Adventures

Happy Australia Day everyone! Hope you had a great day with your family and friends and to all who are racing, hope it is going well! The Spiral Nationals commenced yesterday for me from Teralba at the North-western end of Lake Macquarie in a very shifty and variable E-NE breeze, with cloud interference at times. A very mixed bag of results in the two races that were sailed, showing my potential…

Ten days to go until the Spiral Nationals. Chris and I have been training every couple of days, doing boat work on the off days to make sure we don’t burn out. We did the sprints last Sunday, where I came 3rd out of the Spirals and 9th in the division, then 1st in the Spirals and 1st in the division. My focus was much better in the second race. Getting used to skippering and being on a…

The NS14 Nationals are done and dusted finishing up on Tuesday 3 January. What an awesome week it was! Well done to Cronulla Sailing Club and the NSW NS14 committee for putting together a fantastic event and of course Zhik for their sponsorship of the event! Finally in race 7 and 8 we felt  like the boat was actually reaching it’s potential. With the rake in the right spot and the diamonds…

Happy New Years everyone! Hope you welcomed 2012 with your friends, family or both and I wish you happiness and success for this year! Gorgeous day in Sydney today and finally a Nor’Easter to break the southerly onslaught; a great way to kick of the new year! Today was also the lay day for the NS14 Nationals – and it was well welcomed. Very ready to give the body (I have some awesome…

The NS14 Nationals kicked off today. We got some awesome breeze in the sailing area, out in Bate Bay from Cronulla Sailing Club. Hugh Tait, Peter V and Bryce are currently in 1, 2, and 3 after day one, sailing exceptionally fast and consistently in the shifty but strong conditions. Waves were a big winner downwind, and I was really proud of how Chris (Canberra boy) improved over the day! We…

Christmas is almost here and I hope everyone is enjoying their time with family and friends! With holidays and Christmas here, the focus for the NS14 Nationals which start on Tuesday, is to just get out there and have a bit of fun; enjoy the California Times. We have done a lot of work, travelling to Cronulla, the venue for the Nationals, every second week, as well as sailing through the week with…

This week was a week of perseverance. Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. With challenging weather, boat handling break throughs, speed struggles, and a bit of a rollercoaster with my fatigue, it was important to focus on what was possible, rather than the impossible. After a big dentist appointment last Tuesday, my mind was excited to get out on the water…

They say you should train in the rain, because no one else will be. This may not be the case this summer; everyone may have to have a go given the long-range forecast! Nevertheless, I have been out there whenever there has been wind, which meant for some great rides this week even with the rain! Last Tuesday a massive storm cell over Canberra meant that HPS was cut short, just at the right time…

After a cracker fortnight prior to my last post – last week I struggled to get on the water due to a series of rainy days killing the breeze. I don’t mind sailing in rain, but floating in rain is a completely different story! The lack of wind was probably a blessing in disguise. The week just gone served as a bit of catch up, I even had a massage last night! I was able to do a bit of…

The quote of the week this week was an old favourite – racing is training without consequences. I have started getting my groove back in the past two weeks, spending most days on the water. Tuesday and Wednesday I trained on the Spiral; crews were sparse this week due to the exam period in Canberra. Tuesday’s session with the HPS was an excellent continuation of my own training the…