The Cayman Islands
My latest job was running a Byte CII clinic in the Cayman Islands. I actually won the Byte World Championship in August last year at the WPNSA and so I was asked to come and run the training which saw sailors come from as far a field as Singapore. The coaching set up at the Cayman Island Sailing Club was awesome with sailors able to fly in (the airport is just ten minutes from the centre) and charter boats. I have also been asked to run a clinic before the 2009 Worlds which I may also race in (to defend my title).
I actually got into coaching to pay for my Laser campaign for the 2000 Olympics and discovered I really enjoyed it! Unfortunately it became clear that I was never going to be big enough to be fully competitive in the Laser (I blame my parents for giving me “short” genes). So I went to the Olympic trials in 2000 (Ben Ainslie had already been selected as the Laser representative) to see what other classes were on offer and the one I really liked the look of was the 49er and so I jumped straight into this!
I may have been too small to campaign a single hander as a man but I discovered I was the perfect size for the women’s single hander and I have worked as a training partner for Shirley Robertson GBR (Gold women’s single hander 2000 games), Laura Baldwin GBR (23rd women’s single hander 2004 games) and a coach for Nathalie Brugger SUI (6th women’s single hander 2008 games). I still sail single handers, and my next job is to qualify for a place at the Radial World championships this year.
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