Since Easter, which seem like ages ago really, I've had a really busy time with my sailing, which has been a solid 10/10 on the awesometer - with a Team GBR International event, winning a spot at the European Championships and 6th at the Inland Championship. So it's time for a bit of an update.
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| Team GBR |
Over the Easter holidays, because I'm part of part of the National Squad, I was selected to compete in the International Braassemermeer Optimist regatta in the Netherlands. It was really good because it was my third ever international regatta and I got to go with my family.
Overall I was very pleased with my result as I made the gold fleet and got a mid-fleet final result all after having two races in 3 really windy days! So it seems like my new North V4 sail has done me good and it was some of the best windy weather sailing I've done.
Before the regatta started we had 2 days of training and we also had a really great family day out in Amsterdam. It's definitely a different city but I'm not sure about all the cheese shops (I don't like cheese).
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| Chillin' and drying - Crewsaver Phase2 kit |
The regatta started on Good Friday afternoon with a solid breeze of 18knts gusting 20knts and I had two good results and a bad one. Overall I was placed 89th out of 200+ however I needed to gain 19 places to make gold fleet which was decided after Saturdays racing. I had a very good Saturday with a 2nd, a 12th and a 24th which moved me up into the 50's. The Sunday wasn't so good scoring two 30's and a 60th. It was very windy but I still thought I could have done better. However, I ended the regatta on a high scoring a 5th, a 30th and a 40th in very windy conditions. Overall I was pleased with my result finishing 46th especially as much of it had been windy days. I was very proud of myself as a year ago as I would have struggled to get round the course in those sorts of conditions. And on top of that Team GBR won the trophy for the being the best performing team.
As it was a family holiday we stayed an extra night so we could all go swimming but this ended up not being so good. Mum lost her wedding rings and she didn't realise until we were over an hour into our journey home. We had to turn around a go back to where we were staying and amazingly someone had found the rings and had returned them to reception! It then meant we had another high speed drive to catch a ferry - but nothing unusual there. I must have one of the fastest Opi's in the world when it's on top of the car!!
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| We had to stop and look at a lot of tulips! |
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| Planking with Freya and a mermaid!! |
Selections
The selection trials are perhaps the most important event of the sailing year which decides the teams for the World and European Championships, the Development team (which I got last year) and the Flanders team.
Coming into the event I had mixed feelings both nervous and excited as since last year my goal had been to get in to the Euros team. The first day was a real disappointment as I got a 16th and a 12th but then unfortunately I picked up my first ever black flag which I was really upset about. However despite my disappointment on Friday I managed to pull back and get a 11th and an 18th but then unfortunately picked up a 42nd. I was doing OK in the overall positions but off where I wanted to be for a Euros place.
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| GBR Euros Team - being carried again!! |
Sunday once again was a light and shifty day and we had to wait ages before even going out, then I had an OK day scoring a 9th and a 24th, which helped me climb up the leader board to be just on the edge of the Euros places. On Monday though I bombed it, having the best sailing day ever scoring a 8th, 7th, 13th, 3rd and another 13th. I was so happy when I found out that I finished 8th overall and had qualified for the British Team to go to the European Championship in Dun Laoghaire in July. It was a really good regatta for me with some up and down results but it proved to me that when I need to, I can stay calm and focussed and get the results!
Inland Championships
The Inland Championships was the first ranking event of the year so I it was a very important event for everyone. It was yet again another light wind event which was very strange because the weekend before it was 35knts. Saturday brought tricky conditions: very light and shifty. In the first race I scored a 23rd due to heading too far to the right side of the course on a port tack lift but then the wind never shifted back. But thankfully I managed to score two better results, a 13th and a 5th.
Sunday brought more shifty winds but with a bit more speed, 10-15knts - my favourite conditions. I had a great day scoring and 3rd, 7th and a 2nd. However, I was a bit annoyed about the 2nd because I was winning all the way up to the last short beat to the finish but I overlayed the finish and the person who was in 2nd was able to tack to leebow me and get the 1st. Overall though it was a good regatta finishing 6th and banging in some solid results for the rankings.
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