Europeans, here we come!

Over the next month and a bit I have the most exciting sailing of my life coming up with two European Championships and the British Nationals.Next Wednesday (9 July) I'm off to the European Championships in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. on a really early 0650 flight from Southampton. We have a few days training before the event starts on 13 July. It's going to be awesome with over over 250 sailors from 44 nations taking part. 

Making the Europeans Team was my big goal for this year so I can wait to get racing. I'm so excited but quite nervous too. I've sailed in Dublin Bay a couple of times before;  last year at the Irish Nationals and in a training week we had at the end of May, so at least I know a little bit about what the conditions can be like. I can't wait to race against so many new really good sailors from around the world and see how I get on but the racing at the Championships is a bit different than what I normally do as the girls and boys are in separate fleets. You can follow the results to see how I'm doing on the Championship website and there is a facebook page for the event too Optimist European Championship 2014 facebook .

When I'm back from the Euorpeans there is only a short time before the British Nationals in Weymouth (with a bit of Gurnard Sailing Dinghy Week in a Pico in between) and then after that a week and a bit before I'm off to the European Team Racing Championships in Lake Ledro, Italy. 

We have a team of four of us going to the Team Racing Championships, two boys and two girls who are all in the Euros Team too. I really like Team racing and sailing in the Italian mountains is going to be brilliant.

Last weekend we had a two day training session in Lymington for the Worlds and European Team racing teams which was great fun but really hard work. I learnt loads as I haven't done that much team racing before.


As well as working hard on our skills we did have a lot of fun and after training on Saturday we took our Oppies surfing on a bit of water in the Solent called Fiddlers Race where wind against tide makes these really big waves. I've never gone so fast in my Oppie and our coach Alan Williams had to go really quickly in the rib to keep up with us but did get some great photos of me.

 








I'm really lucky that I'm about to have such an amazing summer of sailing coming up so thank you to everyone who helps me: Royal London Yacht Club Youth Trust, Crewsaver, Isle of Wight Council talented athlete scheme,  SailSpy UK, North Sails, IOCA UK, my coaches, my grand parents (Nan Nan and GD) and all my family and friends.

Here's a video clip from my SailSpy UK GoPro camera from the team racing training. I hope you like it!

European Championship Team GBR training in Ireland

A few weekends ago I was off to Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, for 5 days over half term for some European Championship Team GBR training. The week was really worth it as we had one coach to 7 sailors and we were on the water everyday.

I was very excited about the week as it was only my second time sailing without my parents with me! We arrived at the airport very early on Monday morning leaving to catch the plane at 9am so it was a tiring, sleepy, start for the team. I haven't flown many times and was amazed by the sight of London as we took off and when you go through the clouds at the bottom it looks fake! 

When we arrived in Dublin it was raining heavily (as expected). After picking up our bags we hurried to a taxi that would drive us to our hotel and once at the hotel dropped off our bags we went straight down to the sailing club to get on with the important stuff - checking out our charter boats and going sailing. Luckily these boats were better than the ones we had when I went to Turkey last year. These ones were almost brand new. That afternoon we went out for a quick sail to make sure everything was working in the boats before heading back to the hotel for a bit of a rest and then our first team dinner. It was a bit of a posh one in their restaurant so I had a big bowl of Prawn Linguine!

Me, Sophie and the Nandos chicken

The next morning we were allowed to sleep in before meeting for a delicious cooked breakfast at 8:00am. It was then down to the sailing club for a morning session in light winds. We were practising on our boat feel and body positioning and working hard so it was very exhausting. After coming in for lunch we decided to have a short afternoon session due to everyone being so tired. Once again we worked on our body positions in the boat. That evening it was dinner at Nandos, very nice, before going to bed early due to a very early start on the next morning.

Wednesday morning and breakfast at 7:00am. Luckily though I was woken up by Oliver Hill (my roommate). He wakes up very early and starts watching videos. Out on the water we again practised our feel in the boat as well as boat speed. At the end of the day we did some team racing boys vs girls. First to 3 wins. And the winners get free ice creams.  And guess who won, the boys. Solid result boys! That evening we went to a burger restaurant but I had a starter due to the massive portions! I nearly cried over my starter due to the intense heat of the chicken wings! It was another night where we were hurried off to bed to be ready for another early start the next morning. 

Thursday brought much nicer winds about 15knts so we had some great sailing with some races and upwind speed work and got in some good training in the conditions we are more likely to get in the Championships. That night we stayed up as it was the last night and had a load of laughs.

  

On Friday morning after a quick bit of bag packing we headed out for a final quick sailing session before setting off for home home and a lot of fun at the airport!!

Overall it was an awesome week. Good sailing and we learnt lots about the venue and had great fun as a team. So the perfect way to spend half term!! Now I can't wait to go back for the Championships in July.

For a bit of look and what we got up to during the week check out our coaches video which includes a bit airport trolley racing with Milo!

Click here to watch the Team GBR Euros training video

My new weapon!

Also more brilliant news. You might have noticed the GBR number on my blog has changed. This is because I bought a new boat which I am very excited about after the Inlands. The number is 6288 so one of the newest boat and it's a McLaughlin Pro racer which Pippa Cropley had.  So far I've only sailed it for a short time last Friday night and it felt amazing and very fast. I can't wait to do a regatta in it. 

So much sailing - Braassemermeer Easter Regatta, Selection Trials & Inland Championships

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.

Team GBR

Optimist Easter Regatta - Braassemermeer 
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).

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!!

We had to stop and look at a lot of tulips!

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. 

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.

Optimist Spring Championships

Two weekends ago we had the the first major event of the year, the Optimist Spring Championships in Torquay/Torbay. 

We all went down as a family for this one so it was all of us in a Premier Inn. Friday night was OK. Not too much snoring from Mum and Dad and after a hearty breakfast on Saturday morning we drove down to the Royal Torbay Yacht Club and got rigged and ready for the day. Mum and Freya were on tally board duty so it was quite funny seeing them run around like maniacs trying to hand out 165 tallies to different people!

My results from the first day were a 5th, 23rd and a 6th. The first race went well because I had a good start at the pin and then tacked across the fleet on Port tack. I rounded the winward mark in 10th position. I then gained one place on the reach and another two on the downwind. After a good playing of tactics on the second beat I managed to get to 5th position and then hold my position until the finish line to come 5th. 

However, in the next race due to poor tactics I got a 23rd which ended up being my discard. With a 6th in the third race of the day I was in 12th position overall overnight  which was good and meant I was in Gold fleet for the next day. 

It was a really tricky first day as the waves were massive. When we were at the bottom of a wave there wasn't much wind and I couldn't see the boats around and then you would go to the top and get the breeze and view. At the start of the second race one of the waves broke right on top of me at the start filling up my boat which didn't help. At least I wasn't affected by the swell unlike a lot of sailors who ended up being sick. Yuck!

Saturday night we had a a really nice dinner with the Ellis's and the Atherton's before an earlyish night to conserve our energy for the next day. After another Premier Inn breakfast we headed  down to the Sailing club for the the second day of racing racing. The wind on Sunday was quite light but still with a decent swell from Saturday which was very annoying. As it was mothers day,  Mum had a treat which was a day on the Mothership which is basically a toilet boat! But it did turn out to be a lush yacht!  Quote from Mum ..."yes, but I did help about 50 children go to the toilet!"

My results on Sunday were 5th, 13th and 19th and I finished 14th overall which was a good result but I was a bit disappointed as I came 9th in the Springs last year. The overall winner was my friend from the National Squad, William Heathcote and sailed really well.

Last weekend we had a joint National, Intermediate and Development Squad weekend at Weymouth. It was really windy so quite tough. The racing we did definitely favoured the older bigger sailor but I didn't capsize and could keep pace with the fleet and got some mid fleet results. I was really pleased with this as a year ago in the same sort of conditions at Weymouth just staying upright and getting round a course was tricky so I've made some great progress.

Next up in is the Easter Regatta at Braassermeer. It's a really big international event so I'm really looking forward to it. I'll also be using my new North Sails V4 which I tested out this weekend and it seems to be really fast and point high.

My new North Sails V4

Something different : TEAM RACING!

Last weekend I was at Bowmoor Sailing Club for the new IOCA Random Pairs Team Racing Championships. It was the second time I had ever team raced.  The first time I was in a Feva for the RYA Team Racing Championships so this was the first time I had ever properly team raced in my Optimist.  I was really excited but also quite nervous. To add to my nerves, I wasn't very well over the weekend with a cold and a bad cough. 

It was a two day event and on Saturday the wind conditions were 8-12 knots gusting 14, so perfect for team racing. The weekend was based on random pairs. This is how it worked: 

There were 24 sailors in total. 12 more experienced sailors had a number and 12 less experienced had a letter. In each race a random number and letter were put together to race as a team and in each race we had a different pairing.  All sailors had 22 races and the winner was the sailor who won the most number of team races. 

On Saturday I lost my first race, then won two and lost the fourth. By this time though I really felt like I was started to get to grips with how to race as a team and help my less experienced sailors. I then won 5 races in a row, lost one to Julia Mellers (who was sailing really well) and another to be on 7 wins and 4 losses. But I won all of my next races to end the first day in joint second place with 11 wins and 4 losses. 

My favourite race was round 11. In this race I was with Freya Black versus Ellen Main and James Hall. The more experienced sailor was Ellen Main on the other team so I was targeting her. On the start line I managed to force Ellen to the pin which was my plan however Freya was over so she had to go back which mean't she was 4th.  The team with the sailor who finished 4th lost the race so I had to do something.  I forced Ellen out on starboard from the start almost to the edge of the lake so that she couldn't tack whilst Freya beat James and rounded the the first windward mark in 1st place. I rounded it in 3rd with Ellen snapping on my heels. I managed to pull away from Ellen on the next three legs however James was waiting to try and block me for the final upwind leg. The second I rounded the last mark James tacked on top of me so we got into a tacking duel and Ellen got past me and I was now in last place. I decided I had to out tack James to get back in to 3rd place. I did five really quick tack, a short pause, two quick tacks and a fake tack and I had gained half a boat length. However, me and James were coming in on port and Ellen was coming in on starboard and Freya was above us all waiting nervously. I got as close as I could to Ellen then said tack and tacked before James knew what was happening and I gained a half a boat length finished second with Freya finishing 1st. What a great victory. 

Over Saturday night my cold got a lot worse and I felt really rubbish on Sunday but at least I had my new Crewsaver Phase2 drysuit keeping me warm and dry. It was really windy averaging about 20 knots with loads of huge gusts. I was really struggling to just sail and keep the boat upright and felt like I had no energy so concentrating on the team racing tactics was really hard. I only won one more race on Sunday and had a capsize and a couple of nose dives. In the end I missed the last race as I couldn't keep going and didn't feel like it was very safe.  

In the end I finished in 7th place overall just missing out on a top six prize.  The day finished early at 12:30pm.  Although I was annoyed at not doing so well on Sunday I still had a brilliant time and learnt a lot from the weekend which was good and very useful but now I don't know which I prefer Team Racing or Fleet Racing!

Crewsaver Phase2 kit photo shoot!

Two weeks ago, despite the very windy weather, I was down at Warsash Sailing Club for a photo shoot for the awesome new Crewsaver Phase2 kit. The kit is the best I have ever had! It was really warm but also really easy to move in. 

At the shoot there were also two lads in a 420, two Enterprise sailors, an RS800 team and a couple in their RS200 and me in my Optimist. As well as the sailors there were the Crewsaver marketing team,  Greg and Hannah, looking after us and the professional photographer Paul. 

It was really windy in the morning so we couldn't go sailing so me and another man did some pretend coaching shots together onshore while we waited and hoped the wind would die down. After a long wait we were eventually given the go ahead and we rigged and got ready to launch. However just as we were about to launch the wind came through really strongly again and even with my rig on the floor and me standing on the mast it was still trying to take off so it was de-rig and time to wait again. 

We knew it was going to be a long wait so the manager ordered baguettes for everyone and we had lunch. We then took a team photo and got ready to launch. 

I was first to launch and it was still really windy. I have to admit I was a bit anxious going out at first. Just getting offshore into the wind was pretty tricky. They told me to reach up and down really fast. It was so fun and I put in some really solid runs! The wind was averaging 30 knots so I was planing really fast. As well as dealing with the wind and staying upright I also had to try and remember to smile which was a bit difficult with so much spray going everywhere. As you'll see in the photos I didn't manage it for all of them! The sailors on shore were really impressed with my sailing because I was the first one to go out was going really fast and didn't capsize. 

The photographer was brilliant and got some amazing shots. Overall it was an awesome day. Dad said I looked really scary on some of the pictures and that I should make the same face on the startline!  You can find also the pictures on my Haydn Sewell Sailing Facebook page and on the Crewsaver Facebook page

Below are some of the pictures from the weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for an awesome 2013 sailing year

Sorry this post is a bit late but we had a catastrophic failure of our PC at home (now sorted).

2013 was a brilliant year for sailing for me. I started the year in the South Zone Squad. I went to Turkey with the British Development Team for the Bodrum International Regatta. I was in Team GBR for the Irish Nationals, competed in all the the major British events and finished the year ranked 11th in the British rolling ranking. Over the winter I have been training in the National Squad. I've raced and trained loads and had so much fun.

I couldn't have done this with out a lot of support and help from so many people. So I would like to say a very big thank you to (in no special order)

• The Royal London Yacht Club Youth Trust
• Crewsaver
• Wightlink
• SailSpyUK
• North Sails
• My Grandparents - Nan Nan & GD and Nanny
• All the coaches who have helped me especially Clare, Tom and Alan
• Parents of my friends who have helped me especially Cordelia and Richard Ellis and Chris Evans
• All my sailing friends (some of who are in the video)
• IOCA UK
• Royal Victoria Yacht Club
• RYA
• My family in Dublin
• and last but not least Mum, Dad and Freya

Thank you everyone. I can't wait for this year's racing to start!

I hope you enjoy the video.