July 2015 - World Championships in Italy

Topper Worlds – Riva Del Garda, Italy

a big trip = 1100 miles, 2 ½ days driving and a temperature rise to almost 40 degrees and we finally arrived at Riva Del Garda ahead of the Topper World Championships 2015.  Wow what a great location with amazing wind and wave conditions.

Our campsite was right on the lake, the South West Toppers activation each morning was a swim before breakfast followed by a quick walk or cycle to the club house in time for briefing and launch.  I spent the week as an extra member of the Youth Squad, we had venue familiarisation on the Sunday before the start of the Championships on the Monday.

The weather all week was really hot and windy - except for one day.  

This was a great event for me in that my confidence in stronger wind sailing has improved no end.  I completed all races in some challenging conditions, no breakages, no injuries and lots of smiling, it was a fantastic opportunity and saw me finish mid silver fleet.

My new Neil Pryde 1mm kit was the ideal choice for these conditions and helped me concentrate on my racing.  Thank you Virtual Rigger for your continued support.

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July 2015

National Series 6 –  Carsington

The second National Indicator Event for 2016 Squads and Jeanette’s “Launch For Life” Cancer Research fundraiser, there were men in pink  everywhere and lots of mums who usually don’t venture onto the water as the safety crew, my mum included … until she felt sea sick on a lake!

Saturday dawned bright and sunny with a forecast of 10 gusting 13.  Accommodation for the weekend was a camping cabin that was only 5 minutes from the sailing club so a short drive to the club was followed by rigging, registration and fundraising activities.  

Sunday was wet and breezy with a forecast of 15 gusting 20 with the rain clearing away during the day.  We sailed 6 races over the weekend and I finished in the top 120 so slightly lower than I would have wanted but my results are beginning to become more consistent instead of being spread out across the board so an improvement overall.

We also raised £1400 for Cancer Research.

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June 2015

National Series 5 –  Lowestoft

My best National series event in 2015.

This event was a full day’s travel from Somerset so we left straight after breakfast.  Some South Westies spent a lot longer on the road than us, 7 ½ hours was quite enough thank you!

We parked our motorhome on the green next to the promenade, just 2 minutes from the club.  The 10 minute walk along the promenade to the launch area on the beach gave us our warm up each morning!

Saturday dawned bright but windy, choppy and resulted in lots of breakages.  Almost a third of sailors returned to shore during the course of the day.

Saturday evening saw a late BBQ with friends after the AGM and another walk along the promenade with the dog before bed.

Sunday started off with light winds but soon after we launched these became shifty, the sea breeze kicked in and the wind picked up.  

A good day’s sailing resulted in 3 good results for me and my best overall National Series position to date.

Castle Cove Sailing Club

One of my targets from our winter Zone Squad coaching was more time on the water in between events.  This was going to mean joining another club, preferably with other young topper sailors and even more travelling.  Castle Cove sailing club is within Portland harbour and is home to several of my Zone Squad friends.  They had spaces for cadet sailors so I have joined and had 3 great evenings out on the water this month, thank you to Andrea and Jock Fellows for sorting my membership and the club members for making me so welcome.

Other Sailing Events

World Cup and Red Bull Foiling - living relatively close to WPNSA has its advantages, we made a couple of day trips to see the competitors taking part in the Sailing World Cup and then the Red Bull Foiling.

Thank you for your continued sponsorship VR and 1610 gyms.  Packing for Garda soon so more new kit J

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April 2015

After almost 1,000 miles to sailing events last month this was a slightly quieter month with only 500 miles - for a total of just under 2,000 miles for the year.

WPNSA Fitness Camp

the Paralympic Podium Potential Squad who weren’t competing at the Trofeo Princess Sofia in Spain were at WPNSA to work on boat upgrades and team fitness and I blagged an invite to their camp.  En-route we had an text message SOS for clotted cream, mayo and cheese - still trying to work out how clotted cream and a fitness camp go hand in hand!  

Overnight the winds were gusting 50mph but  I slept through most of it even though the van took a hammering in the night.  

It was still blowing 40mph for our cycle ride in the morning - into a headwind equals going backwards on a bike!  We made the most of the times tidy up Carol’s new storage unit and apply stickers to Carol and Alex’s SKUD.  We met Carols’ Helm Alex and his carer Rob for the first time, Alex made me jump whilst I was applying the stickers as he came to ask for my assistance and I suddenly realised he was at my height … but his wheelchair moves at 100mph and it raises Alex 4 foot up into the air!!  We finished the day with several sessions of very active football as our aerobic exercise.

I helped with craning the Skud in on Wednesday, whilst Alex operated the crane controls from above.  There was a gust of wind which mum thought was going to see me going for an impromptu swim as I was holding onto the bow tether! 

The light winds on Thursday meant after all that we craned the SKUD out and put her back in the boat park followed by yet more sessions of applying Team GBR stickers to the sails and boat hull before we headed home for Easter.  Thank you to everyone for a great week.

SW Topper Training and Traveller at Castle Cove

I had the RYA National Head Coach, Natalie for the day and we practiced hard on double tacking, mark rounding and had a few practice races of which I won 3.  I think that the fitness week I spent with the Paralympic team has helped me to be able to hike for longer periods in the racing on Sunday - with 4 races back-to-back out near the edge of the harbour in challenging wind strengths of 20 gusting 28.

SW Topper Zone Squad Camp 6

Our last training weekend was at the Mount Batten Centre in Plymouth.  On Saturday we didn’t go out because it was far too windy to launch in gusts of up to 40 so we spent the day on theory and reviews.

On the Sunday we had some really good wind so we launched as soon as possible. One of my friends launched without their kicker (!) but luckily we had stayed in the Catt Water so it wasn’t too far to return to shore.  By the time we sailed out to Drake’s Island I realised that I didn’t have my bung in properly, so we had some fun trying to drain my boat with the support boats out on the water. 

With the wind at 13 gusting 16 it was perfect to blast around in our races once my hull was emptied.

Thank you to Duncan and Lynn our coaches plus the various assistants we had over the winter.

New VR Kit 

Neil Pride Hiking Shorts fit me really well and are brilliant for hiking in hard wind sailing; my feet are now toasty warm with the combo of Gill Neoprene Socks and Gul Evotherm Hiking Boots; and a pair of Forward Sailing Gloves rounded off the kit purchases.   Thank you to everyone at VR for my sponsorship and all of your hard work.

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March 2015

Freezing temperatures and 30 knots of breeze - GREAT !

Squad points for commitment

Winter Talk 2 - Rules At the Mark 

I won the first cream egg J at our rules session with Natalie, the UK National Squad Head Coach - this time concentrating on mark rounding.  

It was another interactive session with lots of Q&A and I am looking forward to having more confidence on the race course. 

SW Topper Zone Squad Camp 4 

This got off to a good start with mum forgetting the food for the squad so we went into Weybiza via Sainsbury’s, not so easy in a motorhome with a boat trailer in tow!!  

We had just set up camp in the WPNSA Boat Park when another member of the VR Race Team arrived, Bryony - she forgot the gate code so dad had to let her in and we had time to chat over the weekend.  We love the new shiny trailer Bryony.  

Our Zone Squad Camp was a joint squad camp with the South Zone so lots of racing involved.  

The Olympic and Paralympic classes were also here for their ranking events so WPNSA had lots going on.  

Winds were looking good with early teens gusting mid-twenties.  

Coach Duncan tasked me with concentrating on starts not results so my focus was on hovering, acceleration and mark rounding.

In the evening 34 of us headed over to the Cove Inn on Portland and had a social evening with lots of food.  No puddings as we had birthday cake complete with firework candles for 2 parents who were celebrating their 50^th Birthdays.  

Sunday started with poor visibility thanks to the mist that had descended overnight.  I had a terrible start in one race but managed to work my way back up through the whole fleet finishing 12 so my coach was very pleased with my commitment and hard work. 

Mixing it with TeamGBR

SW Traveller Plymouth 

South Westerly gusting into the early twenties saw us moved to the Cattewater for safety but still offering a challenging sailing course.  

The variable conditions saw some interesting racing and it was good to welcome some new Topper Sailors to the circuit.

Nice new sail stickers

National Series 3 – Queen Mary  

I beat National Squad sailors in the last race on Sunday, when I pulled out a 21st place.

we left Somerset at lunchtime on Friday so that we could arrive before the club gates shut at teatime and dad could get my sail numbers from VR.  

Once you had climbed the 62 steps from the carpark to the rim of the reservoir on Saturday morning you realised we had a strong breeze as well as freezing cold water to contend with.  

Ideally you needed to stay upright and dry but with a forecast of late teens gusting mid-twenties that was actually stronger out on the race course there was plenty of getting wet!  I finished 50^th in the first race but having capsized and death rolled numerous times I was cold and bruised so headed back to shore, along with quite a few fellow sailors. 

By Sunday launch the wind had dropped to early teens, gusting late teens, dropping all the time, as well as being very shifty.  This proved a headache for mark layers and competitors alike but I managed to pull 2 good results out of the bag including a 21^st which was a great way to finish the weekend.

SW Topper Zone Squad Camp 5 

Paignton Sailing Club was the “not so sunny Riviera” for our camp.  

We headed out playing follow the rib at full speed with the winds gusting mid-thirties.  

There was lots of screaming, laughing and capsizing so “lets go yachting at full speed” turned out to be great fun.  

We did a windward leeward course, then a triangle course to practise keeping a flat boat under pressure and in strong conditions. 

A relaxed social end to the day with squad lasagne in the club and planning for tomorrow being a spiders web of ideas to be decided upon at the time once the weather conditions were known.

Sunday was as windy and blustery as expected with gusts reaching mid-forties at times.  

Keen to repeat yesterday’s sailing at speed we prepared to launch in two groups of six following the morning’s briefing.  Perched on the slipway 6 of us were ready to go, marks laid, ribs on the water when the wind picked up even more and Duncan decided making the short dash out of the harbour safely was going to be too tricky so we had to stay ashore L  

As if to prove mother nature agreed with that decision, just as Duncan said abandon launching, the wind lifted my boat clear of its trolley and dumped in on the slipway with my centre board skating off down the slipway coming to rest under Millie’s boat.   No boat repairs required but some serious wet and dry work is now in order. 

Being shore side meant we completed the bleep test.  

I took Duncan’s description of the bleep test literally and ran until I could run no more and was slightly unwell.  I tried my hardest so that’s fine and I intend to work on this so I can improve my result next time.       

The rest of the day was theory setting goals for lots of different sailing situations and then we discussed transitioning.  I am still not sure where to go after Toppers but I have quite a while yet and I may look at some of the less obvious choices as well as the popular ones.

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February 2015

February started much the same as January, high winds only this time accompanied with a dusting of snow and bitterly cold conditions. Social Sunday sailing with friends is some 75 miles away so it was a bit of a pain to need to set alarms for 6.30am to then decide to abandon the thought of travelling to Plymouth and head back to bed!

Winter Talk 1 - Rules At the Start Line - I was very lucky to be invited by Paignton Sailing Club to attend a series of winter talks by Natalie Lloyd, RYA Topper Head Coach. Our first talk was “rules on the start line”. Natalie made this an interesting and interactive discussion on definitions and thought provoking on how to use rules on the start line and to be confident in our actions.

I look forward to our second winter talk in March but mum hopes we get home before 11.45pm next time, well it was a school night for both of us!

NS2 – Topper Winter Regatta WPNSA – Saturday was sunny but bitterly cold and accompanied by strong winds so we were soon under a postponement until the gusts had dropped enough to allow the mark layers to set a course. The ribs launched twice before that was successful!


When we launched I reefed to stay safe and to try to complete the race upright! We used the windsurfers’ slipway due to the onshore wind and then made our way to the start line through choppy seas accompanied by strong gusting winds. Red flight had the second start and I finished a very pleasing 40th, after which we all returned to shore to regroup and consider a second race. Sailing kit that proved essential today were my GUL Windward Sailing Gloves for on the water and my GUL Rigging Jacket for when I came ashore. The conditions were no easier for race 2 so I decided to stay ashore and prepare for a full day of three races tomorrow.

Sunday dawned bright and early and we launched on time. The wind had dropped, perhaps a little too much. I posted a couple of reasonable results and was especially pleased with pulling a 15th out of the bag. I finished 86th overall which was great for my first competition on a full rig and it was good to catch-up with friends I hadn’t seen for a few months.

New VR Kit - the land based highlight of the month has to be the arrival of our new VR Jackets. They are soooo cool and I have hardly taken mine off since it arrived.

Now I am looking forward to March which has a full sailing calendar. An interesting mix of RYA Zone Squad training, our second winter talk, a day of Team Racing Coaching (a first for me), a National Series event and a local Traveller to complete the line up  :)

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Bart's Bash sailing on a 5.3 for Zone Squad qualification

Barts Bash clashed with a qualifier for the RYA SW Zone Squad so I couldn't join my VR team mates at QMSC racing against Sir Ben Ainslie for Barts Bash.

Our first race on Sunday  was the special race - BART’S BASH out in the middle of the bay near Drake's Island, along with 18,000 other boats around the world.

This was my first race on my full size rig and I finished 13th out of 42 so I was pretty happy with my result.

We had one more race before lunch for the regional traveller and I came 9th so it was another good race for me. The race officer got us out for one more race in the afternoon and I put all my energy into it and ended up 8th which I was really happy with - and I ended up 9th overall, on my 5.3 sail.

It was fantastic to take part in Barts Bash and be part of the VR Race Team on this special day even though I couldn't be at VR HQ.

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Virtual Rigger 4.2 Summer Championships and Zkik World Championships at Pwllheli

A successful trip to Wales - 8th in the UK and 10th in the World for 2014 !

Roll on Lake Garda 2015 .....

Day 17 - Homeward Bound

A reasonable 8 hour run saw us reaching Somerset at 7pm to be greeted by one excited dog

Day 16 - Topper Worlds Day 3

3 races on our last day. Building on yesterday's results saw me posting 4, 12 and 8. Pretty pleased given my injury and securing 10th place overall to add to 8th last week. We then had prize giving, the charity auction before a group of us headed off to subway for tea, fun in the arcade and a party on the beach.

Day 15 - Topper Worlds Day 2

I had a lot to make up having missed yesterday's racing. We sailed 4 races today and I posted mixed results (14,10,6,8). Hiking with one leg is less than ideal but at least I was beginning to climb back up the results board.

We went out 4 races first race not great but others were ok, nothing in the evening

Day 14 - Topper Worlds Racing at last - Day 1

We launched but unfortunately my knee gave way again and I had to come back in and miss today's three races. Just hoping lots of rest today plus strapping my knee means I can go out tomorrow.

Day 13 - Topper Worlds Racing Abandoned

Similar conditions to yesterday saw racing being abandoned again. The day then became a mix of chilling on site, walking into town for lunch at subway, playing football and taking part in the Oakley challenge. In the evening we all went to the water park at Hagan y Mor.

Day 12 - Topper Worlds Racing Abandoned

23 knots and 6 foot of swell meant the day started with a 3 hour postponement. Conditions did not improve and therefore racing was abandoned for the day. We headed into town for a few hours before going out to tea. Just hoping we get out tomorrow.

Day 11- Rest Day 3 Chill and Opening Ceremony

At last a lie in this morning. We spent the day chilling, dodging rain storms and hanging out with friends. In the evening we had the Worlds Opening Ceremony including the flag parade of all the participating countries followed by a buffet supper.

Day 10 - Rest Day 2 Zip World

Early start today to head across to Zip World Titan. Great fun with friends and family before heading back to Pwllheli for Worlds Registration. After registration we lashed everything down in preparation for the incoming storm. We chilled around the sailing club for a while before heading to Nevfyn for a sailors BBQ.

Day 9 - Rest Day 1 Shattered

So today was down time to rest and recover ... something that escaped the notice of Caroline Randeria who organised a walk up Snowdon whilst carrying a Topper to raise money for the John Merricks Sailing Trust and the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. Well done to those who completed this challenge raising over £400 during the walk itself plus more donations online. I spent a social day with Carol Dugdale and Josh at the base of Snowdon including a trip on the lakeside train and discussing Carols departure to Canada tomorrow for her 2.4 sailing event ... good luck Carol.

Day 8 - Fourth day of Racing

Slightly worried on launch as the winds were very light but they filled in giving a good last day of racing and I posted top ten results for both days leaving me 8th overall which giving the mixed conditions and blisters was a result I was pleased with.

Day 7 - Third day of Racing

At last great wind today for me reflected with top five results in every race and jumping ten places on the leaders board. Blisters across the back of my legs making this a somewhat painful but just very pleased to be posting good results and I have 2 ducks to collect in briefing tomorrow.

Day 6 - Second day of racing

Postponement in the morning whilst there were great winds and waves to be conquered. By the time we launched everything was rather light and sedate. I was winning the first race which was then abandoned .... not happy, I was the only one who actually followed the course! The next 2 races were as bad as yesterday's results this is just not my week.

The club held a competitors BBQ in the evening, the food was very good, shame about the rain. Really looking forward to catching up with Carol Dugdale and Josh who arrived this evening.

Day 5 - First day of Racing

Light winds and no waves so not a good start to the Championships for me.

Evening BBQ was rather late as we had to wait for the Fundraising Auction to finish. No bargains for us but a purple muggi for a 2.4 sailor whose boat has a purple colour theme. Hopefully this will make Carol smile when she arrives tomorrow.

Day 4 - Racing Abandoned

An early start following a rather rough night. Torrential rain and high winds caused havoc on site at the sailing club including having to put awnings down at 2am! Sailors under canvas on local campsites faired less well with several tents being submerged. The 4.2 squadies rigged their boats together then headed off to the main briefing. Then followed our squad briefing with sailors sprinting for a bench to sit on. A 2 hour postponement followed by racing being abandoned for the day due to winds and big waves. Mark layers were loosing marks between the waves never mind the odd boat. The 4.2 squadies headed back to the boat park to derig together then most returned to their accommodation. We had a BBQ mid evening by which time the winds had died down ... just as well as 8 in our camper would have been interesting.

Day 3 - Registration and Welcome Briefing

Last lie in for a while. This morning was spent sorting our boats and catching up with our Zone Squad coaches and friends. We registered as soon as registration was open and managed to get through measuring before meeting up with the our South West coach for some time on the water ... well once Lynn worked out how to start the rib that is! The conditions were light and shifty so not much fun but we did get to see some dolphins. In the evening we had the welcome briefing followed by tea.

Day 2 - Setting up

Rain and not bring in a rush meant we had a late start to the day. We got up at 9am :-) A chilled day for the sailors whilst the grown ups sorted ribs, the race office and the clothing orders. Sailors cycled into town to take a look around and we set up our paddling pool (picture to follow) In the evening we went out to tea to the Chinese. Whilst the day started off wet it turned out nice and sunny by mid afternoon.

Day 1 - Road trip to North Wales

We left the house at 11am and arrived at Pwllheli Sailing Club just before 7pm with 2 stops enroute. When we arrived I helped Andy and Adam Millington put sail numbers on the sails for the Indian sailors who arrive this weekend. Then we waited for the Luxford's to pull up after their mammoth 12 hour journey with so many motorway closures and delays.

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Virtual Rigger Topper 4.2 series winner - Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club

Second overall for the event and FIRST in the 2014 series !

I had the whole day off on Friday because it takes us seven hours to get to Derwent from the south coast.

On the Saturday we launched as planned but then the wind dropped and the 4.2s just rafted up for about an hour. Then we paddled in but everyone else got a lift straight away except me and Ben O'D so we paddled three quarters of the way in ourselves. We had an hours lunch because there still wasn't enough wind. When we did get out we did 3 races and I came 3rd, 3rd and a 4th, I was quite happy with the day.

On Sunday morning the wind was good as forecast so we got straight out as planned and did four races back to back with a break for lunch out on the water. In the races I came 2nd in all of them. This put me up a place into 2nd overall for the event!!!!

Finally we had the results for the overall series.... I won the series by 1 point to Coco. I'd like to thank everyone for great compition and especially Coco for great competition all year round.

Well done to Calum, Lucy and Jack for coming top 3 overall in the 5.3 series.

I'd like to thank my personal sponsors Virtual Rigger, Gul and 1610 for the great support all year round.

Hope to see everyone in Pwhelli for the Worlds + Nationals

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Virtual Rigger Topper 4.2 National Championships

The 4.2 Nationals draw plenty of competition from more experienced 5.3 squad sailors who save their 4.2 sails just for this event. Last year I came 42nd at Burnham and this year I finished 18th overall so I was very pleased.





School gave me the afternoon off so that I could get to Northampton before 7.00pm. As soon as we arrived I rigged my boat ready for the weekend

On Saturday we had a 9:30am Squad briefing with Andy. The main briefing was at 9:45am and we launched at 10:30am.

There were 3 races in the morning, I came 17th, 13th and 16th which I was very pleased with as last year I came 42nd overall.

After lunch we did another 2 races and I came 14th and 15th so that put me 14th overnight which I was so happy with.

On the Sunday we launched at 9:55am after a Squad warm-up and completed three races in the morning.

I came 14th, 25th and a D.N.F I didn’t do very well in the last race because I capsized and then got hit on the arm and neck by another boat at speed.

In the afternoon I wasn’t expected to go back out but I did as I still wanted to finish in the top 20, in the last 2 races I came 20th and 32nd but that was because of my collision earlier, the bruises were starting to show!

Thank you to all the volunteers and everyone at Northampton especially the galley for great food services.


See everyone at Derwent in July

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Virtual Rigger Topper 4.2 National Series 4, at Paignton Sailing Club

Paignton Sailing Club is the closest sailing club in the national series to us so there was no leaving school early for me this time.

It has been a long time since there was a national series at Paignton sailing club, so everyone had a warm welcome as we arrived at the Promenade in our camper and put my boat into its berth in the dinghy park.

Early on Saturday there was no wind and after the sailors briefing there was a 2 hour postponement. After helping Simon set up at the VR van parked at the harbour, I made the most of the morning with my squad and we went to play mini-golf

Launching on the Saturday was easy, as the tide was out and there was lots of space on the beach.  In the 4.2 fleet we did three races in light winds, I came 6th, 1st and 4th, this meant I was 3rd overnight and happy with the day.

On Sunday there was no postponement, so we launched as planned. It was fun when we launched  - the tide was in and a group of volunteers were in the water helping us get off the slipway.  Unfortunately by the time we reached the race course all the wind had gone.  We hung around the line messing about waiting for the wind to reappear. Happily we got three races in, I came 7th, OCS and a 9th meaning overall I finished 6th, and was happy with the weekend.

Thank you to everyone at Paignton Sailing Club, all the volunteers for helping and a personal thank you to my sponsor Virtual Rigger for my great Gul kit and all the great prizes for the 4.2 fleet.

See everyone at Northampton for the 4.2 National Championships or at Derwent for NS5.

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VR Topper 4.2 Inlands - 3rd place

3rd place and leading the overall 4.2 series after three events

After a flat calm on Saturday that stopped all racing, there was enough wind on Sunday morning for us to get afloat and start our first race on schedule at 9:55, aiming to get in as many races as possible.

The first start had a port bias line and because of a shift we could nearly reach to the mark. In the first race both Hakan and I got a port flyer and were able to cross the whole fleet - I came 2^nd overall which I was very happy with. In the second race I came 3^rd after another port flyer. In the third race I came tenth because I got a knock and so was glad of a rest as we came in for lunch.  We did two more races in the afternoon and I got a 2^nd and in the last race I got a 9^th.

Overall I came 3rd with Milly in 2nd (well done Milly, a fellow south west sailor and her first national event) and well done Hakan, the new VR 4.2 Inland Champion in 1^st.

Thank you to everyone at the club and all the volunteers for helping and a personal thank you to my sponsor Virtual Rigger for my great Gul kit and great prizes for the 4.2's.

See everyone at Paignton for the next National Series event with Virtual Rigger

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Feva perspective from the Bloody Mary - the biggest UK pursuit race

I left home with my mum and dad on the Friday after I finished school to get to our hotel. When we got there I rang my helm (Dan) to check everything was ok for Saturday, then I watched the silent briefing and went to bed ready for a long day ahead.

On Saturday morning we got to the club just before the big rush of cars and boats arrive.!  Dan’s dad had booked a club Feva for us and after setting up the spinnaker, jib and had the mainsail ready to go we attached the boat to the pontoon ready to get to the start line. 

We were one of the first Fevas released so we sailed the first bit of the course and tested our spinnaker. Half an hour later, the Toppers had launched and it was time for us to get ready for our start.

After the first mark the Fevas spread out among the fleet and we were racing the biggest pursuit race in the UK. 

After 2 and a half hours of racing we came in 249th out of 320+ boats and Dan and I were very chuffed for finishing - and we came in ahead of the Moths. 

It was great to see so many of our friends do well and we finished one place behind Mike (Coco’s dad)  AND Coco had beaten him !!! After everyone had said their goodbyes and thankyou’s we went back to Coco’s house for a celebratory dinner.

On Sunday morning Rachel helped me with some extra kit before the long trip home and I was asleep in 5 minutes on the motorway.

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Topper 4.2 NS2 Carsington, Derbyshire

10th place at 4. 2 NS2.

School gave me the afternoon off so that we could get to our camp site at Carsington at a good time, it took a long time and I did my homework almost all the way.

It was just a short drive to the sailing club on Saturday morning and we got rigged &  changed and launched 10 mins after briefing. There was a good wind with some decent gusts on our triangle sausage course. We had no black flags all day and got in three good races - I got 3,2,7 so ended up in third place overnight

Sunday morning was much colder and much more windy. The CSL/PRO postponed launch for an hour as there were very strong gusts, almost 30mph. When we launched it was a very fast sail out to the course. Three races were planned but I death-rolled on a gybe when a big gust hit me and I took a big hit from the mast and had to retire; half the 4.2 fleet retired due to the cold and strong winds. 

Carsington was a good venue and I'm looking forward to going back.

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