Easter 2017

Freya and I rocking the New Musto Range

WOW- what a fun sailing packed Easter it's been. It all started a few weeks before Easter when Freya and I were lucky enough to get a new sponsor ; MUSTO!!!!! I cannot explain how pumped I am with this new sponsor! Their new dinghy range is amazing. It is warm, comfortable and really stylish. I would like to thank Nick Houchin and Will King for making this deal happen and look forward to being a Musto ambassador along with many great names (the likes of: Ian Walker and Sam Davies)

The first event of Easter was Opti Springs set in Port Zelande - Netherlands. It turned out to be an amazing yet disappointing event. We stayed at the Center Parks surrounding the port, which of course meant lots of swimming, with my good friend Jamie Cook.

The first day was 15 degrees but no wind. We had a boring postponement on shore until midday. Luckily though the sea breeze kicked in in the afternoon which gave us two races. I got a solid 6th and a disappointing late teens. At least we could go swimming after sailing though!

Our beautiful view from Center Parks of the Marina

The next day brought 20 degrees but no wind. Despite the lack of wind the race committee launched us on time and managed to get the first start off. However nobody made it to  the windward mark before the race was abandoned. From then on the rest of the day was bobbing about on a rib and chilling with my friends in the baking heat. Eventually after 4 hours of floating they sent us ashore. However this meant we had only completed 2 races and 3 races were the minimum for the series so the event was abandoned. At least it was a good holiday!

The next event was the Braassermermeer Optimist Easter Regatta. This event was 4 days long set over the Easter weekend. I have been to this event a few times before so my main goal for the event was to simply improve my position. Between Opti Springs and Braass we had 2 days of rest and 2 days of training. On the second rest day went for a 35km cycle with our  friends; the Cooks and the Davidson-Guilds. The dutch bikes are so easy and relaxing to ride! 

Our Brass cycle

The first day of racing started in the afternoon which meant we had a nice lay in. We had a solid 10 knots for the first day so we were able to knuckle done 3 races. But unfortunately that meant we were in at about 6pm! I had a solid 3,5,4 which was a nice and a consistent start to the regatta. 

The next day brought 20 knots of fresh wind. I was able to get a 3,1,1,24 which I was over the moon about. I really feel that I have finally proven myself in the wind! After the second day we got split into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleet. I was in Gold fleet. This meant the racing was about to get a whole lot harder. 

On the podium at Brass

Over the next two days I managed to still stay somewhat consistent with 6,11,16,2,18,32,7. In the end I came 3rd overall out of 200+ sailors! My friend Jamie Cook came 2nd and Callum Davidson-Guild 5th. Overall a very solid regatta and a great Easter and lots of fun on and off the water.

Beasting it at Brass

  

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! 

Crewsaver Phase2 kit photo shoot!

Two weeks ago, despite the very windy weather, I was down at Warsash Sailing Club for a photo shoot for the awesome new Crewsaver Phase2 kit. The kit is the best I have ever had! It was really warm but also really easy to move in. 

At the shoot there were also two lads in a 420, two Enterprise sailors, an RS800 team and a couple in their RS200 and me in my Optimist. As well as the sailors there were the Crewsaver marketing team,  Greg and Hannah, looking after us and the professional photographer Paul. 

It was really windy in the morning so we couldn't go sailing so me and another man did some pretend coaching shots together onshore while we waited and hoped the wind would die down. After a long wait we were eventually given the go ahead and we rigged and got ready to launch. However just as we were about to launch the wind came through really strongly again and even with my rig on the floor and me standing on the mast it was still trying to take off so it was de-rig and time to wait again. 

We knew it was going to be a long wait so the manager ordered baguettes for everyone and we had lunch. We then took a team photo and got ready to launch. 

I was first to launch and it was still really windy. I have to admit I was a bit anxious going out at first. Just getting offshore into the wind was pretty tricky. They told me to reach up and down really fast. It was so fun and I put in some really solid runs! The wind was averaging 30 knots so I was planing really fast. As well as dealing with the wind and staying upright I also had to try and remember to smile which was a bit difficult with so much spray going everywhere. As you'll see in the photos I didn't manage it for all of them! The sailors on shore were really impressed with my sailing because I was the first one to go out was going really fast and didn't capsize. 

The photographer was brilliant and got some amazing shots. Overall it was an awesome day. Dad said I looked really scary on some of the pictures and that I should make the same face on the startline!  You can find also the pictures on my Haydn Sewell Sailing Facebook page and on the Crewsaver Facebook page

Below are some of the pictures from the weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great end to the Sailing Season

I've been a bit slow to get this post out but I've had a couple of busy weekends recently to finish off this year's sailing with the Optimist Winter Championships and National Squad Training.

The Winter Championships were at Datchet making two weekends in a row there (I had been at a Boys invitational training the week before). 151 sailors took part so we were split into four flights with two groups racing at once in a race.

Check out the Crewsaver winter gloves

The Saturday was the first cold sailing day I've had this winter so it was full on with my Crewsaver thermals and dry suit. I also had some new boots and Crewsaver winter gloves. The gloves are awesome and definitely the warmest I ever had.

We had three races on Saturday all in very light winds which were very shifty. That's OK as long as you are in the right part of the course and getting the shifts right. The only problem was I didn't seem to be and think I spent to much time tacking to try and stay with the shifts. At the end of Saturday I had a 11th, 14th and 18th which are OK results but meant I was in 33rd place overall which I was really unhappy about. It still meant that I was in the gold fleet for the Sunday. 

After Saturday night in the Holiday Inn in Slough, fish and chips from a very strange Indian/pizza/burger/kebab/fish & chip take away and watching the 50th anniversary of Dr. Who (which I didn't get as I've never watched it before) I was ready to go out and do much better.

Top Optimist GoPro accessory
ready for action

Sunday was light winds again but I had a much better day of getting them right. In the first race I cleared all the negative thoughts out of my head and managed to get a second however I was a bit angry at myself because I let 1st place slip at the Windward mark. However in the second race I had a shocker- a 21st!! But I managed to regain confidence and get a 5th in the next race.

Overall I finished 9th which was a great result and my second best this year so I was happy with that.

The following weekend we had a three day National Squad training camp at Farmoor Reservoir. We had a real mix of wind conditions from gusting over 20kts to no wind at all so got some brilliant training done. I had my new GoPro pole on my tiller that SailSpy UK gave me (thank you) so was able to get some great video from behind me which you can watch here.

During the training we did some Team racing which I really enjoyed and some fleet racing which I came second overall in.

So that's sailing done for this year. I wonder if Santa will bring me any sailing presents for Christmas?!

National Squad 2013/14

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.