I want to start this one by saying that over the last 9 Months Zennor and I have had A LOT of fun. We have really enjoyed sailing together, representing both GBR and Cornwall on the world stage. Despite being against the odds, between us we have sailed ourselves proud and scored some fantastic results along the way. But in overwhelming and unfortunate circumstances the Cornish dream team is down to one.
For the last 6 months, Zennor has been battling a reoccurring injury in her Achilles, she has been fighting the problem on a daily basis and done a fantastic job to last this long. But after some recent strong words from the doctor, she is in a position where she has no option but to rest it for 6 months. This unfortunately puts her out for the 2 biggest up and coming regattas of the year, and makes continuing after that impossible. We can’t describe how gutting this is for us, and comes at a time when we just seemed to finding our feet in the class.
Zennor and I sat down yesterday, it was a relief for both of us to know that each other are planning to continue to strive and succeed, but now in different directions. There was definitely sadness and personally it was great to hear that Zennor is sticking around here in Cornwall, makes having a cheeky Rattler, or two, much more enjoyable. Whilst Zennor is not completely sure what she plans to do next, I have no doubt that if she puts half as much effort into it as she did with the sailing, the others wont stand a chance.
For myself, the Olympic dream continues. I leave for the European Championship tomorrow, and am sailing with Mary Rook. She is an incredibly well established sailor and has done everything including a small bit of Nacra sailing. The perfect fit to keep me on the water short term, and well, let’s see how things develop in France. Racing starts on Monday, so stay tuned for more regular updates again.
So there we have it … the last week or so has been bitter sweet, while disappointing both Zennor and I move on as better friends and equally as stoked for each other to succeed in whatever we end up doing.
Who knows, maybe you will see a team reunion for a regatta or 2 in the future.
For further updates on my continued olympic progress, see my personal website, www.tomphippsracing.co.uk.
I will leave you with this,
Thank you all so much for your continued support, we honestly could not have got this far without it.
Tom and Zennor