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.

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!

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/