Croatia – Csóka László

Wind, Waves, Currents, Opatija

Posted on March 6, 2017March 6, 2017 by csokasails

Our trip to Opatija can’t be more different than that I thought it could. Before the competition I saw some forecast and it seemed we will have great wind on the first day almost B rig conditions, on the second day just a little breeze. Even so we had great wind speed conditions for both days, we could use the A rig, there was no need for B. In these conditions we are used to water without big waves.

This time we had really big waves because of special weather conditions around Opatija. The Hungarian guys have never competed on waves anything like this, so it was so much fun for us. It also meant that we struggled in the first part of the race with the boat set up. Also there was big current on the course so it was tricky for us too.

Photo: Kucsera Balázs

For me it was the same, and on the first day I tried to find the right set up but I didn’t reach my aim. My boat was instable and slower than the top competitors. Second day I pulled to top of the mast a little bit forward and I put more tension on the backstay. Finally I reached quite big stability and also speed. I enjoyed racing so much on the second day. That doesn’t mean that I was great also in racing. 😃 I made lots of mistakes so my performance wasn’t better than the previous day with a slower boat and less mistake. In total I think me and the Hungarian sailors learnt a lot about big wave racing and about the boat set up in these conditions.

Thank you for the organizers from the Opatija Sailing Club, we enjoyed the competition really much despite the weather conditions. We plan to compete here again next year!

The final results:

Live your dreams!

Csóka László

Tricky Rijeka

Posted on March 14, 2016March 14, 2016 by csokasails

Yesterday we arrived back home from 22nd Rijeka’s Regatta. I’m really happy now because I was able to reach my goals. Much more than I expected.

In my previous blog post I wrote about what were my two aims for this Regatta. First I wanted to gain some speed in stronger conditions because I worked hard previously to figure out why I struggle when the stronger wind appear. Fortunately I reached this aim, on the second day with B rig I didn’t feel disadvantage in my boat speed compared to others. More tension on the shrouds brought the expected result.

My other goal was to finish in top 5. I had never finished better than 7th place on a croatian regatta. The conditions were tricky on this competiton, we had shifty wind all the time, lots of races were abandoned before the first mark because the wind shifted so much. In Hungary we usually have shifty wind conditions, I raced lots of times in these, therefore I didn’t feel bad about it. Honestly I enjoyed the races. Unfortunately this caused that we had just the qualification rounds, and can’t race in golden and silver fleet. The results finally based on the 6 qualification round results.

This time finally I was able to finish 4th in overall, I’m so happy about it! This is my best result ever in a croatian regatta.

For me the IOM spring season in Croatia is over, but I will surely compete there in autumn. Now I’m focusing on the 21. International Pichlingersee Regatta.

Here you can find the overall results: 22nd Rijeka’s Regatta results

Check Compass Magazin’s facebook page for pictures: Pictures on Compass Magazin

Thanks to my girlfriend for her support, and for the awesome pictures she photographed!

Thanks to the race organizers for this regatta! Next year I hope we will compete in Rijeka again!

Thanks to the hungarian team for their support, and for the awesome mood!

Live your dreams!

Csóka László

It’s Rijeka time now!

Posted on March 11, 2016March 11, 2016 by csokasails

I’m really excited, we will travel to Rijeka today. It will be the 22nd Rijeka’s Regatta and the last Croatian competition for me at spring time.

Last time in Rogoznica I was able to break through my boarders, I was able to reach my best result in the croatian fleet ever. Before that regatta I felt fear, because I thought I’m standind in one place. I worked hard to be better and better, but it seemed before Rogoznica it hadn’t got an impact. I think you know that feeling: One step forward, one step back.

This time I’m optimistic! Optimistic despite of the weather forecast, which says we will have storng wind on saturday and much bigger on sunday. I’m better in slow wind conditions and I also had set up issues in strong wind with my boat. I doesn’t feel confortable in these situations.

So why I’m so optimistic?

I worked hard in the last few weeks to make modifications on my rigs to reach more speed. I applied new fittings on my B and C rigs, and also pre-bended masts. I modified the points of the shrouds to a lower position, and also I applied an adjusable spreader (from Jelacic Sailing) on the B rig. I also put more tension on the shrouds on every rig. I think it they were so loose before, it also could have been the problem which slow me down in stronger conditions. This competition will be great to test all the upgrades.

I always set goals before competitions. This time I would like to finish in the first 5. Previously it was always the first 10 in the croatian fleet, but now I think I have to raise the bar, because last time in Rogoznica I broke through this aim. And of course I have other goals too as always: Learn, learn, learn!

Live your dreams!

Csóka László

Starting point

Posted on February 24, 2016March 2, 2016 by csokasails

I’m glad to say my english language site is now open. I hope you will enjoy the blog as much as I enjoy writing my impressions about RC Sailing in it. In the future I would like to show my RC Sailing life.

At this point I’m preparing for Rijeka IOM Regatta with Hungarian friends. We have 3 more weeks for preparing method. In Rogoznica I really enjoyed competing with the croatian RC sailors in January. For me it was the first time when I truly felt that the gap between me and them started to shrink.
In the first two days in slow wind conditions (we have lots of slow wind condition competition in Hungary) I was able to race with the top sailors and of course I was really happy about itt hat I was ont he 3rd place in overall after two days of competing, and the only foreigner in the Golden fleet of the Croatian Nationals.

On the third day of Rogoznica the wind conditions changed, the wind started to blow stronger and my great form disappeared. I lost some speed with the boat, and mentally I coludn’t control my races, everything happened much faster. Luckily it was a really instructive competition for me, I learnt a lot, and I was happy that I made my best result in Croatia ever with a 7th place overall.

After Rogoznica I thought much about my boats speed. My Kantun S was fast in slow wind conditions but when the wind became stronger (we used „A” rigs it wasn’t a need for „B”) it’s speed slowly melted. Now I’m triing to figure out what happened, in the hungarian fleet I usually don’t have boat speed problems in these conditions.

When I will have the solution for this problem I’m going to share with you immediately.

Live your dreams!

Csóka László