OK i gave up!

Alright I know I gave up. The mid winters was good but cold and after
realising that I was too unfit I kind of gave up and worked my butt off at my proper job. My best mate also decided that she was going to have her wedding at the same time as the worlds so what a good reason to give up for 6 months!

I have spent it well. I worked (boo), I did lots of rganising of the kids sailing and we got a new instructor - Chris who works wonders. I applied for another job which I might be moving to but is still under wraps for a while and I had a WONDERFUL time in the UK. Can't stop thinking about what a cool time I had as I am here and that life is there, time to get bottom in gear again. Two weeks to the Caribbean Dinghy Champs in Barbados and then hopefully St Croix for the VI champs.

It is also time to get the dream team up and running for the ladies champs in SXM and as two times defending champion we need to get some practice in, although we have done pretty well so far from justturning up and having a go!

SO my note to self is stop spending so much time on myspace.com and watching CSI and stay happy. I have a great vibe from the UK and I don't want to lose it and get stuck in the melancholy drudgery of life. Don't worry I will leave all the really strange stuff for the other blog.

Mid Winters East

I am at the laser mid winters east in clear water florida from today
until Monday. There are lots of boats. First race is tomorrow and the
wind is light so far. I am staying at the best western and grant comes
to join me on tommorrow which is good because as nice as it is to get
some me time it sucks for too long.
The internet is cosing me heaps here - not like cheap brazil so I will
give you more tomorrow.

Happy Christmas and a Great New Year to everyone who has supported or
just shown intrest in my sailing this year. I will be out again next
year as "There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth
doing as simply messing about in boats."

It´s finished!

Oh what a week! Now that it is over I can truthfully say I did not
enjoy this regatta anywhere as much as I should. Yesterday was
horrendous, I was so ill that I just managed to finish the first race
with no chance of getting to the second. Today was better and I did
some good sailing in the 30kts.
Even though my result was pants I reckon my best would have been about
10 -15 boats higher than I was. It was definitely a shock coming here
but I have learnt lots from the experience. Mainly how important it is
to sail in the bigger regattas during the year. I think everyone at
the top of the gold fleet has been doing the big circuit for the year
and has full time coaching.
Lots of ladies that have done this event previously said the level of
sailing has gone up 10 fold in the past year and I think it is because
most of the sailors are now very close to full time. It has been
interesting talking to the other competitors about their coaching and
sailing and I think the club is definitely on the right track with our
future plans.
Fortaleza is an interesting city but very poor but I don´t think I
need to come back here. I am really looking forward to getting more
but not to the 19 hour flight to get there.
So overall yes I had a good time, yes I am disappointed with my result
but look forward to training and working on my performance and sailing
in some of the US regattas next year.

oh what a day!

It is windy. Yesterday it was blowing about 25kts and I have to say i
did pants. Well I actually had a few moments of brilliance followed by
lots of moments of crap but I am learning lots from the other sailors.
The fleets were split last night and I am in the silver fleet. We were
supposed to be the third start today but the race officer screwed up
and put us second which caught me off guard and I got a port end start
which was ok but not brill. I came 31 which was ok considering it is
blowing 30 kts. I decided that I was going to work hard on the starts
for the rest of the regatta and did so well that I got black flagged
in the 2nd race. I was later told by the RO that he could nearly count
the number of boats behind the line. Unfortunately he only b/f 3 boats
from the 25 over and yours truly was one of them. Slightly pissed off
that he decided to go with the three when he could have got a load
more.
So went in and went and decided to have a bit of culture from the
local art museam. Had dinner at nice place in complex only to have 20
other sailors come and have dinner. Lots of people in gold fleet not
having a good regatta.
The interesting thing today was watching paige railey sail off the
line. She is fast and works the boat like a demon. I was impressed.
Anna said I should go to Miami - very sweet of her but need lots of
practice first.
2 days left and I miss home but will carry on working on my starts, it
is definitely not Kansas Toto!

Dayu one and two

Day one was crap as I managed to carch a very nasty cold bug which
strarted with the sinus on Saturday night and had turned into full
blown sore throat, ear ache and chills on Sunday. Had two crap starts
and two crap races which by the end it was enough to finish. Came in
and caught a taxi to the nearest chemist for some pills. I was the
best dressed person at dinner wearing my snug as the a/c was too cold
for me. Seriously disaponitred at the end of the day.
This morning woke up and still felt a bit wozie but got my arse in
gear and decided to enjoy it come what may. The wind has been really
light for the past couple of days which is bad becuase the sailing is
hard but good because there is no way I could manage to hike hard
enough until I have got rid of the bug. The seas are still lumpy which
means if you smack a wave you lose 10 boats.
First race I had an ok start and was about 18 round the mark but lost
some on the 2nd beat and run. Second race had much better start and
was in the top 15 around the mark. but lost about 10 boats on the 2nd
beat. It was really strange with the wind all over the place. I think
I should have gone further right than I did.

The really intresting thing is there are some of the good people at
the bottom of the fleet as they are heavy which means the silver fleet
is going to be hard. It is likely to blow from wednesday onwards so
the joke at the moment is watch the top silver fleet sailors overtake
the gold ones!

Currently lying 66 so unless I end up with 2 fantastic results
tomorrow I will be in the silver fleet. Slightly bummed but did think
as I am racing around today there are sailors here that had to sail
against 100 others to get here and I am in front of them so it means I
can be proud of where ever I come. (Yes I know it would be nice to be
nearer the front of the fleet!)

Thats all for today - going to bed.

It all starts tomorrow

The last night of freedom! Well actually not as I am going to go to
bed early as tomorrow is the start.Yesterday I got my boat measured
everything was fine but there were lots of people trying to rebend
their masts as the charter ones are all slightly wonky having already
done 3 regattas in 25kts.
Then went and did some shopping for water and the other bits and
pieces. The supermarkets are huge here!
Today we had our opening cermomeny which was intresting and quick. Yes
they had a flag for the BVI and there are at least 50 people who now
know where the BVI is. Personally I think that it is great. I have
managed to upload some photos on to my smugmug but have lots more.
I went sailing today and feel a lot more comfortable than the other
day although I did a great tack and missed the toe strap so ended up
swimming. Luckily did´t see any sharks which I am told are around but
I did see some dolphins the other day.
Tonight they have a concert at the hotel - great night to pick the one
before the regatta when everyone wants to sleep but from the sound
checks today it seems like they have lots of different bands playing
and as I am writing this there are a ton of cars pulling into the
parking lot.
So wish be luck for the first day tomorrow.
E.