Had a brilliant weekend sailing in Lymington on Saturday and Sunday, one of the best ever in heavy wind sailing. It was a great chance to practice this area of my sailing. Being so windy, it was very fast, awesome fun with a few thrills and spills too.
The wind on Saturday was around 12 to 15 knots gusting 18 knots which is medium/heavy winds. The weekend got even better because on Sunday the wind was around 18 to 20 knots gusting 32! I was really pleased with how well I sailed in the conditions especially as some of the GBR national squad sailors were out too.
Like everyone I did capsize but only once and I pitch poled twice! I also took off on a big wave and went airborne which was awesome! The feeling of going airborne is just truly amazing :-)
As I only weigh about 27 kilos going downwind I was like a rocket. On one big pump on a wave I got an amazing surf and took over 10 boats also travelling fast. Reaching was brilliant, so fast with so much spray.
We were very lucky to have Olympic double silver medalist, Nick Rogers coaching us which was an amazing experience, but to make the weekend even better he got in somebody's optimist and raced against us! And I BEAT HIM IN A RACE!
It was a great weekend sailing but very tiring. Thankfully Mum had a hot bath ready for me when I got home which was lovely until Dad threw in my sailing kit and main sheet with me to wash them.
