WOW!!!! BERMUDA is AWESOME :)

The crew

WOW! Bermuda is amazing!!!! The best trip I've ever been on!!! Before I start I would just like to make some thank you's. Thank you to David and Jenny Campbell-James for accompanying me on the flight there and back. Thank you to Dede Cooper for organising the event and making everything AWESOME!! A massive thank you to Mary, Rian, Fiachra and Caoilinn Geraghty for hosting me.  You guys made the trip the best ever!!! And last of all thank you to my Grandparents for their help, my Mum and Dad for doing all the stressing for me and last but not least IOCA UK for selecting me! Now on to Bermuda and the RenaissanceRe Junior Gold Cup - a day to day description on what happened.  ENJOY!!!



Monday- Flight day

Bye bye Britain

I was originally supposed to fly on Saturday but this was cancelled due to hurricane Gonzales but after much stress for Mum I was booked on the Monday flight. The flight was scheduled to leave at 3:00pm (UK TIME), so me and Dad caught the 10:00am Wightlink ferry. We arrived at the airport at 12am so had a quick lunch before David and Jenny arrived, then the goodbye's were said and we did all the check in and security stuff. Once on the plane we settled in to our seats ready for seven hours of boredom!! The sights were amazing leaving London. On-flight I watched Captain America 2 along with a load of Red Bull videos!! As arrival dawned we again got some amazing views. We arrived at about 7pm (Bermuda time, 11pm in UK) which meant I was very tired. I then met up with my host family (and Christian from Denmark who was staying with them as well) and went back to their house, which was shortly followed by bed. 



Tuesday- Training day
After a lovely sleep I was up by 7am ready to leave by 8am. It was a very rushed morning as I had to sort all my sailing kit for the day which happened to be at the bottom of my suitcase!! We dropped off Rian, Fiachra  and Caoilinn at school before me and Christian went down the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. It did feel a bit tough leaving the others at school while we went sailing!! I then did all my sorting out of the boat before all the internationally invited sailors (14 of us in total) headed out for some training. We did some boat speed work along with venue familiarisation oh and getting used to sailing in warm weather wearing only shorts and a rash vest!! Later on we were then joined by the local Bermudian sailors and did some practice starting with them. After sailing we then went to the beach. It was was lovely with massive waves that we had a great time playing in.

Wednesday- Training and Dinner day

Argo Gold Cup press conference

Wednesday brought some windier training in the morning, however, the day was stopped short due to a possible thunderstorm that might hit us. So instead the Yacht Club took all the international sailors sightseeing to see some caves, but sadly they were closed instead we had a game of football outside the town hall in St George which was closed. When we got back the the Yacht club the local sailors were out sailing, which was only fair as they had been at school all day. Everyone involved with the Junior Gold Cup and Argo Gold Cup had a meal at the Club . It was a great evening as we got to meet some of the pro sailors before doing the Gold Cup. 

Thursday- Racing Day 1
It was a slow start as we had a bit of a windy storm which resulted in a postponement of 3 hours. Luckily the wind dropped by lunchtime so we got two good races in light to medium winds. I got a 10th and a 6th which was OK,  however, I felt I could have done better and my mistakes were clear. After racing I had a chat with Iain Percy, which was really nice. It felt awesome to be chatting about the days sailing and results with one of the best sailors in the world. That night was an early to sleep one because the next day was going to be windy.

Friday- Racing Day 2

Me and Caoilinn chillin'

Friday was one hectic day!! 5 races in 17-20 knts! I got a 6th, 17th,9th,13th and 15th. This set of results was again OK but I dropped a few places overall. The 17th and the 15th were especially disappointing because I made some simple mistakes that dropped me the places and with the fleet being so good any mistake you made quickly cost places. But as it was such a windy day and with most of the other international sailors being a lot bigger and older than me overall I did a lot better in the breeze than I have before. 
Even so I went into the next day feeling determined! 

After racing we (my Bermudian family) went to a great restaurant in Hamilton for pizza and had a top night out.

Saturday- Racing Day 3

World's smallest
drawbridge

Saturday was a good day :) Light winds and hot!! I got a good 5th and a 6th before racing was cancelled for the day because the wind went completely, which was a real shame as I would have loved to carry on racing. But not to worry our family had a rib so we went out to see the reef and the shipwreck. The views were amazing, crystal clear water with colourful fish. We then came back in (after seeing turtles). We also saw the world's smallest drawbridge! There was another big party in the Club with Taco's for dinner. We really were very well looked after. Everyone stayed up that night because the briefing was at 11am the next day. So you can guess we had a fun night!!

Sunday- Final Day

A very relaxed morning lead to a very relaxed day. We headed down to the Yacht Club at about 10am. The tradition is 1 race in the harbour in front of a big crowd followed by watching the final of the Argo Group Gold Cup. The race was very tricky because the shifty winds and the mixed water form spectator boats. I had an amazing start, only to pick the wrong side of the course and went round the first windward mark 10th from last! Not ideal in front of a crowd! However I did a good recovery job to get a 7th which meant I finished 6th place overall. Given the level of competition from the international and local sailors I was really pleased with my final result. I just hope I get the chance to go back to Bermuda one day and do even better.

After our racing was finished, the family went out on the rib to watch the Gold Cup final. This was followed by the prize giving. My flight was that night so we had to head off early to the airport. 

It was an awesome week and event which is quite hard to put in words but if you are an optimist sailor and ever get the chance to go make sure you do.

Once again I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone. THANK YOU BERMUDA!!!!!   

From Rutland to Bermuda, oh and a lot of waiting

A quick blog update before I head off on my next amazing sailing experience.

This weekend we had the End of Season Championships at Rutland, which is the third event of the year the counts towards our end of year rankings.

I have to say it wasn't the best weekend ever of sailing but mostly because of the weather. It had been windy all weekend and forecast to be windy this week so guess what - no wind at the weekend!

The trip didn't start too well when our 6pm ferry didn't leave until 7.30pm - unhappy Dad! We didn't get to our hotel until late but as we were staying close by we didn't have to get up too early, which was good as we needed to sort out my new North V4 sail.

When we got to Rutland it was pretty obvious nothing was going to happen in a hurry as there was no wind.  We had loads of waiting around and then more waiting around. It was OK though as I got to spend time with my friends and have a chat with our National Coach about some stuff but what we really wanted to do was get racing.

We eventually got afloat for a slow sail down to the far end of the reservoir for some more waiting around while the race committee set a course and then enough wind to sail. After more waiting around our first race got underway. I had an OK start and was in about 7th place after the second mark when then race was abandoned because the wind had died. So we did some more waiting around until about 3.30pm when everything was abandoned for the day!

Over night in our hotel it was an evening of our usual unusual approach to dinner, Face timing Mum and Freya, a bit of James Bond and then getting to sleep. Why does Dad always get the big bed!?

Sunday morning we got to Rutland early so we would have plenty of time which turned out to be a bit pointless as we couldn't even see the water. Fog, lots of it. We did some more waiting. This was fast becoming the Waiting Season Championships.  By late morning the fog cleared and a little bit of breeze started which was the cue for a rapid launch. Luckily we had enough breeze to sail and got three races in the afternoon although this meant no discard!

Quick little selfie while
doing some waiting

I had a good first race with an amazing start and a nice lift to give me a 3rd (a 1st for my rankings)!  Due to a bad start the next race gave me an 18th however I did recover a lot! I got my emojo back in the next race being just nicked off 1st which was quite annoying however I was happy to settle for 2nd. Overall I came 5th which was alright...! 

Racing over I wanted to wait for the prize giving so we waited and waited, yes more waiting. The jury were doing some jury stuff which meant it was ages before the results came out.   In the end we had to go to make our 9pm ferry so I never did make it to the prize giving.

The drive back was rubbish with really slow traffic which meant we just missed our ferry.  The next one wasn't until 11.59pm.  So you guessed it - we did some more waiting.

My overall ranking for the year is 6th which means I made National Squad again which I'm pleased about!

On Monday I fly to Bermuda for the RenaissanceRe Gold  Cup. I'm really excited and can't wait to go for so many reasons:

• Sailing against the local sailors and a bunch of international entries
• Sailing warm waters in summer kit
• Mixing it up with the sailors from the Gold Cup
• Staying with my host family 
• Just going to Bermuda
• Not being at school (although Mum said I had to take homework!)

I was supposed to be flying tomorrow Saturday but because of hurricane Gonzalo the flight was cancelled so I'm just hoping everything is OK for all the people in Bermuda and for the event.

It's going to be awesome and I'm really glad my school Christ the King let me go, and for my Grandparent's help. 

While we were waiting at Rutland I was talking to Matilda Nicholls and her Dad who have just moved from Bermuda who were telling me all the country, the event and they also know the family I'm staying with. 

I CAN'T WAIT!!

I'll try and put some stuff on my Facebook page while I'm there and will tell you all about it when I'm back.