ISAF World Cup Palma

Just rolling around with Jez. Rest day

The six P’s. Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. A more relevant statement could not be made when it comes to racing in Lasers. The lead in to this event has been long, having been away from home since the 9th of March, meaning I have done 3 weeks of travel and training without even doing a race. Long hours on the water and on the bike have put me in good shape though and after running around feeling a bit pressed for time in the measurement yesterday, finally, on the eve of the regatta I felt prepared. One thing a sailor can’t control though is the wind and we spent a good few hours waiting for it this morning. Luckily a light and very stable sea breeze developed allowing all 144 Lasers to complete 3 good races. I raced in the blue fleet and after a rattling first race, placing 42nd, I got my stuff together and placed 8th and 11th to put myself in 35th overall after day one. I’m happy that I managed to have a good come back from the first race and will just need to keep it solid tomorrow to qualify for the gold fleet. As a side note I’m super stoked for my training partner and room mate Jez (pictured above on the bike) for having a sick day and getting himself into 2nd overall. Good work bro! More racing tomorrow.

 

 

 

The Drive

So I’m finally getting this blog under way. It’s been long anticipated and painfully draw out but I think I finally know enough about computers to do this. So in saying that I will keep it simple and quick. I am in Palma Mallorca, an island off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean where I will be competing in the first event on the European tour this summer, the ISAF Sailing World Cup, Palma. Let me start from the beginning.

Stickers going on well

Stickers going on well

I left Perth on the 9th of March headed for Amsterdam. Once in Holland I caught the 6 hour train to Hanover, west Germany, where I met up with a friend who has been looking after the van we will be using for the trip. By we I mean Mitchell Kennedy and Jeremy O’Connell, the two other Squad members who I will be travelling with for the duration of the 100 day adventure we decided to embark on. The trip will take us from Spain up to South France, across to Italy and finally finishing down in sunny Croatia. Once I had the van I drove back to Amsterdam to collect the guys before driving down to Rotterdam. The next day we collected the boats with a mix of other team members come to collect their gear. After a brief catch up lunch we hit the road. After 3 days and some bumps along the way we had arrived in sunny Palma. We have been here since the 17th of March and have been hitting training pretty hard. Cycling is great and it is a really constructive atmosphere on and off the water. Now it’s just about fine tuning the lead in to the event and making sure I’m hitting a peak when I start racing in the 150 strong fleet on the 31st. Should be fun 🙂