Penultimate Day

Today was the penultimate day for me and lucy this camp, the sun was shining and the breeze was up at about 15kts - perfect sailing weather. We set out for an early launch to fit two sessions in.

Session 1, was sweet! Again we spend much of the time working on our downwind routine with the new double trapezeing technique. We managed to smooth the gybing  process up a lot and actually go the maneuver pretty nailed! That said it was only 15kts and relatively flat water! After a few long runs up and down focusing on the boat handling we returned to the shore for lunch.

Session 2, not so sweet! With similar conditions we decided to consolidate the morning work with a quick run downwind. Unfortunately as we powered up out of one gybe the leward board snapped again. So for the second time this week we limped back to the beach. Unfortunately it was another port board that snapped, so that make spares a little more tricky.

Don't worry, I didn't actually throw them away, i just thought it added to the effect!!!

Tomorrow is the last planned day of sailing, but if the wind is strong we may need to go easy and not risk any more boards. Check back to see if there is anymore carnage!

TP

Another Great Day in Spain

After a much needed rest day Lucy and I have been back out on the water today. It was awesome. We spent much of today working on double trapezeing the boat downwind, a skill which showcased how fast these new boats will go! While double trapezeing seems to increase the boats VMG, it does however throw up a few more issues when it comes to gybeing, so that was another specific skill we looked at today.

2 more days of sailing left for this camp before we return home, lets hope the breeze stay strong and the sun stay shining!

SNAP

Yesterday I had one of the fasted sails of my life. The wind was strong in the 20kt range and the water was flat. A lot of people had explain to me how you are able to push these boats downwind harder because of the curved foils. but when we launched and popped the kite, I was blown away by the speed of the N17.

After an incredible long downwind where the boat just felt like it was going faster and faster, We teamed up with the John and Pip for some upwind tuning. After some initial wheelies we got into the swing of things and had great upwind speed in the breeze.

Once we reached the top of the harbour, it was time to come back down. After learning from the last time we were straight into sending the boat as fast as we could, and then SNAP.

The port (leeward) dagger board had snapped. Nacra had warned us that this may happen and the would be replacing the current boards with some beefed up ones soon. We have a spare set to keep us on the water. But this may put an end to our windy training for now.

More details to come.

TP

Big Day Out

Yesterday was the first day we able to sail the new boats in some breeze.It was...... Crazy. As we left the beach is was obvious that the breeze had taken a step up, and as soon as we started our first powered up run, the boat just came alive.

Because of the boat's curved dagger boards it means you are able to do some pretty impressive things. On our initial upwind we wanted to see how the foils reacted to body weight and at one stage we got a little too far back in the boat and manged to pull off a bit of a wheelie.

Down wind the key was to keep the boat as flat as possible in the water, As the windward hull lifted, the foil worked harder and harder tending to want to throw the boat into the air. But as the day went on we were able to manage the boat better and better. We hit the beach as the sun was setting and stoked from a cracking sail.

Breeze looks like it could be back on again today, but its light at the minute. So we have a morning of fitness and then an afternoon sail planned. Check back soon for more updates.

TP

Hola...

Sorry for the delay in writting this, This Internet is medieval down here!

We are now in Spain, based in a sailing academy in a town called Murcia.

I should start by finishing off the road trip gossip. The second day of our long drive was far more eventful. After Tomtom sending us on the inner ring road around Paris, thing got a little busy, and when in control of a big van and trailer set up, driving on the wrong side of the road there were a number of confused french drivers, but we managed to wrestle through pretty much unscathed.

Day 3 of the road trip through up another interesting situation. After discussing previously on the trip how foreign motorist were great targets for criminals, As we drove through Spain, and blacked out Audi with a CZ number plate speed past and immediately slowed down so that we had to then over take it. Following that the car then speed back up along side us and a very large bald man poked his head out of the window and tried to explain there was something wrong with the trailer. After a quick check in the mirror, the trailer seemed fine. The car the proceeded to try and usher us into the hard shoulder and a quick discussion in the van resulted in us speeding up and re overtaking the car. In response the car came back along side the man did a lot of shouting and then speed off. After a few mile we stopped in a service station the check the trailer and there was nothing wrong, so John and I had out smarted the road pirates who would have just robbed us if we had stopped!

Now we are here in Spain,
 The first few days of the camp were focused on getting the boats built and checked. We have been allocated boat 56. There are few images below of the boat build process

After spending a day and a half putting the boats together we finally made it to the water. The first few days of training have been in very light winds, but a good opportunity to check the systems on the boat all worked correctly.

There even a little time over the light days to have a bit of fun and get creative on the boat, see below.

Yesterday was the first day that we had some good breeze. The boats really came into the own with the increased pressure. They seem to be very powered up and the loads relative to the viper are a lot more, guess that mean im going to be seeing more of the gym!

Stay tuned for more pictures and updates, I'm working on the 720 spin now!

TP

On Route to Spain

Yesterday I started the long and logistical process of relocating to Murcia in Spain. As a squad we have decided to use the location as our winter training base, so that we are able to get good hours on the water and not be affected by the British winter weather.

I left Falmouth at mid day on Thursday and with the large box trailer in tow traveled up to Southampton for leg 1 of the trip. In Southampton I meet up with fellow squad member John Gimson, acquired and RYA van and loaded the trailer for the next step.

Leg 2, Southampton on route to Den Hauge (Holland) Via the Dover-Callais Ferry. We left at 6am and managed to make good time to dover for a slighly earlier than expected 9.30 ferry. After arriving in Callais, we headed towards Holland and the Nacra Factory for boat collection. After a long drive and some interesting town driving with a 9m Trailer we found Nacra HQ, Loaded up the new boats and then started Leg 3.

Leg 3 is a biggy, 1308 miles to be exact! After 4 hours driving John and I have just stopped, had some dinner and are about to get some sleep because tomorrow is a big driving day.

Road trip antics have been minimal so far, so expect something to happen tomorrow!

Band Practice and back to Weymouth

Since the last training week things have been a bit all over the shop.

Last week Steve (coach) had organised us a surprise squad team building day, the only information we had was to arrive at the RYA compound with some walking boots and and pair of head phones. We did that and jumped in the van, all very excited to know what the activity was. I became very clear that the walking boots we a decoy, as we found out that Steve had arranged for us to record a song as a squad. We walked into a large hall to find a full band set up, guitars, drums, keyboards and mics. I was a great day. With my limited experience i played an electric guitar for the first time, John was on drums and Rupert on the keys. while the rest of the squad made up a very 'soulful' vocal group!

It was a great day and we all had a lot of fun, im not sure we quite ready to drop the sailing and start a band but we didnt make a complete mess of it either!

Me rocking out!

So back to the real world. I am back in Weymouth this week for a full week of training. Lucy is around all week and provided the weather plays ball we should get plenty of time in on the water. We sail yesterday in a fresh wind which was great fun, a few capsizes but some more massive steps forward. Today is Tuesday and we have allocated this day for fitness testing and bench marking. After 4 years at uni where fitness wasn't at the top of my priorities i have a feeling that i will have a bit of a way to go! but today will then provide me with a specific training plan and then i can get on a focus on getting my self into shape.

Back on the water Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. so check back soon to see how the sailing and fitness testing went!

Cheers TP

Training Week 2

Not such a productive week. I have been in Weymouth again for the last week and as anyone in the UK can tell you the weather has been been........crap (or another 4 letter word). Unfortunately due to this out of a possible 6 days of sailing we only managed 1!

It wasn't all bad though, the one day we were on the water was great. The conditions were fairly light and lucy and I seemed on fire upwind. The whole squad agreed that we were the quickest upwind on the day. We still have some work to do downwind but our speed definitely improved over the day.

The rest of my time in Weymouth was mostly spent visiting the gym or playing some very highly contested table tennis.

I'm back home now for a few day where i will help out and work for Windsport. But we have a surprise squad day booked in for Thursday this week. I have a feeling its some sort of team building exercise, but we will see!

Have a look at the video i have attached for some of our early training footage! point for the dismount surely!

TP

Training Week

I have been based in Weymouth over the last week doing a good chunk of sailing in a range of conditions. The training was started by attending one of the formally RYA run camps. This was great as it gives us as sailors time to catch up with all the specialist and get any answers we need from them. Along side this we also spent much of the day on the water. The friday was great lucy and I were able so sail in some lighter conditions, which seems to be a bit of a commodity for us! Over the weekend lucy was busy so during the saturday i was a guest coach on the rib, and sunday i filled in for nikki and sailed with rupert (one of the other teams).

Lucy reappeared on monday and the breeze was back on! After some pretty gnarly bear-aways and pitchpoles unfortunately the seal at the top of the mast broke which meant we really couldn't afford another capsize and on that basis we decided to head for the beach and ready our selves for the following day. Tuesday was perfect, a nice breeze, the sun was out and we seemed pretty on pace. As if tuesdays conditions couldn't get any better, we wednesday was! A great day on the water in some awesome conditions. We spent alot of time focusing on improving our tacking routine which now seems pretty slick. We also spent some time working on speed against the other teams on the water. Generally our speed seemed pretty good :-)

A few days off now, but after getting my breath back. i head back to weymouth for another week long camp. Check back soon!

TP

Weston Cat Open

Last weekend Lucy and I attended our first competitive regatta, The purpose of attending the event was to get some experience in a racing situation but also to highlight areas that need to be worked on over the winter training period. That said we also wanted to do as well as possible. 

In the days leading up to the Weston cat open we had organised to get out on the water training. one of the days lucy was unable to make it so I sailed with Richard Glover a long time friend and good cat sailor. We had a good day on the water in Weymouth the conditions were light and we were sailing with John and Pip. The following day was the relocation day, we packed the boats up in Weymouth and drove up to Weston sc in Southampton. Lucy arrived and we then did 2 days training in the build up to the weekend, this was particularly focused on starts.

Day one of the Weston cat open, the breeze was fairly strong to start but forecast to moderate. In race 1 we had a fantastic start and rolled alot of the fleet off the line. We were racing in the F18 and F20 fleet so technically we were the slowest boats there, however at the first windward mark some good decisions and sailing the boat well saw us go around just behind the F20s. A tricky 2nd lap meant we dropped back some what, but were still in amongst it eventually finishing in 5th on correct time.

in the next two races we were much more on the ball, and our boat speed semmed really good. As the breze dropped off, it became harder to compete with the bigger boats, but we managed to fire in some good results scoring a 1 and 2. 

Day 2, woke up to some very strong winds. But a very interesting forecast suggested the wind would calm down around mid day and that it did. By the time we started racing we weren't even double trapezeing. Again it was hard to compete against the bigger boats in the down pressure conditions, but good tactical calls puts us at the front of the fleet. in race 4 we scored 2nd and race 5 a 3rd. 

Overall lucy and I finished 2nd on corrected points, just beaten by and F18. This is a great start to the campaign, the viper was brilliantly competitive against the bigger boats and i think surprised alot of people to be out in front in the lighter conditions.

I am back to weymouth this weekend for a squad camp followe dby 3 days of training next week, so check back soon to see how we are progressing.

Cheers TP

BIG Update

Sorry it has been so long, Alot has been happening but i wanted to make sure it was all confirmed before letting everyone know. So here it goes.....

When I last posted i was back in Weymouth for a few more day training. During that session i sailed with Lucy Macgregor. Lucy attended this years games in the now obsolete girls match racing discipline. We had a great few days sailing and off the back of it decided that we would make a go of the 2016 catamaran campaign. 

This is great news as it now means I can relax and focus on the task in hand. Since agreeing to make a go of the campaign, we have been doing allot of training and lucy is getting on really well with the new boat. Due to the size and physical demands of the new boat, lucy and i have also decided that it should be her driving the boat while i provide the horsepower in the crewing position. 

This is obviously a big change from what i have been doing, but i am happy to do so, provided i manage to keep my helming skills up in other classes such as the F18. 

Also since the last update i have found the time for some time out, I took a trip down to spain, where i relaxed and also got some time doing other sport i enjoy doing, wakeboarding.

The last few day i have been back in weymouth training again. Lucy is away, so i have been sailing with a friend from university, Charle Willett. We we sailing alongside John and Pip in there viper and seemed to be pretty on pace upwind, with a bit of work for downwind.

Home for the weekend and back to weymouth again on monday for another week on the water. 

Check back for updates soon

TP

Reg Fest Round Up

Jon and I teamed to sail the C2 in the f18 fleet at reg fest this weekend. I was 3 days of fairly strong winds very choppy sea state and great racing. The C2 seemed very on form, downwind especially. It took us a little while to find the grove upwind but once we di we were on a rocket ship. Between us and the boat, out of the 8 races we managed to win 7 of them! 

So the old team haven't forgotten everything, we are going to look to do more and more F18 racing aswel. 

Im back in Weymouth now to do another 2 days Olympic training on the viper, so check back soon to see how that goes!

Cheers

TP

Blast from the past

This weekend is Reg Fest, I am racing in the new AHPC C2 F18 with my old crew and good friend Jon Cook, Jon and I sailed together for many of my best years. Im really looking forward to jumping back on the boat with him. We haven't sailed together for years but for some reason i know we will be able to just jump back on a go! I leave to start the drive up to Brighlingsea this evening, racing starts on Friday, but we plan to have a quick refresher sail tomorrow aswell!

check back to see how we get on in the F18!

TP

Squad Introduction

After a quick weekend at home I am already back in Weymouth for a squad introduction camp. Although i have been involved with the squad system in the past, I thought it would be useful to attend this as it was such a long ago. So a few days of learning the systems and how things work and then as of October i will be back onto the programme.

At the end of the week, I am up to Brighlingsea to compete in reg fest. As a real blast from the past I am racing with my old crew and very good friend Jon Cook. We will be competing in the F18 fleet and racing the new C2. It will be interesting to see how it compares to the other F18s out there. 

Check back for updates soon.

TP

First week back

So last week was my first week back in an Olympic squad environment. It was great. Over the week Sophie and I become better and better at sailing the boat and on Thursday after some rig tuning and previous time on the water we seemed to be really fast. At the end of the training session the coach ran a few small races, all of which we won. I know that is a long way from a gold medal in Rio but its a great start, and given the time Sophie and I had sailed together, it shows great potential.

Home for the weekend now, but check back for updates soon.

TP

Olympic Training Starts

First day out on the water with what is likely to be the Olympic training squad for 2016. I was sailing with Sophie Ainsworth who has this cycle decided to make the jump from the 470 into something a little faster. The breeze was pretty strong and for Sophie who had not been on a cat before, it was a bit of a baptism of fire! But actually things went pretty smoothly. Sophie was able to pick things up really quickly and we were actually pretty fast at times. 

I have my university graduation tomorrow so im not training. But back on it Thursday and Friday. Check back to find out how the rest of the training is going, and a possible photo of me in a graduation gown! 

Cheers

TP

World Champions

This is a quick update as i have a full report in the pipeline. Firstly sorry for the lack of updates during the regatta, internet was a bit tricky to come by. But the good news is Myself and Nikki are now dart 18 world champs, there was a big range of conditions so the racing was pretty varied. I will give you the full low down when I update the full report.

From here Nikki has decided that she is better suited sailing with the youth helm she has sailed with in the past. Therefore in the coming weeks i have lined up some training with other crews to see how it works.

Dont worry I am still 100% committed to the 2016 campaign, and after a summer like this (national, european and world titles) I have made a pretty good start.

Check back soon for a full worlds report, and to see how the up and coming training goes!

Cheers

TP

Dart Worlds Prep

So I have spent the last week preparing everything for the  up and coming dart worlds. My Father is leaving with the trailer this evening to start the long journey down to tuscany. "unfortunatley" I have usher duties at my brothers wedding this weekend so I "have" to fly down on sunday just in time for racing! (hope there are no delays on the flight!). Myself and Nikki will be sailing together again to try and build on the success we have had this summer already. Stay tuned for updates as the regatta starts. and maybe even an unheard of photo of me in a suit!!!

Cheers

F16 Euros Day 5 (Full)

The day began as usual, a light northerly wind as we woke up that gradually died out. We got the boat down to the slip early, and rigged up with the boat pointing south, waiting for the normal lake breeze to kick in at about 12.00. 

Because of our consistent results to date, Nikki and I only needed one good result to seal the deal, But for us it was still far from over. As we launched just after 12 the breeze kicked in, and kicked in properly! When arrived the race course the breeze was probably averaging between 16 and 20kts. Turns on the diamonds i think!

In the first race we decided to go for a conservative start, as we were sure our speed would keep us in touch with the leading bunch. And another great lay line call saw us round the first mark in 5th position. We were on a rocket ship down wind and sailed into 4th. But i got a bit greedy and tried to sneak inside a boat at the bottom gate and it was touch and go if we had water. So we decided to take the penalty to be safe. Back to 5th again, but we were on a mission now. Nikki did a great job trimming upwind and we got back to 4th by the windward mark. and the final downwind we were unstoppable, 4th to 2nd and then we finished. 

That was it, we had done it. But racing for the day wasn't over yet!

So the pressure was off, but naturally i still wanted to win! Learning from race 1 it was definitely  a right handed track. A great start at the committee boat allowed us to tack straight for the favoured side. We rounded mark 1 in 2nd but again utilising our great downwind speed sailing into 1st place. We then controlled the race from there, another bullet in race 2!

With the day drawing to and end and tired arms, a big pack down and a long drive ahead of us. We decided to retire early to beat the bun fight on the slip way and the boat park madness. 

It was great be back on land everyone was very complementary. Prize giving was set in front of the very stunning mountains. And i wasn't quick enough off the podium and before i knew it i was grabbed and in the lake! Nikki was quicker and got away with it!

So there we have it, F16 Euro Champs. Hoping that the result sends out a few messages about intensions and potentials for the coming 2016 Olympic campaign. 

Next regatta for Nikki and I is the dart 18 world at the beginning of september. 

Keep check for updates and build up to the worlds, 

Thanks for the support! 

TP

F16 Euros Day 5

This is just a quick update as my computer has run out of battery and I don't have the patience to write too much using my phone! 

But.... We did it! 

Como provided some champagne conditions on the final day, great racing in fresh conditions. We scored 2,1,DNS. 

So we are now F16 European champs. I will write a more detailed break down of the day when I get a chance to charge my comp. 

Long drive home now, leaving como tonight and then to calais tomorrow and then to Dover and then back to Cornwall! 

Check back soon for a full report.

Cheers for the support.

TP