Since the World Championships in Portugal, I've had some time off which was needed! Time off was a great way to unwind and get re-focused on the work ahead that I need to do in order to ensure that I am the one going to the Olympics for Canada. Since my last post I've done two more competitions, both of which were in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
The first regatta was CORK at the end of August, which was a very different kind of racing compared to the worlds. I was finding it very difficult with such a large fleet, with people of all different skill levels, to get off the line at the start. Apparently I wasn't the only one since there were several general recalls and false starts through the whole week. The sailing there was quite light and shifty, but it paid off on most of the days to just be patient with the shifts and wait for the right time to get into the new wind. I ended CORK in 8th place overall out of 166 boats. I felt like this result was fairly good, but I felt like I wasn't sailing very well most of the time. It was a bit frustrating, but I did work on my starts and I was able to get a few good ones in there, which is always nice!
Just last weekend I was in Kingston again for the Kingston Fall Regatta/Great Lake Championships, which was also our NQR (National Qualifying Regatta). This event was well attended this year and I found the sailing this time around much better than it was at CORK. The winds were a bit more steady, the weather was beautiful, the Race Committee did a good job and the fleet was very competitive. As usual it was still tricky racing and I thought I did a better job this time around of playing the shifts and getting in the pressure. Still I was struggling for some reason to get off the starting line, which is clearly something I need to work on this winter. I think it is just that I have been sheeting in a second too late on most of the starts. There were several races in this regatta that I was able to climb the fleet and finish in the top 5 or 10. Coming into the last day of racing, I was in 4th, Jen Spalding was in 3rd and Danielle Dube was in 2nd. We were all only a couple of points away from each other. Since I was furthest behind, I had nothing to lose so I just sailed fast and had a fun race and finished 1st. When I looked around me, I saw that the people who were in front of me were several boats behind me... that meant that second place was certainly up for grabs! I saw this as an opportunity to try and sail with a different strategy. In the past, sailing with points in my head just messed things up for me. I saw this as a time to try and place myself in a winning position based on points. Do I sail one of the girls to the back of the fleet? Do I cover as much as I can, or do I just sail fast and attempt to win the race. I figured out with the scores that I had already that I would win a tie breaker against both of the girls who I was close to in points. (this is decided by the number of firsts each sailor has in the regatta, then the number of seconds). I decided to start near both of them and just try and be in front at the end. It ended up being a funny race because all three of us were alwasy changing position amongst ourselves. In the end though, Jen sailed a very good downwind and put a few boats between us. I knew that I could let there be about 3 boats between us for a tie, and as long as I had Danielle behind me I was okay. I finished 5th in that race with Danielle two boats behind me. I ended up second overall, tied on points with Jen and only one point in front of Danielle! It sure was exciting!! I'm not sure I could sail like that every race, but it was good practice!
So now I'm back in Vancouver again. Just getting back to the grind stone here. I have five months until the Olympic Trials, so its just work work work until then. I won't be doing any major regattas until I head down to Australia in December for a month. In the meantime I will keep you posted on how things are going with my training! Its been getting really cold here in Vancouver lately and I don't think that I'm ready for winter! I'm going to try and get some photos of my training here in Vancouver to post here sometime before the end of this month.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Worlds done, Canada is IN!
This year's World Championship was my best Worlds ever!! I managed to finish up the regatta on a good note to finish 18th overall and 14th Nation, which means that Canada will be going to the Olympics in the Laser Radial Class in 2008!
Each day there was quite a bit of wind, and each day we were on a different course area. That meant that every day was never the same as the day before, which really made it quite interesting for everyone. After the first two days, when I managed to have a bad first race and a good second race, it was decided by my coach that I should go out a bit earlier and sail a 'mock race' to sort out the kinks so that I could sail a good first race of the day. Evidentally it worked for day 3! In fact, in the race that I finished 4th, I rounded the top mark in first... and here's proof!!
(photo courtesy of PTVela2007/JFF)
The Laser Radial class was the only fleet to sail on all of the five race areas set up for the event. On day 4, after a shocking morning where I managed to crack my head open... we sailed on course area 3. This was probably the craziest racing I've ever done. The winds there were SO shifty, with the wind ranging from 5 to 25 knots and with current cutting accross the course early on. The first race wasn't too bad, but the second one was completely crazy! (Race number 8) There were a few of us working up the race course in the middle to right hand side and though we weren't in the most breeze, we still looked okay... that is until the wind stopped completely on our side of the course. We literally stopped in our tracks and got to watch the entire fleet plane into the top mark! I don't think I'll ever forget day 4 of this years worlds!
Day 4:
Day 5:
Day 5 was going to see us back out on course area 5, but with the winds blowing upwards of 28knots and some major gusts measuring in at around 40knots there was no way anybody was going to race... unfortunately the race committee decided to wait until 6pm to actually call off the racing that day. I was actually quite nervous going into day 5 because it had finally hit me that I was doing pretty well. I was in 21st going into day 5 and for some reason I suddenly started to think about the results instead of just taking it one race at a time as I had been. It turns out it was probably for the better for me because with only one race left on day 6, I was just excited to go sailing and have fun. It took me the entire evening to get my head back on straight and realize that no matter what, I was happy with how I sailed this Championship and there was no reason to be nervous! Going into the final day of racing I was quite excited to race as the conditions looked a bit lighter and we were on the course that was the furthest away from shore, which meant that the winds wouldn't be as shifty as on the other courses, which is always nice. I didn't have my coach for the last day because she had a flight to catch, but I did my best to think of what she would say to me before the race and followed our usual plan to sail a practice race before the start. I'm happy I did that, but even still the conditions changed before the start and the breeze picked up. I sailed a good race and ended up 6th, which managed to bump me back into the top 20 and even moved me up in the rankings against the other nations. I was 17th nation and ended up 14th nation.
SO, what did I learn this event? I learnt that I actually CAN do it! I really had a terrible season early on and I was actually quite down on myself coming to the worlds. I didn't actually feel I was at a world championship when I got to Cascais, which was probably for the best. I simply sailed, and tried to learn something from each race, which I did! I really have to thank Tine Moberg-Parker and Katherine Wade for their support on the water. The coaching was fantastic! Thanks guys!
What's next?
I'm heading to Ireland for a few days before going home. My next event will be CORK Sail Kingston at the end of August. Other than that I'll just be in Vancouver for the next few months preparing for next years Worlds in Auckland. That's the big one as the top Canadian there will go to the Games.
(photo courtesy of PTVela2007/JFF)
Each day there was quite a bit of wind, and each day we were on a different course area. That meant that every day was never the same as the day before, which really made it quite interesting for everyone. After the first two days, when I managed to have a bad first race and a good second race, it was decided by my coach that I should go out a bit earlier and sail a 'mock race' to sort out the kinks so that I could sail a good first race of the day. Evidentally it worked for day 3! In fact, in the race that I finished 4th, I rounded the top mark in first... and here's proof!!
(photo courtesy of PTVela2007/JFF)
The Laser Radial class was the only fleet to sail on all of the five race areas set up for the event. On day 4, after a shocking morning where I managed to crack my head open... we sailed on course area 3. This was probably the craziest racing I've ever done. The winds there were SO shifty, with the wind ranging from 5 to 25 knots and with current cutting accross the course early on. The first race wasn't too bad, but the second one was completely crazy! (Race number 8) There were a few of us working up the race course in the middle to right hand side and though we weren't in the most breeze, we still looked okay... that is until the wind stopped completely on our side of the course. We literally stopped in our tracks and got to watch the entire fleet plane into the top mark! I don't think I'll ever forget day 4 of this years worlds!
Day 4:
Day 5:
Day 5 was going to see us back out on course area 5, but with the winds blowing upwards of 28knots and some major gusts measuring in at around 40knots there was no way anybody was going to race... unfortunately the race committee decided to wait until 6pm to actually call off the racing that day. I was actually quite nervous going into day 5 because it had finally hit me that I was doing pretty well. I was in 21st going into day 5 and for some reason I suddenly started to think about the results instead of just taking it one race at a time as I had been. It turns out it was probably for the better for me because with only one race left on day 6, I was just excited to go sailing and have fun. It took me the entire evening to get my head back on straight and realize that no matter what, I was happy with how I sailed this Championship and there was no reason to be nervous! Going into the final day of racing I was quite excited to race as the conditions looked a bit lighter and we were on the course that was the furthest away from shore, which meant that the winds wouldn't be as shifty as on the other courses, which is always nice. I didn't have my coach for the last day because she had a flight to catch, but I did my best to think of what she would say to me before the race and followed our usual plan to sail a practice race before the start. I'm happy I did that, but even still the conditions changed before the start and the breeze picked up. I sailed a good race and ended up 6th, which managed to bump me back into the top 20 and even moved me up in the rankings against the other nations. I was 17th nation and ended up 14th nation.
SO, what did I learn this event? I learnt that I actually CAN do it! I really had a terrible season early on and I was actually quite down on myself coming to the worlds. I didn't actually feel I was at a world championship when I got to Cascais, which was probably for the best. I simply sailed, and tried to learn something from each race, which I did! I really have to thank Tine Moberg-Parker and Katherine Wade for their support on the water. The coaching was fantastic! Thanks guys!
What's next?
I'm heading to Ireland for a few days before going home. My next event will be CORK Sail Kingston at the end of August. Other than that I'll just be in Vancouver for the next few months preparing for next years Worlds in Auckland. That's the big one as the top Canadian there will go to the Games.
(photo courtesy of PTVela2007/JFF)
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Gearing up for the Worlds
With the ISAF World Sailing Championships kicking off in a couple of days, everyone is getting the final preparations done on their boats. Coaches are arriving with coach boats, sailors are getting their boats measured and event organizers are seen more and more around the venue. There are tons of sailors here, approximately 1300 or so, and everyone had been assigned a space in the Marina here in Cascais. Its really quite impressive to see how so many sailors fit into this one space! It is only in the year before the Olympics that they host such a big event with all of the Olympic Classes in one venue at the same time.
The last few days I've been training and its been absolutely beautiful here. Nice strong breeze, fun waves and beautiful sunshine! I've been training a bit with Corinne, my Swiss training partner which has been good as ususal! She is really quite quick in these conditions so its been good to try and pace with her upwind in the strong breeze. Racing for the Lasers and Radials starts on the 4th of July and its going to be different this year! At this world Championship we are going to be changing race course areas each day, which will keep things interesting for everyone. Its been a bit of a challenge to sort out where exactly each race area will be, but we've been making educated guesses and its been incredible to see the difference in conditions between each course. The winds here may be strong, but they are certainly not steady. The wind is constantly up and down in velocity, very shifty and very difficult to predict. Not only this, but the wave patterns and current are completely different on each area as well. Each day is going to prove to be very different!
Today my coach will arrive and it will be nice to catch up with her and sort myself out for the event. I'm not planning on sailing for the next couple days so that I will be all rested up for the event. Today I came down nice and early to get all my stickers on my boat and to get measured in. Next thing on the agenda is to watch the Americas Cup Race at the local sailors spot! Everyday there is a Cup Race on, the local cafe's have their TVs set up to accomodate all the sailors here. Each day at 2pm the world comes to a halt for everyone to watch the Americas Cup! Today will be a big day for it as the Cup could potentially go to Alinghi if they win today!
Just F.Y.I.:
In terms of Olypmic Qualification, this years Championship will qualify 75% of the Olympic berths for the Games. It is then up to each country's Federation to decide what their Olympic Qualifier will be to decide who goes. For Canada, we need to qualify the country for a berth at the Games in 2008. IF, however, one of us finishes in the top 8 here and there is no other Canadian in the top 10, that person will automatically qualify for the Olympics. If this does not happen and we do qualify the country, then next year's worlds will be our Olympic Qualification... ie: first Canadian at the Worlds in 2008 goes to the Olympics.
SO... Wish me luck!!
I'll update you all through the event!
Please follow the results and other event news here: http://www.cascaisworlds2007.com/
The last few days I've been training and its been absolutely beautiful here. Nice strong breeze, fun waves and beautiful sunshine! I've been training a bit with Corinne, my Swiss training partner which has been good as ususal! She is really quite quick in these conditions so its been good to try and pace with her upwind in the strong breeze. Racing for the Lasers and Radials starts on the 4th of July and its going to be different this year! At this world Championship we are going to be changing race course areas each day, which will keep things interesting for everyone. Its been a bit of a challenge to sort out where exactly each race area will be, but we've been making educated guesses and its been incredible to see the difference in conditions between each course. The winds here may be strong, but they are certainly not steady. The wind is constantly up and down in velocity, very shifty and very difficult to predict. Not only this, but the wave patterns and current are completely different on each area as well. Each day is going to prove to be very different!
Today my coach will arrive and it will be nice to catch up with her and sort myself out for the event. I'm not planning on sailing for the next couple days so that I will be all rested up for the event. Today I came down nice and early to get all my stickers on my boat and to get measured in. Next thing on the agenda is to watch the Americas Cup Race at the local sailors spot! Everyday there is a Cup Race on, the local cafe's have their TVs set up to accomodate all the sailors here. Each day at 2pm the world comes to a halt for everyone to watch the Americas Cup! Today will be a big day for it as the Cup could potentially go to Alinghi if they win today!
Just F.Y.I.:
In terms of Olypmic Qualification, this years Championship will qualify 75% of the Olympic berths for the Games. It is then up to each country's Federation to decide what their Olympic Qualifier will be to decide who goes. For Canada, we need to qualify the country for a berth at the Games in 2008. IF, however, one of us finishes in the top 8 here and there is no other Canadian in the top 10, that person will automatically qualify for the Olympics. If this does not happen and we do qualify the country, then next year's worlds will be our Olympic Qualification... ie: first Canadian at the Worlds in 2008 goes to the Olympics.
SO... Wish me luck!!
I'll update you all through the event!
Please follow the results and other event news here: http://www.cascaisworlds2007.com/
Saturday, June 23, 2007
I was in hiding!
Its been a while since my last post.
Since the last post I was in the following places: Russia, Portugal, Holland, Home and now back to Portugal.
My trip to Russia was completely non-sailing related and was a fantastic break from the whole sailing scene. I got to see my brother, who is living out there for work. My sister also took some time off to make the trip out at the same time, so we had a great trip with the three of us for our first time ever. I got to see Moscow, St. Petersberg and Novgorad. Its a very neat place, with a lot of history!
This is a picture of the Hermitage in St Petersberg:
This is my Brother, Evgenia (his girlfriend), my Sister and I on a boat tour
After Russia I went directly to Cascais, Portugal. The venue for this years world Championships. I was there for 5 days of training, just to check things out and get an idea of that the place is like. It was certainly worth it as I feel a lot more relaxed now that I've returned. I was training in May with Nufar from Israel and Sara from Portugal as well as a couple of days with the British Team! It was good hard training with lots of wind for most of the days.
Photos courtesy of James Lucas
Holland was my last event that I did. This regatta, which is now called the Breitling Regatta (formerly SPA, formerly Holland Regatta) was yet another light wind event. That makes every regatta so-far this year to be light winds. It was very difficult for me, and I was getting extremely frustrated with my sailing. It did not help that I completely missed the first race of the regatta because I decided to tune up before the race and couldn't make it downwind in time for the sart due to a lack of wind. The rest of the regatta was a bit off after that. I don't even know where I finished there, but I had a couple decent races in the silver fleet... though I did not feel too good about being in silver fleet. The good news from that regatta is that Mike Leigh finished 3rd there, so that was really exciting!
Going home after Holland was such a nice feeling! It was so good to be back in Vancouver for a couple weeks... unwind a little and unpack. I was back in Vancouver for just over two weeks. I didn't do much sailing in that time, but I did hit the gym quite hard and got back on track with my fitness training which had slipped while I was travelling around everywhere.
This is a photo of me on my way up the Grouse Grind. I look happy, but my legs are burning and I'm dripping sweat! It was really fun, though I'm going to have to work on it so I can get under an hour! (for those of you who don't know, the grouse grind is a famous climb practically straight up a mountain in Vancouver. Its really beautiful!)
photos courtesy of James Lucas
Right now I'm back in Cascais in preparation for the world championships which start on the 4th of july. I will write another post tomorrow! Its late tonight, and I need my beauty sleep... or just sleep at any rate. Its supposed to be windy again tomorrow!
Since the last post I was in the following places: Russia, Portugal, Holland, Home and now back to Portugal.
My trip to Russia was completely non-sailing related and was a fantastic break from the whole sailing scene. I got to see my brother, who is living out there for work. My sister also took some time off to make the trip out at the same time, so we had a great trip with the three of us for our first time ever. I got to see Moscow, St. Petersberg and Novgorad. Its a very neat place, with a lot of history!
This is a picture of the Hermitage in St Petersberg:
This is my Brother, Evgenia (his girlfriend), my Sister and I on a boat tour
After Russia I went directly to Cascais, Portugal. The venue for this years world Championships. I was there for 5 days of training, just to check things out and get an idea of that the place is like. It was certainly worth it as I feel a lot more relaxed now that I've returned. I was training in May with Nufar from Israel and Sara from Portugal as well as a couple of days with the British Team! It was good hard training with lots of wind for most of the days.
Photos courtesy of James Lucas
Holland was my last event that I did. This regatta, which is now called the Breitling Regatta (formerly SPA, formerly Holland Regatta) was yet another light wind event. That makes every regatta so-far this year to be light winds. It was very difficult for me, and I was getting extremely frustrated with my sailing. It did not help that I completely missed the first race of the regatta because I decided to tune up before the race and couldn't make it downwind in time for the sart due to a lack of wind. The rest of the regatta was a bit off after that. I don't even know where I finished there, but I had a couple decent races in the silver fleet... though I did not feel too good about being in silver fleet. The good news from that regatta is that Mike Leigh finished 3rd there, so that was really exciting!
Going home after Holland was such a nice feeling! It was so good to be back in Vancouver for a couple weeks... unwind a little and unpack. I was back in Vancouver for just over two weeks. I didn't do much sailing in that time, but I did hit the gym quite hard and got back on track with my fitness training which had slipped while I was travelling around everywhere.
This is a photo of me on my way up the Grouse Grind. I look happy, but my legs are burning and I'm dripping sweat! It was really fun, though I'm going to have to work on it so I can get under an hour! (for those of you who don't know, the grouse grind is a famous climb practically straight up a mountain in Vancouver. Its really beautiful!)
photos courtesy of James Lucas
Right now I'm back in Cascais in preparation for the world championships which start on the 4th of july. I will write another post tomorrow! Its late tonight, and I need my beauty sleep... or just sleep at any rate. Its supposed to be windy again tomorrow!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
S.O.F.
This year's Semaine Olympique Francais was the most interesting one I've done so-far. This was my 5th or 6th time doing this event, and I've never seen so little wind in Hyeres. With the wind ranging from 0-7 knots for the first 4 days of racing and shifting at least 30-40 degrees all the time, it made for some tricky situations. Everyone had a shocking race at some point or another. I unfortunately had the opposite, with only one or two good races and the rest were shocking! It really was good practice for light wind racing and the racing was actually quite close most of the time. I was struggling, not so much with the light winds, but with the placement of myself against the fleet in these shifty conditions. You never really knew when the next shift would happen, or where the wind would die off first.
At any rate, I had some fun sailing in the breeze, even though I was in the silver fleet. In one of the races though I had the fun of having my outhaul come undone!! What a pain in the butt that is in 18knots to try and re-tie it! So I finished the race 3rd last. I had to have a sense of humor about it otherwise I would have been really upset. It was frustrating, but it wasn't the end of the world. The next race I came through and was going really well in 4th, and just on the last run before the reach to the finish, I capsized... lost about 4 boats and finished 8th. At least we got to stretch our legs on the last day of racing and get some hiking in for once!
Right now I'm in the Pyrenees Mountains with my good friends Mike and Kat. Its beautiful here and we've done some hiking and managed to make a day trip to Andorra. Its been really nice to get away from the stress of the last event and to unwind with the beautiful backdrop of the Pyrenees. We're leaving the area today, heading to Nice so that I can catch a flight to Russia to see my Brother! From Russia I will go to Cascais (where the worlds will be) for a solid 6 day training camp that I'm really looking forward to. It will be nice to see the venue and get an idea of what's to come. There will be lots of people to train with, so that will be really great.
I'll post some photos when I have a better internet connection!
Ciao!
At any rate, I had some fun sailing in the breeze, even though I was in the silver fleet. In one of the races though I had the fun of having my outhaul come undone!! What a pain in the butt that is in 18knots to try and re-tie it! So I finished the race 3rd last. I had to have a sense of humor about it otherwise I would have been really upset. It was frustrating, but it wasn't the end of the world. The next race I came through and was going really well in 4th, and just on the last run before the reach to the finish, I capsized... lost about 4 boats and finished 8th. At least we got to stretch our legs on the last day of racing and get some hiking in for once!
Right now I'm in the Pyrenees Mountains with my good friends Mike and Kat. Its beautiful here and we've done some hiking and managed to make a day trip to Andorra. Its been really nice to get away from the stress of the last event and to unwind with the beautiful backdrop of the Pyrenees. We're leaving the area today, heading to Nice so that I can catch a flight to Russia to see my Brother! From Russia I will go to Cascais (where the worlds will be) for a solid 6 day training camp that I'm really looking forward to. It will be nice to see the venue and get an idea of what's to come. There will be lots of people to train with, so that will be really great.
I'll post some photos when I have a better internet connection!
Ciao!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Pre S.O.F.
I'm just getting ready right now for the Semaine Olympique Francais. So far things have been going pretty well. I've been training with Corinne Meyer and Nathalie Brugger from Switzerland and its been really great to train with them!
This years event is going to be huge! There are over 200 laser standards registered and over 100 laser radials. I have no idea where they are going to put all those boats!! That's just two boat classes... there are heaps of other boats here too. This week they have also been trying out the new women's high performance skiff boats here. Its been really neat to be able to take a look at what might be available to sail in the next quadrennial. I haven't been able to try any of them myself unfortunately, but maybe in the next day or two I might be allowed to!
Last weekend Corinne and I took a break from our training to make a day trip with Kat and some of her friends. I had the honours of being the driver through all the tiny, sketchy mountain roads. We ended up at what is known as the "Grand Canyon of Europe". A Massive Gorge with the most amazing looking water and beautiful cliffs all around. It was certainly worth the drive to see it!
Racing starts this Sunday the 22nd! Check out the link to the right for regatta results and news.
This years event is going to be huge! There are over 200 laser standards registered and over 100 laser radials. I have no idea where they are going to put all those boats!! That's just two boat classes... there are heaps of other boats here too. This week they have also been trying out the new women's high performance skiff boats here. Its been really neat to be able to take a look at what might be available to sail in the next quadrennial. I haven't been able to try any of them myself unfortunately, but maybe in the next day or two I might be allowed to!
Last weekend Corinne and I took a break from our training to make a day trip with Kat and some of her friends. I had the honours of being the driver through all the tiny, sketchy mountain roads. We ended up at what is known as the "Grand Canyon of Europe". A Massive Gorge with the most amazing looking water and beautiful cliffs all around. It was certainly worth the drive to see it!
Racing starts this Sunday the 22nd! Check out the link to the right for regatta results and news.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Princess Sophia Regatta, done and done!
Well, the regatta is over. I ended up finishing on a good note, after a very sour note! On the first day of finals (Which ended up being our last day of racing) I finished with a first and a second. First from the back of the fleet in the first race, then second from the front in the second race! I figured it would be good to just see what it felt like to be on both ends of the spectrum! I qualified very last in the Gold Fleet and managed to climb 8 positions to finish 38th overall. I am happy that this regatta is over and that I had those experiences. It really is amazing how bad you can feel when you're last, and how exciting it can be at the front of the fleet. I prefer the front!
I've just arrived today in Hyeres, France with Mike Leigh and Kat Wade. We had a nice drive over from Palma. Now I'm going to start training here to prepare for the Semaine Olympique Francaise which starts on the 22nd. I'll post again before then!
I've just arrived today in Hyeres, France with Mike Leigh and Kat Wade. We had a nice drive over from Palma. Now I'm going to start training here to prepare for the Semaine Olympique Francaise which starts on the 22nd. I'll post again before then!
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Princess Sophia Regatta, the halfway point
This update is coming along halfway through one of the most incredible regattas I’ve done in a long time, and that’s not in a good way! So-far in this regatta (3 days) we’ve managed to get in 4 races. Let me tell you what that was like. On the 1st day, there wasn’t too much wind and it was shifty. We waited around for a long time and then got one race in. This wasn’t too bad because we started at 2. The second day, there wasn’t much wind and it was shifty. We waited around for a really long time and then got one race in; A bit ridiculous. Today…. Well, today there was a whole new level of “wow”. We launched at 11 for a 12:00 start. The wind was shifty again, but there was wind today. Maybe 30 degree shifts for the most part I’d say. I was in the Blue Fleet for the Radials and we didn’t even get our first start sequence until 5:30pm. There are words to describe how I was feeling (along with the rest of the radials) but they would not be appropriate for this blog! Somehow the race committee finally managed to get the swing of things after 5 hours and squeezed 2 races in at the end of the day. I got to shore no less than eight hours after I launched. WOW.
As for my racing so-far… besides feeling as though I was comatose in the very first race of the regatta, things are going okay. I am not really too happy with how I’m playing my shifts upwind, I think I have to keep my head out of the boat more, but my reaching speed has been good as well as my downwind, (except for the first race of course). It has been really shifty and the velocity of the wind has been up and down just as much. To stay in the breeze and on the lifted tack is the key to success, the problem I’ve been having has been deciding where to place myself and when to ‘dig’ into certain shifts. The other difficult thing has been the starts. The race committee is letting so many of the starts go, but occasionally they’ll catch some boats for starting early. Therefore the fleets are all pushing the line pretty hard, making for some extra long days. It doesn’t help though when the line is disgustingly biased.
Not everyone had a terribly frustrating day today though as my buddy Mike Leigh managed to jump about 40 positions to land in 20th after today. Not too shabby I’d say! Go Mike!
This is only the halfway point. I do believe that I have JUST qualifed for the Gold fleet which means that I can only go up from here. There are two more days of racing before the medal races. With any luck, the race committee will have learned how things work by now and we will be able to have some good old fashioned fun out there! Keep watching the regatta website for news and results! http://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/
As for my racing so-far… besides feeling as though I was comatose in the very first race of the regatta, things are going okay. I am not really too happy with how I’m playing my shifts upwind, I think I have to keep my head out of the boat more, but my reaching speed has been good as well as my downwind, (except for the first race of course). It has been really shifty and the velocity of the wind has been up and down just as much. To stay in the breeze and on the lifted tack is the key to success, the problem I’ve been having has been deciding where to place myself and when to ‘dig’ into certain shifts. The other difficult thing has been the starts. The race committee is letting so many of the starts go, but occasionally they’ll catch some boats for starting early. Therefore the fleets are all pushing the line pretty hard, making for some extra long days. It doesn’t help though when the line is disgustingly biased.
Not everyone had a terribly frustrating day today though as my buddy Mike Leigh managed to jump about 40 positions to land in 20th after today. Not too shabby I’d say! Go Mike!
This is only the halfway point. I do believe that I have JUST qualifed for the Gold fleet which means that I can only go up from here. There are two more days of racing before the medal races. With any luck, the race committee will have learned how things work by now and we will be able to have some good old fashioned fun out there! Keep watching the regatta website for news and results! http://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/
Monday, March 26, 2007
Looking back
I just wanted to post a link to my other Blog. I've manage to scrounge up a few old e-mails from the last 2-3 years for those of you who are interested! Please take a look!
http://keamiaoldupdates.blogspot.com
Thanks a bunch.
Just FYI, I am leaving to go to Palma de Mallorca tomorrow for the Princess Sofia Regatta! Expect an update from me while I'm there!
http://keamiaoldupdates.blogspot.com
Thanks a bunch.
Just FYI, I am leaving to go to Palma de Mallorca tomorrow for the Princess Sofia Regatta! Expect an update from me while I'm there!
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Cabarete Training Camp 2007
Cabarete, Domininican Republic is well known as a windsurfer's paradise. Well, its not only windsurfers who love the strong breeze and warm weather that place has to offer! This was my third time to the Dominican Republic, my second time to Cabarete and each time I never want to leave!
This year's Canadian Sailing Team Training Camp was 10 days long and though the weather didn't cooperate like it did last year, it was still a good solid training camp. In the Laser Radial Class we had Lisa Ross, Danielle Dube, Tory Crowder and myself all from Canada with Anna Tunnicliffe of the USA joining us for the first half of the camp. With Coaches Mark Lammens and 'local' coach Rulo we had some really great training in all kinds of conditions. The winds ranged from 5knots to 18knots sometimes with current, always with waves! Though the idea of this camp was to have a big wind/big wave camp in preparation for the worlds, the circumstances were probably better than expected because it really did go to show that you have to expect the un-expected, no matter where you are.
During this camp I worked on my body position in the boat, my hiking fitness (when there was enough wind) and just my overall technique in the challenging wavy conditions. It was really apparent that whoever was able to keep the boat powered up through the waves was going to come out ahead. I really don't think any of us were a lot faster than each other... it had more to do with the technique of powering through the waves. The best part of the training was being able to get lots of video of ourselves sailing. Sometimes things can feel funny in the boat and you can't quite put a finger on it until you have an external eye. The video debriefs really helped me to understand where I can improve on my sailing and also to show me where some of my strengths are that I wasn't aware of.
The other great thing about training in a place like Cabarete is that it is an outdoor playground! Some of the mornings we would all jump on 'moto conchos' (motor bike taxis) and head over to the local surf beach to catch some waves before we had to go sailing. I am by no means a good surfer, but it was still fun and challenging and a great workout... if you can handle getting pummled by waves! On our day off, I did both surfing and some windsurfing! I am still a beginner with the windsurfing as well, but I am quickly getting better which is really exciting.
It was nice to have some other things to try while training to keep active and make the whole training atmosphere a lot more fun.
On the last day of the training camp we were supposed to have a mini regatta. The Cabarete Classic 2007 had to be cancelled due to a serious lack of wind!! It was really unfortunate, but we still managed to make something of the day with a small game of beach volleyball and then much later in the day I went surfing with some of the locals. It was a fun way to finish 10 days of hard training!
I would like to thank all the staff at the Carib Wind Center for all their help and hard work in making this camp take place. Also thanks to Tommy Wharton and Mark Lammens for a job well done. And of course Rulo, the video camera guru... thanks so much for all your work with the camera and your excellent feedback in the debriefs.
Getting up to Speed in 2007
This is my first ever blog posting. I thought it would be appropriate to get everyone up to speed quickly! (for those of you who know me well, you will know that quickly does not really exist with me!)
I am campaigning for the 2008 Olympics (to take place in Beijing) in the Laser Radial Women's Single Handed Dinghy. I am sailing for Canada and I have been sailing full time now for about 2 years. It is fantastic, with lots of ups and downs, and a steady learning curve.
Here's how it works:
There is only one Olympic berth for these upcoming games in this discipline and I am up against several determined and hard working Canadian girls.
Our Olympic Trials will take place at the 2008 World Championships to be held in Auckland New Zealand in March 2008.
The first step involved is to qualify the country for the space at the Olympics. This will (hopefully) happen at this years ISAF World Championships in Cascais, Portugal in July.
It would take much too long to get everyone up to speed on the whole last two years, so since it is early in 2007 I thought it would be easy to start from January until now (March)
This year started, as usual, with a trip down to Florida. The main event was the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta which took place at the end of the month. The event was well attended and very challenging. I was sailing really well for the first two days sitting around 19th/20th. The third day turned out to be a crucial day in qualifying for Gold Fleet, and I managed to botch up everything by having two bad races. I missed the Gold Fleet by only a couple points and I was sitting in first place in the Silver Fleet for the finals. Disappointed, but not destroyed, I aimed to win the silver fleet. It was also my goal, though more for egotistical reasons than anything else, to lap some of the sailors in the gold fleet. Cheeky yes, but not impossible, especially since the wind got much stronger for the last two days of racing. I ended up laping some of the small sailors in the Gold Fleet in the first race of the finals! Yay! I sailed strong and finished the regatta in 1st place in Silver Fleet. So not all was lost. It is very frustrating to be in that position, but I did feel happy with how I sailed. I worked really hard on keeping my mind clear and just doing what I know how to do.
The next event was the Women's Single Handed North American Championships in Fort Lauderdale. This event was also fairly well attended with several of the international girls sticking around. This event proved to be quite interesting with the winds not cooperating much with the sailors! There was always wind for the event, but where it was coming from was anybody's guess! It was all over the place, and the race committee was really having a tough time getting some races finished because of this. With some frustrating situations, and winds that were really challenging I ended up 18th out of 41. Nothing too spectacular. It would have been exponentially more difficult an event if the Lewis Family had not opened their home to me and three other girls during the event... Superbowl weekend sure made it difficult to find hotels there!
The final Event of the January tour was the Laser Midwinters East Regatta in Clearwater Florida at the end of February. My Swiss training partner Corinne Meyer stayed along to train with me between the Ft. Lauderdale event and this one. We had three solid weeks of training leading up to the event with weather ranging from hot and sunny with light winds, to cold and stormy and windy. Our routine consisted of getting up, going to the gym for at least two hours, lunch, then sailing for at least another 2-3 hours. It worked quite well!
Laser Midwinters East was a huge event. This year was the first time ever that they had to split the fleets there. Both the Laser Standard Fleet and the Laser Radial Fleet were broken into Gold and Silver groups. I started out the event all right, standing around 18th after the first day. This event was the first time I have ever steadily climbed the results board. Each day I sailed a little better, and always was very consistent in my results even though the conditions changed dramatically. At the end of the event I finished 5th overall right behind my team mate Lisa Ross. I am very pleased with this result and I hope to keep up the consistency of my results in the upcoming events!
So that was the first round of competitions for this season! Stay tuned for more regatta updates.
I am campaigning for the 2008 Olympics (to take place in Beijing) in the Laser Radial Women's Single Handed Dinghy. I am sailing for Canada and I have been sailing full time now for about 2 years. It is fantastic, with lots of ups and downs, and a steady learning curve.
Here's how it works:
There is only one Olympic berth for these upcoming games in this discipline and I am up against several determined and hard working Canadian girls.
Our Olympic Trials will take place at the 2008 World Championships to be held in Auckland New Zealand in March 2008.
The first step involved is to qualify the country for the space at the Olympics. This will (hopefully) happen at this years ISAF World Championships in Cascais, Portugal in July.
It would take much too long to get everyone up to speed on the whole last two years, so since it is early in 2007 I thought it would be easy to start from January until now (March)
This year started, as usual, with a trip down to Florida. The main event was the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta which took place at the end of the month. The event was well attended and very challenging. I was sailing really well for the first two days sitting around 19th/20th. The third day turned out to be a crucial day in qualifying for Gold Fleet, and I managed to botch up everything by having two bad races. I missed the Gold Fleet by only a couple points and I was sitting in first place in the Silver Fleet for the finals. Disappointed, but not destroyed, I aimed to win the silver fleet. It was also my goal, though more for egotistical reasons than anything else, to lap some of the sailors in the gold fleet. Cheeky yes, but not impossible, especially since the wind got much stronger for the last two days of racing. I ended up laping some of the small sailors in the Gold Fleet in the first race of the finals! Yay! I sailed strong and finished the regatta in 1st place in Silver Fleet. So not all was lost. It is very frustrating to be in that position, but I did feel happy with how I sailed. I worked really hard on keeping my mind clear and just doing what I know how to do.
The next event was the Women's Single Handed North American Championships in Fort Lauderdale. This event was also fairly well attended with several of the international girls sticking around. This event proved to be quite interesting with the winds not cooperating much with the sailors! There was always wind for the event, but where it was coming from was anybody's guess! It was all over the place, and the race committee was really having a tough time getting some races finished because of this. With some frustrating situations, and winds that were really challenging I ended up 18th out of 41. Nothing too spectacular. It would have been exponentially more difficult an event if the Lewis Family had not opened their home to me and three other girls during the event... Superbowl weekend sure made it difficult to find hotels there!
The final Event of the January tour was the Laser Midwinters East Regatta in Clearwater Florida at the end of February. My Swiss training partner Corinne Meyer stayed along to train with me between the Ft. Lauderdale event and this one. We had three solid weeks of training leading up to the event with weather ranging from hot and sunny with light winds, to cold and stormy and windy. Our routine consisted of getting up, going to the gym for at least two hours, lunch, then sailing for at least another 2-3 hours. It worked quite well!
Laser Midwinters East was a huge event. This year was the first time ever that they had to split the fleets there. Both the Laser Standard Fleet and the Laser Radial Fleet were broken into Gold and Silver groups. I started out the event all right, standing around 18th after the first day. This event was the first time I have ever steadily climbed the results board. Each day I sailed a little better, and always was very consistent in my results even though the conditions changed dramatically. At the end of the event I finished 5th overall right behind my team mate Lisa Ross. I am very pleased with this result and I hope to keep up the consistency of my results in the upcoming events!
So that was the first round of competitions for this season! Stay tuned for more regatta updates.
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