It’s been a Tricky week. The prevailing north easterly we had during the Pre Worlds in December never materialised and it was a week of fickle southerly winds. I got off to a good start with a 3rd in the first race and was on track for another in the second race until the last beat when I hooked something on my rudder and went painfully slow to be overtaken by 5 boats. I just didn’t seem to be getting the lucky breaks. In race 6 I got caught on the wrong side of a 40 degree shift and despite the race officers team advising him to abandon the race and restart it, he decided to ignore their advice and allow the race to continue.
I did have some good races though and a great day on Friday when I bounced back to have a 2nd and 1st. I finished the regatta with a 2nd which pulled me up to 4th overall.
Although really disappointed not to have medaled, the boat was going well and I showed i’m more than capable of finishing in the top three.

Relaxing and cycling in St Pete at the moment. Just did a 76 mile ride today which got rid of some of the frustration. Looking forward to heading south to Miami on Thursday and the start of Miami OCR next Monday

Charlotte Habor Yacht club, put on some great racing over 3 days. There was a good turn out of around 20 boats, with some good competition.
The Dutch were there on mass and so were the Canadians and obviously the American’s.
I got off to a good start on the first day, and finished the day in 2nd overall. A first and a third in the races the next day, put me in a great position, just one point off Paul Tingley who was leading and 3 points ahead of Bruce Millar in third. There was a considerable points margin of around 30 points to fourth place, so it was going to be a show down between the three of us.
We had some really close racing and battles down wind, with Bruce just getting the better of me in the first race and Paul a few places behind.
The second race I decided to try and sail my own race a bit more and not get so involved. It paid off, I finished 4th with Bruce in 5th and Paul once again a few places behind. I had now moved in to the lead and had 3 points on the other two, who were tied on points.
In the third race, I came off the line in a good position going fast, however a big black cloud and the warning of a thunderstorm, resulted in the race committee abandoning the race and cancelling racing for the rest of the day. I must admit I was not too disappointed!
It’s great to have won the Pre Worlds, and gives me confidence going in to the Worlds in January. Out here for a bit more training before heading home for Christmas. I can’t wait it’s been a long trip but a good one!

Great training regatta. The race committee certainly packed the races in, with 4 a day, making it a long day on the water. Had some good results and a great last day with 2nd, 1st and 3rd. Always great to finish on a high! Finished 4th overall and 3rd Para. It’s a shame I had a couple of bad races in the middle which probbably cost me a top 3 overall. Anyway the racing was really close and the points tight and I was pleased with how I raced on the last day.

So have had a couple of days off, well kind of. Ended up doing a 75 mile bike ride with Rob yesterday, epic, but awsome!

Picking Ian (Barker) up from the airport tonight and trundling on to port Charlotte for the next regatta, then a bit of training before flying home on the 17th for Christmas.

We had some great training days here in St Pete, where the dolphins came and played, apparntly there are even more in port Charlotte.

Arrived in St Petes on Wednesday, Just in time for Thanks Giving on the 24th. Bruce and Barb, (although Canadian), put on a great dinner, turkey with all the trimmings! I spent the morning rebuilding my bike after very careful packing for the flight. Luckily I think it paid off and it looks to be all in one piece! Took me a bit longer than planned, but got there in the end.
Container unloading today which went well. The boats rigged, a little bit of tweaking tomorrow and she will be ready to rock!

Planning to go for a cycle tomorrow moring before heading down to the club. Cycling seems to be a real trend here with loads of people out on their bikes, so hopefully tag along and find a good route.

It’s been a while since I was at Rutland sailing club, probably 2004, which was the last time I did the 2.4 Nationals. However once again Rutland sailing club had kindly offered to host the Nationals and I found my self doing the familiar drive up, with a little assistance from the GPS when my memory failed me.
I have a lot of fond memories from my Youth Squad days sailing and training on Rutland water, so it did feel strangely familiar driving in to the dinghy park even though it had been a while.

We had 2 races scheduled for the first day, luckily it was a late 2:30 start as there was no wind in the morning. I won the first race and was 2nd in the other one, after going back at the start and playing catch up. Day two and four races were scheduled. I won the first two and was second in the afternoon races.
With only two races on the last day, I kind of had the regatta sewn up and with a race win in the first one, had won with a race to spare. Meg was a comfortable second, so we decided not to do the last race and head in and start packing up.
I was keen to get on the road as I had a busy day on Sunday moving in to our house on Portland.

It was a great few days with some fun racing and I certainly collected a few trophies!

The last few months have been great having Steve (my husband) back at home in Southampton, after he finished his project out in Turkey. It’s great having a normal married life in our lovely home and has allowed me to focus more on my sailing, rather than jumping on a plane whenever I had a spare week to see him.
However things have got even better, with Steve being offered a position at Sunseeker managing the build of their flag ship 46m Super Yacht. Sun Seeker are based in Portland at Osprey Quay right next door to the Olympic sailing venue so it’s an ideal oportunity for us to relocate in Portland.
We have found a fantastic house to rent, with awsome views over Lyme Bay and Portland harbour and are we really looking forward to moving in at the beginning of September.
I can’t wait, no more commuting to Weymouth and lots of sailing and training, which will be much more fun having team mates to go cycling with.

Wow what a week! Certainly joins the list of toughest weeks, but well worth it for the result!
Ian Barker stepped in as my coach for the week due to Rob having prior commitments to the Youth team, who were competing at their Worlds in Croatia. Ian did an amazing job getting me back on form in only three weeks, and continued the good work throughout the regatta. As Thierry put it I was in a race within a race, the Worlds being the second regatta in our trials. After a poor Sail For Gold Regatta the pressure was certainly on and I needed to put in a good performance

It was the largest entry ever for an IFDS Worlds, with 46 entries in the 2.4mR class, proving for some exciting close racing, (sometimes a little too close for my liking).

The week started in light airs probably my strongest condition and after day one I found myself leading the regatta. Not a bad start, but still a long way to go! As Ian said “you can’t win the regatta on the first day but you can certainly lose it!” I then remained consistently in the top 3 apart from Monday when I dropped to 4th but the points were so tight I was not concerned. As the week progressed the winds picked up and on Wednesday we were treated to a blustery 18 knots gusting 20. I was keeping it solid although had a couple of races where I got caught out on the wrong side of a shift on the second beat and went from 2nd to 6th! It was incredibly frustrating as I knew those points would have been really handy and given me some breathing space from behind.

I think Thursday was the toughest day of the regatta for me and was my worst day in terms of results. Going in to the day I knew it was imperative to remain in the medals by the end of the day as the forecast for Friday was for 30 knots and there was every chance we might not get racing. I fought hard for every point that day and remained in bronze. My prediction was right! Despite the best efforts of the race committee to get us out for a final race, the decision was made that it was too windy and the sea state too dangerous to send us and racing was abandoned.
I can’t deny that I was relieved, Silver was out of reach and I was defending bronze against at least 3 boats snapping at my heels,

I said in an interview before the regatta started that I believed the top ten in the 2.4mR class have the same talent and level of skill the difference between winning and coming tenth would come down to mindset and mental toughness. From my own experience this week I believe that won me the bronze.

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Finally I am having a much needed week off. No sailing, no boat work, just relaxing watching wimbledon and catching up on stuff at home.
Sail for Gold was a really tough week for me and did not go how I had hoped. I was really tired going in to the regatta and I think it showed in my sailing. It feels like I have been non stop for the last 3 months!
The Worlds are just round the corner and in Weymouth so I need to be back on form and put in a good performance.

This weekend is the Round the Island race and is a big corporate event for Volvo. It’s my favourite day with Volvo and their VIP guest. This year I’m on a J109 and have the pleasure of Selwyn Cooper (National Coporate Operations Manager, Volvo car U.K) on board along with his VIP guests. I know Selwyn loves the race and I am really looking forward to a great day of sailing and racing with him. Denise Van Outen and Chris Parker are Volvo’s celebrity guests this year. Lets hope the Weather Brightens and the wind drops a bit or else they may have a rather wet and exciting trip around the Island.

It’s been a bizarre week of racing that I am relived to be coming home with a bronze medal in my pocket. It’s certainly been a week of ups and downs not just for me but most of the fleet.

The first curve ball was thrown at me before racing even started. Luckily Steve came out for a few days while I was training, to keep me company before my house mates, the match racing girls (Annie, Lucy and Kate) flew out. He was planning a relaxing couple of days in the South of France, no chance! First day of training and I noticed something strange with my steering, Steve took the back hatch off to discover a serious crack in my steering quadrant, and it looked like it could go at any moment. He spent the whole of Wednesday covered in epoxy repairing it for me, before being dropped off at the airport Thursday morning to fly home. Thanks Hons, I owe you some Moules and Frites!

We lost a couple of days training due to strong winds. I think it’s the first year I can remember the practice race being cancelled, so it was straight in to race one, 15 knots and great surfing conditions. I got a 6th and a 3rd which was good enough to place me 3rd overall; however both of those races could have been thrown out, as the race committee posted the wrong course on the board. Luckily no one decided to protest, but that was the start to the bizarre week that followed.

Most of the fleet collected letters, either OCS or DSQ; I got an OCS in the second race on the Wednesday, after having a bad first race, so you can imagine I was not a happy bunny! (Thanks to my house mates they cheered me up that evening and I got a second the next day.) We were also moved to an entirely different race course. Apparently the Star class, who we were sharing with, could not see us and thought it was dangerous. So we ended up with the RSX’s (not sure if that was any safer!) This then opened another can of worms regarding the mark colours, change of course and other aspects of the sailing instructions that I won’t even go in to.

Anyway, come Friday and the last day of racing I found myself in 4th one point off Thierry in 3rd, but 5th was only a point behind. I decided the only way to deal with it was to go out and sail my own race, which seemed to work as I finished 1st and with Thierry in 9th I was now in 3rd with a bit of a buffer and just one race to go. However I decided not to make it easy for myself in the second race and had to go back at the start and play catch up, but I did enough and clenched the bronze!

I certainly did not feel I sailed my best, but luckily enough the rest of the fleet apart from Damien did not seem to be on form either and were making mistakes. Damien however put together an amazing series to win with two races to spare!

What was great was Annie, Lucy and Kate won the match racing! So we were a medal winning apartment. Also the Skandia team GBR girls, showed the boys the way for once, winning 6 medals to their 2 (although they were gold.) Also Team Volvo did a great job with 4 medals, (two gold a silver and a bronze)

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Just as I thought no practice race today, just lots of wind and rain! What makes it worse is hearing from Family how beautiful the weather back home is. Anyway I did get a trip to decathlon in and bought a few bits for my new bike which hopefully be there when I get home. Weather looks better for tomorrow so hopefully a good days racing!

Out in the South of France getting ready for Hyeres regatta which starts on Sunday. However no sailing today and tomorrow looks unlikely with 25 knots plus forcasted. Boat is ready to go, so hopping the wind will drop in the afternoon for the practice race at 3:00. Steve (my husband) came out at the beginning of the week to help get the boat ready. Lucky he did, as he spotted a crack in my steering quadrant, which probably would not have made it through the regatta. He spent all wednesday up to his arm pits in epoxy fixing it for me!

I don’t think I have been sailing in Weymouth since the beginning of November, so it was nice to be back out on the waters of Portland harbour. It certainly felt like spring was in the air which defiantly helped!

Matt Grier ran a day of training races on the Friday, which was just what I needed as I had not raced since January in Miami regatta. However I was not a rusty as I thought I was going to be and had a good day winning all the races, which helped build my confidence going in to the weekend and the regatta.

We had a good turn out in the 2.4mR’s with around 15 boats. There was some good close racing at the front of the fleet and I won the first two races and was 2nd in the third race of the day.

Sunday I won the first two races, so won the regatta with a race to spare, but decided to stay out for the third race and take the opportunity to learn a little more about Portland harbour in the northerly wind direction.

All in all an enjoyable weekend. I’m now in Palma for some more training. However it’s blowing 25 knots gusting 30. With boats getting trashed left right and centre, including RIB’s getting flipped, we decided it was not 2.4mR weather and opted for the safety of the sailing club and a nice cup of tea instead! The weather for the rest of the week looks better so hopefully we should get some good training in.

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It’s always nice to be back in Miami for some warm winter training and the OCR. I had a couple of regattas before hand to use as a warm up and also to check out some new sails I was planning to use. I had good speed in the light conditions, which is always a nice confidence booster in the lead up to OCR.
As a class we always fight for the OCR to be an open regatta, and not just restricted to the Paralympic sailors. This way we ensure a good turn out and a high level of competition. We had thirty boats this year and a good turn out from the able bodied Canadian and American sailors

My main goal for the regatta was to test the new sails we had developed but I was also hoping for a good result, based on the speed I had in the light and Miami being a notorious light wind venue.

Unfortunately things did not quite go to plan. Firstly it was probably the windiest Miami I have done, the usual 6-8 knot breeze replaced with a shifty 15 knots, and a bit of gear failure on day one meant my regatta did not get off to a great start.
Sailing out to the start for the first race I was admiring how nice my new sails looked when there was a loud bang and the whole rig went slack. I quickly realised the vectran strop which formed part of my rig tension system had snapped, leaving me with no shroud tension and the risk of breaking the mast. With a couple of spare bits of rope I managed to get some tension in the rig to save the mast and set about trying to tie the two loose ends back together. Rob (my coach), came to my rescue and we finished the job just before the 5 min gun went. The only problem was I had way more tension on one side than the other, which meant on one tack I was high and slow and the other tack had no height at all! However there was no way I was going to start the regatta with a couple of DNS! I managed a 14th in the first and a 7th in the second. That evening we replaced the system and I did a thorough check of the boat. I had opted to ship my old boat to the States, wanting to use my new boat in Palma for training and the European regattas. At 7 years old she was starting to show her age and making some unnerving creaks and bangs in the waves!

I had a rather average second day, not helped by doing turns in the second race.
The 3rd day we did not race as the race committee got overly concerned by some possible fronts that might pass through.

Finally day 4 and I had the conditions I had been waiting for and posted a 2nd and a 1st in the light winds, winning the second race by a considerable margin. I was hoping for a third race, but we did not get it. I had moved up to 6th overall, unfortunately the medal places were realistically out of reach, but I had a chance to move up to 4th especially if we had light conditions again. However no such luck, the 15 knot shifty conditions were back. I never really found my rhythm and was a little down on speed and ended up dropping to 7th overall.
Although disappointed in the result and frustrated at the first day, the purpose of the regatta was to test the sails. I have great speed down wind speed in all conditions and have my competitors seriously worried in the light winds, we just need to do some tweaks in the 10 -15 knot range.

I now have a week to catch up with Steve in Turkey before going out to Palma for a training camp where we will be doing some more testing and speed work to find that little edge in the medium conditions.

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I recieved my new Volvo on Friday. I still get excited every six months when I am lucky enough to get another new car. My last two choices were the XC60 and the XC70, but this time I went back to the XC90. I really enjoyed the XC60 and XC70 with all their bells and whistles, but there is something rather special about the XC90, that I can’t help but migrate back to it. It’s probably something to do with the size and the fact I am rather small. Sitting above the rest of the cars on the road gives me a sense of safety and importance and a height advantage I don’t often experience! It’s also a great car for towing the size of load I’m now driving around Europe, (two 2.4mR’s and a RIB). It certainly makes the long drives on the continent a pleasurable experience!

Steve and I got married on the 9th October. It was a fantastic day with family and friends at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club and we were so lucky with the weather.
It was a great feeling to ditch the sailing clothes, have my hair and make up done and put on a dress! I think there were a few shocked friends who barely recognised me.
Mum and dad organised everything and without them the day would not have happened! It ran like clock work, thanks to the efficiency of the staff at the RYSYC and the transport service layed on by Derek and Jo from DJC Hire. Tim and Sarah Bennett did a fantastic job with the photos. Steve was a little overwelmed at the number Tim took. I was well practiced after my photo shoots with Volvo, however this was certainly more glamourous and lacked the windswept, drowned rat appearance

The day seemed to go so fast! We were married by 11:30am and partied on until midnight, resulting in a few sore heads in the morning, including me and Steve, but we managed to stagger out of bed to meet everyone for breakfast the next morning.

Unfortunately Tuesday morning I was back in Weymouth for a week of training, which felt so surreal and now we are in Istanbul, but Steve is back at work. We are both still on a massive high and struggling to come back to reality! Judging by the calendar looks like the honey moon will be on hold until October next year! Oh well at least we are together!

I would like to say a big thank you to my parents, and also my Auntie Pam who made it such a special day!

(For more photos go to my Gallery)

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In the 2.4mR class we are lucky that it is an established international class and has a great following outside of the Paralympics, so the Open Worlds are always a big event. With the regatta being held in Hoorn Holland it was the largest number of entries for a few years, with 85 boats on the one start line. (I don’t think I have started with that many boats since my last Topper nationals and that’s going back a few years!)

I went out a few days earlier as it was the first regatta in my new boat and although I had spent a couple of weeks will Billy in Weymouth calibrating her and getting her up to speed, I have had too many new boats in my sailing career not to know by now that the job list just goes on and on.
She had her grand naming with a bottle of cava (couldn’t bring myself to waste Champaign) and we headed out in to the choppy waters of Hoorn with Rob (Wilson) who was coaching us, for a rather wet, cold training session.

It rained solidly for 6 days, and the wind blew, Rob was worried that Holland might actually sink if it continued. Holland didn’t sink, but there were a number of 2.4’s that did in the practice race. The wind was gusting over 20 knots and the nasty steep chop provided the perfect submarine conditions.

My new boat was showing some awesome downwind speed in the breeze and waves, however come day one of the regatta the wind disappeared and it finally stopped raining. We had three very long races with one lasting 2 hours. The wind seemed to always die on the run making them very long and tense trying to predict which side the wind would come in from. However I had a solid first day and was lying 3rd overall.

Despite the hints from the fleet the race officer continued to run long races resulting in us spending over 6 hours on the water, I was in bed by ten each night!
I had good speed upwind and down in the light conditions and was getting some solid results in the tricky conditions with a race win on Wednesday, helping me to stay in 3rd place.
However a black flag and rather average day on Friday and I dropped to 5th. The good news was that with only one race on Saturday, counting my discard I was guaranteed 5th and still in the hunt for a medal.
The Canadian Paralympic Sailors Paul Tingley (Gold medallist in Beijing) and Bruce Millar were also having a great regatta, with Paul leading going in to the last day and Bruce in 4th just in front of me. Stellan Berlin from Sweden (5 times World Champion) was in 3rd and Hans Asklund also from Sweden was just one point behind Paul. So it was going to be a big day on Saturday.

It was a weird race with the wind off the land and the windward mark just off the shore. At start time the wind was hard right at the committee boat end, but had flicked hard left at the pin. Bruce and I opted for the committee boat end while Stellan and Paul raced off for the pin. Unfortunately the left breeze won. Hans got caught out in the middle. Stellan finished 2nd in the race to take 2nd place overall with Paul in 4th to become the new World Champion. Hans dropped to 3rd and Bruce and I stayed the same in 4th and 5th.

I was disappointed not to medal but still pleased with my 5th place overall and 3rd paralympic sailor. It was an encouraging result with Paul and Bruce both from the same nation and Thierry Schmitter the currents IFDS World Champion in 12th place it’s a step in the right direction for 2012. The other positive was my new boat was certainly going well!

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Sail for Gold begins on Monday and juding by the number of boats in the dinghy park looks like it’s going to be a great regatta! It’s now less than two years to go until the 2012 Games, so teams from all over the world are keen to come and sail in the water’s of Portland harbour and Weymouth bay.
The 2.4mR fleet have a good turn out with all the top names here. I have been traing the last couple of weeks in weymouth and now looking forward to getting out there and racing on home waters.

We had a great entry list this year for Kiel week, with the organisers opening up the event to include the able bodied sailors too. So with 34 boats on the start line and a 14 race series it was ideal practice prior to The Worlds. I didn’t have a great start to the regatta, but soon found my stride on the second day with a race win in the first race.

It was a really competitive fleet with everyone posting high scores. I soon realised that a 6th was not a bad results. I kept my head up and stayed positive and after posting two firsts on the third day suddenly found myself in 3rd overall.

I was really in my stride with a great handle on the conditions and after another 1st and a 4th was in first place overall, looking for another good result in the third race of the day. I came off the line after a great start, to suddenly have my steering fail. The bolt that connected the rudder stock to my steering quadrant had sheared right through. The steering had felt bad at the end of the second race that day, but I thought the bolt had just worked loose and needed tightening. I hadn’t had time to sort it out before the warning signal went for the third race, so was just going to do the best I could and sort it out when I got on the dock. I had to pull out of the race straight after the start and get towed in.
I managed to temporarily fix it over night, but with only one discard allowed I now had to count a 17th. However I was in second overall and only 3 points off first, with two races planned on the last day. Heiko was in first place and I had 7 points on 3rd so was in good shape.

The forecast was for a light sea breeze, and we were postponed on shore whilst the race officer waited for the gradient to die and the sea breeze to develop. I opted for my light jib based on the forecast, but when I got out to the race course the gradient wind was still in and up to 10-15knots. Unfortunately I did not have a coach at this regatta so could not change jibs on the water.

I had a great start and was ahead of Heiko, unfortunately he had a bit more speed than me and just managed to pull front. Once in front he controlled the race and through tacks on top of me when he could, preventing me from escaping and passing. The second race panned out the same and I could not get past.

So Heiko took the Gold and I took Silver with Thierry having a great last day to finish in Bronze.
I was pleased with my result, although I have wondered what could have been if my steering had not failed. Anyway it’s a great confidence boost going in to the worlds which start in a couple of week’s time, back in Medemblik Holland.

So I am now out in Turkey for five days, celebrating Steve’s Birthday with friends and family and relaxing and catching up on some sleep before heading back to start training on the 29th

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Delta Lloyd regatta this year in Medemblik was an important regatta for me, as it’s also the Venue for the IFDS worlds, so it was great to come away with a bronze medal and was a real confidence boost

We had an extra addition to the 2.4mR British squad. John Robertson, normally the sonar helm, decided to put his dry suit on and discover how wet the 2.4mR can really get. As the sonar is not a class at Delta Lloyd, he was keen to get as much racing and knowledge of the venue in preparation for the Worlds in July. He was a great addition to the squad and provided amusement on the 20 knot day when he managed to sink twice, although he was not alone with a few sailors struggling with the nasty chop Medemblik kicks up.

We had a real mixture of conditions with a day of no wind and no racing to 20 knots and a big steep chop the next. It was definitely a shifty regatta, with a couple of tricky days. I thought I had the bronze medal sewn up with a race to spare and would be challenging for 2nd, until I got caught out on wrong side of a shift and went from 3rd to 7th ouch!!
I had a nice little point lead going in to the final race, but decided not to make it easy for myself and caused my coach to loose a few more hairs. It all came good in the end and I got the bronze.

Thierry Schmitter from Holland won the regatta on the water, only to lose in a protest with Damien Seguin from France. So Damien clenched the Gold with Thierry in Silver.

Some great lessons learnt before the worlds, and I feel I have got a good handle on the conditions we can expect.

Since Holland I have been back training in Weymouth but it’s not long before I am off to Kiel week, which promises to be another shifty venue.

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It has been a busy few months since my last blog update, which I must apologise for not keeping up to date. A silver in Palma at Princess Sophia regatta in April got the season off to a good start and it looked like I was going to follow it up with a medal in Hyere’s until I got some letters in my score line, never a good thing! However there were some valuable lessons learnt and I am looking forward to the next World Cup regatta in Holland at the end of this month.
Asside from my sailing a few other exciting things have happened, most importantly becoming engaged to my long term partner Stephen Thomas. He proposed in true style and we are looking forward to getting married in October. A summer wedding would have been lovely, but I could not squeeze it in with my sailing programme. My parents have been fantastic taking over the wedding arrangements. With me away at regattas and Steve very busy in Turkey, project managing the build of the first two Superyachts for Oyster, neither of us have had time to think about, let alone organise the wedding. I have anounced to my dad that I want a red Ferrari as a wedding car, however it’s proving very difficult to get one without a chauffer which would mean some one in the boot!
The other piece of exciting news is Charles Russell anouncing their continued support for my 2012 campaign. I am delighted they are continuing their sponsorship in the form of supplying a new 2.4mR and I am really grateful for their committment

Arrived home from 3 weeks of Miami Sunshine and some great warm weather sailing.
The Goals for the period were to have a look at some new kit and get back in to racing after the Winter break. Although the overall result in the OCR was not great having an OCS and Black flag, It was a successful training regatta, nailing down a few areas I have wanted to work on and improve.
The next regatta is Princess Sophia at the end of March, so until then will continue to work with the new kit and try out some ideas we had in Miami.

I can’t believe it’s 2010 already, this year has gone by so fast!
It ended well with a really enjoyable skiing holiday in Val d’sere, with my friend Wendy, the Knowles family and friends. It was great skiing, even though most days it was -16 or below. Xanthi entertained us all with her perfomance on the T bar. Defintely worthy of the £250 on you have been framed, if any of us could have stopped laughing for long enough to film it. Olly (Richardson) and Josh impressed us with throwing themsleves off various outcrops and rocks, something they were trying to encourage me and Olly (Knowles) to do. Olly managed to get the job of oficial photographer and I did a good dissapearing act.
Anyway a big thankyou to everyone for an enjoyable holiday, to Claire our Chalet Maid for being and excellent hostess and cook and to Dave for some great ski hosting days!

Christmas was spent at home in Southampton, just Steve and myself, which suited me fine as I had picked up a virus at the end of skiing so had the perfect excuse to curl up on the couch and watch all the Christmas movies. We caught up with the family on boxing day and spent most of the day playing with the scalextric set we had bought my niece. New Year was spent with my parents and Wendy in our local Pub before flying out to Turkey. I’m here only for a few days and then it’s off to warmer climates for some training in Miami and the Olympic Classes Regatta.

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It’s been a really busy past two months, and I must admit I am feeling the effects now. However I’m out in Turkey where the weather is still warm, enjoying a week off, catching up with sleep and basically not really doing anything. Fantastic!

I went in to the worlds with realistic expectations. I had sent all my best kit to Athens targeting it as my performance regatta, where I needed to deliver and did. I had sent my Games boat to Fort Myers and knew I would be sailing with 7kg less lead than I normally do at the Open Worlds and probably more compared to the rest of the fleet. This makes a big difference to the righting moment and therefore the speed and height of the boat in a breeze, and I suffered the consequence when it breezed up for the last 3 days.
Under Paralympic rule to keep the boats as close to One Design as possible we are restricted to a limit of 176kg of lead and a max boat weight of 254kg, however under the Open 2.4 rule there is no restriction on the amount of lead as long as the boat still weighs 254kg. So everyone strips out as much weight out of the boat that they can so they can put in more lead. With the boat I sent to Athens I can easily do this and gain 7 kg of lead, but unfortunately my Games boat was heavy and we had done everything we could just to get it to weight so I could carry the 176kg for Pralympics, hence the difference.
The first two days were light and things were going o.k. , I was lying 9th overall. Then the conditions changed and it breezed up to 15-18 knots and a nasty chop, and I just didn’t have the speed or height to stay in the top 10. I finished 19th overall, which I was disappointed with, as a top 10 at the Open Worlds would have been achievable if the conditions had stayed light.

However I really enjoyed the regatta, despite the result. The weather, Halloween party, great accommodation and fantastic hospitality made up for it. I must admit I got very excited about the Halloween party the club organised. I think partly because we don’t really celebrate it here and I love an excuse to dress up, especially when I know there is a good chance I’m going to fit in to a kids costume so my Choice of outfit was huge. I decided on a Star Wars theme as I had been given instructions from Bjørnar’s (The Norwegian paralympic sailor) mum to get him a costume too. So we had to go as double act!

It’s back to the cold next week for a squad camp in Hayling and some sailing in Weymouth the following week. We also have the Accenture awards evening which is always great fun and will be even more so this year as I will get an award for my bronze at the IFDS Worlds. I have also got an invite to the BBC sports personality of the year awards on the 13th December, but I’m off skiing that day, which means I am probably going to have to pass up the opportunity to rub shoulders with some famous, fit, good looking athletes. Oh well I’m sure skiing will be great and really get me in the mood for Christmas!

Other images included with this entry..