Nikki and I have just returned from the city of Santander in Spain, where we were competing in the World Cup Sailing Final. It was a strange event actually, due to the fact that it was last ever regatta raced in the 'old style' Nacra 17. I described it as bittersweet because we have had so much fun sailing the old boats, it really is a brilliant little class and I will be sad to see it go. From now on Nikki and I move on to the new full foiling version of the class.
Because of the above, recently Nikki and I have been plowing a lot of time into foiling training, and this meant we hadn't had much time on the Nacra before the santander event. Despite that, we were on brilliant form and spent the entire week racing in the medal positions. Santander provided some fantastic racing in big waves and great weather. Over the week we sailed really consistently and got another international race win too. It was all going so well until the final medal race, Unfortunately we had an absolute shocker and drop ourselves out of the medals for the first time in the week. Honestly, words couldnt describe our disappointment as we sailed back to the beach that day. We battled as hard as we could but the wind gods had a few other idea that day. With all that said, I always try to do my best not to dwell on mistakes, and so after beating myself up a little bit it was time to learn from the errors and make sure we dont repeat them again as our campaign continues. Like Nikki very cleverly pointed out, it much better we get these kind of things out the way now, take them on board and learn from them, than in 2 years time when things actually matter olympics-wise! (Nikki is always so blooming sensible!)
So now its time for a complete overhaul, the new boats arrive at the end of the month and at that stage it going to be a case of getting as much time as possible in on them before the europeans in July. So for nikki and I before the madness begins we are trying to put ourselves in as better position as possible to attack things when they begin. That means being physically and mentally ready.
Stand by for some seriously entertaining photos and videos once these new beasts arrive, I will do my best to get as much of it online for you viewing pleasure!
Cheers All
Tom