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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January 2015

Well after last year’s light wind conditions 2015 got off to the opposite of starts. New Year’s Day Sailing at Paignton Sailing Club was cancelled due to high winds swiftly followed by The Bloody Mary forecasts showing conditions way beyond my abilities with gusts of 40+ so that’s another day off the water

We did however make a trip to London that included visiting the new VR Superstore for the first time. Loads of space and great fun shopping for kit whilst riding VR’s scooter around the store!

SW Topper Zone Squad Camp 3

Yes we were going to be sailing at last! We left home early on Saturday morning in the motorhome, as we drove northwards we started to see snow on the verges. We arrived at Frampton to a lightly snow covered boat park, brrr this was going to be a cold one. Saturday focused on mark rounding techniques and staying warm. My mark rounding definitely improved and I was hugely grateful for my new Helly Hanson thermal top and Gul rigging jacket from VR so staying warm was easy except for cold hands. Plastic gloves underneath sailing gloves is called for.

Sunday saw no wind in the morning so we spent time in the classroom looking at rules and protests. We managed to launch in the afternoon completing some team racing which I really enjoy. This was new to some so a steep learning curve entailed, Olivia and myself were pleased with our efforts though. Today hands were fine but my feet froze! Not suffered from that before so an email to VR is needed for some ideas.

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South West Topper Zone Squad - Chew Valley #1

This was the first camp of my second year in the Zone Squad

We are a squad of seventeen so we have four coaches: Duncan, Lynn, Natalie and Ed.
Lynn and Duncan will be at all of our squad camps and either Natalie or Ed at the others.
Chew is close to home so we got there in plenty of time for the new fitness session and the parents had their first parents briefing.
It was quiet light winds but there were some gusts that got us hiking.
Our main exercise was elephant ears to help our stop tacks and tacking and gybing on the whistle, which helps our upwind and downwind light airs trim.
On Sunday we had an earlier start because we had to finish earlier too.
In the morning there was no wind so we focussed on learning to a race officer, until the wind filled in and we could go yachting for a couple of races to finish the camp
Thank you to Chew Valley Sailing Club and our coaches for a good weekend.

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2015 Zone Squad qualification

Our Zone Champs were in Paignton this year, we had a sunny weekend but with very light winds.
Saturday we managed 2 races in the afternoon and 4 races on Sunday.

Having had a fantastic weekend at the Plymouth qualifier I knew this was going to be hard work in the light conditions.  I had hoped to finish mid fleet this time, top 10 was not going to repeat itself unless the wind picked up.  Mid fleet it was, interestingly other sailors who finished near me in Plymouth dropped down to mid fleet too.  Whilst on the other hand Millie did fantastically well at Paignton, WELL DONE Millie!

Our Zone Squad Training Qualifier was at Bowmoor in the Cotswolds.  About 28 of us had applied to be part of the Squad so Duncan and his team of coaches “The Dream Team” had their work cut out to observe everyone.

I had a good day on the water finishing top boy and 3rd overall in the racing.

We have now had our Zone Squad emails and I am very pleased to have been selected to complete a second year in the South West Topper Zone Squad.  

Looking forward to lots of winter training.

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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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Final South West Topper Zone Squad for 2014 at Paignton Sailing Club

On Saturday we spent four and a half hours on the water focussing on wave sailing, starts and using tethered rudders to get a sense of steering just with the boat movement. 

It was fun sailing in waves but some people felt sea sick. 

After a long days training we had a party with our coaches and all the parents as it was our last zone squad and Drew’s birthday.  

The club did a fantastic curry and we presented Lynne and Duncan with some customised chairs.

On Sunday the clocks went forward so we lost an hour of sleep. 

I was the first one rigged but we didn’t get out immediately until the wind filled in. 

When we did get out we practised on tethered rudder again and it was really fun. 

We also did some races and Duncan & Lynn kept the results - I came mid fleet in all the races and these would count towards selection for the ET’s.

On Monday I got an email saying that I have been chosen for the ET’s!!!

Thank you everyone at Paignton Sailing Club, Duncan and Lynn for a great last weekend.

See everyone at Frampton in a couple of weekends!

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RYA South West Topper Zone Squad training camp at Mount Batten

So very windy in Plymouth, Saturdays training was blown off !

A 6am start saw us heading off just as the sun came up.  The skies were clear and there was no wind, however by the time we reached Plymouth Saturday’s forecast was turning into reality with gale force winds, white horses and gusts strong enough to blow you over.  Mum had a lucky escape on the outside staircase nearly coming down quicker than she had just walked up !  The winds were so strong parents took boats off of car roofs and transferred them to spare racks on other squaddies trailers and then tied everything down securely.


Our Squad spent Saturday in the classroom on theory and fitness sessions.  Saturday’s theory covered tidal sailing, course strategy, top tips before the start and protests.  No broken furniture this time!!!

Luckily we were staying on site at the Mount Batten Centre which meant we had sea views all weekend and not too far to go to breakfast and boat rigging on Sunday morning.Sunday provided 4 hours of mixed sailing conditions. 

We had sunshine, we had squally rain showers with winds ranging from 12 – 25 knots but best of all we were out on the water having fun in some challenging conditions. 

My coach persuaded me to go out on my 5.3 sail.  I improved a lot on my downwind sailing throughout the day and only capsized a couple of times which was great as this was the first time of using my 5.3 in these conditions.


After lunch, relaunch was interesting as the tide had gone out & our ribs were high and dry or rather stuck in the mud!  Coaches, parents and a few Plymouth Uni students to the rescue and eventually the ribs were water side again. 

A few bumps and bruises given the sailing conditions and we were all relieved that our team mate who went to A&E for a check-up was sent home to rest.  No long term injuries just a nasty knock on the head from someone else’s boom.

Thank you for everyone at Mountbatten and Duncan and Lynn for a great weekend

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RYA South West Topper Zone Squad training camp at Castle Cove

a Weekend at "Wey-biza"

We only live an hour away from Castle Cove so I didn’t get any time off school for travelling :(  

Saturday got off to an interesting start, we arrived at Castle Cove and realised the trailer keys were still at home.  Dad and a lump hammer soon solved that problem!

Saturday’s weather conditions proved challenging with many of us using 4.2 sails in an attempt to stay upright in the 25 – 30 knots.  Launching was a team effort with a couple of parents in wet suits to help us launch and head in the right direction, boats smashing against the rocks would not have made a good start to training.  Swimming in the sea in January wasn’t quite what the dads  had in mind when they set out with their sailors that morning!

As it was so gusty we focused on upwind and downwind sailing in heavy winds and waves. We spent about 3 and a half hours on the water doing our best to stay upright and learning how to sail up & down the waves and make good progress with the conditions in hand.  I forgot my SeaBands which was a bad move.  Time on the water proved fast and fun but very tiring, with lots of effort required to hike out and keep our boats flat. 

The highlight of the Saturday’s theory session was when Duncan tried to demonstrate how to surf a wave by using a chair. Apologies to the sailing club for the chair that now needs mending. Photos made it straight onto FaceBook thanks to Lynn our other coach J

Sunday proved that weather conditions can offer a weekend of opposites, today the wind dropped right off to 5 – 11 knots and the sun was shining.  Sails were swapped to 5.3’s and the 4 hours on the water were spent learning a lot about light wind sailing.  My tacks and gybes improved as the day went on, reducing steering in my gybe being one of the aims for today.

Thank you to everyone at Castle Cove Sailing Club and Duncan and Lynn for a great weekend. 

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Race Hard ! Have Fun :D

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Zone Squad 1 at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club

As Chew is only an hour or so away from home we left early on the Saturday morning and got to the gate in a queue of Toppers keen to get onto the water.

On Saturday our main aim was boat handling and it was Sunny & Flat & Northerly & 3-7 Avg. & Gusting 7 for the 2 ½ hours we spent sailing.

By the end of the day I had really got the hang of Roll tacks and Stop tacks after coaching from Lynne.

On Sunday our main plan was light wind trim, as there was hardly any breeze so we spent extra time on fitness before we went out.

By the end of the day Lynn had showed me how to improve my trim and to keep speed up in light winds.

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Zone Squad Land Day

My first day in the Squad -  I made sure to wear my VR Race Team jacket and all my friends were impressed  

We got to meet our coaches, Duncan & Lyn and Chris our  High Performance Manager who told us all about the squad and the RYA's World Class Pyramid Programme.

Afterwards our parents were sent off to their own briefing and we went to the gym and had our private coach to squad briefing to work out our squad contracts as a team. 

Because the weather was so harsh and waves were being blown over the top of the RIB pontoons we stayed inside and had lunch before we went into a boat setup session to improve our race performance.

New things today were lessons on physio from Isy who told us all about posture and from Chris all about Fitness, Nutrition and Hydration. 

We played a game about nutrition to end the day and the coaches all wished us good luck for the squad training and our first training at Chew Valley Lake.

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