Freezing in Farmoor

I normally say every weekend was the coldest but this time will be the last as you can not get colder than last weekend. And to make things even worse,  I had a cough/cold all week! Last weekend I was training with the RYA South Zone Squad on Farmoor reservoir in Oxford (which turned out to be really smelly!)

I had a good week on the sailing front as I got a letter inviting me to take part in the selection trials - a regatta where you race to see if you can get into the British Team for the World Championships, European Championships, or Flanders regatta. I am really exited about it and can't wait for May when the regatta is. The event is treated like it was the Worlds and they even have on the water measuring! Its going to be great competing against the best sailors in the country in the regatta.

Driving up to Oxford in a snowstorm

We left home on Friday to stay at my Grandparents which is always nice and we had fish and chips for tea which was a real treat. When we woke up on Saturday morning the weather didn't look too bad, only a bit windy! As we drove to Oxford, about half way up the journey it started to lightly snow. But then the snow got heavier and heavier and started to settle. Driving up to sailing in a snow storm just seemed mad especially as it's the end of March. By the time we arrived the snow was pouring down form the sky and carried on throughout the day. As we were ready to go out the snow was settling on our boats!
Despite the snow it didn't seem too cold but I did have loads of layers on under my drysuit. We had a good days sailing with training in the morning and some practice racing in the afternoon which went quite well.

I even had ice on my lifejacket!

Sunday turned out to be really, really cold. We had a wind chill factor of about -6C and because we were sailing on freshwater, everything was icing up. My main sheet and and blocks were completely frozen and Dad had to defrost them using hot water and by sucking the blocks - YUK! While we were out sailing things froze up even more. There was a layer of ice on my boom which every time I tacked bits fell off on my head! And by the time I got back in most the ropes were encased in ice.

Snow settling on my sail

Cold conditions in Farmoor

On Sunday my hands got really cold.  I do hope we get some warmer sailing weather soon.  I got very tired and was coughing a lot. In the end I had to come in a bit earlier as I had run out of energy. I hate it when I have to stop sailing but it was the sensible thing to do (so Dad tells me!).

As for the really smelly bit, the reservoir we were sailing on is right next to a sewage works!! But because we were sailing in fresh water my Dad thankfully didn't dunk my sailing kit in the bath with me! RESULT!

Another awesome piece of news this week is that IOCAUK (the class association) and The Pwhelli Yacht Club ( where the last two Opti nationals have been) are bidding to have the Optimist Worlds there in 2015. I would love to go to the Optimist worlds that year!!!!!!!

Ice coating and icicles on my kicker

Ice on my boom

Not So Spring like Optimist Spring Championships

Let's get racing!

Last weekend was the first big event of the year (racing-wise) and it went very well. Not just very well, extremely well. It was the Volvo Gill Optimist Spring Championships held at the West Mersea Yacht Club and Dabchicks Yacht Club. Apparently it was meant to be the ‘Spring’ Championships but with the freezing conditions we sailed in it was more like another Winter Championship! Despite the weather it was a great event and I definitely enjoyed the weekend!

Day 1:

I was very excited about the event but also quite nervous going up against all the older National and Intermediate squad sailors.

We had an early wake up and left my cousins house, where we were staying, just before 8:00am for a 40 minute drive to the venue. Getting ready was a bit chaotic as there wasn't much space at the Yacht Clubs for the fleet of 145 sailors. But there was loads of people to help and even the local policeman was helping with the trollies.

The fleet was split into four groups for racing and I seemed to have lots of the really good sailors in mine. My group had the second start for the first race which gave me more time to do my pre-start routines and to see how the first start got on in the breeze and tides. 

First race: I had a great start with clean air because there was a lot of line sag. I was a bit nervous about being over the line but got it just right and was off controlling both sides of the course. I stayed on starboard tack for a while and eventually tacked because I thought there would be more wind in the middle of the course. BAD MISTAKE! The wind that I had seen disappeared and I was missing out on a shift but if I tacked back I would have been in dirty air. I decided to stay on port until I was in a good place to tack into clean air. Just after I tacked onto starboard I got a big lift which put me on a layline for the windward mark when everyone else ahead of me had to tack and approach the mark on port as they had gone too far left.  I rounded the windward mark in 2nd and stayed in that position for the whole race. 

It was a great start to the regatta. 

In the second race I got another awesome start and went round the first mark in second place again. The person who was leading seemed to be quicker than me upwind but I kept gaining on him on the reaches and downwind. In the end I finished 2nd again by about two boat lengths.

The third race of the day I went round the windward mark in 7th place but was quick downwind again and overtook three people to get a 4th.

At the end of the first day I was lying 5th overall but everyone from 2nd to me had the same number of points. For only my third main fleet event it was a really awesome day sailing. I was very happy and couldn't stop smiling. I like winning but my aim for the event was to finish in the top half of the gold fleet so being right at the top of the leader board was amazing.

Day two: 

Fuelling up on Pasta on a cold Sunday morning

Sunday was much windier and even colder. It was around 15kts gusting 20kts. The temperature was around freezing so the wind chill was about -0.6C and as we set off it was snowing a bit. I had so many layers on under my drysuit . 

We were split into gold and silver fleet's based on our performance on Saturday and I was in the gold fleet. My aim for the day was to stay in the top ten. 

I felt really nervous waiting to go out sailing but very excited too. As it was a much windier day and I'm small and light compared to the older sailors I knew it would be a harder day for me.

The first race started well but unfortunately I got hit by a big gust on a tack when I was in 2nd place and filled up with water. I had to do lots of bailing. I did it as fast as I could but lost loads of places and dropped down to the back of the fleet. I managed to gain a few places after that but still ended up 58th. I knew I could discard this result so had to get on with just thinking about he next one. 

The next race was another good one for me and I finished 7th. I didn't know it at the time but this meant I was in 3rd place going in to the last race of the series. It was really hard to keep going as it was getting so cold and tiring. I tried really hard and was doing quite well at the start but at times I was struggling to hold on to the main sheet because my hands were so cold and I slipped down to finish in 34th place. 

This meant that I finished 9th overall out of 145. It was a great result which I was really pleased with but I was only one place from getting a trophy which was a bit tough.


FREEZING! FREEZING! FREEZING! That all it was on Sunday! 

In my last two posts I've said the weather was the coldest ever but this weekend was much worse. To give you proof about how cold it was I came in crying because I was so cold!! Really!

I had lot of time in the car on the way home though to warm up as it took us ages to get from Essex back home to the Isle of Wight. There was a 9:00pm Wightlink ferry home which was the last one until 12! We just made it. Thankfully it was too late for a bath so I didn't end up with the sailing kit to wash, RESULT!

Overall it was an awesome weekend, great result, good fun with my friends and I learnt loads.

"Aye Aye Captain!!"

Me with my friend Lily who is always smiling too