7th out of 210 at the 2013 Volvo Gill Optimist Inland Championships

Just had an awesome weekend! I was sailing in Grafham Water for the 2013 Volvo Gill Optimist Inland Championships. Last year I won this event in the Regatta fleet and since then I have done well in the Main fleet so I went in to the event with quite high expectations for myself. I definitely achieved what I set out to do with a fantastic 7th out of 210 boats. I was so impressed with myself! 

Day 1

The event had a great start as I got a really nice mention on the Volvo Cars Sailing website as one of the sailors to watch this year which you can see here: Volvo Driving British Sailing

I was very excited to be out on the race course. I love the big fleet starts where we have about 100 boats fighting it out on the line. My starts were good all weekend apart from one and it's a great feeling to be at the front of the fleet . The day started out with about 12 knots of breeze which is prefect for me but dropped off during the day. I sailed a 9th, 34th (which would turn out to be my discard) and an 5th. Overall after Saturday I was lying in 17th which I thought was pretty good! Also on Saturday I received my Team GBR jackets for the Development Team and the Irish Nationals Team. I also got two Development Team shirts for the trip to Turkey. We had team meetings and all that stuff, there was lots to take in so I'm glad Dad was with me to help remember it all. After sailing we had a nice chilled out dinner with the my friends Lily and Freddie Ellis and Oliver Evans and their parents.

Me and the Development Team
who decided to pick me up because I'm small!!

Day 2

I went into day 2 filled with excitement  WHY? Because it was light winds which massively favours me and because I had the chance to do really well. It was so warm on Sunday. probably the warmest sailing day of the year so far! Because it was very light we had a postponement of about an hour. 

On the first race I sailed really well and ended up with a 8th which I was really pleased with. The next race went even better and I got a 6th which made me very happy. After the second race finished the wind completely died so we had to head back ashore. I felt really happy with myself and believed I had sailed my way into a top 10 finish overall. My Mum was the first to get the final results online. When she phoned to tell me I jumped up and down in excitement when I heard that I was 7th. I was so happy. 

At the prize giving I got a great surprise because not only did I get a plate for being 6th boy but I also won two trophies including the first junior as the highest placed under 13 and another plate.  I finished the event with 28 points in total and you can  see the full results here: 2013 Volvo Gill Optimist Inland Championships Results

Me with my 2013 Optimist Inland Championships trophies

Now my main concentration is on the trip to Turkey next week! I'm so excited!