Summer Pt1 - 420 World Championships

WOW! What a crazy summer its been. Its been so long I've had to split it into 3 parts so here is part 1.

My summer started on June 14th in Lymington when I headed down to my crews house for a week of boat work. He had just finished his final GCSE so it was a happy positive week. This was the final week our boat was in the UK until August so we made sure the boat was in perfect condition ready for a lot of high quality racing! After this we headed down to Weymouth for our final training session with the team. We felt fast and prepared so all positives so far! 

From here it was up to London to catch a flight to sunny Portugal. We headed out a few days before the majority of the team to give us some more time to familiarise ourselves with the racecourse and also Vilamoura itself as I find it important to feel comfortable  where I am. In preparation for the Youth Worlds we had switched to Zaoli Sails for the 420 Worlds to help us get used to tuning them. Below is a video our of first training session in Portugal using them. It was a gorgeous 15-20 knots blast in 25 degrees. I think that just about is the definition of champagne sailing. 

The next few days bought a whole range of wind strengths and directions which was perfect to help us acclimatise to the venue. We hired bikes as well to make the long commute to the sailing club more exciting and just quicker. Over the next few days we made huge gains on our boat tuning and making sure we were getting the most out of our new sails capability. A few days later the rest of Team GBR arrived. The GBR 420 class send 20 boats and 40 sailors out to the Worlds making it a great team event which really helps make the event more enjoyable and is a great way of helping each other out.

Wish it was always like this...

Before we knew it measurement and registration was upon us. Measurement in a 420 international event is the most unenjoyable experience ever. It requires the sailors to completely strip the boats of all ropes and to make the boat perfectly dry. The dry part is the easiest as the hot weather evaporates all possible traces of water meaning the boats inconveniently end up under weight requiring us to put lead in our boat to make it the required 80.00 kilos. After all of this we then have to put EVERYTHING back into our boats which takes ages. Especially for Will and I who seem to take a lot longer than everyone else. The only positive is this means the start of the event is near. 

Oh wait big wave inbound

Ahhh looks nice and calm

Day 1 was always going to be an interesting day for Will and I. This was our first 420 World   Championships so we didn't know what to expect. However, I often find this a positive as it means there is no result based pressure as such as we don't know what a 'good' result is. The first day brought a solid 13-16 knots, which we knew we were fast in with the new Zaoli's. All of the nerves reached their climax on the start and as we were lining up for a tasty start our trapeze rope pulled through! NOT IDEAL! Luckily Will my crew is great at keeping calm and calming me down and we managed to sail a superb race to pull back to 13th. With the positive points of race 1 we put our head down and sailed quick for race 2 bagging a solid 2nd. Overall a positive first day.

Sunny and windy = perfection

The next two days bought solid breeze of around 11-20 knots. We had some of the best races we've sailed and managed to get 3,4,2,8. We were shocked but absolutely stoked with this performance. At the gold, silver cut off after day 3 we were in 4th place overall. Not a bad place to be! But now the hard work started...

The 3 days of qualification bought light and difficult winds :( We seemed to struggle with getting off the start line as we would lose our lane soon after the start. This put us on the back foot. 2 jury penalties didn't help our progress either as it meant we had to retire from our only top 10 in gold fleet. Overall we finished 15th which we were still pleased with as 15th in the World is a pretty solid result!


We came out of the event with many training points to take into the rest of the year but didn't have too much time to reflect as 30 mins after we got in we were off to Poland for the Youth Worlds. See you in the next blog post :)

He really is tall!

A brilliant Summer 2018

WOW! What a busy summer it's been. 100% my best summer to date. It was a long one as well, starting on the 25 June because I had finished GCSE's. That was was a massive relief.

Putting in the long training hours

My first event was the Junior 420 Europeans, in sunny Sesimbra, Portugal, which was nice as I was able to catch some rays whilst sailing. I arrived a few days early as Mum and I had a mini holiday before training got into full swing. William arrived a few days later because he was at the Waszp Europeans so during my time waiting I was able to spend time out on a rib and really get to know the venue. So it was a good start to the trip, apart from losing my sunnies! I also had a lot of time to do boat work which was really productive.

Once Will arrived we got training asap. We managed to sneak in a day and a half of intense training before taking the mast down AGAIN and completely stripping the boat for measurement which is just as annoying as it sounds. By now we were in full race mode so our training got more intense. Despite this our evenings stayed just as fun. There was a fantastic sushi shop which I went to nearly every day! The difference between optimist team events and 420 team events is the level of independence. In opti's you have to be with the coaches at all times and follow a strict schedule, whereas in 420's there's a lot more independence. However this means you have to be a lot more self disciplined. 

Going into the event we had no expectations because it was our first major 420 event. We just wanted to gain experience so that next year we can come back and do well. 

A breezy WW mark rounding

The first day was very relaxed. A 1pm launch for a 2pm start. And a beautiful breeze and sun. We sailed two races on the first day and managed to bag a 14 and 21st. We had no idea whether that was good, so we were reasonably happy. Day 2 and 3, on the other hand, proved we should have been a bit disappointed. We had two days of a solid 15 knots, with 25 knots in one race. We managed to get a 5,6,6,7 pushing us up into the medals! However it went downhill from there with some results in the 20s and 30s. This may be because we weren't sailing well, however, I think it was because of our fitness levels. We know now how much fitter you need to be to sail at the front of the fleet for 6 days now and we are working hard to make sure we improve this. Another pointer we found is that we needed to improve on was our trigger pulls. Its always good when you know what went wrong because then you know what to do to make improvements. Overall we came 14th out of 44 which we'e still proud about. A good, fun and worthwhile regatta in the end and a great start to a long summer.

From then, I drove straight from Portugal to France (not fun) for the French 420 Nationals. Unfortunately Will had to go back to school so I competed with Alex Hughes which was a really fun event in a beautiful location: Douarenez. The weather was magnificent and we had wind every day which was perfect. And then I had my birthday which was great fun.... the ferry ride home. 

Next t was a week off before heading to the Optimist Nationals in Pwllheli at which I was coaching the West Kirby Race Team. This was a great first week coaching and really valuable for me. We also had some good results! 

Then another 4 days off before driving down to Lymington for some 420 training with Will. This was really useful as we worked on our mistakes from Portugal as well as receiving some coaching from Nick Rogers (Olympic 470 silver medallist) who happens to be William's uncle. Our training in Lymington is always fun and productive as we get to decide the training plan and the timings for the day. We also get to do other fun things like wakeboarding! This lasted 5 days before we packed up and drove up to Brightlingsea (a new location) for the 420 UK nationals. We were camping which made it really fun too. 

The winners at the 420 UK nationals 

The event was 4 days and is meant to be a fun event with socials every evening. The weather was weird, with two days of super light conditions and two very very breezy days of 20+knots. We grabbed a bullet in the first race which was great and put us in good spirits. We followed that with a 10th which was nice. We then had the two windy days in which we got a good scorecard of 8,18 (we capsized), 5,7,5,3. This put us in 4th going into the last race. However unfortunately on the last day we picked up a Black Flag (BFD) and a 7th dropping us back to 6th overall. However this meant we were still Junior National Champions which is awesome and shows how much we have progressed over the summer. 

Team MUSTO

It was then 2 days off before I went down to Poole for the Optimist Late Summer Championships where I was coaching again. This turned out to be an awesome event for the West Kirby Race Team as every sailor saw huge improvements from the Nationals which is a great feeling. I also gained a lot of coaching knowledge which is good as every time I can be better for my sailors. 

Then it was back for the start of 6th form, which is a lot of work. Thankfully it was only a few days before I was back down in Lymington 420 training for the Autumn Championships. We trained in a group of 4 boats which was great for speed comparisons. The weekend after it was the big event. The 420 Autumn Championships held in Lymington. This was the primary selector event for Youth Squad and Youth Squad A. The weather wasn't great and we had two days of 15+ knots. We were focused and determined and absolutely smashed it grabbing 2nd overall, 1st boys and 1st Juniors. This blew our previous best off the water which was a great feeling and proving we sail best under pressure. Our scorecard was 8,4,4,3,9,1 which is a solid consistent series. The bullet in the last race was nice to as we took the lead on the final downwind which was very close and intense. Overall a incredibly successful event and good to do it in our home waters. 

For now it's back to college but the sailing, luckily, doesn't stop. I have a weekend coaching at the Optimist End of Seasons before the 420 Inlands and then End of Seasons. Oh yes and lots of training. Can't wait!

WKSC Race Team at the Nationals