Looking forward. 2014.

So 2014 has kicked off with a busy schedule, I have already had a great time in Rio training and competing for the past 2 weeks and I am now waiting for my flight to Miami. December was very quiet with almost no sailing at all to try and refresh myself and get my motivation back up after a long season last year.

Overall I was close to achieving what I had hoped for and would have been happy with when planning at the beginning of 2013. I achieved my goal of top 12 at the European championships and also managed to reach a couple of top 10 medal races at the World cups which was something brand new for me. The only slight disappointment looking back was the final day of the Worlds in November, I went into the last race with the opportunity to finish with my goal of top 20 overall but picked up a poor race and finished 28^th. It could have gone either way and it was by far my best result to date at a senior World championship so I was not upset with the result. After some good time off and having got back in the boat in Rio I am really looking forward to making this year’s worlds count and it’s going to be an important one as it’s the first event to qualify your nation for the 2016 Olympic games.

Having finished training in Rio today, I am happy with how things are looking this early in the season. I haven’t felt rusty at all apart from a bit of fitness lacking which is all back up to speed now. I finished 3rd and 5^th in the two regattas I took in. It was nice to do some racing against some of the top guys in the World again. Both of the events were really interesting, a huge amount of tide on most of the course areas and more wind then I expected and had seen when we came over in August which is their winter. The tide effects are going to be key here and it will be really important to know what it does with all the channels and land effects as well. Saying that, it is a lot easier said than done here and can be very unpredictable!

For now it is time to get sorted in Miami with my boat and get back out on the water over the next few  days and try and get some lighter wind practice in ready for the Miami Olympic classes regatta in a couple of weeks time and also the OCR in Lauderdale just afterwards. The Miami OCR kicked off my 2013 to a good start so I am very much looking forward to going back!

The final leg – for the first half of the season.

Sail for gold Eurosaf regatta was to be the last event of the early season for me before a big break from racing until the Europeans in September. After Holland I managed to squeeze in a bit of time at home to prepare for the last push forwards before going into more of a training period. I then had a week of training down in Weymouth with the rest of the British team and a few foreigners. We had predominantly light winds but finished the camp with some big breeze and waves out in Weymouth bay.  Weymouth is somewhere I enjoy sailing and its now like a second home. Its nice to know where everything is and I was happy at this time of the year when I’ve been training and competing non-stop since October that we were at a familiar venue.

During sail for gold we had a mixture of conditions but unusually it was mostly light winds again with some very long days on the water. The first day with 7 hours on the water and only 1 race was hard to stay focused for, but things did improve. The format of the Eurosaf regattas means we have more races then normal and we did 4 races on the 2 middle days of the week. After 1 poor result and a disqualification for starting early I wasn’t looking too great after day 2 but managed to slowly crawl up the rankings after some good races and my 2nd international race win of the year. I qualified for the top 10 medal race on the last day of the regatta with the opportunity to move up to 8th if things went well. We had big breeze for the last day and were postponed on shore for a couple of hours. When the wind dropped enough, we were sent out and raced in 16-22 knots. I had a good start and boat speed up the first beat to round the windward mark in 4th. I dropped a place on the second lap but unfortunately made a poor decision and missed some pressure down the opposite side of the final run and dropped to 9th. I finished 10th overall in the end which I was happy with. I had felt as if something was missing and not fitting together in Garda and Holland but sail for gold felt more together and like things were clicking again. It was nice to finish the first part of the season on a high, not so much in terms of the result but because everything was coming back together.

I have been training in Weymouth the last couple of weeks and getting lots of hours in on the water and in the gym. It’s been very tiring so far but really I’m enjoying it. It feels like it has been a long time since I stayed in one place and trained for more than a couple of days so it’s been nice. I’ve got 4 more days training next week in Exmouth with the rest of the squad before heading home and having 10 days holiday. It will be good to let my mind unwind and let my body recover from all the hard training I have been doing but I’ll keeping active and trying to do some different activities. I haven’t had a proper week off from training since some time last year so I am looking forward to it. I’ve also got lots more to look forward to over the next few months. At the end of July I will be heading over to Rio for 2 weeks training to get a sense of the conditions where the 2016 Olympics will be held. It will be my first time to South America and I can’t wait to see what it’s like! After that I will have a few more weeks training before the senior Europeans in Dublin, Ireland. The next couple of months are going to fly but I’ve got lots of exciting times ahead!

What a way to finish a busy couple of months! A wet, windy and cold week in Holland has left me exhausted from the last two months but a nice point to take a break and have a few days recovering at home.

My hectic 6 weeks of sailing started in Hyeres, France where we had the third World Cup regatta of the year. We had mostly light sea breezes making for some tricky racing. I had some great starts and first beats over the couple of days of qualifying but was being let down by some downwind decision making. I qualified for Gold fleet in 23^rd position and with some consistent racing in the final series finished the week in 24^th. I wasn’t throwing any particularly special races in but always seemed to be in the mix and managed to eliminate having any bad races which had previously pulled me down in the rankings. I was really pleased with the result, I’d been working hard the last couple of years to improve in these light conditions and the work seems to be paying off.

From France I headed straight to Lake Garda in Italy to get training again ready for the Eurosaf regatta we had the following week. I did a lot of cycling as I was trying to get back into shape after a quiet period due to my wrist injury. I also got some good hours in training on the water in the famous Ora winds which we never really saw the full force of until the sun came out properly during the regatta but still, we had some great conditions! I struggled to get into phase with what the wind was doing for the first couple of days and with only two days and a new race format I failed to qualify for the 25 boat Gold fleet. We missed a day’s racing due to no wind which cut down the opportunities to jump back up the rankings but I did my best to make the most of the final days racing we had. We had three races in what were some of the craziest conditions I have ever raced in but they were all great fun! I finished the regatta in a disappointing 32^nd. Nothing seemed to click for me this week and I just put my priorities in the wrong places which left me missing the gain feature on the right hand side of the course. For me it was great practice though as this is the type of sailing I struggle with.

I stayed in Garda an extra couple of days where we did a bit of speed work and a long downwind session which was cool. From here I flew home to take a few days rest before heading back out to Medemblik, Holland for the last stint of my European trip for a couple of months. I was hoping to get on the water for a quick sail the day after I arrived but the wind and weather didn’t play ball so it was straight into racing the following day.

I opened my regatta with a poor result but managed to pull a string of consistent results together and scrape qualification for the 25 boat Gold fleet. Over the next 6 races I had some big ups and downs but didn’t have enough to pull up the tough fleet. It was weird and different racing with only 25 boats but it bought back the satisfaction of making Gold fleet again so was pretty cool. I finished the week in 24^th position, nothing special but a consistent series and another confidence boost for myself knowing I can race in and around the top 20 in a range of conditions.

Home time! I arrived home a couple of days ago and will be taking some time off out of the boat this week. I have been very tired from the amount of sailing and will now focus on trying to refresh for the next couple of months sailing. Next week we have a few days training in Weymouth before Sail For Gold regatta, can’t wait to get back down there after all the constant travelling!

Princess Sofia World cup regatta - 9th overall!

I arrived in Palma, Majorca a week early for the Princess Sofia regatta to get on the water and become familiar with the unique conditions there. I had a couple of great days training and was feeling confident with my speed and racing skills but managed to get tendonitis in my right wrist from all the rowing I had been doing. I was forced to sit on shore for the rest of the time up until the regatta started in order for to give my wrist the best chance. I was lucky to be able to see the team physio who strapped it up for me every day of the regatta to keep it solid which decreased the pain I was feeling hugely.
Day 1 was tough, 20-25 knots and huge swell made it a day of survival, reducing the risks around the course and staying upright! I didnt manage to work these key points out and scored a 23 and a 12.
Day 2 was a lot better for me. It was lighter and I managed to stay dry! I was showing good boat speed upwind but lacked the confidence to push the boat to its max on the downwind legs. I managed a 7 and 13 to jump up to 24th overall.
Day 3 was the lightest wind we had so far. With around 8 knots of breeze, it was all about a good start and staying in phase with the shifts. This was pretty tricky with the unpredictable wind we had. I had a poor start in race 1 where my only option was to go right for a clear lane. Unfortunately the wind wound left and every boat to the left of me was ahead. With such a big fleet it was hard to gain places and I scored a 42. In race 2 I managed to play the shifts up the right hand side to round in the top 20. I swapped places a few times to eventually finish 17th. Enough to maintain my position overnight.
Day 4 was the first day of the Gold fleet final series. It was an important day as we had only carried our qualifying postition through and so points were extrememly tight, not to mention we had 3 races that day! Race 1 was all about the start and boat speed up the first beat. I rounded mid teens and managed to work my way through the fleet with some good decision up the second beat to finish 4th. I priortised getting onto the lifted tack straight away in race 2 along with some other big names and we headed out to the right hand side on a port lift. We were looking in trouble until the top 1/4 of the beat where the wind shifted right. I had a great angle back to the mark and rounded inside the top 10 where I maintained and eventually finished 6th. In race 3 I had a good start at the pin end but was unable to tack and get back to the middle of the course. There was a bit of a right shift half way up the course which didnt favour me but I managed to win the left hand side of the course and lead a big group of boats into the windward mark. I took a couple of places on the first downwind leg then held on to finish 19 which moved me up to 7th overall.
Day 5 gave us 7-10 knots. It was very shifty to start with and in race 1 there was a big right hand shift with lots of extra pressure. I was lucky to have started near the starboard end of the line and so rounded the windward mark in about 20th. The fleet had been stretched out because of the big shift and was pretty spread out. I fought hard and kept attacking but didnt manage to make any gains and finished 21st. We had a bit of a delay before race 2 because of some big shifts but eventually got going. Just before go there was a big shift left and everyone tacked onto port imediately. I lead the boats who had started at the pin end and worked my way across the race course, when all the boats came together at the top mark I was leading and managed to hold this to the finish. This was my first Gold fleet race win and qualified me for the top 10 medal races the following day.
Day 6 was windy again, but being closer to the land it was a lot shiftier then the previous days. In the first of the 2 double point medal races I worked the shifts up the left hand side of the first beat and rounded the first mark 3rd. Unfortunately I capsized when a big gust hit me and dropped to the back, eventually catching 1 boat to finish 9th. In the second of the 2 races we had an individual recall at start time. I was ahead of the boats around me and so went back to the line with the French boat to make sure I wasnt disqualified. I managed to claw my way back to 6th in order to finish 9th overall. A few little mistakes cost me a couple of places overall but I was chuffed with the week! I have now moved up to 12th in the World rankings and looking forward to getting my wrist better before Hyeres.

Heres a picture from the medal racing.

Website visibility?

Trying to work out if this is going to my website or not?

My first blog.

I am trying out a few new things and thought a blog would be a great way to keep everyone up to date on where I am and what i'm up to when I abroad. It could be a slow process to begin as i'm not very good with this kind of thing but it should keep my website a bit more up to date!