremantle at some point today but we didn’t quite expect it to do what it did. We also didn’t expect the race committee to race us while lightning was striking all around us either, but hey this is Australia and we just figure they were expecting us to just pop a “man the f*%# up pill and get on with it so that’s what we did!!

We were slotted in the blue group for the day which meant that we would be in the afternoon start after yellow group went out and did 2 races. It was the race committees intention to do 2 yellow races, 2 blue races, then 1 yellow and then 1 blue.  So yellow got their 2 in and it was time for us to head out. We were a bit rusty in the first race with a bad start and missing the first 2 shifts leaving us trailing by a good ways at the first mark, we set the kite and made some gains downwind and seemed to catch another couple and staying in phase a bit better on the second upwind. Second downwind we didn’t gain or lose any and by the time we rounded the last top marks we had gained a few more boats and seemed to be dialed in a bit better. We finished that race with a disappointing 22nd.

Race 2 was a bit better for us, we still had a tough start and got shot out the back a little but tacked back out onto port with a good clear lane and in good pressure. We were looking at a top 10 mark rounding but right at the last second and about 10 boat lengths to the mark a huge left shift came in and we were not laying the mark anymore so we had to tack out and duck a bunch of starboard tack boats and ended up rounding about 15th. We held this position into the leeward mark. The second upwind was a little tricky and we played the right side and of course the top left came in again and a couple boats passed us. Mexico was just ahead of us at the top mark and rounded with another Aussie boat, they had some sort of tangle up and Mexico ended up flipping right ahead of us right as our spinnaker filled, the skipper jumped out of the way of his crashing boat but didn’t see us right behind him and literally jumped in front of us doing about 18 knots, Charlie quickly got off the wire and into the boat and we bore away just as he was resurfacing and we also decapitated him with our wing, pretty amazing he wasn’t injured!!! We fought hard for the rest of the race and gained a few places back to finish 16th and a keeper for us.

So now it was time for Yellow fleet to have a race and they were leaving the harbor to our course. We were instructed to not head into the harbor but just wait for them to get their race off. And if anyone knows about skiff sailing, just hanging out in a 49er in 15knots of wind for an hour burns an incredible amount of energy. We tried to seek shelter in the channel behind the breakwall but it was so shifty that it was almost more work trying to keep the boat balanced in there than out in the waves and wind. During yellows race there was still a huge thundercloud offshore and inland on both sides of us spitting lighting every few minutes or so. I would like to think that the race officer had a radar and knew that it was only inching towards us and not moving quicker than it looked, but you never know.

By the time yellow finished and we were back on the course area, the breeze was still incredibly shifty/puffy and unstable due to the storms all around us. But the most significant factor was the waves. The chop had kicked up so bad by now that it was making it difficult for us to just sail around. I would say they waves were 3-4 feet and confused as a washing machine. The amount of coach boats and media boats doesn’t help either and the breeze was somewhere between 18-22 knots I would say. So not too windy but man where the waves intense. We are talking SURVIVAL conditions where all you want to do is get around the track with the mast in the air and the bow out of the wave in front of you.

We had an ok start towards the pin end of the line and after a couple minutes were able to tack out in clear air out to the right. Unfortunately there had been a good shift to the right at the start which meant that we were sailing a headed tack out right but we were in clear air which meant we were going fast!!! We got out of phase again though when we tacked back on layline and the left shift came in at the top, we rounded not so good and knew that it was going to be an incredibly hard downwind not to flip or pitchpole. We survived the downwind and even made a few gains. On the second upwind we hooked it out right again and this time it paid big time. We must have caught 6 or 7 boats at this point and rounded in  the top half. Although it was such a big right shift that we should have gybed right away but we were a bit more concerned about not flipping and surviving at this point. So by the time we gybed in a flat spot we were severely overstood and actually had to take the kite down and reach up to the leeward gates to round. Not a good look. But luckily boats were flipping all around us and whipping out dramatically. We headed out right on the last beat and made a couple gains but nothing special. This time we knew we had to gybe set and made it but the breeze had gone so far right we still weren’t laying the finish. So again we had to douse the kite and reach up. After dousing we planted into a wave and by the time the water drained out of my eyes and nose I looked back to see Jonny as far away from the boat as he could possibly be, still clipped in his bungee cord was the only thing holding him to the boat. I quickly grabbed the tiller and as he swung back to the boat jammed it into his hand and grabbed the mainsheet and hit the trapeze. I think water is still draining out of his head and eyes. We survived this race with a 20th place, so a little disappointing but it could have been worse and we didnt break anything which is more than a lot of people can say.

So not the best first day ending in 39th place out of 70 boats but we are only 10 points behind 27th and are going to do everything we can to get up there tomorrow. There are 6 more races in the qualifying round and one discard so we are still on our way to qualifying in gold fleet (top 25) by Wednesday. Our American competition sailed very well today and we have to give credit where credit is due, they are currently in 19th place. Nothing is set in stone yet and this place can serve up a beating on them at anytime. Now its our time to stuff our faces and pack in some of that energy that we lost today. Keep on routing for us, its only just begun. Goldsberry/Smythe out!!!!!

The biggest event of our lives to date has arrived and we could not be more welcoming of the day. The forecast is for overcast skies and maybe some rain which means that the doctor might be out of the office but hopefully we get some good breeze in the afternoon. We are slotted for the second heat tomorrow which means that our start is a bit later in the day.

We are feeling well rested but somewhat restless to get into competition. This has been the longest journey for us and we have given everything to have this opportunity and we feel blessed to have made it this far. We couldn’t have done it without the help of countless people and you know who you are. This isn’t just an opportunity for us but for everyone who has shared a hand in our journey. Thank you for all you have done.

We were graciously invited by the Greek federation to join them for a splendid dinner tonight. It was wonderful to be a part of and included with friends we feel lucky to have. Since we are not part of the US Sailing team we have not been included or invited to any events with our country men since arriving in Perth, so to be welcomed by the Greeks means an incredible amount to us and shows what true sportsmanship is all about. We are here as true American underdogs willing to fight down to the last boat length for a chance to represent and qualify the country we feel proud to be a part of and not for some US Sailing sponsor or entity, but as true Americans. The land where opportunity is available to everyone willing to do their best as we have shown. You will all be in our hearts this week, giving us the courage make every race count. Wish us luck!!!

Was a glorious day in Fremantle today for all competitors and you can feel in the air the angst of all 49er sailors to start racing on Monday. We slept in a bit this morning and made another breakfast of champions before heading to the boat park. First stop off was at the measurement desk to say hello to our regatta mom Jerelyn Biehl and Give her a gigantic hug, so wonderful to see her always. She had a surprise for us in the form of some super pimp full plane rash guards, so we will be looking good and smelling good too!! Second stop was registration desk to officially check in and get our sailing instructions and regatta swag. There are now 1500 sailors all sporting the same zhik backpacks which might get a bit confusing so I think we are gonna just keep them in the plastic for now and just stick to our team packs supplied by patagucci. Thank to Mrs Thomas to making registration so easy once again. Finally made it back to the boat park to start disassembling our whip for measurement.

As always things were running a bit behind and of course there were the euros trying to cut in line before their allotted time slots but no difference to us, it was all going to get done. You can’t get too amped up in the boat park or else you just look like a goon blabbing on in some language no one understands anyway, especially down here. As always Barry Johnson runs a tight ship when it comes to measurement. It’s hilarious to hear him call out the teams that always try and fudge things a little, like they are smarter than him and he hasn’t seen people do the same “tricks” over and over.

Our boat had never been measured before and we are using a bowsprit that has been grandfathered in, only about 100 were made that are lighter and stiffer, thanks to 1054 and Zach and Dalton:-) so we were anxious to see where we were at. Unsurprisingly we came in under but 1.7kilos is not a small amount. Boats are supposed to weigh 94kilos. But we are atleast happy to bot have it sitting in the bow since pitchpoling is of great concern here in Perth. One rogue wave an your swimming with the sharks, literally!!!

So rig check complete and measurement complete we are ready to hit the water tomorrow for a shakedown sail, and hopefully the doctor will be in the office with us. It came in somewhat late today so we will see. Forecast for Monday is slight showers and a bit lighter but then building for the rest of the week. So sailing tomorrow then Sunday we have arranged with the Austrians to borrow their golf clubs and go swing a few to blow off some steam and decompress a little before racing begins Monday!! We couldn’t be happier and we hope everyone back home is crossing their fingers for us. Think good starts then higher and faster thoughts for us.

Goldsberry/Smythe out…….

Well it was nice to sleep in this morning. We haven’t been able to do this all week, one because of no air conditioning and the sun rising at 5 am and two because we have been training so hard!!!!

We woke up to cloudy skies/rain and it hasn’t stopped all day!!! Supposedly it only rains here 3 days in a whole summer!! So we opened up the doors to our house for putting country flags on our brand new mainsails, and have tediously been applying flags and sail numbers. Tomorrow should be a great day to try them out before racing starts on Monday!!

Made a trip to the grocery store and had the power go our about half way thru shopping and have returned home to books and movies for the rest of the day. Hoping everyone back home is happy and well, we will let you know as things clear up:-)

We had a great day training yesterday. Since the other 5 fleets are racing this week and we are racing next week, we have a small area near the beach to train in. About 30 boats made it out for some exciting racing. We took the first 30 minutes or so to get tuned up in the offshore breeze, which tends to be extremely up and down in pressure and all over the map as far as shifts. Anytime it’s blowing 15+ knots tho we have a some great rides!!! Once we felt we were up to speed we joined in the racing and got a feel for what the course was like. Seemed to be big shifts and pressure building off the beach but also some big shifts out of the left side. This was great practice for lane management and staying in the pressure. Keeping our heads out of the boat and going full speed were out goals and we seemed to achieve both of these. In the last race there was a 90 degree shift to the left and the rain squalls that were building offshore started moving onshore so we decided to break for lunch feeling good about our 3 hour sesh.

After lunch and a little bit of rain the conditions seemed incredibly unstable and light. You could just feel the humidity and pressure in the air. We decided to can it for the day. Which turned out to be the right move in the end.

Matt Jahn invited us up the river to the mounts bay sailing club for a special event called the “cock of swan”. This is all out drag race of an event. Pretty much bring the fastest boat you think you have and send it around the course, one start, one race, and one winner. It was a mix of 49ers, 29ers, 14ft skiffs, 16ft skiffs, and 18fters. We were invited out on a foundation 36 to watch/egg on the racers in fine Aussie fashion, which included having a few beers, oysters and good fun with friends. By the end of the race we were all incredibly glad we were not racing because about half way thru the race the breeze completely shut off and boats were literally going backwards and heroes became zeros very quickly, after a shorten course change and a small amount of pressure filling back in, the 18fters were champions and were in much need of fluids!!!

Its amazing how much fun and how many skiffs the Aussies have down here and we are grateful for all of our new friendships down unda!!

We are now going to take a few days off and hydrate!!! We have country flags to put on our new sails and sail numbers to do so we can try out our new rags on Wednesday. Looking forward to racing soon!!

Thank you to everyone back home who made this possible and rest assured we are doing everything we can to make this event a success!!

Well this morning was the official opening ceremonies where all athletes were loaded onto ferries in Fremantle and driven up river to downtown Perth. We all disembarked at the Bell Tower in Perth and were asked to congregate in an open field with other athletes from our countries. Since we are not officially members of the US Sailing team we were the only US team to not be in official blue US Sailing shirts and not invited to take the team picture with the rest of the team which we felt a little weird about but hey we got here without their help so it really doesn’t matter to us that much and just goes to show how much support US Sailing shows to teams from our country. We are even the only US team who has to pay our entry fee for this event.

It was fun walking thru the streets of Perth with our friends and getting cheered on by people in the streets. It was a bit warm but thanks to our investment in some shady sombreros we were comfy!! the people of perth seemed very receptive to our ceremony and that goes to say every local we have met since arriving has been super nice to us and we have been well received. That could be a genuine sense of hospitality or because of the fact that the event is flooding the local economy with thousands and thousands of dollars.

We still don’t start racing until the 12th and we are sharing a boat park with the Finns who are racing this week which means that we have limited training times and even limited training space on the water for all classes not racing this upcoming week. It’s a little frustrating and seems that some aspects of this event were not as well thought out as you would think. We are looking to spending as much valuable time on the water as we can over the next 10 days and even plan to take a few days off to recover before the event starts.

We are also moving into our housing for the event today and we can not thank the McCrackens enough for putting up with us over the past few weeks. Don, Kelly, Jack and Tom have just been amazing and have saved us vast amounts of money for this event. It will be nice to settle into our new spot and have a bit more space to zone out in when we get home from our long days.

Forecast is for more hot days ahead, it’s been in the 90′s over the past few days so we have been training early and seeking shade in the later part of the day, the pool at the McCrackens has been our savior!! Each of us is drinking at least 6 liters of water a day and trying to stay hydrated, which you can’t seem to do enough down here!!

We are hoping the best for everyone back home and we are thinking of you as you are thinking of us. As always your support means the world to us and we can not thank you enough!