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 (nice call Davo)! Check out the pics in my Multimedia from the training session and the story in the Canberra Times on the storms. There are some great shots from later that night.
On Wednesday (Happy Birthday Mum!), Canberra Twilight racing was called off due to another expected storm cell. California Times and Rubber Chicken Rocket Car (NS14’s) went out for a surprise evening training session. We trained through all-weather thanks the passing storm clouds. We just kept going and going as the breeze kept building. We eventually called it when the sun was almost down. Was a great tune up ahead of the weekend’s TT racing in Gosford.
In Gosford, we had around twenty NS14’s in the last real warm up regatta before the Nationals. It was great to get an indication of where we are at in the fleet. The Flying 11 NSW States were held from the same venue, so on Saturday, our course placement resulted in a variable course (in both strength and direction); the sides often paid. We struggled to get away off a majorly pin-favoured line when several boats not making the pin decided to tack onto Port and try to take us out, with the starboard parade on our hip it was tricky getting away. Making it through with the boat in one piece, we didn’t do a good job getting our heads back in gear on the first beat. We managed to pull it together and peg our way back to sixth as the Nor’Easter tried to build throughout the race.
On Sunday morning we re-measured all our different rig settings against the Davos and jotted down the final to-do-list before the Nationals for boat work, before our scheduled two races. The 30 knot southerly that was forecast delivered, and we managed to get around the course in one piece, finishing in second. With the third race of the series abandoned, we finished in third place for the weekend behind current National Champ, Peter V (with two wins) and our training partners the Davos (second on day one and fourth in the breeze). We have a few boat handling things to work on, but on the whole, Chris and I just need to get our communication and heads settled in the light air and we should hopefully do ok over Christmas. The weekend was very successful and at least showed our training is paying off.
On the Tasar front, it turns out that Dad doesn’t need a shoulder reconstruction. He saw the specialist yesterday, and they have booked him in for a bicep re-attachment on Friday… no wonder his forearms have been cramping over the past six months. He will not be allowed to use his arm at all until the 21 December when light physio will start. The good news is that the recovery won’t be as long for this procedure. Dad is still thinking that I might be skippering the Darwin Tasar Nationals. Regardless of the team combination, Team Chukkel will be there to sail on the gorgeous waters of Fanny Bay come July 2012.
Today we will hopefully get a full HPS training session in for the first time in a few weeks. The forecast is not looking brilliant for the rest of the week, but I will aim to get out (in addition to tonight) on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Time to train in the rain, and the cold as well apparently! It was -1 yesterday when I left for work… Come on Summer!
If you have been following the Perth Worlds (and you should be!) – great start for my old teammates in the Women’s Match Racing, all the best and good luck to the Aus Match Racers and ONLYRacing teams! Best mates Krystal Weir and Laura Baldwin (now a sailor/coach duo) started in the fleet racing yesterday in the Radial along with Alex South (go those top twenties Twinnie!). The men’s 470 (Go Pagey and Belcher!) and the remainder of the first half of the fleet are also underway! Hopefully Australia will have qualified for a number of Olympic berths by the time the regatta wraps up on 18 December. Go the Aussies!
I am working on an NS14 video (including submarine footage from Sunday) which should be ready in the next week or so along with my initial video – a mash up of various classes that I am sailing. Keep an eye on Twitter, Facebook or the Multimedia page for updates during the week.
Have a great week everyone and have fun training or racing in the rain, wherever you may be!
