As you progress through your sailing career the natural move is towards higher performance boats. I believe this is why people often come to Olympic Catamaran sailing later than other Olympic classes which may have a more set route, for example, 420 to 470, or Radial to Laser. Having been a full time sailor for nearly ten years it therefore seems natural that I am now racing Catamarans.

Although I will always step back into the Radial (this year I shall be competing in the Europeans in July) for the love of true one design racing, I see my future in high performance sailing, and as such I was very saddened by the ISAF decision in November to remove the Tornado. By doing this they are not only removing a class, but a whole discipline which, surely as the fastest and most spectacular, should be represented at the Olympics.

Unfortunately it seems more important to ISAF to stick to a decision, than to do what is truly best for a sport as a whole. This is especially strange when this decision goes against the recommendations of both the Equipment committee and the Athlete commission. My interpretation of the voting in May would be: we realise we made a mistake (the vote to re-affirm did not get passed) but we are not going to do anything about it (the vote to discuss Cat sailing did not get a high enough majority).

So how does this leave the future of Cat sailing? Well having had two prolapsed discs removed from my neck last year (and the surrounding three vertebrae fused) this year was always going to be more about fitness than sailing for me. However straight after the 2008 Olympics there will be no more Olympic Cat sailing, no more events, and the top sailors will simply drift off, leaving a vacuum which may take many years to recover from.

I would hope that we can have a major rethink for 2016. I think the 5 women, 5 men classes: Single, Double, Keel, Cat, Windsurfer would seem the obvious way to go. With this time frame in mind Catamarans could reinvent themselves, producing a one design high performance boat, much like how the 49er came about. This would allow far more countries to compete on an equal footing at the Olympics.

When we think in four year cycles it is hard not to be emotive, as this effectively means taking away one sailor’s class. Most countries will have a good medal chance in certain classes and not others, so there is always going to be a vested interest. Suddenly when thinking eight years in advance the problem goes away as it is much harder to predict who (and in what classes) are going to be sailing well in eight years!

The issue now is that with no Cat sailing in the Olympics, many countries will stop their Youth programme, meaning there will be a huge talent drain, as the current top sailors will not be passing on their skills to the next generation. My only hope is that the IOC will step in, realising that sailing has not prepared for the future, and bring in an eleventh event (which would have to be the Tornado) for 2012 on the proviso that proper planning is put in place for 2016, starting tomorrow (after all it would take a considerable amount of time to come up with a new one design).

 

You've read the book, now see the play...
Quite how Arthur Ransome's classic Swallows and Amazons adventure is to be adapted for the stage is not clear, but we will find out when the Eastern Angles production of We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea opens at the Marquee Theatre on Orwell Quay, Ipswich on July 3rd.

After five days of physiotherapy, stretching and acupuncture I was (very sore but) ready to go sailing again. My recovery from my neck surgery is by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life but I really feel I am on the up now. I am trying to avoid medication, and instead using a daily stretching routine to try and remove any muscle spasm which may occur as a result of nerve irritation.

My last stop before leaving the UK was the Emsworth Radial open which I won in light and shifty conditions. I also managed to pick up some rope from Rooster sailing at the same time. Having the right equipment is absolutely essential and Rooster rope along with Harken blocks seems to be the optimum combination.

To cut down on the driving I took the ferry from Harwick to Ellsberg (Denmark) which meant I had only a short drive to Aabenraa sailing club. Rob Godwin, a British standard rig sailor, was also on the ferry so we drove in convoy. Unfortunately, on arriving in Aabenraa,  Rob realised that he had left his passport and papers in the last service station we stopped in, so he had to drive back to get them.

The Danish Europa cup was just what I needed: 8 races sailed in strong westerly breeze, and although my legs were very sore I know my fitness has improved in leaps and bounds. Although I probably moaned at the time about the 45 minute upwind sail to get back in each day it was probably just what the doctor ordered!

There was a small but quality fleet. I actually won the event with a day to spare (there were two races a day with six out of eight races counting in the series) but I sailed on the last day, as I felt it was extremely good training. I won the last two races which gave me a minimum score (counting only first places), a very nice way to finish the regatta.

I then drove down to Germany and parked in Munich airport and flew home for my last break (well some more physio/acupuncture) before the Europeans. I will still  spend a couple of days on the water coaching on the Saturday and racing on the Sunday at Hill Head, before flying back out to pick up my van and boat… next stop the Austrian Europa cup.

In 2012 the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy will be the venue of the sailing in the Olympics. I moved to Weymouth five years ago because of the fantastic sailing, and to have the UK successfully bid for the Olympics (and get them in Weymouth) was a dream come true.

Sailing, probably more so than any sport, rewards the home advantage. This is because no race track is ever quite the same. By 2012 I hope to have sailed on every race course in every wind strength/direction, sea state and current there is.

Building work is progressing extremely rapidly with the initial phase costing nearly eight million pounds, the majority of which comes from the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) and Sports England (via the National lottery).

Every time I go down, real progress has been made, with the slipways being extended to 150 m and a small marina is be built, all to be finished this year (at the cost of nearly seven million through the Olympic Delivery Authority). This will be absolutely fantastic as it will give many generations of sailors absolute World Class training facilities (already 1000 local children have been introduced to sailing through the WPNSA).

This year I shall be competing at the WPNSA in the Byte World Championships the last week of August. The WPNSA hosts a number of high profile dinghy events and although I have never sailed a Byte (and won’t until the first day of the event) I can hardly turn down such an excellent opportunity with the racing on my doorstep and another major championship under my belt at the Olympic venue.

I arrived back in the UK on bank holiday Monday at 6:30 (with a 5:30 wake up call giving me plenty of time to take full of advantage of the all you can eat breakfast) and had to try very hard not to drive straight up to Weir Wood and go sailing again! However I decided it was more useful to go to the gym and do some stretching work to try and remove the muscle spasm which built up after a hard week’s racing.

Tuesday started with pilates and then I did an interview with Southern counties radio. I was glad the wind was light or there would have been a real danger of me losing the interviewer, Katherine, off the front of my Laser. In the evening I did some light aerobic work and another marathon stretching session. I have decided it is wise to stay off the heavy weights until my neck has properly relaxed again. I then drove up to visit an old University friend, Paul Hyde and his wife Tab for a curry and a catch up. Unfortunately I missed their wedding due to my operation, so it was the first time I had seen Paul since his stag do.

Wednesday morning and I travelled up to Grafham to do some one to one coaching (I have got to pay for these trips away somehow) and then hot footed it to Wembley sailing club in time for their evening race! Fortunately I won comfortably, otherwise they may have decided that they did not want me to coach them!

Thursday and Friday I coached at Wembley with Ed Sibson. On the first day we worked on boat handling and then we ran a team racing competition. On the second day which was hard work but a lot of fun, we just managed to get all the races done before the wind completely disappeared. In the evening I managed to meet up with another old Uni friend, Ian Drew. It is really hard work to keep in contact with old friends but absolutely worth it. Funny how in many ways not much has changed since I was at Loughborough University!

The weekend saw me doing a couple of opens, first at Oxford then at Lancing sailing club, both really friendly clubs, although through no fault of their own there was little wind. However I did manage to win all the races (3 at Oxford and 4 at Lancing) which has been a real confidence boost.

On Monday I finally made it back to Weymouth (to do some more one to one coaching) and make my final preparations. I now have a few physio sessions (and quite a few evenings of ice) to get me in the best possible shape for my next trip away… I think I had better start packing! 

This fine vision in icing was created to celebrate a promotion for The Croatia Cruising Companion at the new Split Library in Croatia.

After the Hoorn Europa cup I drove north to Medemblik for the Delta Lloyd regatta, Holland’s grade 1 international event. It has been eight months since I last raced the Tornado, which I have done only once anyway, at the UK Nationals held at Weston Sailing Club. So this was always going to be a learning experience and the timing could not have been more perfect.

There was a small but very high quality fleet of Tornados in Holland, basically fifteen of the seventeen teams who are going to the Olympics and who are now in their final stages of preparation for the most important regatta in the four year cycle, a couple of local (Dutch teams) and us. So we were never really going to be in a medal winning position!

The sheet loads in the Tornado are huge (I felt convinced a couple of times my arms may have been ripped out of their sockets) but I always realised after having major surgery last year it was going to take a little while to get back up to full fitness, and after all the 2012 Olympics are a looooong way away!

I also decided it was best to be cautious in this regatta. The Tornado is the fastest Olympic boat, reaching speeds of over 30 knots. The problem with this is when you suddenly stop, the crew continues at the speed the boat was going, which means when you hit the boat it really hurts! As a result we decided to sit out some of the windier races, so as not to damage the boat, or more importantly me!

At the end of the regatta I am now feeling somewhat battered and bruised but still very much looking forward to my next Tornado sail. I am now catching the overnight ferry from Hook of Holland back to the UK to spend a week coaching before heading back to the continent again.

Wiley and Wiley Nautical recently sponsored local rowing team Langstone Cutters to compete in the first ever London2Paris rowing race.  Over 417 nautical miles later, they completed the race and WON IT!  The rowing team included two Wiley elements – Deborah Pentesco-Gilbert (Editorial Director), and also Caroline McPhee’s (Director, Legal) husband Colin.

The team used the Wiley Weather Service too and thankfully it turned up trumps with great weather for the crossing! 

The team’s time was 95 hours 16 min 55 seconds with a total winning margin over the competitor of 8hours 59mins 03 sec.  An amazing time for the first ever race, the first mixed crew, the first women to ever row across the Channel, the first married couple to do so and the first Wiley sponsored rowing crew!   For more details see  www.langstonecutters.com and the race blog www.lcrc-l2p.blogspot.com.

Of course this was all done for charity and the team is still collecting for the Langstone Lifesaver charities and is aiming to reach the £10,000 mark.

 

After finishing the spring Qualifiers (and thereby qualifying to represent the UK at the Radial Europeans in Nieuwpoort, Belgium, 12-19 July) I headed off to Holland for the Europa cup in Hoorn.

This is the first of four Europa cups. Later in June I shall be racing in Denmark and Austria before going to Germany in July. These three events will serve as my warm up for the Europeans. I also hope to finish top three in the overall series.

There were over one hundred entries for the regatta, but surprisingly I was the only Brit.  I felt completely at home however, as I knew so many of the sailors there and actually the Dutch probably speak better English than I do!

Overall it was a very difficult regatta, as demonstrated in the final race when I was winning by around 400 metres and a huge wind shift put me down into fourth place. However despite feeling somewhat frustrated I won the regatta even though I never won a race. The key was consistency. Every race I counted was in the top five, and I was the only person to do this.

The first race was sailed in extremely light winds but the rest of the regatta was held in hiking conditions so it was extremely good fitness work. It also enabled me to double the number of races that I have done this year!

Straight after Hoorn I drove up to Medemblik (about 25 minutes up the road) for the Dutch international regatta, this year sponsored by Delta Lloyd. I am racing this event in a Tornado, so after just one day’s rest it will be all go again.

You can now browse the Wiley Nautical catalogue from the comfort of your computer. Click HERE to try it for yourself.