IFDS WORLDS 2007

This year the Worlds were held on Lake Ontario in Rochester New York. It’s was the last time for countries to secure their place at the Paralympic Games next year, so there was a great turn out with 43 2.4mR from over 20 different countries.
I had a great start to the regatta with a 2nd and 3rd in light conditions similar to what we are expecting in China. However as soon as the breeze increased I found I was struggling for pace.
I had decided to send my new boat to Rochester, which we had been doing some development work on and were at the stage where we really needed to test it against some good competition. The Worlds were really our only opportunity and we knew it would be a strong fleet. Although I was disappointed with my result, we learnt more in those two weeks than we would have in 4 months testing at home. With the Games less than a year away, time is very precious.
It was also positive in that I had to change my style of tactics, which are normally based around me having good pace. By the last day I had managed to adapt to the lack of speed and put in a good performance. Both races I rounded the top mark inside the top 5, I was a little unlucky on the second beat when a big right hand shift came in, but still managed to hold on to 6th.

I finished the regatta 9th overall. Damien Seguin from France put in an excellent performance and won convincingly taking the Gold from Heiko Kroeger from Germany who won the Silver and Thierry Schmitter from Holland who took the Bronze.

It’s now straight back in to training, as time is precious and now is not the time to sit back.