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Last night I hosted an evening at Cafe Mylor, where I invited people along to try and build support for the campaign within the local community. It was great evening and I met some fantastic new people along with some of the old faces, all of which were so enthusiastic about the path i'm on. It really was quite powerful to hear the support and appreciation for the task at hand!
The Night was finished off with some great music, and some not so great dance moves, I think i should stick to the sailing for now!
This Morning i awoke to a gorgeous day , spent the morning de-rigging the boat and loading it, and now i am back in sunny Weymouth. Lucy meet me here to put the boat together and now we are all preped for a week of training leading into sail for gold regatta the following week.
After a long day of breaking boats down and building them back up, It was very nice to arrive back at our accommodation and see a perfect sunset over Chesil beach.
Come along, ask questions, see the boat and most of all EAT!
Sorry for the lack of updates during the regatta, No excuse really other than I was genuinely pooped at the end of every day!
Last time i updated was after the day we were abandoned due tot he strong winds, so winces then….
Day 3
This was the hardest day of the week for us as a team. It was one of those days when nothing seemed to go our way. For some reason within the set up our boat speed was poor and we couldn't for love nor money make the boat go quickly. We spent a lot of the day trying things to find a better groove, but we just seems o keep missing it. That combined with some silly sailing errors around the course lead to 3 fairly average races! 11,8,15
Day 4
This was a day of change, Lucy and sat down in the morning and decided to take a fresh approach to the rest of the regatta, start again in a way! It seemed to work boat speed was back up and we also had some great starts. The shifty conditions made racing really tricky one minute looking good and then next back in the pack, but we raced at the front of the fleet all day and lead the majority of the final race before getting the last few shifts wrong. A much better day, 6,3,5
Day 5
Day
5 was the final day of the regatta, and unfortunately because of our
position going into the day we hadn't made the medal race by 1 place. So
for us and the rest of the fleet we had one final race to count toward
our final score. This was an odd race as it alone could have very little
effect on the overall standings. But we treated it like it was any
other race and sailed as hard as we could. Wow our first race win of the
olympic campaign. We were on fire, great boat speed and great tactical
sailing. Shame we didn't have more of that form at the beginning of the
week!!!
Home now for a week before going back to weymouth for training and Sail for Gold Regatta. During the week Lucy and I have been invited up to Buckingham Palace for a garden party with the queen, I am very excited! I have a new suit especially so stay tuned for some pictures of me all dressed up and sipping tea with the queen!
Sorry for not updating yesterday, but here 2 lots of updates!
Day 1
We were scheduled for a late start but because of the little time we had already spent on the water, we decided to go out early. It was COLD! really cold! Despite the miserable cold wet weather the breeze was actually quite nice. After a quick tune up all felt ok and before we knew it we were into racing.
Race 1, after a tricky start we generally had pretty good speed around the course and battled with the front bunch, however unfortunately after a close port/starboard we were forced to double tack and lost a lot of boats. We eventually finished 7th.
Unfortunately that seemed to be the best of our day, the following 2 races were a real struggle, we just didn't seem to have the pace we had in race 1. We worked so hard and it was really frustrating to see other boats going quicker than us. We dug in and scored an 11 and 12.
At the end of day 1 we were in 12th overall.
Day 2 (today)
We had a early planned for today, I was really breezy and literally just after i
had finished putting on my wet wetsuit and rigging the boat, we were
postponed. and that was how it stayed. We didn't sail today so as a
squad we had a quick trip to a local town.
There is a better forecast for tomorrow so we will i'm sure be on the water. check back for tomorrows updates and hopfully better results!
Cheers
Tom
Rup and displaying our vessels!
Today is our first full day in Medemblik, over the last weekend myself and some of the squad have been sailing from Nacra HQ in Scheveningen, another town near holland. We were invited over to test out the new prototype cabon mast and give Nacra our feedback. All in all the new mast we a lot better, the boat felt a lot lighter and sensitive on the water, there were a few small issue which we raised and Nacra said they would take them all on board.
After a relitivly quick drive from Scheveningen yesterday we arrived here in Medemblik at about 16.30. We used the rest of the day to find our accommodation, and I just managed to give the hulls a good polish. After a good nights sleep, I am now just up, having some breakfast and about to head down to the boat park to start rigging. Lucy is away match racing at the minute but is joining me tomorrow.
I will get some pictures of the set up and get them up on here ASAP. Racing starts on Tuesday so hopefully we should get out for a shake down sail before hand!
Check back for updates soon!
After a fantastic week back in Cornwall filled with sun, sailing, bbqs and boat work i am now back up here in Weymouth for a week of training. We have been here since Monday and have had some great sessions on the water. Monday was mostly filled with rigging and preparing the boat but we managed to get out for a quick shake down sail in the evening.
Tuesday was awesome, sun and breeze. not something you always find in Weymouth! We spend lots of hours on the water and the changes I had made to the boat seemed to be positive.
Wednesday provided some good breeze however the sunshine was a little less. With an increasing forecast Maurice wanted to put our skills to the test and so we decided to sail out into the bay and up to wards the "race" at Portland bill.
It was great fun playing in the waves, and the good news is nothing broke and we all remained upright. Following our trip out to the bay, we retreated back to the harbor for a bit of racing to end the day. The wind was beginning to get really wacky, 5-20kts doesn't make for easy sailing! Kept us on our toes though.
Today id Thursday and right now it feels like the place i am sitting in is about to blow away. No sailing today but hopefully we will be back out tomorrow provided it still not too windy!
TP
Some photos from the action in Hyeres.
The final day of racing and just like in Palma it was 2 medal races. We were scheduled for the 2pm start which was nice as it meant we were able to have a bit of a lay in. During our warm up in the morning, it was clear that the conditions were pretty messy. Some of the other classes were already of the water and you could see that what wind there was, was coming for all different directions
As we knew we had a lot to do after racing I decided t spend some of my morning sorting of the trailer for the pack up later that day, and after that and and bit of a postponement we eventually made it to the water.
The breeze had filled in a bit, but it was still very all over the place. Medal races are raced close to the shore for spectators, but in dong so it creates very poor sailing conditions.
In race 1 after a good start the positions we changing constantly, one minute we would be right up there in the top 3 and next at the back. The was no pattern to the breeze, you just had to sail with what you had at the the time. After a lot of place changing, we just got the wrong side of it in the final leg and crossed the line in 8th
Race 2 was in similar conditions after after being a bit too eager on the line, we had to go back and restart. The combined with then missing all the breeze up the first beat put us unsurprisingly a long way back. To then add to the problems we managed to snap the tiller extension mean that luck was restricted to sitting on the side and not trapezing. We worked so hard for the rest of the race and despite the handicap of Lucy not on the wire sailed up to the back of the pack, and just picked one boat off before the finish. That and another boat being OCS meant we scored another 8th
So after all the racing we actually slipped to 10th overall, but I think we can safely put Hyeres regatta down as a learning experience. We seem to now understand the rig set up a little better, and also know there is a long way to go. I am back in the UK now and am meeting Lucy in Weymouth tomorrow to unload everyone's boats and stuff from the trailer. Then I'm taking our boat onwards to Cornwall to give her some TLC next week, before we are training in Weymouth again the week after. Following that we a off again to Holland for the next regatta
Check back for developments on boat work and training
Cheers
TP
This was the last day of finals racing, so the pressure was on to get some good results and make it into the medal racing tomorrow. Like yesterday the forecast was for good breeze but the reality was a lot lighter. After learning from the day before we knew we had to change something within the set up to try and give us a bit more speed around the course.
In race 1 the wind was really light, and we are quick in those conditions. After finding ourselves a good lane going up wind we rounded the first windward mark in 5th, our great down wind speed saw us move up to third, and we had a great battle on the next beat, where eventually ended up rounding the top mark in 4th, and that was where we finished. Not a bad start to the day.
Race 2 started in a bit more wind, and the fleet was really punchy on the line. After a couple of recalls, the race officer got the black flag out, we had a good race after being especially cautious on the line. And the were a few boats ahead of us who had been black fledged so the got us another 4th.
Unfortunately the last race of the day didn't go quite so smoothly, but different to yesterday our speed was much better although we only finished 10th we were mixing it with the front runners all the way round.
So a 4,4,10 today sees us move up to 9th overall and so we have made the cut to do the medal race tomorrow. Just like in Palma it's 2 races of double points. Again we can't make the podium from where we are, but hopefully we might be able to move up the rankings a bit. Check back tomorrow to see how it all ended up.
Cheers
TP
Today was not our day, it was a strange day from the start, with a big breeze forecast we arrived at the boat park expecting a big sea and full on conditions, as it was there was no wind at all, and we were actually postponed ashore. The conditions presented a very odd feeling, knowing that we were expecting lots of wind and having none. The breeze soon started to fill in across the bay and we were quickly launched.
Race 1, was hard, after struggling to get off the line, we were forced over to the right hand side of the track. This was not the place to be. Unfortunately it didn't seem like we could rely on out speed in that race either, and we battled with the pack all the way round. The race was topped off when Lucy just missed her trapeze hook on the final beat and fell in snapping the tiller. We were force to single wire for the remaineder of the beat, which was definitely not fast.
Race 2 went from bad to worse, where after another tricky start we found our selves on the wrong side of the race course. And then at the first leeward mark in dropping the spinnaker one of the patches pulled straight off, this meant we were in able to drop the kite and were force to retire from the race. We spent the final break replacing the broken kite.
Race 3 didn't get much better, after a better start we unfortunately found ourselves stuck to windward of a boat point really high, and we couldn't bear away to get going. Before we knew it we had been rolled and then again we found ourselves on the wrong side of the course. After a really deep first mark position we fought back a bit, but it was all too late and we ended with another poor result
So the day was not a good one, we have now slipped to 12th overall, hopefully we can pull back a bit tomorrow to sneak into the medal race on Saturday.
Cheers
TP
Today was the first day of finals racing, the breeze was in and the sun was shining. Overall we had a tricky day, we were sailing the boat pretty well but couldn't seem to get the speed out of the boat, we got gradually better over the day but it was also a bit too much too late. We ended up with a 10, 13, 10. Not too bad, we have dropped to 10th overall so hopefully we can sail better and make sure we are in the medal race on Saturday.
Tomorrow is forecasted to be really windy but the forecast has been a bit off, so lets see in the morning.
TP
This is going to be a quick one as I am completely pooped,
In a similar fashion to yesterday the breeze was a long time coming in the morning. We eventually launched at 12.30ish and sailed out to the course area. All the racing today was done in fairly light winds, it was really tricky to know what mode to be in at times, but we learnt a lot over the day and I think we now have a much better idea about what works when. Over the day we scored 11, 9, 14.
That is the end of the qualifying series now and we have ended up in 6th overall. That result gets taken trough as our first score in the finals racing which starts tomorrow. Much more wind and waves forecasted so should be pretty exciting.
Check back to see how it goes,
TP
And so another regatta begins. The day started with sun and absolutely no wind, we were scheduled for an 11am start, but due to the conditions that was quickly postponed. As the morning went on the breeze slowly filled in and eventually the postponement was lowered and we started the long long sail out to our race course.
It was clear that the day was going to be very shifty so we needed to keep our heads out of the boat as much as possible to try and spot the gains. In race 1 after a shakey start we quickly found ourselves a lane, and we flew up the first beat rounding mark 1 in about 10th place. We also had great downwind speed, I think it was mainly from changing gears quickly in the conditions. On the first downwind we sailed all the way up to 4th. After a great battle with the dutch all the way around we managed secure the result and after an OCS in front, scored a 3rd. Not a bad start!
In Race 2 again, changing conditions made for needing to be switched on around the course. Some good calls combined with great boat speed put us battling right at the front again. As the breeze settled, the race turned into a bit of a following exercise, but we were at the front of it and scored another 3rd place.
The final race of the day was abandoned half way through as the wind really did start to go all over the place. However we were still in a good position up until then, so things were looking pretty good in that one too.
So 2 thirds today, we must be happy with that. Similar conditions forcast for tomorrow, so hopefully more of the same!
Cheers
TP
Today was the practice race. We launched at 1 o'clock to get a few hours training in before the 3 o'clock start. During the training drills we did before the start all seemed fine, upwind speed was good across the range of conditions we were sailing in, and downwind speed felt pretty good bearing in mind the very old spinnaker we were using.
We sailed over to our race course which is a very very long way away, 20 minutes flat out reaching to be exact! And did all our pre-race checks. We all know that everyone pushes the line in the practice race but today was just ridiculous. I don't think i had even got the 15 seconds on the count down and the fleet had already gone. On the plus side the build up to the start went really well, learning from our Palma experience we were right on the front row.
The conditions during the race were very fickle and hard to read, the breeze was mainly light, and our up wind boat speed was really good. Downwind was tricky we need to get better at fining the pressure and I don't think the old spinnaker helped either.
That said all the boat handling maneuvers went smoothly and we were taking not losing boats all the way around the course.
We are now ready and set for racing tomorrow and i'm really pumped up and raring to go. The forecast is light for these first 2 days but we will have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.
Check for a Day 1 update tomorrow!
TP
Today is the final day before racing starts out here in Hyeres, yesterday was funny day the wind was very strong some decided that it wasn't worth risking the boat and stayed on shore to do some final tinkering before racing starts. It s amazing how boat work eats up the time but now the boat is fully prepared and ready for racing!
Today is the practice race day and we will use the time to get some more starting and racing experience and match up against some of the other nations to check boat speed and settings. The practice race doesn't actually count for anything but its a good indicator, so check back later this evening to see how it went.
Cheers
TP
Yesterday after a long couple few days traveling I eventually arrived in the south of France, Hyeres. It was great that my little sister agreed to keep me company on the long drive, which was made even longer when we were told that the ferry was going to Valencia rather than Barcelona! We arrived yesterday evening so we spent the rest of the daylight hours putting the boat together and after a few teething problems we had most of the work done. Then it was time for sleep!
Day 2 in Hyeres started with a 9.30 meet at the boats and another hour or so finishing up the rigging process. We used the rest of the day to get on the water and check that everything was working properly and to have a bit of a tune up. The conditions were crazy, the breeze was shifting and changing all over the place but in the short bit when it was settled the speed felt good and everything in the boat was working well.
Back at the team house now, plan is for a BBQ this evening, and then another early night I think. Tomorrow looks really windy at the minute so I'm not sure we will be able to get on the water. Just wait and see in the morning!
Practice race is on Sunday and the event starts on the Monday, can't wait to get out racing again.
Cheers
TP
After a good nights sleep I woke to a fairly light wind and cloudy morning. We meet at the coaches hotel at 8.30 for the morning briefing, where Maurice our coach took us through the forecast and racing format for the day. We had 2 medal races and were first on the race course, so a 10.45 start. A medal race is for just the top 10 boats and each score in each short 20 minute race is doubled to try and keep the event open right up until the final race. Unfortunately because of our current standing the podium was out of reach but we did have a chance of moving up the rankings.
During the night Nacra had changed our rudder blades to the updated version, and to our horror as we left the beach we found that with the new blade in the rudder wouldn't fasten down. After a quick attempt at fixing it, we decided that we would need to go back in a replace the rudder. I haven't replaced a rudder that fast ever. Thanks to rupert for helping and lending us his!
Finally we made it onto the race course and with a little time to spare. A quick tune upwind, a set to check the spinnaker and then we were into sequence. We had a good start in the middle of the line and made some good calls up the 1st beat finding the channels of breeze in the changing conditions. 3rd at the windward mark, but a good downwind boosted us into 2nd. We were flying, great speed and boat handling, unfortunately we tacked just short of the lay line and had to double tack at the top giving away the 2nd place. After pushing hard on the final downwind we couldn't quite get the place back and finished 3rd.
Race 2, we knew we had the speed so we were pumped up and ready. We wanted to head to the what looked like the favoured right hand side, so straight of the start we tacked. We flew up the first beat rounding the windward mark in 1st place! A controlled and commanding lap saw us lead all the way up to the final windward mark where, again we tacked a little early and were forced to do another hitch. during the extra tacking one boat squeezed by. We brought her home in 2nd.
Wow what a great last day a 3rd and a 2nd, that combined with the double points system boosted us in 5th overall, A great start to our 2016 Olympic Campaign.
Home now for a week or so, get my hands back in one piece and have a bit of rest.
Check back soon for some final regatta thoughts and things that we are taking forward to the next regatta, Hyeres!
Some good action shoots, please forgive the facial expressions. I'm working on it!
