Back in Weymouth

So we are back in Weymouth and begin training again tomorrow. A re-cap on recent adventures: Last week we were in Medemblik, Holland for the Delta Lloyd Regatta. The event featured lots of wind - so much that they cancelled racing on Day 3 and Day 5 of the event. We struggled a bit in the big wind conditions but nothing like last year. We still capsized a fair bit but when we were upright we were fast; twice making it to the windward mark in 9th. We worked with Dayne Sharp at this event. While not a 470 specific coach like Bunny or Dave; he is a great coach. He really helped us with understanding downwind tactics and angles and general racing strategy, as well as making some very key comments to improve our heavy wind sailing.

We left the regatta early due to some logistical complications and so missed the last race on Sunday. I won't go into details but basically we had assumed racing would be done Saturday and we needed to deliver our coach-boat back to Weymouth. We drove Saturday night and caught the 7 am ferry from France to England. We arrived Sunday morning in Weymouth, unpacked the boat and gave it to Sam to work on and ran some errands and then went to bed! Monday we took off (I slept and watched movies, it was glorious). Today we got the boat back from Sam and set it up again. We had some minor fiberglass repairs done as well as sanding and buffing the hull. The boat is now white again instead of scum colored! We also switched masts today, as we put a small bend in our mast in Holland from sticking it in the mud (the water is only about 12 feet deep). We have straightened the mast, but will now use it as our back-up only.

We are once again working with coach Bunny; as well as a Russian team. We are partnering with them to share coaching costs and also hopefully to develop a long-term training partnership. We are really excited about this as it is an amazing opportunity. It basically means we can afford twice the coaching and we are no longer going it alone. We have another boat to compare settings with and work with which is awesome. This event will be the trail event and then hopefully we will continue to work together throughout 2011 at Europeans and Worlds etc.

Skandia Sail for Gold is the next event. Racing starts Monday June 6th here in Weymouth, England at the 2012 Olympic Venue. This event is our first Olympic qualifier - if we place top Canadian we will have a spot at the Pre-Olympics here in Weymouth in August as well as a spot at the 2011 World Championships in Perth, Australia.