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European World Cups Report - 10th May 2011
April is regatta month, hosting two of the European world cup events in Palma, Mallorca and in Hyeres, on the South coast of France. After a really good solid winter training program and a brilliant racing stint in Gran Canaria I was really looking forward to letting it rip at these European world cups.
The first event at the beginning of April was the Princess Sophia regatta in Palma. We raced from C’an Pastilla right in front of the Cathedral which made for some fairly impressive photos.
The first couple days were super windy blowing 25 knots from the north off the mountains which created some bullet like gusts. A major area of my winter program was using a weights program to put on some weight and get more powerful in the boat to increase my boatspeed in the breeze which was a weakness 6 months ago. My upwind boatspeed was a real highlight those days and a big tick in the box. The next four days were seabreeze days, which in Palma can be quite fickle. Another big work-on area for the winter has been starting midline which when executed correctly can be so powerful as every option is open to you. However the other side of the sword is, if you mess it up you’re left a couple boatlengths behind, in the middle of the fleet with no leverage, no options and unable to cross anyone to get into a clear lane. The big goal for Palma and Hyeres was to put all the midline training exercises and strategies into the test environment and give it go. I was so nervous going into the seabreeze days because I knew these were the days to try the midline starts, my legs were shaking when I came off the line in a good lane the first time! I was so focused on keeping my lane though that I forgot to look up and only when it was too late did I see half the fleet sail around me in 5knots more wind - Doh! That was a big shame as it gave me one really high score which I had so far done well to avoid. I went into the final day 5th and in touch to the medals. I continued the midline starts through finals and got 5 out of 6 bang on, sadly the one that I got wrong cost me alot and put me just to the back of the chasing group in 13th missing the medal race. I was disappointed to miss the medal race by a point having been right in the mix, but it was important to put the midline starting strategies into practice before the big championships in the summer.
There was only 10 days in between Princess Sophia and Hyeres so after a couple days in Weymouth repacking and debriefing I went up to Scotland for a few days rest before flying out to Hyeres on the South coast of France. Howling easterlies met us when we landed with some big big waves which unfortunately blew off all our training days.
The easterly wind stayed in for the first day of racing, the current had dramatically increased as a build up from all the previous days of wind so the racing was largely about avoiding the current that was shooting downwind. I had a solid opening day with a 9,6 which I was largely pleased with as I had some great upwind boatspeed and good midline starts, I made some silly errors on the controllables which cost me a couple places in each but it is another confidence boost that the winter work is beginning to pay off.
Very light seabreezes dominated for the rest of the regatta. There seemed to be a little bit more heating on the left hand side of the course but it was tricky to see. I had some really good midline starts and good windward marks roundings but throughout the week I just couldn’t convert these opportunities into good results, losing alot of places on the 2nd upwind.
I had my debrief with Tom today and with a bit of distance now I can see the huge improvements I’ve made on the starting, fitness and boatspeed elements which were the winter goals. It has however highlighted that I’m not quite racing sharp at the moment and I’m losing the small meters which is usually something I am really good at. Although this isn’t exactly where I’d like to be with the trial starting in a month, I was still the first British girl in both regattas so I’m happy that they haven’t made any progress away from me which when it comes down to it, in selection year is the important thing. I’ve got a month now to get racing sharp so we’ve made a plan for a heavy 3 weeks of boathandling and short course racing to sharpen up.
I'm really starting to see this “home advantage” that is so often talked about, as I write this I’ve watched 6 different team vans pull into the sailing center for some training weeks. We’re running some open racing camps for the next two weeks, which the various foreign teams will join in with, it’s such an advantage to have good quality training partners all the time and to not have to compromise your program by travelling. I’ve got my new fitness program too in which the focus has changed to the aerobic side. It has alot of heavy intervals sessions so I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into it and to take everything up a gear!
Palma Update - 3rd April 2011
I'm here in Palma the night before racing starts at the Princess Sophia regatta, the first stop on the European leg of the World tour. I always feel like there is alot of anticipation around in the run up to this regatta, as people come into it fresh from a big block of winter training with new tricks up the sleeves. Looking at the entry list, which in the radial is pretty stacked, this week should be a good opportunity to measure some of this winter’s training goals and check progress has been made where it should have.
At the moment sea breezes look to dominant over the opening series with maybe a couple opportunities to race in the offshore in the mornings, soI think there might be alot of racing over changing conditions in the next few days which should keep things interesting. With this being trials year, every result counts, so I’m looking forward to putting the money where the mouth is.
Gran Canaria Training Camps
2011 started off with a bang. The fireworks had only just fizzled out and I was on an early morning flight to Gran Canaria for my first training camp of the year. The climate in Gran Canaria is fantastic, usually a balmy 23 degrees and a huge variety of wind and wave conditions, which makes a perfect venue for winter training camps when the sea temperature in the UK hovers around an icy 8 degrees.
We sailed from the Real Club Nautico de Gran Canaria which is a beautiful club which has hosted many World and National Championships over the years. They have enormous wood paneled walls along all the staircases which have the names of all the champions from that club and those who have won regattas the regattas hosted there. It made for some really good coffee time reading picking out all the people you knew or had read about on the boards. The club had a full size gym too which meant keeping up with the gym programs easy. We even witnessed the 60 yr old + weekly Bench Off competition which I thought was an exclusively a Finn boy game but I was amazed to see some of the old men benching high into the 80kilos.
The camp was 10 days and mainly light winds. The venue has attracted a great deal of teams which provides a great opportunity to join up in the afternoons and do some long races after we have done our own exercises in our respective groups. I like training like this as you are always relating the small things your working on into the big picture of the race.
Back in the UK the next thing on the agenda was BOOTCAMP! I wanted to do a month period of high intensity training in the gym with all the specialists. I’ve recently had some lower back pain so it provided a good opportunity to investigate and work on the problem without the irritation sailing can cause to the injury. It was also a good opportunity to just beast myself in the gym and really maximize the gains at the beginning of the season so I can maintain later on in the year when the focus is definitely on the sailing. After fitness tests at either end of the bootcamp period it looks like I’ve definitely got stronger which was the key area I wanted to improve on. A usual day would include a weights session in the morning and then a core session or boxing session. I would then go home for a couple hours and try to do some admin but would invariably fall asleep and wake up ready to do the afternoon cardio pyramid session. I was a bit annoyed with myself for continually falling asleep at lunch time and I though it was just from the tedium of admin but in actual fact that is exactly what the rowers and cyclists do. They train hard early morning and then go to sleep for 3 hours until their next session in the afternoon to maximize their recovery. I couldn’t believe it when I fessed up to the physiologist that I was sleeping at lunch time that he highly recommended it!
After I finished a month of bootcamp I was feeling really confident with the gains I’d made and a having a whole month off sailing I was absolutely mad for yachting! I did two weeks of training with a couple of local sailors doing some boat handling exercises to brush up on that and lots and lots of time on distance starting work which put the foundations down for my next big training camp in Gran Canaria.
My second trip to Gran Canaria was a two week camp starting on the 21st March. This time I joined two of the top radial girls from Belgium and Czech Rep and a training group of Belgian youth boys. In all we had 12 in the group which was a perfect size for lots of race practice and starting practice. My coach, Tom came out for the second week which was brilliant to go through some of the decision making protocols with him which we’ll use in the upcoming regattas. The best part of the camp was I really noticed the progress I’d made strength wise in the breezy conditions, which is a huge boost and makes motivation easy for the next block of strength sessions as I can see the progress and I know the program is working.
Next on the agenda is a week long cycling camp in Palma with two of the 470 girls and another laser sailor - the fight for the Queen of the mountains is going to be a tough fight I think this year! After that I stay out in Palma for another week of laser sailing with the British team and also a small training regatta out there. Everything is building up to European spring leg of the World cup series at Princess Sophia regatta in Palm Mallorca at the beginning of April and then onto Hyeres Semaine in the south of France at the end of April. These two regattas will act as a mini peak for me to see where I’m at after the winter training program and assess what I need to work on before the first major peak of the year at Sail for Gold regatta in June which is the qualification for the Pre-Olympic Test Event is August.
Fingers crossed everything goes well for heron in. So far this winter has been great fun and I can’t wait for the regatta season to start!
2010 Season round up
Sail for Gold was my last regatta for this season so here is a roundup of the season. I left this season with two silvers a Championship medal and World ranked number three which is awesome but I’m really aware of my weaknesses and super excited about making some progress on them over the next 8 months!
What I achieved this year:
- EUROPEAN SILVER
- WORLD CUP SILVER
- WORLD RANKED NO 3
- UK RANKED NO 1
The outcome goals for this year were to medal at grade 1 World cup events and to finish top 5 at the European or World Championships. Silver medals at both the Europeans and the Hyeres World cup event achieved my goals and as an added bonus pushed up my world ranking up to no 3rd (August 2010).
The real grunt work for the year was done in Weymouth throughout the winter months. The aim was to use my strength and conditioning programme to get up to fighting weight and to take advantage of the stronger winds in the winter to get some good hiking miles into my legs to improve my stamina. Despite the best efforts of mother-nature and the snow I think we achieved this pretty well.
In January and February we disappeared across the Atlantic to Florida to experience some lighter winds and to compete in three training regattas. The focus for the regattas was starting towards the ends of the line. The trip was successful in that by the third regatta I was becoming confident at starting at the ends of the line. However it was also a frustrating trip as many times my starts were poor which put me on the back foot for the rest of the race. It was a good lesson in seeing the big picture and “putting the ego aside” to make the necessary progress towards my process goals.
The Hyeres World cup event was a really important regatta in my programme as I had earmarked it as a practice peak for the summer. I went into the regatta as though it was the Worlds or Euros so I could see where any weaknesses were, so I could address them before the key events in the summer. I was so pleased after disappointing performances in my process regattas in America that I started extremely well at the port end which eventually led to a Silver medal after winning the medal race.
High on the confidence from Hyeres I went into the Europeans in Estonia guns blazing. I started really well at both ends of the line, which allowed me to sail a really consistent regatta never dropping out of the top 3 all week. After a very nerve wracking final day I went away with another silver medal, the first major championship medal in Olympic sailing I’ve ever won!
After the Euros I relocated back to Scotland as our World Championships were being held in Largs. This Worlds felt different to ones in the past as it was on ‘home waters’ (although when I did Scottish squads in Largs as a kid, I think I viewed wind shifts, current and topography just as baffling factors really!). Unfortunately Largs didn’t deliver very cooperative weather and only 6 Easterly races were sailed from a scheduled 12. I didn’t manage to perform on the first day, which meant I was chasing for the rest of the regatta, with only 6 races I just hadn’t given myself enough time to catch up. Although hugely frustrating to have preformed poorly it was an invaluable lesson in that you have to hit the first day of the regatta at full strength.
The final regatta of the season was the Sail for Gold regatta in Weymouth. This provided an invaluable opportunity of racing an international fleet in the Olympic venue. Our team decided to run the regatta as a dress rehearsal for the Games and therefore selected an Olympic team within the team. I was really pleased to be part of that group and see first hand how the Olympic team works. It was real eye-opener to experience the extent of detailed preparations from the more experienced sailors, something that I hope to emulate this winter. Despite felling good in the run up I struggled again to get in tune on the first day and put myself under a lot of pressure for the remainder of the regatta. I didn’t really feel I managed to play to my strengths and finished disappointingly. Although the result wasn’t what I wanted I have come away from the regatta having learnt an enormous amount and with clear objectives for the winter.
After a long season I am really looking forward to having some time to reflect over the summer regattas and make a plan and some goals for next year. Next year the selection process really heats up and therefore the priority hasto be on consistency over all the world cup events and a good performance at the Pre-Olympics is absolutely key. I am so excited to take on my weaknesses and turn them into strengths – the Olympics is in 744 days, so the pressure is on!
Thanks again to Tiso for my ongoing support!
JULY UPDATE
The European Championships last month in Tallinn Estonia marked the beginning of the key contest season this year. After a consistent week of racing I broke my championship duck and came away with a silver medal. The team flew out to meet our poor coaches who had driven the heroic 2500km from Southampton, and in time to get in a couple days good training before racing started. The training turned out to be a really good indication of the conditions to come as we had a couple days racing which were really similar to the training days. This is surprisingly unusual as so often it seems the wind blows from a completely different direction come regatta time.
The regatta was predominantly sailed in a really puffy and shifty offshore wind. Coupled with the fact the course was kept close inshore it made for some really exciting racing with big place and distance changes on each leg. Often the fleet would split to either side and come together at the top in totally different winds – there was a lot of ‘hoping’ that your wind won out!
Unfortunately the first day of finals was abandoned at 7pm after 5 hours on the water, an abandoned race and 5 general recalls – a truly exhausting day, so that put everything on the final day. I sailed a great opener starting with a 1st and then a consistent 14th . For the final race I decided to stay with the boats close to me in the overalls and although we all had a bad race it was enough to defend my silver.
MAY 2010 Update
The ISAF sailing world cup event, Hyères Semaine de Voile, marked the close of the winter foundation phase of this year. I am delighted to have won a silver medal.
I tend to break the year into three phases; the cognitive foundation period; key venue specific phase and the performance regatta phase. The cognitive foundation period is over the winter and offers an opportunity to go back down the learning curve and tackle any major technical problems and put in the base fitness hours.
This year I spent the foundation period in Weymouth at the 2012 Olympic venue. There I trained with two of the other squad girls on a 12 week programme clocking in some good hiking miles, which will hopefully serve me well in the upcoming season. It was a very cold and windy winter in Weymouth this year, on more than one occasion I had to take my ropes into the academy to defrost! Nonetheless I think I made some really good progress with my hiking posture, maximising the leverage I can produce to keep the boat balanced.
In January I continued the foundation phase in America, where I competed at three regattas and trained with a group of the foreign girls. The Miami World Cup event was raced in quite light winds and after windy Weymouth I struggled with boat speed. However I managed to pull out a good result, 5th at the Women’s North American Championships which was sailed in 15knots plus, this was encouraging to see the result of the hiking miles done across Weymouth Bay!
I came back from America and went straight into a month of training in Weymouth and two domestic regattas in which I posted a 1st and a 2nd, these results allowed me to qualify for a spot to compete at the World Championships to be held in Largs in July and the Europeans in Tallin, Estonia in June. Shortly after the domestic events I went out to Palma to compete at the third World cup event. Again I seemed to struggle with boat speed. In hindsight I think my mistake at both Miami and Palma was that I stayed too much in the cognitive learning mindset which sort of blocks the intuitive side of thing.
Hyères Semaine de Voile was the fourth of the World cup events a month later and I wanted to use it as a mini peak for the year to test myself and evaluate what I need to work on in the short training period before the major contests this year. I took the lessons learnt from Palma and Miami on the chin and made sure I was rested and had a racing mindset.
The warm up to Hyères was a regatta held on the Olympic medal race course area in Weymouth. It was a fantastic event and hugely important to gain racing experience on the medal race course before the Pre-Olympics and eventually the Olympics. I sailed well winning the regatta – the added bonus was it was very light winds.
Hyères Semaine de Voile came shortly afterwards and despite the volcano erupting cancelling all the flights I managed to got there feeling in good shape. The regatta was light and really tricky, there are two sea breezes in Hyères, a local SELY and the south coast of France SWLY, the two breezes tend to fight each other and eventually depending on a number of factors one wins out. This causes a lot of long delays both onshore and on the water which really puts the pressure on to perform in every race because you really don’t know how many raes you are going to have – we didn’t get a discard until the very last day! I felt really confident in my starting and the light air boat speed problems I felt I had sorted, I sailed a good regatta and went into the medal race 4th on equal points with 3rd and a shot at the medals.
The medal race was raced in 4-6kts SWLY really close inshore so very shifty. The 49ers were racing before me and as I watched their race I could see how puffy it was. I sailed a really good medal race and led from the start finishing 1st. Sadly the Lithuanian girl who had rounded the first mark 9th managed to catch up to 3rd which was enough for her to hold onto the lead. I finished the regatta a very happy 2nd.
The next phase of the year is the venue specific phase. My World championships and the Pre-Olympics in Weymouth are the key regattas this summer, so I am going up to Scotland this weekend to train in Largs for 10 days. I’m really excited about coming home and training where I learnt to sail so long ago. In June I’ll then head out to the Europeans in Tallinn which is the warm up regatta to the summer events. Then it is back to Largs for preworlds training and then into the regatta on the 6-14th August!
With my World ranking up to 6th and a silver medal I’m so excited to get stuck into the major regattas, I really can’t wait!
As always thank you Tiso for all the support and encouragement!
SKANDIA SAIL FOR GOLD.....the Olympic venue!
July 2009 Update
I finished university in the middle of May, and while my parents breathed a sigh of relief I loaded up the jeep with bikes, boats and sailing gear and headed down Weymouth to kick-start my pre-worlds preparation with a week of boot-camp run by Olympic Gold medallist, Andrew Simpson. We had a great week of training in light south-westerlies inside the harbour, doing alot of starting and sharpening up drills. It was an amazing feeling to finally look to the next three years of full time training without the constraints of studying. At the end of the week we packed up the jeep again and headed off to Holland for the first of two World Cup regattas. The World Cup series comprises 7 regattas across the globe in much the same set up as the tennis tours. The Delta Lloyd Holland Regatta (Netherlands) and The Dusseldorf Keiler Woche (Germany) were the two regattas I put into my pre-worlds preparations. The regattas attract the best sailors in the world and are a great way to get back into the racing swing of it before the key contests in the summer.
The jeep was loaded up again and we drove out in convoy to Kiel in Germany for the 2nd World Cup in my programme. I joined the Americans for a couple days training pre-regatta and was feeling in good shape. Light and flukey was the flavour of the week. The race officer worked really hard to fit in races in some very challenging conditions. We got two races in on the first day and then sat onshore for the next two due to lack of wind. On the last day of fleet racing we fitted in three good races which I scores 3,3,1 winning the day. Going into the medal race I was 3rd= with Gold medallist Anna Tunnicliffe.
Now the final preparations for the Summer are in full swing. The European championships in Denmark (10-16th July) is the first key contest closely followed by the World Championships in Japan (27-3rd July/Aug). I have a week of training in UK concentrating on boat handling before heading out to Denmark for a couple days venue specific. The day after the Euros finish it is out to Worlds in Japan for the major championship of the season.
I'd like to thank Tiso for their ongoing support which has made it possiblye to prepare in an elite way.
JANUARY 2009 UPDATE
In between the qualifiers there was a big week long event in Weymouth at the 2012 Olympic venue. The regatta is called Sail for Gold. Two years ago I won this event and was very proud to have Chris and Louise from Tiso out on a rib cheering me on. Last year, Sail for Gold didn’t go so well, so I was hoping for better things this year. It was hard racing with a big variety of conditions. The bronze medallist and previous world champion from China came over to spy out the new Olympic venue. She got off to a good start and pretty much dominated the racing all week, running out an easy winner. She will be the target to beat in 2012. I had my own very close tussle with one of the British sailors Andre Brewster who had been the bronze medallist in this year’s worlds in New Zealand. We went into the medal race on the last day with just 2 points between us so it was whoever was first over the line that would win and take the silver medal. I got a good start and was fast downwind so whilst Andrea was close behind me throughout, I kept my lead over her and finished in silver position.
In June I go back to China as Penny’s training partner for my last support session and then I go straight to Belgium for the European Championships.
Cascais, situated 40 minutes outside Lisbon, is renowned for strong northerly winds and big rolling swell. However due to the huge number of competitors and the subsequent scheduling and safety issues, 4 of the 5 race courses were brought inshore putting a very different complexion on the regatta than previously expected. The majority of the racing was played out in 15-22kt northerlies tumbling over the Sintra Mountains a couple of kilometres away that created some incredibly unstable shifty and puffy conditions. It turned out to be a ‘tack when it flaps’ regatta that was won from the back of the fleet.
The third day and last of qualifying was raced on the offshore course where the wind was much stronger and the waves a lot bigger. On the sail out I thought that this was the day that all the bike rides and press-ups were going to be cashed in. The course was quite one sided which meant you could up the risk in your strategy which I really enjoyed, I quite like the feeling of hanging on the corner and watching it all come good in the end! I had a really good day scoring a 6th and 4th the best day of the fleet. I finished qualifying 10th overall with lots of potential to improving. I was also comfortably leading the British charge - an added bonus!
The opening of finals was dramatic to say the least. We weren’t on until 4pm so there was a huge amount of anticipation!! We were on the inshore course again but because we were so late the wind afternoon wind was starting to fall apart. The average windspeed we raced in was about 14kts however the range was between 3kts and 25kts across 80 degrees – undoubtedly the hardest day I have ever sailed. One minute you were winning the next last! While doing my pre race routine I started to get really nervous as I started to get an idea of how hard the racing was going to be. About 30 seconds into the first race I realised my legs were shaking and I don’t think they ever settled down! As per my strategy I managed to get round the top mark in the top half – just – and then I had to work from there. I seemed to have a real edge downwind finding the pressure and made enormous gains downwind, overtaking 20 or 30 boats at a time. The next upwind was about staying out of trouble and minimising any risk and separation from the fleet to consolidate. I finished the day scoring a 6th and 8th the second best day of the fleet, which pulled me up to 7th, 12 points off the lead.
I went into the medal race 7th, 12 points off the lead and 8 points from a medal. The points in between were so close it was obvious the leader board was going to be turned upside down after the double scoring, non discardable medal race. This is the first time a medal race has been done at a Laser World championship so it was a surreal and invaluable experience. There were so many media boats and helicopters buzzing around, the hype was incredible. All this on top of the increasing wind created an electric atmosphere. I started really well and got out to the right hand side where there was more pressure. I rounded the top mark 4th and held for the next lap. But disaster struck at the 2nd leeward gate when I capsized in a gust that ripped the mainsheet out of my hand. Unfortunately I finished 9th which was the end of any medal hopes as I dropped to 10th overall. However to go into a medal race with a chance of a medal was an entirely unique experience in which I learnt a great deal and maybe next time I will get closer to a medal!
I am currently enjoying the aftermath of the Worlds having achieved all of my performance goals especially qualifying for the pre Olympics in China next month. I can’t wait to get out to China and eventually get an idea of what the Games are going to be like. It is both exciting and daunting to go out as part of such a successful British contingent. I have a lot to learn in a short space of time but as the baby of the team I should be well looked after!
On the 20th May I travelled out to Medemblick, Holland to compete in the Breitling Holland regatta. The Holland regatta was the 2nd last grade 1 regatta before the World Championships in July so the entry was large, with only 3 of the major players sitting it out. Medemblick is notorious for light flukey breeze and this year definitely did not disappoint!
The breeze picked up to 10kts for Gold fleet and was more consistent but still very tricky. I really enjoyed the “seat of the pants” style of racing that day, scoring 8 6 5, the 2nd best score line of the day. Coupled with a very consistent qualifying series, my good gold fleet results pushed me up to 4th overnight and qualifying for the medal race (top 10 finishers) with a very realistic chance of a medal.
However despite all the hype the wind didn’t come and after 6 hours of hanging around onshore and a last minute attempt to get a start the days racing was cancelled and the overnight results stood.
SPRING 2007… THE PRE-SEASON
We did a massive amount of starting practice in Palma, which was hugely beneficial for me. Our coach “borrowed” some really cool new exercises from the French, which were to form the basis of our training days. A typical day started with an early morning bike ride for a couple hours, which is a joy in a place like Palma. Then we would hit the water about noon and do a couple hours of starting exercises or boat speed work then everyone training in the bay would join up and do some big training races keeping the courses short to simulate the closeness of gold fleet racing and emphasise the starts to put into practice what we’d learnt earlier. Although the conditions were usually quite light we were absolutely exhausted at the end of the day, so I’m afraid there are no riotous party stories to report!
Princess Sophia regatta started in the beginning of April and in typical fashion despite training there for weeks before, the conditions of the regatta were completely different. The major factor of Princess Sophia this year was all the waiting around. The temperature was quite cold for that time of year so the sea breeze cell was never really strong enough to override the gradient wind direction, so the race officer was trying to lay a course in two conflicting wind directions which took a long time while we waited for the wind to stabilise. The worst day for this was day 3 where we waited on the water for 5 hours in a freezing northerly before we did three races getting to the shore at 7.30pm. Everyone had to go to the physio that night to get our backs cracked back after all the shivering…the windsurfers were pleased as they were allowed to skip their ice baths! Despite all the waiting around and the very difficult conditions I had a very good regatta getting through qualifying and really performing on the Gold fleet final days with a 3rd and a 7th on the last day before the medal race. The medal race is only for the top 10 boats and the scores are doubled and nondisgardable which makes the points very close. As the only Brit to have made the top ten and therefore the medal race I had already achieved part of my goal so I went into the medal race feeling confident and relaxed. I sailed really well that day and was 2nd in a nailbiting finish which moved me up to 8th overall.
Next on the calendar is Hyeres regatta and a training camp in the Worlds venue in Cascais and the final regatta of the pre season in Spa.
Charlotte’s racing dates for Summer 2007
23rd-27th May, Spa, Holland regatta Grade 1 World ranking series
9th-16th June, Riccione, Italy European Championships
4th-10th July, World Championships
27th July-3rd August, European Championships
19th -23rd September, Sail 4 Gold
After the incredibly hectic summer, I had a couple weeks off in order to relax, digest the summer and work out the programme for next year. I had a great time catching up with university mates and watching "Friends" DVD’s back to back accompanied by Ben and Jerry’s! But it never takes long until you want to get going again. With a refreshed focus and drive built on a great result from the worlds in LA training started again down south at an RYA camp in Weymouth at the end of September, where we started looking towards the Worlds next year being held in Cascais, Portugal.
This is the beginning of year three of the Olympic cycle and is the UK's selection year. Cascais is the main component of the selection process so is therefore the main performance focus at the moment. The conditions in Cascais are very different from the conditions we've seen this year with massive waves and very strong thermals dominating the weather. My coach and I went out to Cascais to have a wee look and see where I have to be by next summer. The trip was amazing and I loved the place. The waves were just as massive as the rumours but not as aggressive, just really nice long swell. We were a bit unfortunate with the wind as a massive low pressure messed up the thermal effect for a couple days, but judging by how many windsurfers pilgrimage to Guincho just round the corner I think we can bank on the breeze!
From Cascais I flew back to England to start the autumn national ranking series which qualifies you for the Worlds and Europeans next summer. The first event was in Eastbourne, the regatta went pretty well and it was nice to race again after some time off. The event was pretty breezy from the SW and with the combination of very high tides launching was a bit of a nightmare with a couple boats wiping out across the beach.... it all adds to drama though! I finished the regatta 6th and 3rd of the girls.
From Eastbourne, all the girls headed back down to Weymouth again (via a fitness test in Chichester for Anna and I) for the RYA Sail for Gold Regatta. This regatta is really exciting as Weymouth is now the venue for sailing in the 2012 Olympic Games. I had a really positive regatta, Day 1 was light and tricky but I stayed out of trouble, Day 2 was breeze on, and I had an awesome day with three bullets.... the best bit of the day however was watching Chris Tiso trying to throw poor Louise out the Tiso rib with his fantastic rib driving skills! Day 3 saw the medal race kick off in 25+ knots, I had extended to a comfortable lead overnight and held onto it, winning the regatta. It is really exciting to win in Weymouth... if only it was six years later!
We stayed down in Weymouth for the next week for another RYA camp, a great opportunity to see all the specialists in the same place same time. The camps are multi-class and it is always nice to see everyone. At the end of the camp I drove up to Whitstable for the second of the autumn qualifiers. After accidentally getting the car stuck on the beach and the fleet helping me push it out (I hope my dad doesn't read this!), the regatta actually went surprisingly well! We had strong NE offshore breeze which was incredibly shifty and patchy but I really enjoyed the days, with two 2nds on Sunday securing 3rd and 1st girl.
Unfortunately I picked up a cold somewhere on the M25 and had to fly home for a bit of rest during the week. At the weekend we flew back down to Weymouth for the last of the Autumn qualifying series. We sailed out in the bay on the same course as sail for gold so I felt pretty happy that I could do well. On Saturday we had breeze on again averaging 20+kts from the SW. The course was set under the harbour wall so the breeze was very gusty and patchy again. I had a consistent day and overnight was lying 4th and 1st girl. The next day we awoke to a mirror and although the race committee persevered racing was abandoned so the overnight results stood.
This was the end to the Autumn series and with 3,1,1,1 at the respective regatta's I won the overall series which is a very encouraging step towards my goal of qualification to the Olympics next summer. The biggest difference this year is that I am now sailing full time after deferring from university in June. I am having so much fun sailing now after reducing the stress which has made my focus infinitely stronger.
Next up on the calendar is a cycling camp in Palma, training camp in Hyeres, training camp in Hayling and then a wee trip across the pond in Miami for three weeks.... I can’t wait!
Most of February and March was spent in a corner of the library back at university catching up on everything I had missed from the previous term due to a bad case of glandular fever. The racing season started for me at Princess Sophia regatta, Mallorca in April. It was a huge eye opener to see how the “full-timers” had ramped up the standard in the second year of the Olympic cycle. My regatta goals were entirely process orientated due to the amount of time I’d spent at uni before the regatta. All in all the regatta was a solid performance, I had a couple of top 10 results in the breeze which indicated improvements over the winter but I just felt really rusty, racing and boat handling wise.
Top achievement: representing GBR at the 2004 Youth World Championships in Poland and winning the bronze medal
Have you ever been in a scary situation on the water?
Yeah, every time I capsize and I can't see the bottom. I always think a fish will bit my toes - ridiculous!
Who are your sailing heroes?
No one specifically involved with sailing. I admire the careers of those who have overcome big struggles and successfully picked themselves back up like Colin Jackson, Paul Radcliffe and Lance Armstrong.
What does sponsorship mean to you as an athlete?
It allows my progress to be efficient as possible. Training in the right venues and competing regularly in the highest level regattas around the world.