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..