From summer to sailing in a storm

OK it's been a while since I've done a post on here but I've being doing loads of sailing since the last one so this covers lots from summer through to November storms (which you can watch here). (Check out my sister's vid at the end too)

First off was the the new late summer championships held at Draycote. It was my my first big event after recovering from my broken collarbone, a new event in a venue I hadn't been to and a ranking event. So a bit of pressure. It was a tricky event because the winds were so light and from a rubbish direction for the reservoir. Each race was a case of pick your side and make sure you win your side to get a result. At the end of the weekend I was 9th or 6th depending on how you viewed the protested finale race. Enough said about that! Weeks later it was eventually a 6th!! Despite the hassle of the last race I had a really weekend catching up with my mates and getting back into some serious sailing even though Draycote just so happens to be the most shifty venue ever! 

Even though I was getting some good results in the conditions I did feel I was missing out on something and could be finishing higher up. Thinking about the event afterwards, I realised my problem was I was being reactive in my thinking rather than being proactive. Very annoying but at least I know what to work on this winter. 

One good thing about sailing at Draycote was that I was able to go see my Nan who we don't see so much as she lives in Coventry, so I sort of hope we have another event up there.


After Draycote we had a summer squad training weekend in Cardiff. Despite light winds the training was really useful and we did Bart's Bash on the Sunday. We stayed with Jamie Cook and his family, who had loads of people round on Saturday evening so the whole weekend was great fun.

Next was the RYA South and South West combined Zone Championships at Weymouth. It's a funny event because all the sailors who are moving up from the regatta fleet and trying for the zone squads compete. It means you get followed a lot and there's loads of separation in the fleet. I remember when I first did the event it was really scary being with the main fleet sailors so I know what it was like for them. Overall I came fourth which is always a tough place to finish. That weekend we stayed in the scariest B&B place in Weymouth - there was blood on our room door and fighting outside!!! And England got beaten by Wales in the rugby. At least the sailing was good!!

The End of Season Championships was next back in Weymouth. This was our third ranking event for the winter squads. With two good results already, it meant I could go out at really enjoying the racing without having to worry about the results so much. It was a pretty breezy weekend and I got off to a slow start with a 10,11,13 on the first day but the second day was much better with 5,4,2 so I finished 7th. The Sunday was one of those great days racing where everything just flows and works. 

It meant that I had two 6th places counting for the rankings so I am 6th overall and back in the National Squad.

We had the first national squad training camp from Saturday - Tuesday of half term and I had to use my old boat, which my sister Freya now sails as mine was on its way to Bordeaux! Then on the Wednesday I flew to Bordeaux with Mani (Heathcote) and his Mum to meet up with the rest of his family to compete in a regatta there.

It was great fun. As well as the opi's a load of the 420 sailors were racing too. The conditions were tricky as the event was on this massive lake and the winds were quite light but really gusty. Overall I came 11th which I was quite pleased with as the French national squad were there. I would have done better but I didn't get a result for the first race as all the Brits sailed in the wrong race! Well the French instructions were a bit confusing. As well as the sailing we had so much fun cycling, playing in the Atlantic surf and water fights with the French. Thank you so much to George and Kate for taking me and for everyone looking after me.

As well as all the opi sailing I also competed in the RYA Eric Twiname Team racing championship. Our team was Sophie Holloway, Rhys Lewis, Will Hall, Alex Schonrock, Oliver Hill and me. We competed in the youth event in fireflies against much older sailors which was really hard. We finished 2nd in the silver fleet but were one of the few teams to beat the overall winners. It was really good team racing. Not sure I'll rush out to buy a firefly though!

Along with all the events and national squad training I've also been training at Lymington. We've had a couple of really windy sessions sailing in the storms. I think its some of the fastest sailing I've ever done. Awesome! And last weekend I had my first proper go sailing a 420 with Mani. There is so much to learn and so much more to do than there is in the Opi. But its brilliant, so much faster. Thanks again to the Heathcote family for taking me and looking after me. I forgot to mention too about the  awesome four days I had at the end of the summer holidays staying with Mani and doing loads of Opi sailing.



It's not just me whose been sailing. My sister Freya has done loads too. She raced at Lymington, Hayling Island, Chichester, Zone Champs, End of Season and her results are getting better each time. She's also been training at Spinnaker and Lymington having lots of fun in the stormy weather as you can see.

A no sailing Nationals

I never realised that not sailing at the Nationals could be so fun! 

Because my collar bone was still repairing I wasn't able to compete at the Nationals this year so I thought before we went that I was going to have a bit of a sad week. However, luckily for me Alastair Beardsall came to my rescue and gave me the chance of helping him on the Measurer's Boat for Junior Fleet. 

The fleet of to racing 

Cool, this meant I could spend the week on the water on a rib which is the next best thing to sailing and better than being stuck onshore.  The measuring boat (well the Measurers on the measuring boat) randomly pick boats that have finished in the top 20 to make sure they are safe and not breaking any of the boat set up rules. So we were checking things from a praddle being tied in to a sail being in bands. 

My role on the boat was to be the scribe. I wrote down the sail numbers of the boats we measured along with their  sail button number and then any problems we found with the boat. To say the least it was a busy job however I thoroughly enjoyed it and I can't thank Alastair enough for letting me go  on his rib and help. 

Despite not being able to sail I learn't a lot from the week as well as being able to help out with the measuring, I was able to get a really good view on the racing and think about what I would do in the circumstances of the racing we were watching. I also helped out with giving some of the sailors some hints and tips. And Alastair spent a load of time teaching me how to drive a rib- it's so much fun! 

One of the day's was pretty light winds and I was able to jump in an Opi for a bit of a sail which all went well with no problems for my shoulder.

Despite me not being able to sail, Freya still sailed and had an awesome week. However it was a tough week for her and the rest of the Regatta fleet sailors due to high winds and a big waves! Despite all this Freya powered through and boosted her self confidence. She is so super smiley about sailing. In the racing she did OK, with her best race result being 12th. She won a medal for being the coaches Sailor of the Week in her group. Nice work Freya.

As well as me and Freya being on the water all week Mum spent the week on a boat too. She was on the Committee Boat for the Transition and Regatta fleet. I think the first two days were a bit scary because of the big waves but the rest was good. Mum learnt loads about racing too, it was funny hearing her talk about racing and the rules and stuff!
On another note my collar-bone is healing on track. Once back from the Nationals I did Gurnard Dinghy week in a Pico with Oliver Evans with me helming and all was fine with my shoulder. We were defending the slow handicap trophy we won last year.  Last year we won nearly every race, which we didn't manage to do again but we did well enough to to retain the trophy.

Mum getting to grips with being in Wales

Luxury launch service from Dad

This weekend I'm back in my Opi racing at Chichester and then hope to get some training in before a busy September that starts with the New Late Summers which is our new ranking event(instead of the first 6 races of the Nationals-PHEEW!!). Can't wait!

A bad day sailing is better than no (broken) sailing!

Ouch - no sailing :(

Over the last few weeks some of my racing has been a bit up and down for some reason. I've had some great results, good results and not so good ones. But even a bad days sailing is better than no sailing which is what I now have for the next 3 to 4 weeks or so as I've broken my collarbone!

More about that later but here's the sailing I've been doing. 

In my boat my Dad writes me messages. It started off when I was first learning to sail to remind me of stuff I had to do. Now for regattas we draw on the course and tide information etc. And then he also puts in comments about family jokes and song lyrics. 

When the Selection’s weren't going so well Dad went on about how when you fall off a bike or a horse you have to get straight back on and ride again to build up your confidence. So in my boat he wrote ‘It’s a horse. Giddy up’ 

This is all a bit weird but a couple of weeks after the Selection trials we had the Inland Championships, our first ranking event of the year, so I needed to do well. So Dad’s message made sense to me and the Inland Championships went really well. 

It was another windy event but flat water compared to the Selection Trials so the racing was great. We did six races in total, three on Saturday and three on Sunday and all my results were inside the top 10. Overall I came 6^th so was very happy with that and to be back sailing how I should be. It’s good to have bagged a solid ranking result too.

My prize picture

After the Inlands next up was some training at my home club, Gurnard SC, and then an open regatta at the Royal Victoria YC on the Isle of Wight. It made a nice change sailing at home and not have to get up early and catch ferries to get to an event. The open event was one day with a mixed fleet of non squad sailors up to national squad. It was a perfect sailing day with moderate breeze and sunshine. I won the event which was good as the prizes were excellent – trophy, limited edition print picture of the needles and a SailSpy UK Go-Pro t-shirt. We also all got a free garlic which was a bit random but makes sense if you live on the Isle of Wight!

The Royal Lymington YC open regatta came next. The first day was an epic windy Solent day. Winds up to 30kts and choppy seas. I had a blast and one of the days when my heavy wind technique felt really good and I got a 4, 14, 6 for the day’s three races. We stayed at my grandparents for the night which meant roast lamb, loads to eat and pancakes for breakfast.

On Sunday the conditions couldn't have been more opposite with almost no wind until mid afternoon. We had a couple of races in the super light stuff which were a bit of a lottery and saw some very dodgy tiller wagging and body pumping from some sailors. The first race I got the tides all wrong and came 19^th and then a 13^th. The third race of the day was in a sea breeze so really nice sailing and I came 7^th so finished up 10^th overall.

My sister Freya was also racing in the regatta fleet at Lymington and they used the same course as us. It was the first time ever that we've been sailing together at the same time. It was nice seeing her racing and when we finished we sailed back together which was awesome. Freya came 29^th in her fleet.

After Lymington we had a weekend off sailing to go the Isle of Wight Festival which was brilliant. Then last weekend it was back to sailing this time at the Hayling Island Open regatta. Over the two days my results were a bit mixed and not the best as I couldn't seem to get my strategy quite right. Saturday we had quite a gentle breeze and with the strong tides made things pretty tricky. There were crazy gains and losses being made by everyone. Sunday was pretty breezy again, we seem to be having a lot of windy events this year. I had a better day on the Sunday but a start line capsize didn't help in the first race. With a couple of shocker results and the rest OKish I finished 16^th overall so not my best regatta. Freya raced in the regatta fleet at 

Hayling too. She had her best result yet coming 23^rd with her best race being a 13. Unlike me she didn't capsize!

So it’s been a funny time results wise and all a bit up and down. I like the ups but not the downs so need to make sure I have more of the ups and understand what causes the downs.

Next up I was supposed to be going Nieuwpoortweek in Belgium from 4 – 8 July. I was one of the Team GBR sailors with 5 other boys. But on Friday I had an accident playing football at school which ended up with one of my friends falling on me a breaking my collarbone. Now I can't sail for 3 - 4 weeks. I think the pain of not going to Flanders and not sailing is worse than the break. I've got to take it easy and hope I'm better enough to race at the Nationals at the end of July. 

I've had loads of get well messages from so many people, Which means a lot so thank you everyone.

Braassemermeer & the Selections!

The Braassememermeer Optimist Easter event was amazing. It was fun, I did well and I made friends. The only thing that was missing was Mum. (She was working). 

Team GBR

It all started with another ferry to the mainland from the Isle of Wight and then a long drive once we crossed the Channel. Luckily though I had the car DVD so at least I was entertained. We took a while finding our holiday home park because when we arrived we didn't think we were in the right place as it was too posh. Having found our home for the week it was time to get a good night sleep for some windy sailing the next day. 

After a relaxed morning we headed down to the yacht club for some windy training but unfortunately it was a bit too windy and sailing was cancelled. So we headed back to our lodge and headed off to the beach. The sand was incredible! Because it was so windy the waves were gigantic. As well as chasing the waves we found and rescued a stranded fish washed up in the storm. 

The next day started early due to having no sailing the day before. Everything was done in an instant and soon enough we were out training. It was a lot windy than I expected so I had to make a lot rig adjustments. I didn't sail so well that day but one thing I did learn is that there can be some big waves on a lake! After debrief we headed back quickly and went straight to sleep ready for racing the next day. 

Morning dawned and nerves kicked in as the realisation of the day ahead came upon me. However the nerves were matched by excitement! It was around 10knts (perfect!) but I couldn't seem to get things quite right. I was being caught out by annoying shifts. Shifts (that day)= worst enemy. Only two races were completed in which I got a 38th (which became a discard) and a 13th. I wasn't really too pleased with the day but I put it behind me and focused on the next day. If I got a good night sleep I might be able to perform, that was what was in my mind. Like they always say; control the controllables.

The next day was definitely a lot better and I scored a 3,20,22,14, I was really proud and happy from the day because I realised that I was able to move on from bad days and treat every race like it was the first. Being able to do this is a great skill. Another advantage from having a good day is that you go home happy. A win win situation. 

When we go up on the next day it was very cold, around freezing, but to perk up our moods it was Easter Sunday!! Freya and I had a quick Easter egg hunt before heading down to the boat park. However the day didn't turn out to be the happy Easter day I wanted. I had a shocking day scoring 32,56, 29. The good news was that I knew what went wrong so I should hopefully be able to improve on it the next time. Despite the bad day I still managed to have a nice evening because we did another Easter egg hunt with Mum on facetime and we had a lovely dinner!

Going into the last day I was full of nerves however excited as well. Despite the day before I was still able to maintain a good position. The day favoured me with light winds so I gave it my all. I worked on my problems from yesterday and I was able to perform well  again getting a 17th. Overall I came 26th which I was happy with. It really proved to me that a bad day doesn't mean anything but I know I could have done better.

The Selections!!!!

I'm going to keep this short because there Is not much to say. The selections didn't go to plan for me. I came across nerves I had never felt before. TOP 14 TOP 14 TOP 14. That was all that was going through my had. I lost my self-belief. On the brighter side I gained a lot out of the event. 

The weather wasn't on my side either. The first two days were really windy, over 20kts and choppy seas. Me and all the light weight sailors really had a hard time making up wind progress. We then lost a day to fog so only had one day left and I was too far adrift to get a Worlds or Europeans place. On the last day I won the first race, which was great, then had two shockers and then another good one, a 6th. So all a bit up and down for me. I've been selected for the Flanders team and learnt a lot from the event which I can use in the future.

Bodrum International Optimist Regatta 2015

WOW! I've fallen in love with Turkey. In brief, the Bodrum International Optimist Regatta was one of the best events ever thanks to some great racing and great company.

It all started very early Tuesday morning at Gatwick when I was half asleep. We boarded our flight and woke up due to excitement.  After landing in Turkey we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us so we stopped to pick up some necessary resources including lots of crisps, oranges, olives, honey and salad dressing!  After eventually arriving in Bodrum we realised we had missed registration, the practice race and the opening ceremony!  But we had a whole jar of olives so we were OK. We checked into our accommodation and hit the hay ready to race the next day.  

Getting ready at Bodrum

After an early start we headed down to the sailing club and received our boats. Once again they weren't up to our usual standard!!  I had to contend with a slipping sprit, kicker and outhaul! We set out for a day in about 16 knots.  In the first race I got a 7th however my kicker snapped in the next race resulting in a 29th.  I then pulled back a 16th.  We then got lost on our way back to the hotel which resulted in an hour of driving when it should have been 15 minutes!  Dinner was incredible - our hotel provided us with an enormous buffet to feast on.  White coffee is my new favourite along with honey mixed with cucumber.  What has Turkey done to me?

The view from our room

We left early again the next morning predicting that we would get lost again which we did!  We followed a motor-bike down a one-way street, he then turned off onto the pavement and we were lost!  Eventually we arrived at the sailing club, only just beating the bus which left 15 minutes after us!  We had another delay in the morning again which gave us time to warm our our voices with some top quality singing! The day brought 16 knots again and I had a  4th and 17th. We then went back to the hotel where we had the best game of pool which resulted in lots of banterliscious moments!

We survived the Turkish bath!

The next day was very windy so we headed down to the yacht club.  As expected we had a delay in the morning so we weren't hopeful. All the sailors kept their sails in the hanger and because of an overload, sails were being knocked down and arguments could be heard. It got so bad a security guard had to be alerted so he was positioned on standby! After hours of waiting and hours of singing, sailing was finally cancelled for the day. We headed back to the hotel, quickly got changed out of our sailing kit and headed into town. We walked down to the front and met lots of stray dogs who followed us everywhere. We then went to a Turkish bath which was surprising to say the least. And we saw some interesting sights!  After a quick tour round the underwater museum which was massive and very interesting,  we then got a quick Ice cream before heading back to the hotel for some scrumptious dinner and hit the hay early for another windy day to be followed. 

We woke up to the same wind strength so once again our thoughts were that we wouldn't be sailing.   We had another delay in the morning however we occupied ourselves well with orange cricket and orange catch as we had excess oranges! The committee were desperate to sail so they sent the seniors out to test. It was very windy over 20kts so I didn't do as well as I hoped. I got two 47th and 40th. Not the best evening followed as well due to a headache and being very disappointed. 

A sailors lunch

We woke up the following day to  completely the opposite day - almost no wind, mine and William's favourite wind!  We had ANOTHER delay in the morning so once again we occupied ourselves with intense singing which I'm sure everyone loved! Thankfully we managed to launch however the racing for the day was unfortunately cancelled which upset me a bit. However I had to quickly get over that because we had a short deadline for the flight back. We all managed to completely strip our boats in about 5 minutes so we were off early for our 3 hour drive ahead of us. Luckily we left earl because we got lost on the way back which meant we were behind by about an hour. But the flight was delayed so it didn't matter. We all slept on the plane so it went very quickly and soon we were in England at back home (if you discard immigration!). 

Overall I came 36th. It was not the best ever result however I was still happy with the weeks racing. Along with Bermuda it was the best international event ever so far!

Thank you for 2014!

2014 was a brilliant year for me. I went to the European Championships, European team racing Championships, Braassermermeer, Bermuda and lots more! All of these events were a amazing experience for me and I'm very grateful that I could go. So I made a video saying thank you to you all. Here it it is:

It's been an awesome start to this year too. I've already been to Monaco for a team racing event and I'm off to Turkey again next week for the Bodrum International Optimist Regatta which I did in 2013 with the Development team. 

I wouldn't be able to do all this without the help from lots of people so thank you to:

• Crewsaver
• Royal London Yacht Club
• Sail Spy UK
• North Sails
• Nan Nan & G.D
• All my coaches
• My sailing friends
• My family

Thank you! 

Monaco Team Racing!

Hi all, sorry I haven't been able to post anything regularly but I will be soon uploading a thank you for the 2014 video so stay tuned for that. I've been doing some national squad training over the winter and was very lucky last weekend to be able to go to the team racing event at Monaco, so here's more about it.

Day 1

Day 1 and we got to see a Ferrari and the Formula 1 track which resulted in a lot of photos and posing! Eventually we found our way down to the yacht club which was a massive glass looking boat which was apparently worth 120 million euros and was donated by the Prince. After a bit of shock from the yacht club we all sorted out our supplied brand new boats! We then headed out to breakfast after once again taking in the sights of Rolls Royce's and super yachts!   Breakfast was very posh and we ate the best croissants in the history of croissants! We then headed back to yacht club for the opening ceremony and briefing before launching.  We had a great first day for the team.  We had a lovely sunny day with a fresh 15knts at midday but the wind unfortunately dropped towards the end of the day. We pretty well dominated the first race scoring a 1,2,3,7 with not much team racing. However we got slightly over confident and we were all over in the next race giving us maximum points. Yet we came back from it and won the next 3 races with some good team racing moves being put into practise. The next race however didn't go our way and we received some unfortunate penalties. But with our great team spirit we were able to pull back another race which resulted in an opponent crying! We were all very pleased with the day and we had a nice evening to top it off, having dinner at a restaurant. We had a quiet and relaxing evening as we were all very tired.

Day 2
The second wasn't the best as there was no wind which unfortunately resulted in 0 races for us today. We were all a bit annoyed in the morning as well as we woke up early! However once we knew that sailing was cancelled for the day we were able to do something with our day. We went ice skating which was a bit different from sailing to say the least and I think the team should stick to sailing! Due to no sailing we were in no rush to do anything so we all had an early night which was shown in our results the next day!

Day 3
Day 3 was an incredible day for the team as we ended up scoring 7 wins out of 8!! We had a sleep in (we had learnt from yesterday!) so we were all very awake and ready for a decent day. We had breakfast at the club which once again provided some amazing croissants! The wind was quite decent (about 12knts) however it was quite gusty as we were sailing in the harbour amongst all the super yachts! It was quite a solid day of racing so we didn't have much time in the evening. However our evening was entertained because dinner was held at the club and there was lots of activities to do included real - life table football! 

Day 4
Heading into the last day we were 3rd overall so we were in with a chance. However we weren't at our best and we lost to Russia in the quarter-finals which meant we were knocked out. Due to this we came 5th overall so we were all very disappointed. What made it even more disappointing as well was the fact that we beat Russia the day before 1,2,3,4 so we felt like we let each other down massively.  To add to our disappointment the team that won overall we beat in the round-robin :( It was still a great event despite the disappointment on the last day. We then had the prize giving before heading off to the airport.

I would like to thank everyone who participated in the event and who helped our team.Id also like to specially thank John Holloway and Simon Cook who made the event possible. It was a great event, a good experience and I would love to go back next year!

 

The Yacht Club

My brand new Charter Boat!

 

The row of super-yachts we passed everyday!

 

Rolls Royce