Irish Nationals Championships 2013

The Irish Nationals were amazing! Lovely winds and sunny mostly. It was great seeing all my family and having days to spare. It was one of the best events of the year so far because ( if you don't want  to read the whole post which might be quite long!)

• Good wind conditions
• Good Racing - I came 19th 
• I coped well in the strong winds 
• Good seeing all my family especially our Irish Relatives
• Having two days spare was fun and interesting
• I learnt some new skills
• I felt proud being part of Team GBR at an overseas event
• Guess who the main event sponsor was? The Jelly Bean Factory!
• The house we stayed in was lovely

Now I'm going to explain those points in more detail. This is going to take a long time!

The wind conditions

The wind conditions in Ireland were perfect for a fair Nationals! We had one light wind day, one heavy wind day, one light to medium and a medium to heavy wind day. Perfect. Every day it was quite choppy and tidal. You could make big gains or losses from the tide. It was very annoying when you got a big lull and heavy winds because in the really choppy conditions it was hard to  have the boat speed to get over the waves! 

The Racing

The racing in Ireland was very competive and confusing! For the first day they had both the junior and senior main fleets (I was in the junior fleet) racing the same course. The junior fleet set off first but the people at the back of our fleet got mixed up with the people at the front of the senior fleet! In one race the winner of the senior fleet did so well that not only did he win his race but overtook so many of the junior fleet ahead of him that he came 15th in our fleet too! LOL! After that the race committee gave us separated courses so it was lot better. Most of the racing was really close with lots of the British team up at the front and lots of fun. Overall I came 19th out 90 which was really good. 

The strong winds

I thought it had been windy enough in Largs but in turned out be even windier in Dublin Bay. On the Saturday (third day of racing) we were held ashore with a postponement until lunchtime while they waited for the winds to die down a bit. When we did go out it was well over 20kts gusting in the 30s. On the Friday it was windy again but squally too so would go from being light to big 30kt gusts very quickly. Between one of the races we thought the wind had died down and reset our rigs for lighter conditions only for the strong winds to come back again while we were in the start sequence so had to do the race really powered up! I coped much better this time in the wind and did a better job of keeping the boat going and sailing to avoid filling up with water. I had one capsize in the wind and got a high scoring result (which I discarded) but got some results in the teens in the wind which was brilliant.

Seeing my family

Some of my Irish family cheering me on -
Great Uncle Matt, Matthew, Michael, Tessa, Michael,
Saemus, Nanny, Dympna, Louise, Sandie, Micheal plus Mum
and Freya

My Nan was born and grew up in Dublin so we have lots of family like second / third cousins, great uncles who we got to see. I've only met them once before when I was 1 year old so it was like meeting them for the first time. They were awesome and such a laugh. We went to their family dinner on Friday night which was a bit mad and there was so much food. On Sunday they all came to see me in Dun Laoghaire and were standing on the pier as I sailed back in from racing. As I sailed in they were all waving and cheering me. It was so funny and really nice, like I had won an Olympic medal and then they all stayed for the prize giving too. Next year the Optimist Europeans are in Dublin. I really want to get in the team so I can see them all again.

Two spare days

We went over to Dublin a couple of days before our Team GBR training started so we had a bit of time as tourists, so we went round the Guinness Factory, went on an open top bus tour of the City, had a look round Dublin and had lunch in a pub in Temple Bar, which seemed to involve more Guinness for Mum and Dad. Infact Guinness seemed to be a bit a theme for the week for Mum and Dad!

Leant some new skills

As I was sailing as part of Team GBR we had two coaches Matt and Claire, they are great or I should say 'solid' and 'fresh'! They really helped me out with my starting technique and heavy wind sailing and helped to make it a brilliant event. Matt who was the coach in Turkey, helped me improve my outhaul adjustments. Claire was working on boat speed with us mostly whilst Matt worked on the strategies and tactics with us. Together they worked really well which showed in our 'solid' results! Fresh!!

Being part of Team GBR

I was really proud to be part Team GBR. We all kept our boats together at the National Yacht Club, wore our team kit and helped each other out on the water. We had an opening ceremony that we took part in which was very interesting. Me and my friend wrapped a Union Jack over our heads and ran around lots so that everyone could see our Team Flag!

The Jelly Bean Factory 

The Irish Nationals was sponsored by The Jelly Bean Factory. What a cool sponsor. I have never seen so many Jelly Beans. We seemed to be able to have as many Jelly Beans as we wanted and the parents seemed to like them too. They also had someone taking photos of the event which they post for free download on their facebook site.

Our holiday home

We had an amazing holiday home to stay in. It had one big open plan room and was really modern with a massive chalk board that we could draw on. It was about 20 minutes from where we were sailing in Dun Laoghaire and 20 minutes from Dublin city centre. Where we stayed was surprisingly quiet despite the fact that we weren't too far from the city centre.

So loads of reasons why it was such a brilliant event and I really hope to go back again.

Optimist Nationals 2013 in LARGS!

It's been a very busy sailing time recently with the Volvo Gill British National Championships in Largs then only a week inbetween before we set off to Dun Laoghaire for the Irish Nationals.

It was the first time I've been to Scotland and sailed in Largs. It was an amazing location and a great place to sail and we had a real mix of weather over the week.

Over the first couple of days we had light winds, which suited me especially as the first six races of the Nationals count towards the IOCA rolling rankings. I had some great races including a 3rd, 5th and 11th. We had 117 boats racing in the Junior Main fleet so the starts were pretty hectic and important to get right. Most of mine were good and I seemed to have great upwind speed. 

I had a bit of a problem on the second day in one of the races when I got penalised by the jury on the start line for sculling and had to do a 720 turn just before the start. It meant I started almost last but I managed to fight my way through to finish 41st. It was a result that I could have done without having to carry at the end of the week, but I asked the jury to explain what I had done wrong so learnt something from it and won't be doing it again - at least not when the jury is watching!!

On the third day we had medium winds and great racing and I was lying inside the top 10. Then the weather decided to change. Thursday and Friday got really windy with big choppy waves and I really had a struggle. In the first race on Thursday I thought I had done really badly and got a bit upset. In the end I had finished mid fleet so it wasn't so bad.  I got a 35th in one of the windy races which I was pretty pleased with. Going up wind was quite a struggle and I seemed to be taking on board water faster than I could bail it out. Going down wind was so fast, fun and a bit scary all at the same time. 

I had a couple of races which I didn't get a result in because of the strong winds so in the end slipped down to finish 22nd. Out of 117 boats and my first time in the main fleet in the Nationals it was a good result but I had hoped to do better so was a bit disappointed but learnt loads.

My results in the first six races also mean I am ranked 8th in the country in the rolling rankings which is amazing.

The mix of weather we had meant I got to use all of my new Crewsaver kit. It's fantastic especially the thermal leggings and top and I have a bouyancy aid and hikers that really fit me properly. Yay.

My sister Freya also took part in the Nationals for the first time in the mini racers. It was great to see her out sailing and she had a great time. She was very proud of her medal and Optimist Grade 1 badge that she got.

Largs was a long way away but as we were helping by taking the Volvo cars trailer we got to use one of their XC60s which was awesome and made the journey much more comfy. We still seemed to be surrounded by stuff though!

Although Largs is a fair distance away it was a lovely place to sail in.  Amazing views of the mountains in the background and it had hundreds of jelly fish. Actually millions of jelly fish. We also saw some dolphins but while we in the car and not by our boats sadly. Largs also has the most epic ice cream shop. So I definitely don't mind going back there to sail.

Next event is the Irish Nationals which starts tomorrow. Busy training with the British Team at the moment so more on this event soon.

Crewsaver Sponsorship

Awesome news in fact well over 10 out of 10 on the awesometer. 

I have been selected by Crewsaver to be one of seven new sailors for their sponsorship programme. Thank you, thank you, thank you.The other day a huge box arrived with a load of brand new kit for me including:

Spray topHikersBootsThermal topsLeggingsGlovesBuoyancy aid
And loads more and a big kit bag to put it all in.

The kit is really great and I can't wait to start using it. Being so little it's sometimes hard getting stuff small enough to fit me but everything seems just the right size which I'm really pleased about. The Bouyancy Aid is so much  better than my old ones. It's  not too long on me whereas the old ones always seemed to get in the way and now I need the weather to be colder again as I have been given some epic thermal gear.

Me in my new Crewsaver kit

This sponsorship all came about because we saw an article about Crewsaver looking for sailors to sponsor on the Yachts and Yachting Website, so we emailed them a load of stuff about me and my sailing and I got picked. It's brilliant being given loads of new kit but what's really nice is that one of the really well known sailing companies are impressed with my sailing and think I have the potential to do well. 

Crewsaver have written a press release about all the sailors they are sponsoring and they asked us to send them some pictures of me in the kit. Here are some of the photos Dad took. I think he thinks he's some kind of fashion photographer or something as he was making me walk down the pontoon and he was lying and rolling around on the floor taking photos!! LOL.

Crewsaver have got loads of great kit which you can see in their website www.crewsaver.co.uk and here is a link to the press release so please have a look www.marineadagency.com/pdfs/pressreleases/Crewsaver_Sponsored_Sailors_Annoucement.pdf

Warsash Optimist Open and teaching Freya to sail

Well the Warsash Optimist Regatta was hot and slow. It was great to be sailing barefoot, in shorts and a rash vest but it also meant there wasn't very much wind. There were 40 sailors in the main fleet and even in the light winds it was the older and bigger National and Intermediate squad sailors who were at the top of the fleet so it was tough competition.

On the first day we had three races. Two were good for me with an 8th and a 5th. Getting the starts right and finding the best breeze upwind was really important as it was hard to over take once we were reaching or going down wind. In the other race of the day I got a 12th which I was annoyed with myself for at as I should have made better advantage of my light weight in the conditions. 

On Sunday we only managed one race and there was a lot of hanging around. We had two other races which we started but were abandoned mid race. One was abandoned just as we were coming up to the windward mark for the second time when we thought they were going to shorten the course. No one at the front of the fleet was very pleased with that.

Overall I came 8th which was good but I did feel like I could have done better but I did get a plate at the prize giving to add to my collection!

Me teaching Freya to sail

Dad was out on the mark laying rib on Sunday with our friends Richard Ellis and Nigel Smith. They kept having to move the marks because of the light shifty winds only for us not to race. It looked like hard work in the hot sun. Still, it kept them out of trouble or something like that that grown ups say!

I had my GoPro camera from Sailspy on board so got some great footage of my light winds tacking which I have been watching loads since to see where I can make things better.

Last weekend I took Freya out sailing for a bit of practice before she does mini racers at the Nationals. Dad said that Freya looks a more natural sailor than me at the same stage. Hmmmmm. As it was another  hot sunny day me and Dad both helped her to do some capsize practice too. We got Dad to bail out a completely full Opi and he did admit at the end that he hadn't realised it was such hard work!! I think all Opi sailors should get their parents to do this out on the water so they know what it's like.

Freya learning to bail - essential optimist skill

This weekend I'm racing at the Gurnard Sailing Club junior regatta in a Pico with my friend Oliver Evans which will be awesome fun and a great way to spend my 11th birthday.

Winning the Salterns Optimist Trophy and Twitter Chatting with Extreme 40 sailors

Hello everyone. Here is a bit of an update on what I've been doing since coming back from Turkey. 

Firstly Mum and Dad made me have a bit of time off from sailing to recover. It meant I didn't go to the Hayling Island open which was not so good. But the Saturday it was on I didn't wake up until 1030 so they were probably right. Which isn't so good either!! :-) 

A couple of weekends ago I took part in the Royal Lymington Optimist Open Regatta. It was on the same weekend as the Isle of Wight Festival which was really bad timing. We've been to the Festival as a family for the last few years and it is awesome but so is the Lymington Regatta and as it was being used as a training event for the British Team for the Irish Nationals I really wanted to go. It made the weekend quite complicated though. I stayed over at my friend Oliver's house on Friday night so Mum, Dad and Freya could go to the Festival. Dad picked me up early on Saturday morning to take me to Lymington. He looked like he should have had more sleep and less festivaling (ha ha). Then it was blowing well over 20kts and racing was cancelled. There was a time trial instead but before I got to my go that was called off too as it was even windier.

I spent the night with my Grandparents with fish and chips from the chip shop as a treat for tea which was very nice but not as nice as their roast dinners.

Sunday was the complete opposite and hardly any wind. We did get three races in though. It was tough going in the conditions and tide but I was really pleased with the way I sailed. On the first race I didn't manage to work with the tides so well and I got a disappointing 25th. In the next race I had an amazing start and managed to defend my position for the whole race giving me a well-earned 2nd place which I was really pleased at. In the next race I didn't have such a good start but I worked the shifts and managed to finish 9th.

Me with the Salterns Optimist Trophy

Overall I finished 8th out of 94 and as always at Lymington it was a very competitive fleet and at the end of the day I got a bonus as I had won the Salterns Optimist Trophy as the highest place sailor age 10 or under. There's some good names on this cup including Milo- Gill Taylor, Matthew Whitfield, Richard Mason and Vita Heathcote.

As well as Lymington I've been sailing on Friday's cadet night at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club and I've joined Gurnard Sailing Club and been sailing there on Thursday nights in Picos and Fevas. It's been good fun sailing in two handed boats.

As well as having fun on the water I joined in with a @SAPSponsors twitter chat with Jes Gram-Hansen and Rasmus Kostner who sail on the SAP Extreme 40. I asked quite a few questions but my best one was 'Would you like to swap, you can have a go in my Optimist if I can have a go on your Ex40!' I got a reply from Jes & Rasmus '@Haydn_Sewell come to Cardiff you might get lucky!' which is epic. So just got to get dad to take me to Cardiff now!

I got another new North Sails DZero6 this week so I have a new sail for the Nationals and a good spare. Thank you North Sails for your help. It's great getting new sailing stuff.

My next event is the the Warsash Open this weekend which is looking like another light wind one so good for us light weights :-))

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.