Well long time no posts and that's my fault, as you can imagine it has been a pretty mad few weeks. I guess changing sailing class always involves maxium time on the water, not an easy thing to get- esspically in November and December! The good new is that everything is going really well and perfectly to plan. We are looking forward to our Christmas holidays next week as that should provide plenty more opportunity for training. Hopefully I should soon be able to post some picture of the new boat.

MW

Well its all changed since the 29er nationals, new boat, new class, new crew = new campaign.

First things first, new boat - well nearly new one, we originally looked for a second hand boat to get us sailing but there were non on the market so ended up getting a practically new one.

New class- The new boat is a 420 rather than a 29er, the 420 is similar to the 29er in that they are both two man and both RYA youth classes. But the 420 is a more old fashioned design with slower but more technical and tactical racing and is more suited to my sailing strengths. It also feeds into the olympic class the 470.

New crew- Well I have known Hugh for years now, we raced against each other in the toppers and he was looking to move into the youth program. He is 15 and based near Coventry - only 10 miles from our house!

Finally new campaign - We are aiming to compete for the next two years taking us up to the end of summer 2010. Our main goals are to medal at major internationals like the Worlds, Europeans and Youth Worlds.

With the new campaign, we also need new sponsors to help fund equipment, travel, coaching fee's and events. If you are interested or just want further information please feel free to get in contact though the link at the top of the page.

MW

We have just got back from the 29er Nationals in Weymouth where we ended up 3rd overall. It was a good turn out with the top French boats there including the winner of Kiel week earlier this year. After a breezy qualification where they managed to get in 10 races the wind dropped significantly and so only 4 final series races were completed. We guessed in advance that there would be a short final series so tried to race with that in mind and without using up a discard.

MW

We arrived home last week after the 29er European Championships in Medemblik, Holland. After the first two days of light to medium wind, we qualified into Gold fleet in 9th position. (Only the top 25 boats after the qualifying races get into gold fleet, the rest are evenly divided into silver, bronze and, at this event, emerald fleet). We were really pleased with our first two days as we were going well and had smart races. Also this was our "goal" achieved as before the event we aimed for gold fleet racing.

After 2 days of gold fleet racing we had dropped to 14th but were still pleased with our racing as the fleet standard was intense with at least 15 boats always on pace out of the 25 and at least 22 boats with a good start. The wind was still very light; although there was one (well half a) race were the wind came up to a medium strength. Off the start line were us, followed by another British boat, followed by another, followed by another, in fact 5 GBR boats were in another league off the line and were top 4 at the first mark. Although it was great to be right up there leading the race, there was always that feeling of "what if the whole event was like this? Or even a little windier?" One of the Dutch coaches shouted over to our coach..."I see your having a good day at the office!" as we all rounded as the top 4 boats.

Still, there was no wind on the last day so the results stood from the day before and we finished 14th, not bad and we had achieved the regatta aim. We also got a hell of a lot out of the event and have plenty to work on before the Nationals at the end of the month.

MW

Well, that's it, I have now finished compulsory school and my GCSE's are all done. Now is a very long wait to see how the results come play out. Still we have plenty on to keep us busy, next weekend we have a couple of days training at WPNSA before a weekends racing. Then the week after we are heading out to the Europeans in Holland. We are both really looking forward to some racing and a chance to see how we match up on pace.

MW