Peter Cope August Update

On Thursday, 1 August I arrived at Sandefjord Seilfiorening (Yacht Club) near Oslo, Norway for training prior to the WASZP World Championships. The boat park (where all the sailors hang out) was located on an island in the middle of a beautiful fjord. My friend Roo and I got two good days of training to warm up for the Championship.

The first day of the Norwegian Nationals the wind was too light to begin racing - leaving us (the fleet) waiting on the water for eight hours before we finally completed 4 races in very nice conditions. I was struggling with the set-up of my sail but I managed to get the tuning right eventually but it cost me a good position on the leaderboard. I managed to tune the sail perfectly after the second day but I finished at 32nd place in a 90 boat fleet feeling like I could’ve done better but feeling confident ahead of the games.

After a rest day, where I went cliff jumping, the WASZP World Championships 2024 began on the Tuesday. There were 180 boats from all over the world competing. The format was two days of qualifying to split the fleet to gold and silver fleets, then three days of final series racing. My first race was excellent finishing at 11th place, followed by 21st and 31st spot in consecutive races. The next day I had three races and finished consistently around 20th place but in the last race of the day I was involved in a collision - it was pretty scary with closing speeds of over 25 knots, but luckily there was no damage. After completing the qualifying races, I got into the gold fleet. 

At the midway point of the regatta we compete in the alternative racing formats, we started with a slalom series. Slalom is a reach (across the wind) followed by a downwind gybing between four marks, similar to skiing. I was early to start by one second, and so I had to drop back and start behind the fleet and didn’t progress to the top fleet. However there was a second tier for those who didn’t get into the top fleet and I finished 6th, placing me at 46th place overall. 

Then we started the distance race which was all 180 boats crossing behind a rib in a gate start. I started well and was in 3rd place approaching the halfway mark, with the boat going really fast relative to others, but then disaster struck and a part of my boat stopped working making it very hard to sail. I limped on and managed to get to the finish in 37th place.

Back onto conventional racing and the wind was blowing strongly. My first two races were pretty average but for my last three I nailed all three starts putting me right at the front bringing in three results around the top 10 boosting me right up the leader board. I finished final two race at 14th and 20th place.

My final position was 31 out of 180 overall. I was also the 4th British sailor out of 15 and the top British Youth sailor.

This a result I am pleased with as I have had a lot less time to train compared to the rest of the fleet as I’m studying for my A Levels but I am left wanting more as I know I can do much better. 

I’m looking forward to the UK National Championships which begins on Thursday 22 August at the National Sailing Academy at Portland and then hopefully a couple of European Cup circuit events such as Croatia and France to end the year off.