Luke Elliott

Last time I wrote I was in the back of the team car with the rest of the laser squad, driving from Hyeres to Riva Del Garda in the pouring rain. It’s been about a month since then and I’m now sitting outside a café in Perth, sipping on a long mac and enjoying the winter sunlight. Let me catch you up with what’s been going on.

 

Lake Garda in north Italy is my favourite place in the world. I’ve been going there every year since 2013 and it never disappoints. We spent two weeks there doing a training block this year and even though the weather was a bit wet at times, it was still the highlight of the trip. Mitch, Jez and I had a whole house to ourselves just behind the old town of Riva and it was perfect. The first week was mostly spent cycling and windsurfing, getting our bodies back into shape. The second week we were all on the water nearly every day. Apart from the six Aussies there were two Spanish, a Guatemalan, lots of Italian, Wannes from Belgium of course, and a bunch of other countries I can’t remember. We even had the great Robert Scheit come and join one of our sessions which was a real treat.

 

After the two weeks was done it was time to leave again. We packed up the trailer and left early to drive to Medemblik in the Netherlands. The last time I made that drive I was in the old green van with Jez and Santi and we didn’t arrive until 1am the next day. This time though we were really efficient with each of us driving for a tank of fuel then rotating so we made it by about  9pm which is still broad daylight in Holland. The last time I did Delta Lloyd Regatta I had just jumped off a plane from Mexico and was super tired. This time I felt much better prepared and we had plenty of time to train and settle into routine. This was by far the warmest I have ever seen Medemblik. Notoriously cold and windy, this year was mostly sunny and light which meant the bugs came out in droves. For those who haven’t been to Medemblik there is vast amounts of stagnant water around and if it starts to get warm the bugs come out to play. Our first day on the water was super light and we were nearly drowning in bugs, I’d never seen anything like it.

 

The first two days of racing saw some nice winds 8 – 15 knots. The two fleets of 50 boats all fought it out to qualify for gold fleet and I managed to have some good races including a first on the last race of the second day. I went into Gold fleet in 3^rd place and 1 point from first but things got challenging from there. I had a solid first race but the wind steadily died as finals racing went on and by the last day we were racing in less than 5 knots of breeze. I struggled to find my way around the course a bit and dropped back to 18^th overall. This regatta was a funny one because the medal race was held the same day as the last races so I sat that afternoon with Jez and watched the rest of the Aussie boys compete in the medal race. The next day I still had to get up and race with the remainder of the Gold fleet even though the regatta was over. Weird right! However this regatta still meant a lot to a lot of people as it was a qualifier for next year’s world cup so many people still had plenty to gain. We had a moderate offshore breeze and the hottest day I’ve ever seen in Medemblik, over 30 degrees. I had a good race and chipped away to win it but it was a little too late to change anything. I finished 15^th.

 

After we dropped the boats into their storage Jez and I drove to Hamburg to catch our flight home. Overall the last six weeks in Europe was great and I had a really productive trip but the results just didn’t flow. Back to the grind now, Sydney next week then onto Japan. Plenty to improve on before the worlds starts in September. Finally I’d like to say a huge thank you to Fremantle Sailing Club for their ongoing support of my Olympic Campaign. I wouldn’t be able to do it without your generosity.

 

See you on the water,

Swifto

This season I’m hoping for a break through. This will now be my fifth season competing full time and my fifth time racing in World Cup Hyeres. Father time is ticking but I’m well aware you can’t force success the same way you can’t force a race win. It has to be earnt with hard work, good decision making and a clear head. Everything has to be just right to even earn a seat at the table of success and even then only a select few will achieve what so many want.

This years campaign was precluded with two months preparation in Sydney with the rest of the Australian Laser Team and sometimes the New Zealand Laser Team as well. With plenty of in house racing and training against some of the worlds best, including the current Gold and Bronze medallists, I felt good about the season ahead. I flew straight from Sydney into Hamburg to collect the team car and trailer before doing the long haul drive down to the south of France.

I was on accommodation duties this year as I was staying with fellow team mates Mitchell and Jeremy so I booked a nice Airbnb a couple of km’s out of Le Port De Hyeres on the southern peninsular. We had four really good days on the water in bright sun with good wind but as usual it wouldn’t last with some cold northerly winds coming for the regatta.

With a 60 boat fleet and closed entry only the best of the best get the chance to compete in World Cup Hyeres which makes the racing of the highest caliber. The winds always throw up a mix with anything from windy and wavy to light and flat. This year was no exception with some really slow moving shifts making strategy a nightmare. I really didn’t race well and had a tough time getting myself off the start line. I finally got myself sorted on the last day and started to race well but it was way too little too late. Hopefully it’s a sign of better things to come. I write this now from the back of the team van driving to my favourite place in the world, Riva Del Garda in Northern Italy, so it’s hard to stay down. Hopefully two weeks of good training on the bike and in the boat will put me in good stead for the racing in Holland at the end of the month.

See you on the water,

Swifto

 

Last time I posted on here I was just about to compete in the 2017 Laser Nationals. It’s been nearly four months since then so I thought it was about time I posted again. The summer was very hard for me and one I learnt a lot from but also an experiance I don’t want to have again. The toughest things change people and I feel like I have grown from the experiance. I can still take the positives away from something that was pretty negative.

So where am I now? In Sydney after finishing the last of three seperate training camps over here, 5 weeks in all. This last one was pretty race focused as we get ready to fly to France for the World Cup in Hyeres. I didn’t do Palma this year, the first time in 3 years but I don’t mind that. Actually I’m hoping the extra time at home is going to keep me fresh enough to really perform for this relatively short trip to France, Italy and Holland. It’s been a bit of an up and down experiance flying back and forth from WA so often and getting a handle on myself and the new WAIS staff that are coming in. Like I said, all learning which is what the whole experiance is about anyway.

I’m really looking forward to being back in Europe racing again. I always feel a good sense of focus when I’m there and having been to Hyeres four times before, it’s not nearly the foreign land it once was. I’ll keep you more up to date as the year unfolds.

/Swifto

I kicked of December with the World Cup Final in St Kilda, Melbourne. This was my first time competing in the WCF because it is exclusively invite only to the top 20 sailors. The field held both the current gold and silver medallists from Rio plus former silver medallists and world number ones. It was going to be some great racing. 

I started out slowly in the regatta making some poor judgments that cost valuable points early. Moving through the fleet didn’t come easy with such a high standard and I was regulated to the middle of the fleet for the majority or the event. However on our last day of racing things finally started to click, or so I thought, when I won the second race of the day and was first around the top in the last race and went on the place fifth. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be as I was later told my first place was a UFD and I dropped from 7th to 12th in the regatta, missing the medal race on a countback. 

The next two days were spent packing and driving boats up to Sydney for Chris at PSA. We stayed overnight in a small town in the middle of nowhere before polishing of the drive the next day. I was staying in an Airbnb in Bronte, a beautiful seaside suburb just south of Bondi beach and a 15min drive from the club. The weather for Sail Sydney was like nothing I had ever seen before with two days of non-stop rain and light south west winds. The tides we had for racing were exceptional and made for some really interesting sailing. By this time though I was quite burnt out and for the first time ever I really didn’t feel like sailing or being out on the water. My limit had finally been reached. It was a strange and next experience for me and I’m glad for having it but it’s going to make me re-think the way I approach the next four years and how I train for events. 

After Sail Sydney finished up I packed up and got myself to the airport to fly to Mooloolaba on the Shineshine Coast to have Christmas with Mitch and his family. $570 dollars in excess baggage later (don’t ever fly with Jetstar) I made it to Queensland and have been hanging out in the warm weather and not thinking about sailing. It’s been refreshing to do something different for a little while. 

Next up is the Nationals in Adelaide where I’ll meet my dad and Spero on Boxing day.

/Swifto

So it’s that time of year again. The training is done and the racing is about to start. Tomorrow the World Cup Final begins in Melbourne with 20 of the best Laser Sailors in the world. I spent a great two weeks in Sydney training with the team, our first camp since the games, and now I’ve just finished three days of training in Melbourne. The forcast looks mixed but I’m as ready as I can be.

Just a quick update from my latest travels. I’ve just spent the last week in Japan competing in the Enoshima Olympic Week. I had a fantastic host family looking after me and feeding me and I’m already looking forward to staying with them again next time. The sailing in Enoshima was tricky with some pretty random shifts but in all a lot of fun. I was really happy with most of my sailing but I felt I let myself down on the last day losing third place. All part of the experiance though and I was really greatful for the opportunity to sail here. Next stop is a 12 hour layover in Singapore 😛

/Swifto

The amount of stuff that has happened in the last three months is just insane and I’m going to have a hard time fitting it all into this post. As always though it’s time for another update as I’ve just finished a regatta and if I don’t post soon I’m going to forget it all. Starting from the beginning…

July was time to get back to coaching. I landed home from Europe for the first time in five months and rolled straight into work the next day coaching a clinic at SOPYC. Thanks Tessa! The next week I coached a huge 4.7 development camp with Ben and Connor out at Fremantle before finally returning home to Esperance for four days. Always great to see the parents even if it’s not for that long. The next week I was back on a plane headed for Kiel in north Germany for the 4.7 World Championships. It was my third time in a row coaching the National Team and by far the biggest squad, 16 sailors! The event was great and I had such a good time coaching such a keen bunch of sailors. I had a great time and I’m really grateful to continue my work developing the youth of the sailing community.

After two weeks in Kiel I headed back to Perth (got a free upgrade to Business, so stoked) 🙂 to get stuck into my own training. Meanwhile the Olympics raged on in Rio and I keenly watched as Tom somehow sailed to gold on sailings biggest stage. I was so pumped. To cap it off Kiwi Brother Sam got the bronze medal. In all the Australian Sailing Team did a great job with three silvers and a gold medal which makes me really proud to be a part of such an amazing organization.

While Tom was winning gold I had my own event to prepare for, the World Cup in Qingdao, China. This was to be the last time the event was going to be hosted in China and I had to take to opportunity to compete there at least once. My training in Perth was intense but that’s one of my favourite things, putting my head down and getting to work with minimal distractions. This was a really productive period I felt, I rebuilt my gym program with Greg (my physiologist), went through my first ever FTP Test (Functional Threshold Power) on my new bike (old bike was stolen while in Europe L) and scored 351 watts for a 20min effort. Stoked!! I also went through a stack of information and ideas with Adrian (my WAIS psychologist) and caught up with Arthur and Belinda who were both getting back from overseas coaching gigs. On top of all that I was out on the water again, being coached by old mate Palky and training with Spero and Wongy again along with the rest of the FSC Laser crew.

To keep things interesting I decided to take up an invitation to skipper a M32 in the Perth inter club series. Great boats, super fast and really fun to sail. I got a taste of what the World Match Racing Tour guys experience and I can see why Catamarans are the future of our sport.

Before I knew it I was on a plane to China, eager to race for the first time since Weymouth. The venue was way better than anything I had expected and everyone was really friendly and happy to have me there. The sailing was really interesting with massive amounts of current and tricky winds. I felt great and I was really confident in the preparation I had put into the event. Unfortunately once the event started we had very different winds to training and I couldn’t find my way up the first beat very well. I finished a disappointing 18th but take away some valuable experience sailing in such strong currents.

The next day after I got back to Perth I was down at Westsail, WA’s biggest youth development camp coaching some of the states best youth sailors before flying home to Esperance once more where I am about to start coaching another youth development program all this week. Next weekend I am in the air again on my way to Japan to sail at Enoshima, Tokyo the Olympic venue for 2020 and host for next years world cup event. Before I know it, it will be Christmas.

I’ll keep you posted,

/Swifto

Time flys. I look back on Weymouth like it just happened yet I’m sitting in my room in Perth on a miserable winter day some six weeks since I raced. World Cup Weymouth was the lightest wind regatta of the season which is highly unusual for England but it did make for some long days meeting new people and chatting in the boat park. I was lucky enough to stay with my Kiwi brothers Sam Meech and Jason “Snake” Saunders in a house in Portland. The house had no wifi but it did have a pool table which made for endless in house competition between us.

The racing was tough. After losing the whole first day we had little time to make it up so only managed 7 races for the series. I had a really tough first day, stuggling to get myself off the start line in any good form. After another long day of waiting on day two we got out to do one very light air race inside the harbour. I was holding third for the majority of the race but lost a bunch on the last run home. On the final day of racing we were sent out very late to do three races in marginal conditions with strong tide. I had a poor first race not getting my wind shifts right but turned it on in the next two. I found myself leading on the second beat of race two but lost out on a last minute shift towards the top. On the final race I lead around the top after a great pin end start where I crossed the fleet but could’t hold it as we finished off the day in as little as 3 knots of air. I was really happy with how I rallied in the light air after a tough start to the week.

Once racing was over I jumped in the team car with Blackers, Wearny and TB and headed for Falkestone and the Eurotunnel. The next day we arrived in Belgium to say goodbye to Matt before driving to Amsterdam to drop Blackers off at the Airport. The next day Tom and I packed a bunch of team containers with a small Aussie crew before jumping in the car and driving the whole 1200km to Lake Garda ready for our training camp.

As many of you would know Lake Garda is my favorite place in the world and I was stoked to be back. Normally we go to Garda earlier in the season but due to our world championships clashing dates we were unable to attend. That’s why I was so grateful for the oppertunity to be there.

The purpose of being in Garda this time round was to treat it as the final major training and fitness block before everyone went to Rio. Tom and I stayed together and out of all the sailors training there I was the only one not going to the games. It was fantastic to see how everyone trained and focused before such an important occasion. The weather really turned it on for us and we enjoyed two amazing weeks of sun and wind. The daily routine consisted of a gym session, two hours on the water followed but whatever choice of mountain to ride was on the menu. We even managed to squeeze a few windsurfing sessions in there as well.

All too soon it was time to pack up and head home. TB and I drove to Munich before I flew one way around the world and he flew the other. Since arriving it’s been a flat out week of meetings and work but I’m really happy to be home after five months away and only having spent three weeks in WA since October last year. Now it’s time for the next step.

Talk soon,

/Swifto

Over the last five weeks I have competed in three major competitions and have faced some of the most challenging sailing I have done yet. The racing an Olympic year throws up is like no other and it’s amazing to compete against the best in the world and be exposed to their intensity. However, racing against such quality has it’s own problems, making the targets I’m striving to reach that much harder to attain. Not letting negativity and my own expectations weigh me down is one of the hardest parts of this game. Let’s go back to France.

Hyeres: The world Cup in France is one of the highest caliber events anyone can compete in on the tour and always delivers a wide range of conditions. This year was no different with the top 40 laser sailors in the world lining up on a windy first day of racing. After all the fitness training I had put in throughout the Australian summer and in Mallorca I knew I could be good in this condition. As it worked out I was first to the top mark in the first race and finished in 2nd. It was a good start and I backed it up with a 17th to be 8th overall after the first day of racing.

Things didn’t continue to go that way though as lighter conditions prevailed and I started to get caught up in the pack. I just couldn’t reset and find a way to solve the problems that I found myself in and had to settle for 24th overall, still my best result to date in France, but not what I had come for.

The next day I was driven to Nice where I spent a day seeing what the city had to offer before jumping on a plane to a completely new destination, Mexico. The weather was stunning with 26 degree water and a tropical atmosphere, it was a hard place not to like. Unfortunately the racing wasn’t as nice for me as I struggled to identify what the wind was doing consistently and the venue didn’t really allow for big come backs. I’m taking some hard lessons away from that event. After a quick but also long two weeks in Puerto Vallarta it was time to fly again, this time to the Netherlands.

I’ve always liked sailing in Medemblik, even though it’s freezing cold and grey most of the time, there’s something home like for me being back in the country. I had barely had time to get over my jet lag before I was out racing again and instead of sailing in 35 degrees I was sailing in 11, ouch. I won the first race and kept a pretty good consistency going throughout the regatta to find myself in third going into the medal race, just three points clear of fourth. On the day of the medal race I must of had someone looking out for me as I had so many fortunate situations go my way to defend my third place in a nail biting last run to the finish.

Now it’s onto Weymouth for me, the last of the major regattas before the Olympics kicks off and the last regatta of my European season. Can’t wait to get out there and give it another crack.