Scott Hansen

In 2013, that's when I came to think that if I worked at sailing, I might get somewhere with it. I started doing club races every other week, racing in a team with my dad on RS Visions or Topper Omegas. Then one of the senior members of the club introduced me to the Laser. After just a few minutes sailing it, I fell in love with that boat. I trained every weekend, racing or just sailing, I was maximizing my performance every race and improving.

 

In March of 2014, the sailing club was invited to a Optimist/Laser 4.7 regatta in Tokyo Bay, Japan. When I heard about the news, it really made me remember where I started and how I got to the place I was at the time. The club got Xu Lijia, the London 2012 Laser Radial Gold Medalist, to come train us for one day. She gave me little tips as simple as where to sit on the boat in different wind conditions and how to pull in the main sheet more effectively. At this point, there was no turning back. I went on to race in Japan in the International Friendship Regatta, 3 days of intense sailing, with conditions ranging from 20 knot breezes with 2 meter waves to 1-2 knots of wind and 0.1 meter waves. The experience of sailing in the vast variety of conditions was more mental than physical, thinking of when the best place to tack was or if I should tack right at the mark or head to the mark on starboard. When the regatta came to a closing, the results were announced and I didnt do as well as I planned. I ended 15th out of 18th due to a lost protest against a talented Japanese sailor. I was invited again to the annual regatta in Japan for the next year's event.

 

So for my first event of the year, Hong Kong Race Week which was in February of 2015, I hoped to end the regatta in 10th place out of 18. So I trained a lot for this regatta. I chose the windiest days at the lake to go to train. When I got to Hong Kong, I went straight to the sailing center and went out for a practice sail. The conditions were really nice, it was sunny and the wind wasnt that strong. Then the next day was the practice race, I placed 4th in that race. I picked the side that had a bit more current but stronger wind and clean wind. In the end, it was an overall good choice. So the next day was the first day of racing, the wind was about 20 knots with gusts hitting 30. In Shanghai, we never get winds this strong so I just tried my best. During the first race, within 50 minutes, I had capsized almost 10 times, along with quite a few other sailors. After that 50 minutes of really tough sailing, I felt a pull in my back muscle. It was quite a sharp pain so I headed in. That day, I got 1 DNF and 2 DNS's. That killed my overall score, all I hoped for at that point was to get back and finish in 15th place or something. Then the next day was perfect for me, the wind was light. I got out there and the first race started, I picked the same side as the practice race, which this time happened to have no wind and stronger current. That decision put me close to the back of the fleet. I ended that race in 12th place. Then after the first race, we waited for about 30 minutes and the wind completely died. They towed us around the area to try to find wind but we couldnt get much. Then finally, they towed us in. The next day was completely canceled since there was no wind at all. They sent us home at about lunch time after waiting for 4 hours for the final verdict. The last day of the regatta arrived, with winds ranging from 6-8 at the beginning, then ended with 20 knots of breeze. We completed 3 races, I got a 13, 12, and a 14. This regatta was a great learning experience for me. I learned lots about ocean sailing and a lot about tactics. Thank you to the organizers!

 

For 2015, I plan to attend a few more regattas around Asia and hope to get a better ranking!