European Championship Team GBR training in Ireland

A few weekends ago I was off to Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, for 5 days over half term for some European Championship Team GBR training. The week was really worth it as we had one coach to 7 sailors and we were on the water everyday.

I was very excited about the week as it was only my second time sailing without my parents with me! We arrived at the airport very early on Monday morning leaving to catch the plane at 9am so it was a tiring, sleepy, start for the team. I haven't flown many times and was amazed by the sight of London as we took off and when you go through the clouds at the bottom it looks fake! 

When we arrived in Dublin it was raining heavily (as expected). After picking up our bags we hurried to a taxi that would drive us to our hotel and once at the hotel dropped off our bags we went straight down to the sailing club to get on with the important stuff - checking out our charter boats and going sailing. Luckily these boats were better than the ones we had when I went to Turkey last year. These ones were almost brand new. That afternoon we went out for a quick sail to make sure everything was working in the boats before heading back to the hotel for a bit of a rest and then our first team dinner. It was a bit of a posh one in their restaurant so I had a big bowl of Prawn Linguine!

Me, Sophie and the Nandos chicken

The next morning we were allowed to sleep in before meeting for a delicious cooked breakfast at 8:00am. It was then down to the sailing club for a morning session in light winds. We were practising on our boat feel and body positioning and working hard so it was very exhausting. After coming in for lunch we decided to have a short afternoon session due to everyone being so tired. Once again we worked on our body positions in the boat. That evening it was dinner at Nandos, very nice, before going to bed early due to a very early start on the next morning.

Wednesday morning and breakfast at 7:00am. Luckily though I was woken up by Oliver Hill (my roommate). He wakes up very early and starts watching videos. Out on the water we again practised our feel in the boat as well as boat speed. At the end of the day we did some team racing boys vs girls. First to 3 wins. And the winners get free ice creams.  And guess who won, the boys. Solid result boys! That evening we went to a burger restaurant but I had a starter due to the massive portions! I nearly cried over my starter due to the intense heat of the chicken wings! It was another night where we were hurried off to bed to be ready for another early start the next morning. 

Thursday brought much nicer winds about 15knts so we had some great sailing with some races and upwind speed work and got in some good training in the conditions we are more likely to get in the Championships. That night we stayed up as it was the last night and had a load of laughs.

  

On Friday morning after a quick bit of bag packing we headed out for a final quick sailing session before setting off for home home and a lot of fun at the airport!!

Overall it was an awesome week. Good sailing and we learnt lots about the venue and had great fun as a team. So the perfect way to spend half term!! Now I can't wait to go back for the Championships in July.

For a bit of look and what we got up to during the week check out our coaches video which includes a bit airport trolley racing with Milo!

Click here to watch the Team GBR Euros training video

My new weapon!

Also more brilliant news. You might have noticed the GBR number on my blog has changed. This is because I bought a new boat which I am very excited about after the Inlands. The number is 6288 so one of the newest boat and it's a McLaughlin Pro racer which Pippa Cropley had.  So far I've only sailed it for a short time last Friday night and it felt amazing and very fast. I can't wait to do a regatta in it. 

So much sailing - Braassemermeer Easter Regatta, Selection Trials & Inland Championships

Since Easter, which seem like ages ago really, I've had a really busy time with my sailing, which has been a solid 10/10 on the awesometer - with a Team GBR International event, winning a spot at the European Championships and 6th at the Inland Championship. So it's time for a bit of an update.

Team GBR

Optimist Easter Regatta - Braassemermeer 
Over the Easter holidays, because I'm part of part of the National Squad, I was selected to compete in the International Braassemermeer Optimist regatta in the Netherlands. It was really good because it was my third ever international regatta and I got to go with my family. 

Overall I was very pleased with my result as I made the gold fleet and got a mid-fleet final result all after having two races in 3 really windy days! So it seems like my new North V4 sail has done me good and it was some of the best windy weather sailing I've done.

Before the regatta started we had  2 days of training and we also had a really great family day out in Amsterdam. It's definitely a different city but I'm not sure about all the cheese shops (I don't like cheese).

Chillin' and drying -
Crewsaver Phase2 kit

The regatta started on Good Friday afternoon with a solid breeze of 18knts gusting 20knts and I had two good results and a bad one. Overall I was placed 89th out of 200+ however I needed to gain 19 places to make gold fleet which was decided after Saturdays racing. I had a very good Saturday with a 2nd, a 12th and a 24th which moved me up into the 50's. The Sunday wasn't so good scoring two 30's and a 60th. It was very windy but I still thought I could have done better. However, I ended the regatta on a high scoring a 5th, a 30th and a 40th in very windy conditions. Overall I was pleased with my result finishing 46th especially as much of it had been windy days. I was very proud of myself as a year ago as I would have struggled to get round the course in those sorts of conditions. And on top of that Team GBR won the trophy for the being the best performing team.

As it was a family holiday we stayed an extra night so we could all go swimming but this ended up not being so good. Mum lost her wedding rings and she didn't realise until we were over an hour into our journey home. We had to turn around a go back to where we were  staying and amazingly someone had found the rings and had returned them to reception! It then meant we had another high speed drive to catch a ferry - but nothing unusual there. I must have one of the fastest Opi's in the world when it's on top of the car!!

We had to stop and look at a lot of tulips!

Planking with Freya and a mermaid!!

Selections
The selection trials are perhaps the most important event of the sailing year which decides the teams for the World and European Championships, the Development team (which I got last year) and the Flanders team. 

Coming into the event I had mixed feelings both nervous and excited as since last year my goal had been to get in to the Euros team. The first day was a real disappointment as I got a 16th and a 12th but then unfortunately I picked up my first ever black flag which I was really upset about. However despite my disappointment on Friday I managed to pull back and get a 11th and an 18th but then unfortunately picked up a 42nd. I was doing OK in the overall positions but off where I wanted to be for a Euros place. 

GBR Euros Team - being carried again!!

Sunday once again was a light and shifty day and we had to wait ages before even going out, then I had an OK day scoring a 9th and a 24th, which helped me climb up the leader board to be just on the edge of the Euros places. On Monday though I bombed it, having the best sailing day ever scoring a 8th, 7th, 13th, 3rd and another 13th. I was so happy when I found out that I finished 8th overall and had qualified for the British Team to go to the European Championship in Dun Laoghaire in July.  It was a really good regatta for me with some up and down results but it proved to me that when I need to, I can stay calm and focussed and get the results!

Inland Championships
The Inland Championships was the first ranking event of the year so I it was a very important event for everyone. It was yet again another light wind event which was very strange because the weekend before it was 35knts. Saturday brought tricky conditions: very light and shifty. In the first race I scored a 23rd due to heading too far to the right side of the course on a port tack lift but then the wind never shifted back.  But thankfully I managed to score two better results, a 13th and a 5th.

Sunday brought more shifty winds but with a bit more speed, 10-15knts - my favourite conditions. I had a great day scoring and 3rd, 7th and a 2nd. However, I was a bit annoyed about the 2nd because I was winning all the way up to the last short beat to the finish but I overlayed the finish and the person who was in 2nd was able to tack to leebow me and get the 1st. Overall though it was a good regatta finishing 6th and banging in some solid results for the rankings.