Hugh Styles

Team Styles and Piggott claim a podium position at Dutch f18 Nationals

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:31:56 GMT

2nd overall at the Dutch Nats was a great way to end the international 2008 F18 racing season, after a great worlds in Spain earlier this year coming 5th.

Hugh Styles and Adam Piggott reaffirmed their winning ways in the breeze as they claimed 2 of the 7 races as out right victories over the rest of a strong 50 fleet of F18’s sailing from Medemblik Holland.

Racing was this weekend Saturday and Sunday. With the wind Easterly at between 13 and 20 knots,it provided some great conditions for sailing F18’s. With brilliant blue sky, sun and windy conditions, both days were near perfect for the event.

The team won the 1st and last races and, but for some bad luck they would have been even closer to nailing the title for the overall event.

This is the last of the international events which the team will do this season and it was great to finish on a high note.

Hugh commented” its been a great season sailing with Adam, we’e shown some blistering speed in the windier conditions. We had a few mistakes this weekend because we were a little rusty. Not having sailed since the f18 worlds in July. But the high’s like winning the races were really fantastic.”

There is one event left in the UK calendar in October the inlands. Other than that Hugh will be in Aus over the winter and will be doing some F18 racing down there.

Team Styles and Piggott want to thank all of their sponsors and supporters. Without their help this success would not have been possible.
Tacktick
Nacra Europe
Fat Face
Gill
Marlow Ropes
Sailing Networks

Team Styles and Piggott claim a podium position at Dutch f18 Nationals

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:31:49 GMT

Skippering iShares X40 Kiel

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 08:37:37 GMT

Wow what an event Kiel has been. It was fantastic to be performing to a crowd, fly by’s were great fun and it was great to have the crowd cheering us on as we raced round the turning mark just off the beach.

For the ishares team its been a tough event, as in so many races we felt like we had started well and were good as we came towards the first mark. But for a few reasons we struggled to convert this into actual results.

We had some good training before the event against team Origin. We thought we could gain more out of the rig setup, so changed this and unfortunately it back fired. Once we reset the boat we were much faster and easier to accelerate out of boat handling situations.

Day 3 of the regatta, the Sunday was the best day for us, with some good solid race results to start with in the first few races. This set the standard for us and we fought tooth and nail, in the 16th and 17th races where we had some bad luck, to keep climbing the leaderboard.

This got us to the final 18th double point race and all to play for. We won the start at the starboard end of the line and extended on the fleet. Coming into mark one we were in the lead, with JPMorgan second. An issue with the spinnaker furler cost us the lead and by the bottom mark we were on the heels of JPMorgan, with another 2 laps to go. We waited patiently for another lap and then pounced as they had a really bad leeward mark rounding, getting inside their line and then extending up the next 2 legs to cross the finish line as the clear winners of the last race of the regatta, double points and great to finish off the regatta on a real high note! One of the boys on the team commented “your only as good as your last race, so watch out in Amsterdam!!” as we crossed the line.

Thanks to iShares, and all the partner sponsors, without whom we would not have been here and would not have this fantatic event to race in.

All the best.

Hugh

Texel

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:12:05 GMT

Since last weekend Adam Piggott and I have driven the X40 to Hyeres for the next Extreme 40 event, and then travelled the length of Europe to come to Texel for the 31st edition of the Round Texel race, on Saturday the 7th June. The day was a mixed affair, with light offshore wind from the North East to begin with, and tide underneath the boats at the start. This pushed a big group of boats over the line early and a few black flag infringements were signalled. But for the Fat Face team, of Hugh Styles and Adam Piggott, they benefitted from the situation, with a near perfect start, and a clear lane off the line, they were with the leading boats for the first mile. The sea breeze started to kick in and made for tricky tactical decisions, either staying in by the beach with a good angle for the breeze, or going off shore for the building sea breeze. Hugh and Adam positioned well and rounded the first gate, first F18 with a 100m lead, they extended this to 200m by the next mark the VC bouy. The downwind did not go so well and the team were not able to maintain the lead and dropped, back. But put in a late charge through into the finish, when the wind increased in the last 5 km to the line. Finishing 10th the team were pleased and gutted all at the same time. Hugh commented “Through to the half way point we were sailing really well together and this maintained, but we just couldn’t get going on the downwind. The good thing is this regatta has given us lots of good training time and we feel we are right on top of our game on the boat. When we get to Vigo for the F18 worlds in 3 weeks time we will be well prepped and on fire, watch this space!!

All the best and many thanks to all our sponsors:
Fat Face
Nacra Europe
Gill
Tactick
Marlow Ropes
Towergate Mardon

San Francisco Extreme 40 sailing

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 11:41:06 GMT

I was in San Francisco last week, which is one of the windiest sailing venues i have ever been to!!

Great, but it did cause plenty of problems as i was there running a weeks worth of corporate sailing for iShares, as the Skipper of their Extreme 40.

San Francisco bay is amazing and the wind generally blows from the West through under the Golden gate bridge and down the harbour side, most days. usually with the wind speed of around 20-30 knots. fine if your sailing a laser, but when trying to sail an Extreme 40 catamaran which is one of the most powerful boats on the planet, it is rather problematical.

We had a great week with the 1st April a media and promotional day with the press, we were main line NBC 11 TV and in all of the major local papers, thanks to our friends at Ogilvy PR agency. Then we did 6 days of corporate guest sailing, out around Alcatraz and across the bay to Sausalito.

The team worked hard all week and id like to thank them for their efforts, Hugh Fletcher, Adam Piggott, Andrew Macphereson and Nick Moloney.

Now we have the boat in a container being sent to Europe and it should arrive in the first week in may for an event in Valencia. this will be the first chance to sail against the likes of Alinghi and other boats since last year in Amsterdam.

Thats all for now.

Hugh

Garda Centomiglia

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 19:35:00 GMT

Yesterday was the first time for me racing the centomiglia race100km of long distance
race on lake garda in the north of Italy. Wow what an amazing place, huge mountains
come down to the waters edge with sheer cliffs. At the top of the cliffs in one section
you can see some crazy Italians have built houses which perch atop the sheer cliff.

We raced in the most awesome of conditons, 25 knots on the nose just after the start
and steep chopppy waves which felt like brick walls to the iShares Extreme 40 I was racing on.

The conditions worsened as we went further up the lake, and all of a sudden the main halyard
blew and at the same time the jib sheet blew off the clew. Maybe game over but no we fixed it reefed
the main and off again.

This meant we could continue but had been a setback and lost us ground to the eventual winner
Tommy Hilfiger Extreme 40. The wind died through the rest of the race and we maintained our
position to the finish, and a 2nd for the first attampt for the Centomiglia regatta.

Not bad for a first attempt and lots more fun to be had if we do it again next year.

Ciao for now Hugh

Formula 18 Europeans Lake Como

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 19:52:07 GMT

Lake Como was a great location for the Formula 18 Europeans last week. The organisers did a great job with 14 races over 4 days, after we lost the first day of the regatta to no wind.

Sailing with Ryan Crawford as the Fat Face Team, we had a blinder of a week with several race wins to our credit and a host of 2nds. We found the conditions just to our liking with a mix of shifty and gusty northerly winds on the first day and then the southerly breeze kicked in for the last 3 days of the regatta and it was a get to the west shore for more pressure.

The sun shone and the wind blew we had a great time and no injuries for the crew this time (Ryan kept all his teeth in his mouth rather thn loosing some like he did at Texel when he bit the front beam).

The Nacra Infusion was great and we felt fast all week and this combined with a bit of punchy starting and some good positioning everything came together well.

We went into the last race day with all to play for, a point off the lead. Unfortuantely we were scuppered on the second and third races just off the start line and this hampered us a lot. We finished the last day with a solid 5th place in the last race.

This put us in 2nd overall, really pleasing and a great way to finish off the second major F18 regatta of the year after the F18 worlds in AUS in February. Just as good was that our fellow Nacra Infusion team mate Mischa Heemskerk and Sebastian Tentij won the event, big up Team NACRA!!!

Marseille X40 Hughs team podium

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 21:14:12 GMT

Today the first day for the iShares Cup Marseille Extreme 40 catamaran regatta.

I was tactician trimmer up and downwind and had plenty on. We had 15 knots in the early morning and this gradually died through the day and we ended with a 5 race series with us finishing the day in 3rd position overall with Sunday and Monday to go. Another 10 races planned and all to play for!!!

We are pleased so far and fired to don better tomorrow as we had a few elements of our racing game which needed improvement for this regatta. Namely the starts and this has been a whole lot better than in Munich.

I was calling the shots and enjoyed it very much with the guys Nick Malone (Vendee Globe yachtsman), Seb Josse (ABN Amro 2 fame), and David Carr of Victory Americas cup challenge. Now looking forward to tomorrow and the fun starts at lunch time.

Styles and Crawford win Texel Dutch Open

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 07:16:02 GMT

On Friday June 22 2007, the British Fatface-team Styles/Crawford won the Texel Dutch Open after an exciting conclusion. In the end, the gap to Dutchmen Heemskerk and Tentij was only half a point. The British F18 Capricorn duo Gummer/Burke were third. The Open Class I showed new leaders, as both F18 Nacra Infusion teams Huntelman/Van der Kamp and De Koning/Van Leeuwen took a bullet. Thanks to a moderate south-western wind, the course was laid out along the coast, which gave a good view for the people on the Texel beach. They witnessed the battle against the current while beating upwind. The consideration whether to choose for less current or more pressure, made it an exciting game. In the very last race, Hans Primowees was finally beaten once in the Open Class II. He finished second after the British Nacra 500 of Luke and Adam Butler, but he won the overall series. Later in the afternoon, Heemskerk and Tentij won the TNG Short Track Races.

Dutch Open day 1

hugh@hughstyles.com (Hugh Styles) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 20:52:34 GMT

Today was the first day of the Texel Dutch Open, this is the regatta just before the round Texel Race this weekend.

We were onfire won both races today, sailing the Fat Face boat. Racing was postponed for 3 hours and so we went out and did 2 hrs of training with our Nacra Infusion team mates Mischa Heemskerk and Sebastian Tenji. This really paid off as once the racing got underway at 4.30pm we has very good speed.

We started really welll, punchy some might say, but then sailed conservatively which worked to our advantage, taking places in race 1 and leading from the front in race 2.

Looking forward to another good day tomorrow.

Ciao for now.

Hugh