Bodrum International Optimist Regatta- Part 2 the non sailing bits

This is part 2 of my blog on Turkey and is about everything that happened on-shore as I couldn't fit everything on 1 post! From Mentos with coke to swimming this post has everything a child would do away  from their parents!

The Start

OK we didn't have the best ever start to our trip 1. we couldn't get seats altogether on the flight out as we hadn't pre-booked seat and it took ages to sort. 2) Hamish's (one of our team) luggage didn't make the flight to Turkey and turned up two days later. 3) there was a problem with our hotel booking when we arrived but Holly and Matt did an awesome job in sorting everything out as they did throughout the whole trip and it didn't seem to matter in the end.

The heat

WOW! It was so hot in Turkey. One day it started to rain in the evening however it was still 27 degrees!  We woke up at 7am  in the morning and it was 25 degrees. In the UK it's hardly ever 2 degrees let alone at 7am in the morning. However unfortunately I didn't come back with much of a tan. See Mum and Dad, I did use sun cream and wear long sleeves rashies and leggings!

The accommodation

Chillin by the Pool

The best accommodation ever! It had seven swimming pools which were all deluxe. All the girls stayed in one room and all the boys stayed in another. The rooms were fine however the supposedly balcony was 1cm off the ground! However the best bit for most of the team was the food! On the training days we got a buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner. On the sailing days we got the buffet for breakfast and dinner. Most of the food was lovely but there was lots of stuff that we weren't really sure on. However the highlight for the food was when all 4 boys accidentally set the toaster on fire!  Oops!

The opening and closing ceremonies 

The British Team at the Opening Ceremony

They were so busy!! As you may have seen from some of the pictures I was on my team mates shoulders most of the time. The view you got from up there was incredible!  I felt really proud waving the flag as we walked. I loved watching the closing ceremony seeing all the fellow sailors stood on the podium waving their flags. 

Team dinner

Some Great New Friends

Now at every event you do you meet some lovely friends and we met some fantastic sailors and played lots of international games of Uno to pass the time while we waited for the wind to blow or stop blowing really hard. Even though sometimes we couldn't speak each others languages it didn't seem to matter. We met people from so many countries and made some of the best friends ever, the Singaporeans in particular. They were so friendly and really funny and are the best sailors ever! We had such good time with them that we ended up exchanging emails and they invited us to go over and train in Singapore! 

I'm sure everybody in the team definitely enjoyed the week on and off the water with some memorable moments. I'm sure everybody's still wishing they were in Turkey because I sure am! It was an amazing experience being part of the British team and I definitely want to represent the British again! Below I will put the top 10 highlights of the trip in any order!

The windy day!

• The sailing
• The heat
• The wind conditions 
• Making such good friends
• Being away from your parents!
• Sharing a room with 4 boys!
• The food
• The accommodation
• Swimming
• Chillin!

Bodrum International Regatta - Racing post

Sorry that I haven't told you about my sailing trip to Turkey earlier. As you probably guessed I was very tired. But here it is.

In brief, it was the most awesome experience of my life - great fun, great racing,

amazing to be with so many sailors from so many countries. A great laugh with my GBR team mates and can't wait to do it all again one day. Overall I came 59th out of a fleet of about 300. I was the 5th ranked junior (aged under 12) so a good result as I was one of the youngest there and some of the national teams we were racing against are the teams going to the World Championships

Sailing in Turkey was an incredible experience.  Going to Turkey in itself was amazing never mind the fact that I was there to do the thing I love the most, sailing. It was so hot there. The hottest it reached was a epic 37 degrees however unfortunately I didn't get much of a tan! :( ! At least that meant Mum and Dad were happy as remembering to use sun cream was on the list of Do's I had to take!!!!

The sailing was really awesome, I loved it however I didn't get the best of luck with my charter boat! The charter boat I was given was 16 years old and had a massive hole in the bottom of it. (Thanks coach Matt for getting it sorted though). On the first two days of training we didn't sail due to the wind. On the first day it was 1knt and on the second day it was 40knts. Thankfully though on the third day (day of the practise race) we managed to get a bit of training in.The training was good fun for about an hour then the wind dropped so we had to go back in. After a while of waiting on-shore we eventually went back out on the water with all the other sailors to do a practise race. However the wind dropped to about 2knts so Matt (our Coach) took us out of the race and we headed off shore to find some wind for better training.

Day 1 of racing

Day 1 was a good day of racing for me. The wind was around 9knts which is ideal conditions for me. On the first race I had an amazing start on the pin end and tacked straight away onto the correct shift. After about 3 minutes everybody was on port tack and I was leading the pin end bunch. Unfortunately the people who started at the committee boat side and tacked straight away had more pressure than us. However I gained a bit on the last beat and managed to get a 14th which I was pleased with. However In the next race I had a bad start which resulted in a 36th.

Day 2 of racing

In the first race the average wind was around 6 knots again OK for me. Unfortunately I got a bad start at the committee boat end and had to sail all the way to the right hand side of the course (favoured end) and managed to round the top mark in about 35th. On the run I gained 5 places which I was pleased with. Then on the next beat I gained 7 places by staying on starboard tack for ages and then tacking across on a port shift. I finished in 23 place which I was pleased with. The next race was a much better thanks to my start. I started on the committee end of the start line again and went right leading the pack. After reaching the starboard layline the wind shifted onto starboard tack so I tacked and laid the mark. Unfortunately I lost a few places on the second beat so ended up finishing 12th instead of 9th. The next race was alright, however I started on the wrong end of the startline but gained loads of places on the run and managed to come 17th. So once again another good day for me.

Day 3 of racing

On the first race I sailed really well tacking on all the correct shifts and winning the correct side. After a bad second beat I ended up finishing 17th which I was disappointed with. The next race went a bit better however once again I lost places on the second beat. I ended up finishing 16th. After the end of that race the wind picked up dramatically from 7knts to 22knts in a few seconds! Unfortunately on the last race I didn't do too well as it wasn't my winds. I finished a disappointing 42nd which ended up being my discard.

Overall I came a 59th out of nearly 300 sailors. I was very pleased with that result. I would like to thank Matt and Holly and the rest of my team for making it one of best times of my life.