A Roller Coaster of a Year

It’s been a roller coaster of a year, in terms of results and achievements
It certainly got off to a good start in January with a silver medal at the IFDS Worlds in Perth Australia and continued to go well with another silver in Hyere, but it was when I got the phone call from Shirley Robertson asking if I would stand in for her and helm for Annie and Lucy at the Pre Olympic test event, that it got really exciting.

It was great to have the opportunity to step back in to an Olympic class, even though it was one I had never sailed before, and compete in the waters where the Olympics and Paralympics will be held in 2008. An advantage I now have over my fellow competitors, as there are no test events planned for the Paralympics. I was certainly dropped in at the deep end, with only four days of training before the regatta started, but we took each race at a time and found ourselves, standing on the Podium with silver at the end. A result which took days to sink in.

Things just went crazy when I got home with interviews and articles, and then I received the e-mail from the President of ISAF to say I had been nominated for ISAF Sailor of the Year. Although I did not win, it was such an honour to be nominated and have my achievements recognised. It has injected a real passion and determination to make next year even better than this year.