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.