Summer 2010
Hi Everyone
This year has been a busy year so far and I have not really had time to catch up with all that has happened. Last time I spoke I had just returned from Miami and was on my way to Palma back in February. I spent a total of seven weeks there sailing and cycling. My main goal was to get my fitness levels back up after a gentle winter and get some good hours on the water combined with some sail testing, but mainly get comfortable in the boat again. In this period I was basically doing one week sailing with the other Finn guys followed by a week cycling. Most of the cycling was on my own which was hard at times. The last climb of the day, when I had eaten all my food, drank all my water and there was little left in the tank to get me home, was usually the low point. Some days I had some 470 guys or Paul Goodison would join me, which at least you could chat the miles and the pain away. All this cycling put me in really good shape going into the regatta, some how I managed to put 2 kgs on but sure that was on the legs so at least I could hike. All this training went to little use though as the week was dominated by light shifty winds. Although I was starting well and going fast I collected two big scores, which left me in 11th overall. 11th was starting to be my unlucky place as this is where I had now finished at the last five World Cup events. I was not too pleased about this as I knew exactly what went wrong and I was kicking myself in the head for a few days after.
After Palma the big tour bus went round to Split in Croatia, where we spent 10 days training prior to the Europeans there a few weeks later. This was about the same time as all the volcanic ash was disrupting air travel round Europe. Luckily we flew in a few days before it started and the day we flew home was when airspace was reopened. The whole camps discussion was about the ash, are we going to have to drive back? Can we get a hire car? Who is going to drive the van back if we cant? But in the end it was all good. The training was also good and got a lot of boxes ticked that we wanted to going into the Europeans.
In between the training and the Europeans we had to load the container with our second boats for the worlds in San Francisco. This boat was in need of some loving as it had not really been in the UK for a long time. So for that week it got booked into the teams ‘Performance Centre’ where there is a workshop with all the tools and stuff you will ever need. This is also where the gym and physio is, so you can sneak in a quick gym session in between doing your boat work and if you are lucky might get a massage off ‘Flash’ the team physio. So after a few days the old girl was looking brand new and was shipped off to San Francisco for the worlds. After all the long days and hard work I managed to fit in a few afternoons rock climbing with some of the boys on Portland which has some of the best climbing in the country. Although we are no where near the best climbers in the country but its good fun and a good work out.
Then we were off back to Split for the real thing. I felt real confident going into the regatta the few days training prior I was going real fast and was happy with all the sail choices after the small development earlier in the year. The first three days though the conditions were not perfect to say the least and a number of races were abandoned, due to big shifts or the wind fading out. I was still confident though as I was top five in all these races, leading one of them. This proved all my thoughts I had pre regatta but it was so annoying knowing you had to do it all again. In the middle of the week I struggled though and I’m still not sure why, but I think maybe my mast was raked too far forward for the conditions. I was really slow in conditions that I normally shine and for once had to rely on down wind speed to keep me near the top of the fleet. Coming into the last few days of the Europeans I knew I had to do something special to get back in the top 10 but I knew this would be quite unlikely as I was in the 20s. I managed to have a reasonable last few races and pull myself up to 14th. This was not the result I was hoping for as I knew I was capable of at least top 8, but considering the difficult conditions it was OK, but I was keen to show my true colours at the next event in Holland a week later.
After a few days in Switzerland with my girlfriend I continued up to Medemblick in Holland. As we had just finished the Europeans we did little pre-regatta sailing and basically turned up ready to race. I discussed all my thoughts with my coach over a beer on the day before the first race. We came up we a list of things we needed to sort out before the worlds and I also told him how annoyed I was about the poor result the week before. We both agreed that I would sail Holland regatta like it was the euros again and get in the medal race again for the first time in over a year. Having finished 11th five times in a row. The regatta went really well apart from some 90 degree shifts in some races that should have been abandoned I collected a string of top ten results and a third and a fourth on the windy day. I had good up and down wind speed which should come in handy at the worlds that should be a windy venue. Although I didn’t have the best last day the conditions were making it difficult for everyone and I had made it to the medal race in 8th place. I was reasonably happy with this but I am always looking for more and looking for perfection. In the medal race the wind was up and it was held right on the shore this made for difficult conditions with all the shifts. In the flat water as well downwind was hard work as there were no waves to surf hence there was little or no rest. I managed to get up to second by the last lap, which would of seen me move up to seventh overall, but there was a 40 degree shift which I was on the wrong side of that lost me four places. This meant I stayed eighth but I was still happy.
After the trip of death back home, where I missed the ferry by five minutes then had to wait 4 hours for the next one and 24 hours of driving, I was quite tired, but got quickly back into the training. Most days I have been on my bike for two hours at around 160 heart rate, and three days a week in the gym weight training. My brother got married this week so the whole family was up and we had a good party, but I had to watch how much I ate & drank.
On Tuesday I fly to San Francisco for some event preparation before the worlds at the end of August. I am looking forward to the trip because not only is it a awesome place to sail because of the big winds, but with the back drop of the Golden Gates Bridge, what more could you want?
Best Regards
Mark
FEBRUARY 2010
A belated happy New Year to everyone
I am currently writing this from Bern, Switzerland, at my girlfriends flat. It is a chilly -5°C and snowing outside, which is a bit of a shock to the system after almost a month in Miami. At this time of year Miami is perfect for training with temperatures around 20°C, warm waters and a mixture of wind condition. I think I wore my jacket once the whole trip and only because we had a day with monsoon style rain, even then I was too hot.
The reason for spending so much time out there, was to compete in two regattas and to get some good hours on the water. We had lost a few days of training in the UK because of the weather with strong winds and freezing temperatures. In addition I had missed some training due to flights being cancelled. The time we did spend on the water in the UK was very short and we struggled to get more than hour to a hour and a half of constructive time on the water before the cold made it meaningless
.
So when we got to Miami my sailing fitness was a bit lacking and the Christmas excess round the belly was not making hiking any easier. After a few days though the body gets use to the pain and the gut starts to go. With 4 hours on the water, a two hour bike ride or gym every day your fitness comes back quickly, or you die trying..
The training went well although I was a bit rusty, but it gave me a good kick up the backside to work hard while I was there and something to fine tune in the next large training block up to Easter.
At the first regatta, Miami OCR, the wind was very typical for the venue, light winds 6-10 Knots very patchy and puffy with short choppy sea. In the racing, as my coach put it, I showed moment of brilliance and moments that were not so great. My lack of time on the water showed, the main problem was I was not starting well enough. I got off the line well in two races, both which I was 2nd round the top mark, one of them I went on to win by a large margin. The other problem was I didn’t take enough risks. Conditions in Miami favour the brave, as the wind seems to come from the corners, I am more of a percentages person and maybe think too much about it. The Americans on the other hand love a corner and usually win races by miles or come last, but at this regatta the corners were coming up all aces, much to my annoyance. Overall it left me something to work towards in the next few weeks, I prefer to have a bad regatta and know what the problem was, than a bad regatta and not know where I went wrong. Also I broke the rut of coming 11th by coming 12th not a step in the right direction but sometimes you need to step back and look where you want to go.
After OCR it was a short trip up to Ft Lauderdale about 35mins drive north for the Mid winters. This regatta used to be a ISAF Grade 1 event, but it has been down graded to a 2, however there is always a good turn out. This might be due to the event having a relaxing feeling compared to a normal event which is aided by the free breakfast every morning and the BBQ and a keg of beer after racing. Also it is a much better sailing venue than Maiami, more wind and on the ocean, so big waves.
On the first day we had some real big waves around 10 foot with 26 knots onshore breeze. So it was an interesting day with many changes of pants needed. With three races a day, compared to our normal two, it was tough going and I managed 4,5,4 for the day which was good but a bit more pace down wind would of made those scores a lot nicer.
On the second day it was again windy, up to 25 knots, but this time offshore and with the wind crossing the whole of America and the race officer wanting to use as little anchor line as possible, ie the top mark was on the beach, it was a little shifty. I sailed majority of the races well, maybe being a bit unlucky at the top of the course when a 60 degree shift would come in. To say the wind was crazy would be an understatement. But I managed to post 2,3,5 for the day and was reasonably happy.
The final day was held on Super Bowl Sunday, so only 2 races, allowing everyone to be back on shore for the big game. The wind was again offshore a little lighter around 12-18 knots but even shiftier. In the first race I showed some good down wind pace beating Zach Reily and Giles in a pump off down the last run. Think the 3 of us finished within half a boat length. In the next race some how the wind got even shiftier and boats were capsizing upwind all around the course, think I went in twice and got dunked another 8 times. I eventually got round the course in second to end a good day.
Overall I was 4th which was a good end to a long trip. After packing all our kit back in the container, so that it could all be shipped back to the UK, we just managed to make it in to the club house for the kick off, a good feed and one or two cold beers to end the trip.
I am here in Bern for a few days, but whilst I am here I am going to a carbon fibre specialist who is making some tillers for us. Currently they are building the new F1 Sauber car so hope I get to see some of that but apparently its all top secret. Then in two weekends time I will be off to Palma again for a week doing some sail testing and some cycling.
For those of you who are young enough to know what it is and sit at a computer all day I am also now on twitter. I try to post most days during a regatta, so if you are interested in following me the link is here
http://twitter.com/gbr88sailing
Speak to you all soon
Mark
WINTER 2009
Hi everyone
Its been a while since my last update back in August after the world championships. When I last spoke to you and I was about to head off to the European Championships in Varna, Bulgaria.
Varna was an interesting town on the shores of the Black Sea, about 150 miles north of Istanbul. The wind for the week was quite light, which in the past has not been my best conditions, but I have spent a lot of time training in light winds over the last year or so, in the run up to the Olympics and with the other guys, now I am starting to get quite quick. Also I spent a week cycling so I was just below my fighting weight, at 95kg. There was many tricky races but with many people putting big scores on the board consistency was key. My process goals for the regatta were to start well and sail smart (i.e. don’t do anything stupid) and whilst this may sound quite a simple method, if you start well, in front of everyone, sail fast and the same direction as most of the fleet, your going to round the first mark in the top 10. With a little extra boat speed downwind you can take a few more places. This is why downwind speed is so important turning 10’s into 5’s and bad top roundings into counters, because while you can go the wrong side upwind. With such small running angles its hard to go the wrong way down hill so it all becomes about speed. Overall it was a good regatta for me, I had much improved speed, but I picked up a black flag and one big score, so once again I just missed out on the top 10 finishing 11th. Though I did win the final race of the regatta which is always nice
After the Europeans it was back to Weymouth for Sail for Gold regatta. For the regatta I was given the opportunity to use a Finn built by a new UK builder. The guys building the boats were previously involved with Devoti, who are the leading Finn builders, so they should have been able to design and build a fast boat. The boat had a few teething problems though and was a bit off the pace. It was good to test it with some guys around at the end of the season. Although it meant I did not have best results but it did mean I did not spend any more time on testing boats over the winter. As far as the regatta went, I was no where near up to speed and didn’t matter how good my starts were, people were sailing past me. Which was annoying, but you live and you learn. It was quite windy, which was my conditions but the boat was a bit stiff so I struggled to get it going in the chop. Though I can take away I was starting well, sailing the shifts well and good speed down wind.
This also lead me to order a new Devoti which I have spent a week or so sorting out and I have sailed it for the last two weeks. The boat looks really good and is going fast which is always good news after spending so much money on it. At the training we had two Olympic champs with us Ben and Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson. Bart came along for a bit of fun before going out to Rio, training before the Star Worlds in January. It was good having Bart along because as well as being quite a character he has quite a bit of knowledge from his Finn sailing, that may have been forgotten over the years, plus his Star and America’s Cup sailing experiences. Although he won’t admit it he is still quite quick after being 3rd at the worlds in Cadiz in 2003, but some of his tacks are a bit rusty. As for Ben it was back to work as he looks to start on the quest to Olympic gold in London. But after the last few weeks he knows what a steep hill he has got to climb to be even selected. Even in the light where he has a 10-15kg advantage he was not even wining half the races against us. Of course when the wind was up he wasn’t even in the same race. But I know he will be in the gym and he will come back maybe with après Christmas podge and be back fighting in the New Year.
Looking back on the year its been quite a successful year. With 7th in Palma, 4th in Garda then 11th at Holland Regatta, Worlds and Europeans. I also became UK National Champion for the first time. Next year I hope to improve on these result making the top 10 at every major regatta and hopefully some podium places along the way. In my sailing all the pieces are starting to come together and I feel I am becoming a well rounded sailor hopefully with no weaknesses. 2010 is an important year as the trial process for the Olympics start and its important to perform at those key event. Which is why I had to buy another boat, so I have two World Class boats for the Worlds in San Francisco the week after the test event in Weymouth. This makes August a busy month and where I need to be on top form, which I know with hard work and dedication I can do.
I like to thank those who supported me in 2009 and I look forward to your continued support. Without you none of this would be possible. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Best Regards
Mark
SUMMER 2009
Hi Everyone
I hope that you are enjoying the summer and as you can imagine a lot has happened since my success in Palma back in April.
After my seventh in Palma I was keen to get another top 10 place at the next event in Hyeres , France . Hyeres is renowned for its strong Mistral winds. Usually you get at 50/50 mix of Mistral and light sea breezes, so there is something for everyone. The few weeks around the regatta however were special, as there was nearly no wind for at least two weeks. To make things worse, our course was in the wind shadow of one of the islands which made it even more difficult, as what wind there was, was very patchy and shifty. Although I had reasonable starts and boat speed the rest did not really go that well. I was on the wrong side of huge shifts, as I played it conservatively nearer the middle of the race course, hitting a corner and hoping for the best was maybe the best option. By the end of the week I was down in 25th, as you can imagine I was not that happy with the result but I gained some valuable lessons and move on to the next regatta in Garda.
We travelled straight from Hyeres to Garda and we had a nine day period mainly to get some good fitness training in. Lake Garda is a beautiful place perfect for most outdoor sports walking, running, cycling, windsurfing, paragliding, etc. So it was good to get some miles in on the bike on some big hills and to set some new personal bests in the gym. It was a chance to do some jobs on my boat and of course a little relaxing in the great surroundings. Later in the period we did get some sailing in when a few more people turned up, spending most of our time training with Rafa Trilio (current world No.2) who’s coach lives on the banks of the lake. Garda is a windy venue in summer, but as it was still early in the year and we were further down the lake at Malcesine and the wind was a bit lighter at around 7-8 knots. We were sharing a course with the Star Class and with the only way to go on both upwind and downwind legs was towards the shore. This made for some interesting racing, as everyone tacked and gybed along the shore line trying to avoid each other. The week went well though as I managed to come fourth just missing out on the podium by one point after the medal race. I also managed to win one race along the way which is also nice.
Next it was north to Holland for Holland Regatta, one of the ISAF World Cup Races, and finally we had some good wind with the first race in 25-30 knots. The rest of the week stayed windy with it rarely dropping below 12 knots. Again I was sailing well, with a second in one race, my only set back was my downwind speed in over 15 knots which is something I have being trying to address. Buy the end of the week I was 11th though just missing out on the medal race (for the top ten placed sailors). I went into the final fleet race, for all competitors except the top 10, being only able to lose one place and with a good points gap I decided to do a little match race, to prevent the guy in twelfth place from beating me, which was fun. I did a good job in the pre-start, but then let him off the hook. However I had done enough at the start to prevent him from beating me. Although I was 11th and missed out on the medal race it was still a good result and hopefully I could go at least one better at the next event, the Gold Cup in Denmark .
After Holland we went and did two weeks training in Vallensbeack, just south of Copenhagen , missing out on the next world cup event in Kiel to get use to the venue for the World Championships, known as the Finn Gold Cup. I had been here before for the Laser Europeans in 2002 and remembered it as a very light venue. I guess as a heavy laser sailor maybe my memory only remembers the light winds and how bad it was. When we were there though I think we only had 1 day below 15 knots so it lead to a hard training camp but we got a good feel for the venue. However after a week at home all the memories came back, hot conditions no wind, but I was more comfortable now with the Finn in light conditions, than back then in a Laser.
The start of the Gold Cup was in fairly light winds of around 6-10 knots and very shifty. In the tough conditions it was lining up to be a high scoring regatta with many people having at least big scores. I managed to keep mine to one big score and was around tenth by the half way stage. In the second half of the week the wind picked up and we had some tough physical racing compared to the mental challenge earlier in the week. I managed to pick up my second big score though after a 30 degree shift did not do me any favours, but you win some you lose some. I was still in reasonable shape afterwards in 14th overall. I then managed to bang in some top ten places at the end of the week which I knew would get me close to that top ten overall result that I wanted. In the end though for the second time this year I was eleventh and having to hold my position in the final fleet race, which I managed to do after getting a 4th in the race.
Again I was disappointed not to make the top ten but it was a huge improvement from last year where I never broke into the top 20 and shows the hard work I, and the rest of the training group. have put in over the winter was worthwhile.
Next we had the National Championships to compete in, down in sunny Weymouth . As Weymouth is the Olympic venue we had some foreigners over trying to take our open title away which nobody wants. On the first day we did a good job with Andy Mills and I sharing the race wins with me leading overnight with a first and a second place. The second day we did not do a good job at all with Daniel Bergmark, from Sweden , taking two wins and the other going to Tapio from Finland . Overall going into the final day I was two points behind the Swede, Millsy two points behind me and Tapio a further two behind, so it was all still up for grabs. In the first race of the day Bergmark knew if he beat me he would win so he spent most of race tacking on me. This aloud Mills to catch up with us and started sitting on me. This meant Bergmark won the race and the open title and it was a race of between Mills and I for the National title. I lead by one point and we had the same discard, a 4. All I needed to do was sail Mills down the fleet so he could not get a 3rd or better in that race. After my attempt at match racing in Holland I was not to sure and with the poorer standard of fleet here I would have to sail him down along way. I did it perfectly though holding him past the lay-line at the top mark, then covering him all the way in rounding around thirtieth at the top mark. Down the reaches we gained to about 7 and 8 but I still had it under control and the top 4 boats were well away now. Up wind we had a bit of a tacking duel until I thought it was enough then I let him go by knowing though it was too late and I was National Champion. I was really happy with the result as its my first National title and although Daniel took the open title he is a good sailor having finished 4th at the Olympics.
Since then I spent a bit of time at home with my girlfriend, as well as some Island Hopping to Islay on our bikes. Now it is back into training again. The European Championships are the last week of this month, so I am off on Saturday to Varna , Bulgaria and hopefully I can improve on my two eleventh places and get into another medal race. The final event of the season is the sail for Gold Regatta back at Weymouth in Mid September, then it is back to winter training!!
I hope that you are all enjoying the summer, make the most of it as the evenings are now drawing in..
Best Regards
Mark
April 2009
Hi Everyone
Well the snow and frost has all but gone and here in Switzerland it defiantly spring. The flowers are starting to bloom and the sun is out. With spring comes Easter and the first major European event of the year, in Palma, Princess Sofia. Although before we mention that we need to travel back a few more weeks, back to snowy Weymouth, and the first UK Ranking Event of the year on 14th & 15th March.
With the numbers of Finnsters (the collective for Finn sailors) down at the RYA Ranking Events last year the RYA offered some free on the water coaching to anyone who wanted to attend prior to the event. This increased the numbers substantially with most of the ‘old boys’ turning up, making it not only more fun on the water, with a few more boats to manoeuvre around, but also good laugh of the water with everyone’s stories.
The first race of the event was abandoned after some people had a mix up with the course we were doing after some miss information by the race officer. Having lead the race and done the right course this frustrated me somewhat. So I just forgot about it and I just went out and won the next one. Sailing in the bay with on offshore breeze, it was a bit shifty, but I had found my old up wind speed and was mastering the shifts and lead at the windward mark again in the next race. The competition was tight all weekend as it was quite windy and with some larger gentlemen sailing I had to hike hard and get the shifts right to stay ahead upwind. The second race was won by Giles Scott who passed me downwind. The next race was the same with me leading on the upwind but him passing on the downwind and covering me the rest of the race.
The Sunday brought lighter winds and after a short postponement we sailed in the harbour in light, patchy winds. Again my pace and tactics were good and cemented my king of the first mark title with another three first’s round the top mark. However in the light conditions it was difficult to stay ahead with big splits both up and down wind. I still managed to win two of the races though and with a third in the other it was still a good day. This meant I ended up 2nd overall behind Giles which was a good start to the year.
After this I travelled Palma, this was the first chance to gauge myself against some other sailors apart from the usual British boats. Having already had a few weeks warm weather training in Palma we were mainly focused on racing so everyday we would race with all the other Finns that were there. The training went really well and I felt really confident going into the regatta.
The Princess Sophia Regatta is the first European regatta in the new ISAF World Cup Series, which consists of ten regattas around the world with points being awarded to the top 20 sailors at each event. So on Sunday 5th April in the first race I did not get of to the best begining though, having a terrible start and getting bounced around up the first beat and rounding in the first mark in the bottom 10, rather than the top 10, where I wanted to be. On the run I pulled up a lot of places and continued this round the next loop finishing 21st. That was my discard over in the 1st race, great, but I learned from my mistakes and had a better start in the next race and was able to put my boat where I wanted up the first beat. With some of my new found downwind pace, I was rewarded with a 5th place. The second day I was caught out with my light sail when the wind picked up just before the race. This meant I was dog slow up wind but gained some of it back down wind and finished 13th. After changing sails for the next race I had much better speed, but after not the best start I was pleased with an 8th.
The next day the wind did not really materialise and the fourth day seemed to look much the same but by 5pm the wind was steady and with 15-20 knots it was strong enough to race. Again I struggled for that perfect start which always meant I was playing catch up at the top mark rounding 20th. I was starting to get good at it though. One by one I picked the boats off and by the final bottom mark I was in sixth. But I could not stop there mainly because the finish was about 1.5 miles up wind. So I kept battling away and by the finish I pulled up to third another good result and was up to seventh overall.
The next day was the final day of fleet racing and I needed a solid day to stay in the top ten places to qualify for the medal race on the last day, but the conditions were less than solid. Huge wind shifts and pressure differences. I managed to get myself on the wrong side of most of these but I stayed in contention of the top 10 with good downwind speed, and great fitness as I pumped as hard as I could in the free pumping conditions. With a 17th and an 11th I made my first major medal race. I was in eighth position overall, 14 points behind the current world number one ISAF ranked Finn sailor, Gasper (SLO) in 6th, 1 point behind Misura (CRO) in 7th, equal with Lobert (FRA) in 9th and 1 ahead of Ivan (CRO) 10th. With double points to count it was all to play for, I had to just beat the Croatians and Lobert while I had to beat Gasper by 8 places.
The medal race is a lot shorter than a standard race, around 30 minutes compared with up to 90 minutes. The racing is very tight with on the water judging and some things you get away with in normal racing like a close port crossing does not happen here. Add that with some unlimited pumping its quite hard work with your heart rate averaging about 175 for a race. This is what we train for most days short course racing and I was going for the win.
My start was good starting above Ivan and rolling him at the same time pinching out Lobert. I headed out to the favoured side of the course and when the first shift came in, most of the fleet tacked. With me being one of the most left boats I went bow down to get over most of the fleet on the favoured shift. When I got to the top mark I was in second behind Andrew Mills who was racing off for the win. The good news was not only was I ahead of the Croatians and French but Gasper was back in 8th so it was all on downwind. Downwind though I lost a place to Ed Wright, but there was still a lap to go. Positions at the front stayed the same upwind but it was very close at the top mark. I had to cover Misura up wind to make sure I stayed ahead of him but I still did not lose any distance to Mills and Ed. On the run it was hard work, with such a short course everyone was working at 100% for the win and after over taking Mills my sights were set on the win. It was very close at the finish with Ed winning by half a boat length. With Gasper pulling up to 6th on the run it made no change to me in the overalls but having beat the other boats I move up one position to seventh. This was a great start to the season and I hope I can improve on this for the next race in Hyeres next week.
Currently I am in Switzerland with the girlfriend. After a bit of relaxing over the weekend its back into the training. Yesterday I was cycling in the Alps, I did 100km with 1560m of accent. It was a beautiful sunny day but once you climbed above 1300m there was still a lot of snow. The next few days I plan a few more hours on the bike before heading to Hyeres on Thursday and the next World Cup event.
I trust you are all well and getting ready for the summer, whether that is in your boats, on the golf course, walking the hills, or in the garden.
Best Regards
Mark
January 2009
Hi everybody,
I am sorry that I have not been in contact for some time, but as you have may have heard 2008 was a busy year, starting in Australia and ending down in Weymouth. I am pleased to report that at many of the events which we sail at on an annual basis ( Palma , Hyeres , Weymouth etc) I had better results than in previous years, unfortunately the results at the Worlds in Melbourne and the Europeans in Italy were not so hot.
Most of the year was spent training with Ben Ainslie in preparation for the Olympic Games. This involve more than the usual training in the gym and on the water. In addition we had to develop new sails and techniques for the light winds and choppy seas of Qing Dao. Much of this work was done in the early mornings in Palma where the conditions were similar to those expected in Qing Dao, but we also trained at the Olympic centre in China in two fortnight sessions in May & July. This was a great experience not only learning from the “Master”, but also seeing the processes of evolving the sails and tuning the boats, as well as getting involved in the Olympic build up. All this hard work subsequently paid off when Ben came home with the Gold medal. I managed to round off the season with a third at the Sail for Gold regatta at Weymouth which is the UK highest ISAF graded event and the roll out regatta for the 2012 Olympics.
After this event I took a long hard look at what it is I want to do I the future. I had seen first hand over the past four years the time effort, dedication that is needed to get a place in the Olympics and the extra efforts needed to come home with a medal. I wanted to be sure that I was committed to doing another four years, recognising that there would only be one place at Weymouth in a Finn in 2012. I am pleased to report that this is exactly what I plan to do. I know it will be difficult, and I know I have two or three other guys in the UK who will take some beating, but I will give it my best.
Unfortunately due to my indifferent results at the 2008 World & European championships the RYA have decided to reduce my funding for the start of 2009, and this is now subject to my results at the key 2009 regattas. Currently training with all the fully sponsored athletes, go to all the lectures etc., but I have to earn, through results, any funding. I have already qualified for the top grant to the first event of the year in Palma and hope to continue doing so for the season until I can re-qualify for proper funding this summer at the Worlds.
Although this is a tough challenge, I think it is possible. I have organised a tight budget for the year, due to the additional financial restraints, which focuses on sailing at more events (see planned list of event below). This is because I feel I spent most of last year training, testing sails etc and I now need to hone some of my race craft, hopefully I can quickly regain this and then build on it. As you can see from the list below, the initial focus for 2009 is training in warmer conditions than are available in the UK . In addition there are usually additional Finn sailors based in Palma early in the year, which will give me a larger group to train with. With my experience over the past few years I know what it takes to achieve my goals for the season and hopefully move on to winning a medal at the games in four years time. My targets for the season are to have at top 15 places at both the World & European Championships and to end the season with an ISAF World Ranking in the top 20.
May I take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support over the past few years and I hope that it can continue in the future. I also hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year and you also achieve your goals for 2009.
Best Regards
Mark
Planned events for 2009
8-11 Jan Training at Weymouth
21-25 Jan RYA Training Camp Palma
26 Jan-2 Feb RYA Cycle Training Camp Palma
21-22 Feb RYA Ranking Event Weymouth
25 Feb-1 March RYA Training Camp Palma
5-8 March Training at Weymouth
14-15 March RYA Ranking Event Weymouth
18-22 March RYA Training Camp Palma
31 March-3 April RYA Training Camp Palma
4-10 April Princess Sophia Regatta Palma
18-24 April Semaine Olympique Francaise Hyeres , France
4-9 May Expert Olympic Garda - Eurolymp Garda Italy
16-17 May RYA Ranking Event Weymouth
27-31 May Delta Lloyd Regatta, Holland
7-19 June Pre World Championship Training , Denmark
30 June- 2 July Pre World Championship Training , Denmark
3-11 July World Championships, Denmark
21-29 August European Championships, Bulgaria
April 2008
Hi
Just arrive back from Palma and have just enough time to say what I have been up to the last month or so since I got back from Australia. February was a quiet month & we all had a bit of time off and recharged the batteries for the coming European season. The only sailing we did was the National ranker in Weymouth, which as you can imagine the event was quite cold and unfortunately only 8-10 knots of shifty wind. The racing was quite close between myself and the other three guys in the team. I had the pace up wind and usually lead at the top mark while Giles Scott, was very fast down wind. In the shifty, variable conditions who ever played the shifts well looked best to take the overall win. By the end of racing Giles and I had played the shifts equally well but with his speed edge down wind he took the overall win just ahead of me.
After the weekend racing I stayed down south for a few days to prepare my older boat, before taking it to Europe for the rest of the season. My other boat comes back from Australia any time now, but will be packed up straight away and sent to China for training with Ben before the Games. “The Old Faithful” scrubbed well and was tied on the trailer before the big drive out to Palma the following week. This boat is now 4 years old and starting to get a bit tired so it could be time to start working on Dad for a new one as two boats are now crucial for an all year round campaign.
The trip out to Palma went well and although it snowed most of the way we avoided any delays and just managed to catch the ferry from Barcelona across to Majorca.
As well as the first grade 1 event of the year being in Palma, the condition are quite similar to Qingdao China, location of the Olympic sailing events, light winds and choppy seas. This means its ideal for testing and tuning equipment. Obviously the conditions are not ideal all the time, when this is the case we usually just do races making sure we can still start and tack etc. for when it comes to the event. The training went well and we learnt a lot worked out what we need to do to move on with in the future.
Then it was back into regatta mode again for Princess Sofia Regatta. The first few days of the regatta went quite well, I did not have the best of the starts but I went the right way and had good speed. In one of the races I had a 3rd after an OK start at the pin end. The wind then shifted to the left so the whole fleet tacked on to port and drag raced to the right before it shifted back. The wind never did shift back but this was good for me as I started near the pin and was on the inside of the shift. This left me in 8th at the top mark, down the run I gained some more places and was up to 5th. The next beat was very shifty but with the 470 course up wind of ours you could see the shift coming across the bay. I got most of the shifts correct and by the second windward I was 3rd. This is were I stayed but I did gain on the leaders down the final run. Thanks to this and other good results, just after the half way stage, I was lying 11th overall. Unfortunately the second half of the week did not go as well though. I had much better starts and still had good speed but now just could not get the shifts right and collected a few results in the 20’s this dropped me down to 21sth overall which was a disappointing end to the regatta.
I feel I am starting to put a regatta together now and hopeful the results will start to show more and more. The training over the last few months has been very interesting and I have learnt loads especially about downwind sailing, tactics and reading the wind.
Well the next week or so I am at home for some well needed time off as well as sorting out a few lose ends here. After this I return to Palma for some more training before heading round to Hyeres fore the next regatta followed by the Europeans in Italy.
I hope you are all starting to enjoy the longer days and a bit of sunshine & I hope to see you all at some point during the summer
Best Regards
Mark
Hi Everyone ......................................................................................................Feb 2008
I am back in the frozen northern hemisphere trying to get used to the temperature and recovering from the jet lag after returning from Australia . I have also taken the opportunity to look back over the past couple of months down under and to look forwards to the summer and 2009.
When I last spoke to you in early January I was in Melbourne and suffering from a bit of a cough, this took over two weeks to shake of and I spent most of Sail Melbourne coughing and spluttering, whilst trying to race. This was not the best preparation for the Finn Gold Cup (the world championships for Finns), as I wasn’t sleeping to well, felt fairly poor most of the time and it was not great for the concentration on the water. Never the less I dragged myself along and get a few good scores in but I was really struggling with the cold and finished down in 25th.
After a few days rest, I managed to get back to health and felt a lot better going into the Gold Cup. For 95% of our 2 months training in Melbourne we had been sailing in a 15-20 knot breeze, but, as with all the best laid plans of men and mice, for the event the wind was completely different. We had around 4 races over 12 knots and the rest were light, patchy and shifty. This resulted in many different names being at the top of the leader board, most significantly from a British point of view, not Ben Ainslie who was looking for his fifth title.
One big positive were my starts, they were fantastic all week and I usually rounded the first mark in the top 10. With the random conditions and in the later half of the week the conditions did not get any better, with even bigger shifts and bigger pressure differences & I never seamed to get on the right side of them especially downwind. This despite having made great progress with my downwind speed over the past 6 months I was not able to pull back on the top guys downwind. Looking back at my results know I don’t now how I lost so much but it just shows how close the racing is at Olympic level. The outcome was that I had a set of random results, but I was mostly top 20 and had one top 10 result half way through the week until the final day. A black flag in the last race really stuck a dagger in to kill of the regatta for me. I finished 31st I and I was obviously really disappointed with the result as I was aiming top 16. The only consolations were that there were many top names with poor results, including last years winner, and that Ben won overall in the very last race.
I have spent a lot of time reflecting on what I would of done differently and what I need to do to move on. The training prior to the event was great, my fitness was good, the boat was good and I just need to continue the work and just build on the work I have already done. I think the main problem is still downwind. I have improved dramatically in this area but the boundaries are moving all the time and this is were big gains can be made.
Ben has as me to be one of his training partners on the lead up to the Olympic Games. This is going to involve a lot of sailing in the UK and overseas. I should learn a lot from the experience of sailing with him and that this will help me achieve another big step forwards again this year.
I am only home for four days and there is a lot to do so I better go (Washing & training to look forwards to, before going to Nice for some warmer training).
Hope to speak to you all again soon
Mark
Happy new year to you all .................................................................................Jan 2008
I hope that you all had a great Christmas and that you have now recovered
from the excesses of the festive season. I am back in Melbourne, training
before Sail Melbourne (14 - 19 Jan) and the Finn World Championships the week
after. The last few days though I have been ill so only just getting back
into full training.
Last month, as well as the usual training, I competed at Sydney International
Regatta which was held in the mouth of the harbour which lead to tricky conditions
due to the big wind shifts, confused waves and the shear number of boats inside
the harbour including containers ships and ferries. (Picture shows me sailing
out past one of the landmarks on the way to the race course)
The event went OK, with many of the top 25 in world present, I finished 10th overall. I had good upwind speed and worked the shifts well meaning I placed in the top 5 at most first marks, but due to a lack of downwind speed in the strange sea conditions I did not place higher. This was quite pleasing as it was such a hard fleet in a range of testing conditions. This result was also good enough to get me into the top 20 in the new ISAF world rankings with a position of 18th.
After the Sydney International Regatta it was back to Melbourne but not to sail as we had a bit of time off over Christmas and New Year. Christmas was good with Turkey on the BBQ and a few beers in the sun. The time off though was mainly spent in the gym though as it was 42 degrees out side and the gym was air conditioned. The early mornings were also spent on a bike, or running, as this was the only time of day it wasn't to hot to do anything.
The Finn Worlds are at the end of the month so I am putting in some hard training before hand. It's a very windy venue so it has been quite hard work training, but fun. Hopefully all the training will pay off in the end though.
So I am going out sailing now, as the sea breeze has filled in to 12 knots and it nice and sunny around 30 degrees (not quite what you are experiencing back in the UK by all accounts, sorry!)
Best Regards
Mark
Hi Everyone Dec 2007
I am writing to you from the other side of the world down in Melbourne. I have just finished the Australian Nationals and tomorrow (Tuesday) we travel up to Sydney. Its been a busy couple of weeks, starting of with a training camp at Hayling Island Sailing Club. We had a mixture of conditions from strong winds and big waves at the beginning of the week to light winds at the end. One thing that did not change though was the temperature it was freezing all week. We worked on the usual stuff, boat handling and fitness etc and organised some of the things for the Australia trip and dates for next year. The camp ended with the team end of year ball, this is were all the team get together, with some of the sponsors and have a a prize giving and a a few drinks.
The following few days were spent getting the final pieces together before jetting of to Melbourne on the Monday. After sitting in a seat for 26 hours, 10 movies, 8 airline meals 3 flights and another that we missed. We arrived in Melbourne a bit jet lagged and very smelly, luckily are container that had been shipped in September from the UK with our boats, masts and some kit in it, was a day late arriving so we went to our accommodation and got a shower and some more food.
The container eventually turned up and we managed to unpack it and rig our boats in time for the regatta. The Australian nationals were being held at the same club as the worlds will be sailed at the end of January, as part of Go for Gold regatta so it was an ideal warm up to the tour down under. The main reason to do the regatta was to check out the conditions and the information we had been given prior to leaving the UK proved to be correct, 80% of the time 15-30 knot southerlies and the rest 35-40 knot northerlies. It is a windy venue. The racing went OK considering I was so tired from all the travelling and not sleeping to well due to jet lag. I finished 8th in a very hard fleet of 2 Olympic medallists, 3 past world champions and two past European champions.
So tomorrow we are of to Sydney to put some more hard training in and some more challenges. So I will hopefully speak again before Christmas but if not have a good one.
Mark
Hi Nov 2007
Well for the last month I have been able to spend a bit of time at home which is been quite good. But with only 20 days now to I leave for the worlds I have been training hard with a lot of running and cycling and of course a bit of sailing. On the sailing front, I had the first training camp of the winter at Weymouth. This was a 5 day camp with all the other Olympic classes, plus all the off water specialists were there so it was a good time to check up on fitness programs, sanity, etc. building up to the worlds at the end of January in Melbourne, Australia.
Ben Ainslie was along for the week, and everyone took the opportunity to beat him as often as they could, which annoyed him. The week went well and got a lot of good time on the water and sorted out a few things on shore that needed to be done, such as planning next year once we are back in Europe.
After the camp there was the final ranking event of the season in Weymouth. The wind was not great for the regatta as it was up and down and shifty as hell. As my competition boat was in the container on the way to Australia, I was in my second boat and it was in need of some attention having been sat around for almost year. This was not great as things began to break this annoyed me some what as I had have not had anything break in competition in a number of years. Add this to an OCS in the second race I was not very well placed overall finishing down in 6th. Never the less it was enough to finish 2nd in the overall series behind Giles.
Last weekend I was back down in Weymouth for some more training. Again the wind was very light but we got some good work done working mostly on boat handling and some short races. The weekend went well and in the little series we had, The Race for Cake Regatta 07, where the winner of each race receives a cake, I won ahead of Giles.
Well at the end of the month I have another Training camp, on Hayling Island, then it is straight out to Australia and I hope to speak to you all when I get out there.
Finally if you have not seen the final race of the sail for Gold Regatta back in September, plus the interview before the race, and have half an hour to spare, it is available on http://player26.narrowstep.tv/?player=offshore&void=105562%20 There is also a link to the video on the right hand panel of the Largs Sailing Club website.
Hi Everyone .......................................................................................................Oct 2007
As you may have noticed that you have not heard from me for a while. This is because after my last message my computer decided it could not take the abuse anymore and sadly passed away. Now though I have a nice new one that uses electric rather than steam to run it and does not get shouted at any where near as much. The other reason it has taken so long is that a have been rather busy the last four months and have not been home in this time.
I think the last time I spoke was after Hyeres when I was home for 3 days, a basically this was to get my washing done before going away again. So after unpacking and repacking the car it was of down to Warsash for two weeks training and a weekend National Raking Event in the middle. The idea for the training period was to get some light winds practice on the lead up to the European Championships and with Mark Howard coaching, who had recently finished laser sailing, he would hopefully bring some new ideas to the table. The training went well but with storms for the two weeks we only sailed once under 20 knots but lots of lessons were learnt which thankfully came into play at the Worlds later in the summer. The National Raking Event did not go so well though with the high winds and poor race management we only got 2 races in and the regatta failed to count.
After Warsash we started the long some tour which first took us to Holland for Breitling Regatta formally known as Spa. The start of the regatta did not go to plan as I struggling to get in the swing of things but as time went on it got better and better. I think this was due to only having 2 squad members competing, this meant we had more coach feedback and could learn a lot faster. This lead to me being in the top 10 consistently by the end of the regatta and finishing 20th overall. Although it was not a great result, I knew I could improve on this and achieve my goal of top 15 at the euros a week later in Hungary.
With the 470 and Finn Masters competing in Balaton, Hungary the previous year we had heard many stories of how little wind there was and how such a bad venue it was for our European Championships. Knowing this we prepared for the worse I think this was a good idea as if we went with any thoughts of it even being a ok regatta we would be shocked. In the 17 days we were there I hiked for a total of 30 minutes, so yes it was very light. With there being so little wind the difference in being in 3 knots rather than 4 down wind was massive. Also with so little difference in wind speed you could not see it on the water. The local race officer set some very off set courses leading you spending most of the time on port tack. When you came in from sailing though you would hope it was a good town to spend some time in but no. We were in a German tourist area out of session, so it was a ghost town with nobody there and nothing to do. As far as the regatta we only lost one day of racing the race officer managed to race us in the 2 hour window that there was wind. With such a poor venue it was a very high scoring regatta, and with this there was high points and there was very low points. The high points range from being top 5 in a race to taking 24 boats down one run. While the low points were being 50th in the first race to losing 25 boats down a run when coming 4 at the final windward mark. Eventually the regatta was won by a Russian that had never previously been in the top 30 at a regatta and probably never will be again. While I ended the regatta on another low point with a black flag and dropped to 29th overall. Whilst I did not achieve my goal of top 15 and was very disappointed with the result I learnt a lot and in the long run will make me a better sailor. With such a tricky venue and in my worse condition I was very pleased with some of the individual results as well as my speed and my starts were a lot better. I think what really lets me down is my consistency, when I am on form I can be one of the best in the world but only to be let down in my bad races when I will be battling it out with some of the worsted. Anyway after the euros we packed up shop and did the long drive to Cascais, Portugal, 33 hours in a car with a guy who said nothing (known as the Mute), what fun it was!
After a few days sleeping to recover from the drive it was back into the training. At first just in the gym and on the bike due to the amount of sailing before this point and the length of time we were going to spend there. Earlier in the year I found that I had done a lot of sailing and it was getting all a bit stale, so I was keen for this not happening again as this was the biggest event of the year. Every Pre Olympic year all 11 Olympic classes have there worlds at the ISAF worlds this is a massive event and millions of euros were spent on the event making it one of the most impressive well organised events. As you could imagine the event took over the whole town with most of the marina rebuilt for the event, a jumbo screen in the square showing live sailing and showing results and a new underground car park for competitors.
Cascais is typically a breezy venue, if in the correct course area, this meant the first week or so just getting use to hiking again due to the such light season we had had. This lead to most of us joining in Ministry of Funny Walks due to our legs hurting so much. In the period before the regatta we also tried to get use to the venue. There was 5 course areas the first 2 thankfully we would not sail on which were inshore under the mountains and as you can imagine were shifty as anything. Courses 3 and 4 which we which we would spend day 1,2 and 4 on were better with only 90 degree shifts and 0-20 knot gusts. While course 5 was described as the course area ‘where boys become men and men become legends’ a 25 knots plus full hike off boat breaker! This course was out the lee of the mountains thus was usually quite fruity.
By the time the regatta started I was feeling quite confident with the venue, my fitness and boat speed but with such variable conditions anything could happen.
The first day of racing was upon us we were on course 3 which was in the lee of the mountains. Conditions were variable to say the least but I managed to score a 18 and 5 for the day. This was and ok start, with such a long hard week ahead it was good not to get a really high score early and to stick in a 5th was great.
The following day on course 4 was not so great. With the breeze hard left after the start all the boats with good starts got onto the lifted board and headed out to the right, I was one of these. The breeze continued left though and the ones with terrible starts were leading the race. The race officer soon abandoned the race, for the start behind us, while we carried on. The jury and race officials then messed up more by yellow flagging boats when the pumping flag was up and having unlimited pumping on other runs when there was less then 2 knots of wind. The race was a joke and everyone came off the water angry even the other fleet was complaining about our race but never the less the race stood and I scored a 25.
The next day it was out to the course of death. I have never seen such good pictures from a days racing, even in the photos it looks windy. I had a great day with a 7 and a 5 mainly because I managed to get round without capsizing but also fantastic upwind speed. I believe 9 boats got round without capsizing which in an worlds fleet is impressive but it was 30-35 knots.
This left me in 16th over all going into the gold fleet this was great but I knew I could do better. The following day was cancelled for all due to high winds so it was a day having races to eat slush puppies and frozen yogurts and head freezes all round. I am the current champion I may add at 27 seconds.
The following day we were back out on course 5 but they kept us a bit closer in out the wind on windward leeward courses. The thing with course 5 is it’s a one way track to the right and with a bad start your going left then its all game over. This is what I had bad starts then in dirty wind all the way to the left. My result were not what I needed for the first day of gold fleet especially as we missed a day. They were 29 and 26 this dropped me all the way down to the 30’s. not a great day and left me very pissed of with myself.
The following day though was the last day and with only one race and I wanted it to be a good one. In tricky conditions I managed to round the top mark in 3rd and worked my way up to lead the race by the 3rd lap but up the final beat it became hard to cover the fleet as everyone was banging corners. The left hand corner came in and three boat got through and I ended up 4th.
Although my overall result of 22nd was not as good as I hoped it was still a great result and I can take some good points from it and more points to work on to reach my over all goal.
After the worlds I had a few days training with Ben Ainslie (Current Olympic Champion) just to get him back up to speed before he flew out to China for the Pre-Olympics after 2 year America’s Cup racing). Unlucky for him though it was 20-35 knots all week and spent the whole time spanking him round the park, yes he was 90kgs and I am 95 and sailing fit its always good to do. Funny enough he did not enjoy this but lucky for him 8knots is a windy day in china, and he took the beating with good humour.
After this we all took a bit of time off to rest and reflect on the year. I looked back at my year and although there was lots of good individual result my overall regatta result was never that great. This inconsistency lead to major disappointment this is the area I need to focus on in the future.
While I deciding how to move my sailing on to become a better sailor Matt Howard long time ‘not so’ Finn boy decided to call it a day and try and get more out of us rather then himself. So now he is our coach, so far it been quite good as he knows what we need from a coach while our others are getting a bit old and are a bit stuck in the dark ages. Although it is always good to know ‘‘it was so much harder in my day’’.
The next event was Sail for Gold this is the RYA s premier event in the run up to the 2012 games in London. With all the Brits there, apart from Ben as again busy with AC commitments, the Swedish, as part of there Olympics trials, and Rafa the world Champion it was lining up as a tough event.
It was a very difficult event, the first three days were all over 25knots, although we missed the second day, and with 6 of the top 10 breeze monkeys in the world competing it was going be off the hook! The racing was so close with place changes on every leg of the course, more than once, but after day 3 Bergmark was 1st with Ed Wright in 2nd followed by me and world champ in 4th. This was great result so far and with the points so close anything could happen. The next day the wind was very light and all but the top two struggled with the conditions but I still held on to 3rd going into the medal race but with a lot of boats behind that I had to beat.
Going into the medal race with a big red dot on my sail was great and with a bit of media around I got a bit of interest and the usual game of fit in a word or phrase into the TV interviews went down well. The medal race was held in the harbour in windy conditions but with flat water. The race started well and was soon leading the race. With 4 boats in a position to beat me overall I just went out to win the race so did not try to cover them all, especially as the fleet soon split to opposite corners. I just sailed on the lifted board towards the previous favoured side this paid of as I lead at the top mark. Down the run I knew the left hand gate was favoured and I just tried to sail as fast as I could towards it but Giles and Ed were to quick and beat me to it. With us three now clear of the fleet and Ed clear enough on points overall Giles then covered me up the beat by repeated tacking on my face and sailing me past the lay line. Giles then held his position down the run to finish equal points and take 3rd overall on the medal race. This was a bit disappointing after being in 3rd all week and leading the race but it has given me more things to work on in the next couple of months.
After Sail for gold we had another National Ranking Event at Weymouth. The event was mostly sailed in around 10-12 knots but very shifty conditions under the cliffs in the Bay. In the races I got the first beat right and I got two 1st due to my usual fantastic up wind speed and now the downwind stuff is coming along together as well. But in the other races I did not have great starts, being over the line in one and having to go back. Although because of my extra boat speed I managed to pull up the fleet and only finished out the top 4 once. Considering how inconsistently I sailed coming 3rd overall was good and the top 3 positions all being decided on the last race it was a close regatta.
Well now we have only got 20 more coached days to we go to Australia for the 2008 Worlds so it’s a busy time again. I am currently on a train to Weymouth for a few days extra sailing before returning home to get all the things in order there, before returning back to Weymouth for more training. Not sure when the next update will be, but many thanks to all of you who are helping & following my sailing. It is now less than 5 years to the London Olympics.
April Update
Hi Everyone
As I prepare to go to Hyeres, I found just enough time to fill you in on what I have been up to for the past month or so.
When I last spoke to you I was in Weymouth training in the freezing cold and some pretty scary conditions with the winds around 30 knots, which is always fun. After this we travelled to an event in Cannes, southern France, where the conditions were completely different, very light and shifty winds, spending the whole week sitting in the centre of the boat on the traveller. Not the most comfortable position to sit for a week. Although the conditions nor the results were not great it was good to do some big fleet racing again and valuable practice was gained. This event also gave us some ideas on the areas to work on as we travelled round to Palma for a weeks training.
The week in Palma was again light but coming straight from Cannes and having a different coach (Chris Gowers) we had some fresh things to work on. The week went well and we ticked off a lot of boxes we needed to. I then travelled home for some well needed rest, but as soon as I arrived home it felt like I was preparing to go away again, as the container from Miami was arriving back in the UK and the second ranking event of the year, at Rutland, was the following weekend.
So after unpacking the container into and onto the back of my car, Tubs and I drove from Southampton up to Rutland. As expected with a pond in the middle of Englandshire the wind was as shifty as anything making racing ‘interesting’. It was windy, around 18 knots, and up wind I had blistering pace, but unfortunately I was not always on the right side of the shifts, still rounding the top mark in the top three. Thus in the tough conditions this was respectable. At the end of Saturday, Tubs was winning by one point over myself and Giles Scott. On the Sunday the racing was cancelled due to strong winds and I finished second on count back having won the final race on Saturday.
It was then back in the car to drive back down to Southampton to get ready to fly out to Palma the following day. The conditions for training were perfect, 18 knots massive waves, sunny, you could not ask for more. This training period went well and did a lot of work on my downwind speed and was starting to keep up with the top downwind boys, but after the hard weeks training and all the travelling around I was in need of a break, as I was tired and it was starting to feel like ground hog day. This was not the right condition to go into the event and probably one of the reasons for the not so great result (29,OCS,22,36,25,26,25,25).
At least on the first day of the regatta we did not race due to the conditions being so random and 5 different 470 starts before ours. The second day was very similar but we managed to get one race away but after starting near the pin and the wind dialling right all the way up the beat I was not smelling of roses by the top mark. But I managed to chip away at a few boat and pulled up to 29th.
The next day we were moved to the star course so we could actually get some racing in but it didn’t help me as I was OCS (On course side (a false start)). The next race started well and I was in the top ten coming into the top mark, but after hitting it I was forced to do my turns. I pulled some of the places back to 22nd. The next race the a similar story, but I also capsized down the run and rammed the bottom mark in a gybe rounding I felt like a bit of a club sailor. Luckily it was the final race of the day and I could go in and try and forget what a donkey I was.
The next day it was very shifty and with the race officer letting starts go that were definitely general recalls the racing was not “fair sailing” but the racing continued otherwise. Around the course I had good pace but where I lacked was at the start, and with one OCS already I could not push it. As the races are almost half the distance they use to be there is a big raft up at the marks and I am finding it hard to get round it. This left me losing a lot of place turning maybe even 10 points a race, which in a series is a lot. Thus for the day I scored 25, 26, 25 which is not the results I am getting use to recently
On the final day it was light, shifty and worse of all, boy, did it rain! We had one race in terrible condition were the whole race got turned upside down at the leeward gate. Ed Wright and I rounded together I went right hand gate him the left, massive left hand shift he wins the race by a country mile I end up 25th. But that’s yacht racing.
Overall not the best regatta but as usual take the points you have learned and can do something about and forget the uncontrollable.
For the past week I have been chilling out, so that I am fully recovered for Hyeres and by the time you are reading this I will hopefully be there. I hope it will be a better result and I will keep you all informed when I get back how it all went.
For those of you who can use pictures of me sailing I have attached 3 pictures of us training in Palma. Please feel free to use them there are no copyright issues with them.
Best Regards
Mark
January Update
Hi everyone
Well it has been a busy start to 2007, and a successful one, achieving two great results at the first ISAF Grade 1 events of the year over in The States.
Before all of that though, back at the beginning of January, I travelled out to Lofer, Austria for a cross country ski camp. As well as being quite hard work, due to my distinct lack of technique, it was good fun with some big falls and a nice change of scenery. The British Ski Team were also there, and it was interesting to see them train in an environment that was ideal, since there were no distractions. To put it simply there was nothing at all to do there other than train. If you spent a lot of time there you would either be very fit o r you would go mad. The skier spent 2-3 months at a time in Lofer and I don’t know how they do it, dedication, or simply mad!
Straight after Austria it was on to the next camp, back in sunny Weymouth. We spent four days training there, but as usual, we lost days training on the water due to ballistic winds. Training in the UK, in the winter, is less than ideal, short days, and the cold, restricting hours on the water, plus the numerous days lost due to strong winds or no wind at all.
The following morning we flew out to America for the Miami Olympic Class Regatta. We a week training before the event to get used to the conditions, and to get some longer, quality, hours on the water. The training went well putting in lots of practice in lighter winds and on flat water which will be crucial at the European Championships in Hungary later this year.
After the training it was time to do some racing. On the first day two races were held in around 7-9 knots. The starts went really well, as did the first part of the beat, but at the top of the course it started to go wrong, getting on the wrong side of a couple of wind shifts and losing a few place down wind, resulting in a 17th and 14th out of 49 starters. The next day it was much the same story with really good starts and good speed up wind, but it all came apart at the top mark. In the second race I struggled even more with the choppy conditions. This meant the results for the day were a 17th and 26th. On the third day there was a bit more wind, 9-11 knots, I managed to get the downwind sorted after a chat with Bart, one of the ex-Finn boys who now sails a Star, but with the poor shift work I only could score an 11th. After the next start I did a bad call trying to cross a starboard tack boat and ended up doing penalty turns. The rest of the race went well though and I pulled up to 19th. In the third race of the day I was over the line at the start, hence a maximum score.
On the forth day the conditions were totally different, 25 knots off the shore and very shifty. The 8th race went really well and after a good start I was in the top 5 half way up the beat. After taking a few shifts I lead and by the top mark I had a good lead. Down the run to the finish though I lost it all and dropped to second just before the finish. In the next two races of the day it was much the same story with the downwind stuff really letting me down finishing 9th and 15th . That evening, after coming off the water, I did not feel great and later found out I got a stomach bug from the water. The following day after having no sleep and feeling like dirt, we had the final two races. Considering I could not hike and had zero boat speed I did quite well. I concentrated on the starts and going in the right direction and came away a 19th and a 7th .
Overall I came 16th which was a good result and I was happy with my starts and up wind speed. The things that were letting me down were my downwind speed and unusually my shift work. Considering I had not done a big race since the end of September, I was probably a bit race rusty and overall quite pleased.
Two days later we put all the boats on a flat bed truck and drove 40 minutes up the road to Fort Lauderdale which is less sheltered than Miami and is open to the ocean. This means that you can get some big waves, which we did. On the first day of racing it was 12-14 knots with big waves coming right to left across the course. This gave some tricky conditions that I had never really sailed in before. All day I lacked speed and with the major changes in the apparent wind direction it was hard to work out the shifts. Considering that I managed to score 14, 14, 12 which was not the best start to a regatta, but knew I could improve.
The following day the conditions were very similar bit more wind and a few more shifts with it. I was starting to get used to the conditions and my upwind was good, also my downwind speed had come along too and was actually over taking boats down wind. Apart from a 40 degree shift before the first race of the day causing me to be the totally wrong end of the line it all went well. The scores for the second day were 11, 5, 9, which put me up to 13th overall.
On the final day of the racing it started really light but soon started to fill in, but it was not very stable, hence there were massive wind shifts of 40 degrees all day. This lead for very tricky conditions and places changed readily. All though the conditions were very hard I still managed to score another 3 top ten results with 10, 8, 7. This meant that I finished the regatta in 11th overall.
This was a great result and with my 16th in Miami OCR this has helped me to climb up to 18th in the world rankings. As I said at the start this is a great start to the year, but I just can’t sit around and admire the view, there is a long way to go to reach the top.
I am currently spending a few days at home to make some sense of all my kit and organise everything together. This weekend is the first of the Spring Series Rankers in Weymouth before heading out to Palma for two weeks training. This will be mostly focused on fitness and some of the developmental areas mentioned above.
So as the rain is hammering against the windows, I am off to find my thermals and hats for Weymouth, plus the suntan cream for Palma. I trust that you will enjoy the spring and hope to be in touch again soon after Easter.
Best Regards
Mark
Dated 11th December 2006
Hi everybody
And stop…… I am sorry I have been out of touch for a few months but life as a full-time sailor is not the cushy ride that people think it is. As a result getting time to convert rough notes into some kind of report has proven difficult. However I am back home for a few weeks of mum’s food, boat preparation and hours in the gym getting ready for the next season.
So back to the summer, you remember the longer days, sunshine and great warm breezes. As some of you may know after winning the World Junior title back in July, I completed the hat trick in September by adding the National and European Junior titles.
The medal haul started at the beginning of September at the Nationals Championships at Hayling Island. These are a three day event and on the first two days the wind was quite fresh with around 15-16 knots. Two of the other GBR Squad members, Matt Howard, and Ed Greig (Tubs) and myself dominated on these days with only Tubs dropping out the top three in one race. The racing was really close with positions changing between the three of us on almost every leg.
Going into the final day any one of us could win, but with two races to be discarded, and Matt leading, Tubs , or I had to win the last two races. On the final day thought it was light winds and me and tubs are more breeze specialists. In the first race of the day though I managed to get another 3rd behind Matt while tubs was back in 7th. This meant Matt had won with a race to go while I needed a 2nd or better and to beat Tubs by three places. We both had poor starts, but by the top mark I was just in the top ten while Tubs was in the 20’s. I managed to pull up to seventh leaving me third overall but top junior by some margin.
I was quite happy with third overall and being consistently in the top three in all but the final race and I had achieved the first of my autumn goals, to be Junior National champion. The main focus of the event was to work on key areas, starting, downwind and first beat tactics. Going into the Europeans I was much happier in these area and was much more confident that I would improve on my result from the Worlds.
Palamos on the north eastern Mediterranean coast was the venue for the European Championships. It is normally a light wind venue, so I slimmed down a bit sacrificing some of my pace upwind in the breeze for more of an edge downwind and light wind sailing. The training the week before the event was as forecast with around 5 knots or less, with no sailing possible some days. The practice race came along and again no wind and the race did not happen. But as usual when the first day came along it was not the normal day. With a Mistral blowing 45 knots further up the coast in France it was forcing wind down producing 25 knots of off- shore breeze. This lead to some fun racing with large wind shifts and even larger gusts.
At the start of the regatta the goals were the same as for the Worlds a month earlier, top 25 overall and of course win the Junior title. It was important to start well and get some decent results under my belt. So when I collected a 25th and a 22nd in the first two races, I was reasonably happy with my first day, but my starts were letting me down. Hopefully I would improve this and my results with it.
In the first race of the second day I did just that, with a good start, and getting the first few shifts right, I rounded the top mark in 5th. Down the run I lost two places, but I held off both the current World Champion Johnas and Olympic silver medallist Rafa, to finish 7th. The next start did not go so well and I was playing catch up from the start. Managing to take places on all legs of the course I pulled myself up to 25th by the finish.
Day three dawned and it was the start of the light winds, with a less than perfect start I was struggling from the beginning. After the first few shifts I was not looking that much better than at he start, as I was still buried in the pack, and by the finish I was in 47th. With the wind now almost gone they canned the rest of the racing for the day and sent us in.
On the fourth day the wind was still light, but back to the same direction as it had been when we were training the week before. In training the left side, the shore, paid substantially but not on that day. We later found out that there was more adverse current on the shore, which had not been the case the previous week, thus the side with less wind and more current side was better. Not knowing this, I went left with most of the top dogs and did not do to well, finishing 33rd.
The next day it was the same conditions so learning my mistakes from the day before I checked the state of the current and it was much less than the day before. This meant that the left should pay as it had in training the week before. I had a good start to the race, went left but played conservatively tacking early and rounded the top mark 5th, hung on to my place down the run. Up the next beat I got stuck in a hole , losing four places, but ninth was good.
On the final day we spent a long time waiting on the water for the wind direction to settle down. Eventually the race started and I had a good start and first beat but, hit the windward mark due to the current. Down the run I took back some of the places I lost due to my penalty turn. Up the second beat I took some more places and rounded the top mark 15th. I worked my socks off down the final run, all within the rules of course, gaining one more final place.
This brought me up to 21st overall, and of course I had won the European Junior title, the day after my 21st birthday. For me this was a great result, as I achieved all of the goals I had set at the beginning of the season.
I did not have much time to celebrate either the win, or my birthday, as the following weekend we were back in sunny Weymouth trying to qualify for the Worlds in 2007. During October there were three events at Weymouth, two were of the normal system, (two days over a weekend, five races, with four two count). The other event was the UK’s first practice of an Olympic class Regatta, Sail for Gold, in the run up to 2012. This was run over three days, the first two days as usual but on the final day there were medal races. This is when the top 10 boats race against each other. Based on the result double points are awarded and these are not discardable. This score is then added to the results of the previous 2 days racing. I had a reasonable first two days and qualified for the medal race. It was my first medal race, I had seen them during the summer at all the major events and it was quite good fun, but hard work. We sailed our race in about 25-28 knots, which is hard enough on its own, but when everyone is out to get each other and there are umpires on the water watching your every move, it’s a bit taxing. I had a great race, finishing 3rd, which meant I finished 4th overall, narrowly missing out on 3rd by one point. At the other two events I finished 4th and 2nd which means I should qualify for the Worlds depending on how many places the UK are awarded, this is decided in January.
It is now December and I have got some time off from sailing, but I have to get ready for next year. I spent a week away in Palma training with the GBR team 2 weeks ago at a cycle camp, which was a great change and a good start to the winter fitness programme. I have also have time to prepare my new boat, for which I must thank RYA Scotland and SportScotland, and to spend many an hour in the gyms at the Palace of Arts in Glasgow and up at Inverclyde. The other thing I did not realise is how much paperwork (or e.mail) I would need to do. This is taking up more & more time. If there is a volunteer secretary out there please make yourself known.
After New Year its straight into the season head first with training camps (cross country skiing and sailing), then off to Miami for some events and training, before coming back to the UK for more training. Then in March we go out to Palma for the start of the European season. Looking at the calendar I have two weeks at home between the 1st January and middle of July when the Worlds end. So I am enjoying the time off now.
Looking back on the year it been very good and a vast improvement on the previous one and hopefully I will continue this next year. This year I became Junior World, European and National Champion and climbed up to 24th in the World rankings. Unfortunately I am no longer a nipper, and its time to play with the big boys. The goal is to start getting in some medal races at major events recording some top 10 results. The two focus event are the Worlds and Europeans Championships where I aim to achieve top 15 places, this will be tough, but I think achievable goals for next year.
I will like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have help me achieve my goals and dreams this year as without your help it would not be possible.
So thanks again and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Mark
Dated 9th August 2006
Hi everyone
As most you know I have returned from the Finn World Championships with silverware
but before we talk about that I should fill you in on the run up to the event.
Before the World’s I travelled to Kiel for the final ISAF Grade 1 event of
the year. The event was good with most of my results in the top ten and I
was leading in two races however my improved downwind speed was still not
quite quick enough. The racing all week was very close and the scores were
very tight. By the time the split for the medal race came along on the final
day for the top ten I was just 3 points away in 13th. This was very disappointing
as I knew I should of made the top ten, but I made small mistakes through
the week that cost me the points.
After Kiel I drove the 1000 miles down to Split in Croatia. When we arrived
there we had a few days of to reflect on the last event, to decide what I
needed to work on and to recharge the batteries. For the week and a half before
the event there was absolutely no wind so very little time was spent on the
water, but I still managed to keep myself busy. Initially there was a heat
wave so water sports were our most favourite past time. We did swimming, rubber
ringing and of course sailing. The rest of the time was spent at the gym or
doing boat preparation work.
The start of the event soon came along and it brought the wind with it. Which
was a bit of a shock to everyone, as there was so little wind beforehand.
The wind was quite consistent for most of the week 12-16 knots with slow long
shifts from 250-280 degrees. But sometimes there was thunderstorms later on
in the day that changed the direction completely, usually resulting in the
race being abandoned.
On the first day I got a 24th and a 27th these was a pretty average start
but in a long regatta it was good not to get some high scores, we were in
a fleet of over 100 boats, hence a disqualification or black flag was very
expensive. The racing was again very close and overall I was lying 23rd which
was inside my goal of being in top 25. I was already winning the juniors by
nearly 60 points what was more then I could wish for on day one.
Day 2, with only one race planned for the day it was important to make it
a good one. The day started as usual with a light building sea breeze. But
as we launched thunder clouds started to build and by one o’clock came and
the planned start the wind had completely gone. The clouds soon dispersed
and we started in a light see breeze. The conditions were very shifty but
as the wind filled in it became more steady and by the top mark the wind was
back up to its usual 12+ knots. I had a poor start and was struggling in the
middle of the fleet but making my way through slowly. I took places all the
way round and by the end I was up to 24th. With many boats getting a high
score in race 3, I moved up to 20th overall but I knew when the discards come
in they would move up so I had to start getting some scores on the board.
On day 3 things did not go as planned. Not the best of starts and I really
struggled with the wind shifts. Also with a triangular course set it was near
impossible to over take. This left me with two large scores on my card a 34
and a 35. My only saving grace was some people had worse days than me. In
the juniors I was till out in the lead by some 90 points and with one good
race I would have it in the bag.
Only one race was planed again on day four. The wind was less shifty then
the day before and similar to the first day. I started the race well but did
not seem to have the pace I had in the events lining up to the worlds and
as you can imagine I was confused and a bit frustrated. But I still battled
on and managed a 29th. By now I had dropped to 33rd overall so had to pull
something special out the bag to get my goal of top 25. On the positive side
I just needed to get round the course to take the junior title.
On day 5, I did that, just. With most of the day spent on the shore due to
no wind and what there was it was very shifty. People were not rushing to
get out on the water and with good reason. The wind was now blowing off the
mountains. This direction was locally called the Bora and was very shifty,
40 degree shifts, and wind anywhere between 10 and 30 knots so as you can
imagine places changed a lot. I managed to have a good start, the best one
all week, but in the middle of the line. The boats from the edges soon came
back across me, in pressure and a good distance ahead. In the random conditions
things did not go so well and soon found myself in the middle of the fleet
in 50th. This was not the day I had hoped for but with many boats also getting
high scores I still managed to move up a place to 32nd.
On the final day of racing it was still Bora conditions and may people, including
myself, were not looking forward to a repeat performance of the day before.
After a reasonable start I tried working the shifts to the top mark but it
was not going very well and was in need of a bit of good luck. For once that
week the Gods smiled down on me and suddenly I was planning into the top mark.
In the end I finished with a 25th which was a lot higher than I thought I
would be half way up the first beat.
Overall I finished 31st in the senior fleet which was a vast improvement from
43rd last year in Moscow, but sort of the goal of 25th that I aimed for, and
knew I could have achieved considering my results already this year. But my
other goal which I had been striving to reach for over a year had been achieved
and with a day to spare. As you can imagine I was very pleased to take the
Junior Finn World title.
On reflection after the event, with the RYA coaches we have worked out what
the probable cause of my lack of pace. Most of the events this year have been
on either flat water or rolling seas. The World’s were on water with a short
chip on them. This requires a slightly different technique and different sail
and mast settings. As they say “You live & learn”.
Soon as I arrived back I started looking forward to the Europeans at the end
of September and how to improve on this result. I have decided that I need
to do more racing so the Dutch and UK Nationals in August and September have
been added to my diary. I have also done some big boat racing, at West Highland
Week, which was totally different from my sort of sailing, but I enjoyed it
and the slightly more relaxed atmosphere. I could well see myself calling
the shots on a big boat after my body tells me "no more hiking",
but hopefully that’s a long way away, as I love what I do now and the 2012
Olympics are just around the next couple of corners.
Well I am off down to the gym now, as there is no end to the training. I hope
that you are all having a great summer and I hope to see you all soon.
Best regards
Mark
Dated 11th June 2006
Hi everybody
With only just over a month to go to the World Championships life is starting
to get really busy trying to put all the finishing touches in place. All the
training, boat work and planning are starting to come together but there is
still a lot to fit into the remaining few weeks.
Before the Worlds we have got a few days training in Warsash planed prior
to going out to Kiel in Germany for the final ISAF Grade 1 multi class event
of the year. Then we drive down to Split in Croatia for the final few weeks
of training in the run up to the Worlds Championships.
During May I went to the Holland Regatta which is renowned for its very shifty
breeze and choppy seas and it did not disappoint. With up to 100 degree wind
shifts it made for interesting racing and the fleet being turned upside down
and inside out, in most races. It was a difficult regatta, with many of the
worlds top sailors not making the gold fleet. I did not have the best results
in the races held in flights, but coming 34th ensured I made the gold fleet.
I managed a couple of reasonable results in the Gold fleet to move up to 32nd
overall.
Whilst the final result was not great, there were many things to take from
the event. The first two days went well rounding second at the top mark in
the first race but I struggled to hold position downwind. However when I do
get the downwind thing together it all works. This showed in race two when
I was 2nd round the top mark, took the lead down the run and held on to the
finish to take my first race win at an ISAF Grade 1 event.
The past couple of weeks I have been at home tuning my boat and getting back
in the gym, as sailing at events is good, but you can lose a bit of physical
strength. I have also ordered a new mast and sails, so if you see my Dad looking
a bit down, or shocked, he has probably just seen his bank statement!
I guess this will be the last report for about 6-8 weeks, so I hope you all
have a great summer and I’ll keep you informed of how the World’s go.
Bet Regards
Mark
Dated 7th May 2006
Hi everybody
Well I have managed to get home for a few days of relaxation and to catch
up on a few things before I go away again. For the past month I have been
away in Palma and Hyeres (south of France) competing at the first two major
events of the year.
First it was off to Palma for five days of training before the Princess Sofia
Regatta. The training went ok and I was happy with my speed in the 8 knots
and above wind range. But in the lower ranges a bit of work still needed to
be done due to the little time spent training in these conditions during the
winter.
The start of the event was not as good as I planned with a black flag in the
first race. However for the next few days the wind came in a I got a few results
in the teens and a ninth which was a bit better. I was happy with my upwind
speed on these days but I lacked speed downhill and with little large fleet
racing over the winter I made small silly mistakes that hampered my results.
Then on the last few days it was lighter and much more shifty and things did
not go to well I just could not get the boat going. With a yellow flag in
the last race it was not a good finish to the regatta finishing 22nd overall.
The result was still a vast improvement from last year but I still have a
lot to work on.
After the regatta it was round to Hyeres near Marseille for the next event.
It was quite a fun trip round via Barcelona. After clearing out every piece
of food on the ferry it was a gumball rally style race round to Hyeres. The
first few days in Hyeres were spent relaxing and a bit of cycling with Laser
sailor Paul Goodison. With the amount of sailing over the previous two months
I needed some time away from the boat. Plus with some members of the team
going home as one was moving house, and another to do some coaching there
was not much reason to go sailing. By the time the guys came back out, I was
more eager to go out racing.
The first day of racing was very light with only one sailed. In very patchy
conditions I managed to get a 16th which was a steady start to the regatta.
With similar conditions forecasted for later in the week you did not want
to use up your discard up this early.
On day 2 though the wind was around 14-20 knots. In the first race of the
day I had a good start and with superior upwind boat speed, I rounded the
windward mark first. But downwind I was not so flash, losing a few places.
Upwind I gained some of the places back but again downhill I lost them again!
I ended up 12th by the bottom mark before the reach to the finish. The next
race started the same good start and speed again rounding the top mark first.
This time the run went a lot better 6th at the bottom but by the top mark
I was back in the lead. But with a run before the finish I dropped back to
5th. The next start did not go as well but I worked hard to punch out the
bunch and get a clear lane. After a couple of ballsy manoeuvres and hiking
and pumping as hard as I could I made my way up to 18th.
On day three the wind was down a bit around 10-12 knots and from the same
direction. I still had the same issue as the day before quick upwind but not
so quick down the runs. Although I was starting to improve the downwind stuff
with some pointers from the coach I could not keep my top mark positions.
Never the less I managed to get a 17th and a 15th which were good scores.
Over night I was 13th, unlucky for some so I was determined to move up at
least one.
On the Wednesday it rained for the first time in over a month and with no
gradient breeze forecast it looked like it maybe a day spent on the shore
but a slight breeze did fill in and out we went. The conditions were very
difficult with large pressure differences between 1-6 knots and 30 degree
shifts. Unlucky for me I was on the wrong side of the first one and there
was not much coming back finishing 30th. With most of the top guys also getting
a poor result and one or more also having one already in the week I managed
to make my way up to 12th.
On the final day of fleet racing there was no wind thus no racing.
As usual there is good and bad points to take from the event and I will spend
the next two weeks before Holland regatta working on them at Hayling Island.
The results are also getting better and being 2nd Brit over the two events
should mean I qualify to go to Beijing for the Olympic test event later this
year. Although with Ben Ainslie now wanting to go, he may get my place, but
I will not find out for a couple of weeks. The new world rankings also have
just been published and I have just scraped in to the top 30 in the world
for the first time, in 29th place.
I trust all is well with you guys and I’ll try to let you know in about a
months time of what happened in training at Hayling and at the Holland Regatta.
Best Regards
Mark
Dated 8th April 2006
Rumour has it that Mark took time out from his hectic sailing schedule and phoned home!!!!!!.
Dated 3rd April 2006
Hi everybody
How time fly’s we are now in April and the first international event of the
year is only a week away. Since I last wrote to you back in December, a lot
of work has been put in and so for it all seems to be going well. So far this
year I have already spent around 120 hours on the water in mostly temperatures
around zero degrees and more than double that in the gym. It’s not all bad
though, last week was spent in Palma where it was perfect conditions 24°C
and 12 knots of breeze.
Before we headed out to Palma we had our first UK Ranking Event at Grafham
Water as the first planned event at Weymouth was cancelled due to high winds
(that was a wasted 1,000 mile journey). The event at Grafham was possibly
the coldest event I have ever done. I wore every piece of sailing kit I had,
including three different types of jacket and was still cold. The event went
well with a race win in race 4 and a number of other top three finishes. In
the end I finished third overall, which was a good start to the year and in
the shifty conditions I was pleased with many aspects of my sailing. It was
then straight into the car for a rapid drive to Barcelona to catch the ferry
to Palma. The drive was all the easier as Dad bought me a Mondeo estate to
replace the Transit Van, this made the journey quicker, quieter and far more
comfortable.
The training in Palma last week went really well. It provided the first opportunity
for us to gauge if all the hard training over the winter had had been worthwhile,
as some of the best Finn sailors from around Europe were also there to sail
against. So far it all seems to be going well, as I was consistently leading
at the top mark of the races. I was not the fastest in world down wind, but
the conditions were very different to sailing in the UK and as the week progressed
I made some significant improvements.
On Tuesday morning I will be back off to Palma for another weeks training
in Palma before the Princess Sofia Regatta hopefully we can refine my downwind
technique. However I am looking forwards to the event as I think it should
go well.
After that its a trip round to Hyeres in the south of France for another regatta.
So I am going to be away for about a month before hopefully I get a few days
off at home. However then its straight back into training at Hayling Island
to work on any areas identified at the first two events that can be improved
upon.
I will try to let you know how things are going while I am away, but as you
can see things are going to be busy. If anyone would like to by a Ford Transit,
please give my Dad a call, as he is still trying to sell that, and I’ll be
needing some more sails soon so it needs to go soon. If you want to contact
me at any time please do not hesitate to send me a message, but in the meantime
I hope you are enjoying the longer spring days and I hope to see you probably
in early June.
Best Regards
Mark
Dated 19th December 2005
Hi everybodyWell it's only a week to Christmas and the year is drawing to an end, soits time to look back at the last month and forward to the future.
Over the last month I have managed to spend some time at home, which has
been nice. With the novelty of not living out a bag, clean clothes and
your food cooked for you, it's been great. However I can not wait for the
season to get under way and spend more time on the water. Over this time
at home I have not done much sailing and really tried to focus on the fitness
side to try and gain an advantage in this way as its very difficult
to improve dramatically by sailing on your own. Also by working on fitness
now it sets a good base for when I may not be able to get in the gym later
on in the year, due to sailing events and travelling. Currently I am spending
around 12 hours a week in the gym doing three weights sessions at
the Palace of Arts in Glasgow, with the Scottish Sports Institute. I am now
doing these weight sessions in Glasgow as I receive much better support
there and the facilities are fantastic. It is also were all the top athletes
in the UK who live in the West of Scotland train. Everyone from
judo to hockey are there and I am always meeting somebody new from a different
sport, which provides a great chance to exchange ideas and
experiences.In addition to the weights sessions I do two fat burner sessions
a week, which is a two hour session at a low heart rate, around 140bpm, plus
three
other sessions at much grater intensity. These sessions are much shorter,
about an hour, but with a HR of 170bpm and these are pretty hard.
Fortunately these cardio vascular (CV) sessions are still done atInverclyde
in Largs on either the rowing machines or the static bikes.
When I last spoke to you I was about to go off to Rutland for a NationalRanking
event. The conditions there were quite similar to when we trained
there in the summer before the worlds, wet and shifty. The first race went
well after a good start and working the shifts I managed to get a second in
the testing conditions. Race 2 and 3 were sailed in light winds around 6-7
knots and with the wind shifting around so much there were some new faces
at the top mark and some of the other squad boys were deep and having to pull
their way up the fleet. In both races I sailed quiet conservatively
and managed to score a 5th and a 6th. Over night I was lying 5th overall but
the points were really close as everybody's results were all over the
place. The next day the wind had picked up and it was the usual suspects at
the front of the fleet. Me and the rest of the squad boys were out in
front fighting out for the places in the shifty conditions the positions changed
regularly. But by the end of the day the scores on the doors for
me was 4,5,5 and 5th overall.After Rutland it was off to the Isle of White
to get some work done on my
boat at Heritage Racing boats. H, the owner, worked on most of the Olympic
boats including Shirley's Yingling and Ben's Finn and also builds the
fastest Etchells you can get. He helped me with a few things on my boat and
hopefully it will be rapid next year.
Then it was back across the water to Warsash for the final ranking event
of the year. The first race was a drifter and after tacking off into the
weaker tide all was looking good until a 20 degrees shift came in and suddenly
the whole fleet above me was getting lee bowed up to the mark.
Luckily I had made enough of a gain before the shift to cross most of the
fleet, but two boats that had nailed the left hand corner and rounded miles
ahead. By the end I managed to drift across the line in 6th. With no wind
the race officer eventually sent us in and we started the long tow home
behind the ribs. Day two, the wind was back again but I did not get off to
the best of starts when I was over the line and had to go back. This left
me with a lot
to do but I managed to pull my way up to 7th. Race two went a lot better,
having figured out that you could lay the mark on starboard due to the tide
and rounded the to mark first. Downwind I lost 2 places but with good upwind
speed I was first by the top mark again. By the finish though I was
back in third. The final race did not go as well pulling the ratchet block
out of the deck on the start line, making going up wind not to quick. But
still managed to get round the pitch in 6th. Overall I was 6th which was a
disappointing result after all the work I had done on the boat and then for
something to break, was a bit shabby.Next it was off to sunny Weymouth for
a squad camp we mainly worked on boat
handling for the week but as I am testing a knew rig we did a bit of tuning
out in the bay. The training went well and set the theme for the winter,
more hard work!Twelve months ago I set my goals for 2005 as being a top five
place as a Junior at the the European and World Championships and to be ranked
in the
top 50 in the world. Well after a busy year I am pleased to say I achieved
all of the goals. 5th Junior at the European Championships in Sweden, 4th
at the Worlds in Moscow and ranked 42nd in the world. However that was the
easy bit, 2006 will be much harder, as are the targets I am setting myself.
The main goals next year are to win the Junior World Championships in Split,
Croatia and the Junior European Championships this summer in
Palamos, Spain. I have set my training round these two events. The calendar
looks pretty similar to last year doing the same grade 1 events
and the usual ranking events to qualify for both events. As well as this there
are around 75 days of planned coaching added to this our own training
the number of days in the year are rapidly running out. 2006 is just about
trying to improve on the skills I learnt over the years and getting
everything as perfect as I can. As a coach, Sid is very good at this, having
done numerous Olympics as both a competitor and a coach, he knows
all the places to look in order to get an advantage. Sometimes he seams to
know everything pulling class rules and measurement numbers out his head
like he had them written them down in front of him. On all the technical aspects
of the boat this is really useful especially when you have a
problem or work needed doing. Two of his favourite sayings are "Knowledge
is power" and "Everyday you need to be one step closer to your goal".
This
is true and I try to gain knowledge to help me get to my goal wherever possible
and try to keep ticking off the boxes on my way to the final goal.
Over the next four weeks its continuing the hard work in the gym and maybe
a few hours on the water. The gyms close for a few days over Christmas and
New Year but I am sure I will be tearing up the streets on my bike. Then we
have got a training camp in Weymouth where we will finalise the plan for
the year. After that I have got a fitness test which hopefully should go alright
after all the training. Then just start to build on everything so
come the first event in Palma in March, I hit the ground running and carry
it on through the year.Well that is about it for now I sure I will speak to
you all in the new
year and I wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.Mark PS one last
thing please note that my e-mail address is changing from 20th
December to andrewsclan.largs@btinternet.com
Dated 29th October 2005
Well its been around 3 months since I last found a few minutes and sat down
to let you know how the Finn sailing is going. Well a lot of sailing and
travelling has been done during the summer and now with all the major regattas
completed for this season its time to look back over the summer
and take the good points and review the bad points so that I can improve for
next year. I think the last time I spoke to you was after Kiel week back at
the end of
June. For the whole of July I lived in Southampton sailing out of Lymington,
training for the Europeans at the beginning of August. The
training was probably the best training we had all year and certainly the
hardest with all the British Olympic Squad members there, all working
towards their own individual goals. By the time Europeans came around we
were all in tip top condition ready to go.So in August I travelled to Kalmar
in Sweden for the Euros. Kalmar is on
the east coast of Sweden and has an island about 2 miles off shore, a lot
like Lymington and the Isle of Wight. The first few days we spent
training, there was quite strong southerly so the wind was blowing through
the channel creating large waves and great sailing conditions. For the
event we were not so lucky as for most of the regatta the wind blew directly
off shore giving very testing conditions. Add to this rain squalls
and weather fronts causing 200 degree wind shifts it was a very difficult
regatta. The event did not go as well as I had hoped with some poor
results in the light wind races. This resulted in me finishing 40th overall
and 5th junior which was disappointing as I hoped to come at least
3rd. Most of all I think my starting let me down as all of my training before
the event was with 5 or 6 boats which is a lot different from
starting in a 80 boat fleet. There were some good results with some scores
in the teens but still a lot of work needed to be done to get to where I
wanted to be.After the Europeans the next event was the World Championships
in Moscow, but before that some light inland sailing had been planned as preparation,
hence it was all off to Rutland for the week. So back to the day job, lots
of hard short races, with loads of starts, then weights in the gym then off
to bed to start it all over again in the morning. Rutland certainly gave us
the shifty flat water training we wanted, but it definitely was not in
light conditions, with winds between 10 and 40 knots all week it gave us all
a good drilling and we were all praying for light winds, if only for a
rest. To get the numbers up for start practice we opened up the training to
every one in the class and in the shifty conditions some of the old boys
and nippers were up there giving us a run for our money. It was even good
to see one old boy having a tacking duel in one race with Mr Ainslie.
One day BBC Grandstand turned up to film Ben so were all trying to stuff
him up on the water and basically giving him abuse all day on camera but
they managed to cut most of it out for the program. We also set him a challenge
for his interview to see how many clichés he could say and fit
the words 'brown trout' and 'insubstantial' in, but not much made the final
cut, but it was fun and light relief from the hard work. After Rutland all
shipped out to Moscow for the worlds.
They were held on a tiny lake 40km north of the city centre which was surrounded
by trees.
For the week and half we were there, we all stayed on a boat which was not
the best accommodation I have stayed in this year. The rooms were more like
a cupboard with a small bed which was the size of my hand. With over 100 sailors
staying on the boat there were a few annoyed people around. The
other thing I remember was everybody's sailing kit drying in the narrow corridors
and the smell in the evening as you walked to your room "oh" it
was not pleasant. Especially those who had shipped their wet kit out in the
container from Sweden 2 weeks earlier along with our masts and sails.
Quite how Chris Brittle, who was two doors down from me could sleep with his
kit was amazing, yet alone put it on.
There were 100 brand new boats supplied for the event but they were obviously
built on the cheap and in a hurry. All the boats were really
soft, some still with wet gelcoat in them because no catalyst was used and
air bubbles all over them. As a result had to use totally different mast &
sail settings. While the Greek, Emilios, had brought his own boat which was
a bit off as everybody had agreed before the event to use the supplied
boats.There was a lot of money spent by the Russians on the event with a brand
new 'Day Marina' built where we were sailing from, with tents serving food
and drink, a large raft for all the boat and pontoons for all the brand new
supplied coach boats. It was said they spent $2 million on the 49er and
Finn worlds. The only thing was they took every opportunity to get the money
by making us pay four times the normal prices for everything.
Before the racing had even started there was lots of people starting to get
really annoyed with the weather, the accommodation, the costs, and the all
effort to get there. So when we were told it was a 30 minute hydro foil every
day to where we were sailing and a hour and a half tow to get the boats there
the list of
annoyed people started to increase. The sailing areas were not really worth
the trip either as it was a very narrow strip of water with tall trees all
the way round up to the lake side.There were two race areas on the lake on
the two widest parts of the lake
where a river and a canal join. But this still was not wide enough for a proper
size course so we ended up doing about four laps and they were still
short races.On the first day of racing we were lucky enough to have wind down
the lake and actually have sufficient breeze to be hiking, which I never thought
would happen all week, never mind get unlimited pumping as well. Things were
starting to look up. The racing did not go as planed though with two
bad starts it was difficult to get clear wind on the small lake and in the
choppy conditions I never really got going. Never the less I scored two
25th's which put me on the cut for the gold fleet, which is a lot better than
below the cut.The next day was very light but with only one race planed which
was good.
The race was going really well, I got launched of the start line and managed
to sail in good pressure all the way up the beat and rounded first
at the windward mark. Down the run the wind went really light and patchy.
Covering the main group down wind more pressure came down the side and lost
four places at the bottom mark. Up wind the positions stayed the same with
the top five of us pulling away from the fleet in the clearer wind.
Downwind the breeze fully shut down and it turned into a drift to the bottom
mark where I thought they would shorten the course. This never
happened though I managed to almost get to the top mark again, with most of
the fleet still at the bottom mark before they abandoned the race. However
to lead a World Championship race was really something. On the other course
though they managed to get a short race in.
The third day was abandon due to the lack of wind.We eventually got back
to racing on the fourth day but the wind was still
light and shifty. The day started well though with a 15th after not the best
of starts I had to work hard to get back in the race but with the
shifty conditions it was easy to gain places. The only problem was it was
just as easy to lose them again as well. With the other flight being a race
ahead in the series they only did one
race that day. As they had gone in we moved on to their course as there was
a more constant breeze there and a larger race area. There was a large
port end bias at the start of race four so I started close to the pin. The
only problem was that I could not punch out from the group of boats I was
in and thus unable to tack. Luckily when I was eventually able to tack there
was a left hand shift and was able to get back into the middle of the
pitch without losing too much from the guys sailing up the middle. Once back
in the centre I could get back into the grove with the wind. The
conditions were really difficult in Moscow it was really eyes out the boat
sailing, always looking over your shoulder. Even when you were on a big
lift, look over your shoulder, more pressure or big shift tack, nothing just
keep going as fast as you could for the next shift. It was such a big
advantage if you could punch out the bunch, get on the first shift and almost
reach to the next shift. The races were usually won by minutes as
the leader could just sail fast to the shifts while every one else mucks each
other up. The only problem it getting that initial lead, just a small
problem. The rest of the race went ok and finished but I finished 12th out
of 50 in my fleetOn the Friday we missed our lay day to finish the series.
The cut for the
gold fleet was very close around 30 boat could either make or miss the cut
it was all down to one race. This time I had a great start and a good first
beat and rounded the top mark in the teens but in a four lap race anything
could happen. But for me it only got better and only gained places and by
the end I was up to 9th. Overall I was up to 37th and fourth junior so I made
the cut by 13 places in the end. The points though were really close
for the gold fleet series and I was not far off a podium spot for the juniors.
For the first day of the gold fleet the wind appeared, we had about 14
knots but a week of dodgy food had taken its toll on me and I was not feeling
too good. With the increase in the standard of fleet and the bad
stomach I struggled all day. I don't think I was the only one though as many
as the top guys collected lots of points that day. For the second
race of the day the wind picked up even more to around 20 knots and swung
round 90 degrees. Although it was blowing 20 knots, next to the shore near
where the mark there was no wind, people even sheltered there in between races
to stay warm. Overall I dropped to 43rd which was a bit disappointing
as I know I did not sail well. I did not have a good start in the first race
and never came back while in the second race had a good start but made
silly mistakes, going the wrong way. Also knowing getting two decent results
would of shot me up the standings.The final day was the coldest yet and with
no wind all day there lots of
waiting around with the whole fleet trying to persuade the race officer to
send us in but it never happened. Eventually they got a race under way but
it was no good as before we even got to the first mark the wind swung 90degrees
and shut down. The race was abandoned and the regatta was over.
For my first Finn World Championships I felt the event went well. Finishing
43rd overall and finishing just out the medals for the juniors in fourth
place, but I can learn from the event and come back better for next year.
It was a very testing regatta as the conditions were very difficult and the
set up was very different from other events as we had the supplied boats and
the fleet was split into flights. Also to add to this the
accommodation and food was not up to scratch, but this was the same for everybody.
The last day of racing really let me down as I clocked up a few
points that day but there is lots I can take from this experience for next
yearAfter spending four days at home it was off to Lake Garda in Italy collect
the masts and the rest of the kit from Moscow and to race in the Coppa Italia.
ISAF used the event as a test regatta to try some new rule changes,
such as no discards and no 720's just a 5 place penalty. This did not really
work though and it just turned into a cheating race and a total
disregard for the rules. It was not typical Garda conditions either no sun
meant no wind and it was like being in Moscow again light shifty and
raining. The regatta started off well though leading the race to the final
run when the wind swung 180 and I lost two places. The event carried on
quite well but with constant result s in the top 10 and I finished 7th overall.
Although there was people ahead of me that I thought I should of
beaten, I was still ahead of two people who were in the top 10 at the Euros
including the silver medallist.After spending three days back at home, it
was down to Hayling Island for
the Southern Championships. The event was held in a range of condition light
to medium on the Friday where I collected a seventh, a yellow flag
the first one since back in May and a second. The wind was very patchy all
day the key was to stay in pressure which was very difficult and positions
changed regularly. On the Saturday it was wind against tide so it was big
swell, strong winds and a good change to the conditions from the last month
or so. The day was a three horse race between Ed Greig and Stefan a Dutch
guy who was 11th at the Worlds and myself. I had plenty of up wind pace
but was not too flash down wind but still managed two seconds but in one race
did not do too well when I was a bit early for the start and got black
flagged. Day three was a drift off and we even had to walk our boats along
the shore to get out against the tide. The first race of the day I did not
have a good start and spent the whole beat being tacked on so I could only
get up to seventh. The next race went more to plan good start and I lead at
the top mark with Stefan just behind. This is where the positions stayed to
the final mark when Stefan gained an overlap and water, with only a short
beat to the finish it was impossible to pass as he covered me to the finish.The
following weekend it was off to Weymouth again for the start of the
Autumn Ranking Series. It was a windy weekend in the harbour and the start
of a hard week in Weymouth. The weekends racing was very close much closer
then the results show as all the top five boats were bow to stern all the
way round. Apart from Brittle with his 20 kg weight advantage, and that
smelly kit, he was on fire and won with a race to spare. Over the weekend
I had plenty of pace up wind but still lacked it downwind, this might be due
to how gusty it was and I just was not in pressure. Overall I racked up three
fifths and two fourths finishing fifth overall.Then it was the start of the
winter training trying to learn from our
experiences from the year, in order to structure our next year and to make
the best out of it to gain the results we want. What we learned was that
we need to train in large groups working together for the same outcome, sharing
information and pushing each other. This has led to the size of
the squad being increased. This year we will have two coaches Jez Fanstone
and Sid who will share the coaching due to other commitments in their
sailing. There are a lot of ideas that we have come up with to work on its
just implementing them into our program.This weekend it off down to Rutland
for the second Ranking Event of the
autumn and it looks like its going to be another windy weekend. After that
its over to the Isle of Wight to get some boat work done including getting
the boat faired and some other bits and pieces done. So its all go still and
no time for any rest.As you can see it has been a busy summer's sailing and
on top of the racing
there is the constant training and boat maintenance, hence finalising this
report has taken longer than I would have liked. In world terms I am now
ranked 42nd, not bad as I started the year in 113th. To all of you who have
supported me this year in such a wide variety of ways, thank you.
Next year I plan to sail full time to see just how far I can get, and I will
try to keep you informed a little more regularly of how it is all
going.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dated
7th July 2005Hi.Last week I was in Kiel, Germany for the last European
Olympic class
regatta of the year. Kiel is notorious for being a very wet and windy venue,
hence when I arrived it was bit of a shock to find bright sunshine.
Especially after the thunder storms we had back home the morning I flew out.
The good weather was not so good for pre-event training, or for the
youth classes that were there already racing, but it gave me some time to
do some boat work and top up my tan. With the lack of wind and the heat it
meant that a lot of time was spent in the pool , although it was mostly on
the high board doing tricks rather then swimming but its surprising how
tiring walking up all those steps are.Soon it was back to work with the first
day of racing. The wind when we launched was around 18-20 knots but the forecast
was for it to drop and by
the time of the first race it was around 10-12 knots with 5-10 degree shifts.
The initial race got of to a good start and a good beat and I rounded the
top mark 6th. Downwind did not go as well as I struggled in the conditions
and lost a lot of places. Upwind I had some good pace and managed to get
back into the top ten but lost it again on the run. Luckily it was an upwind
finish and I got back up to 15th by the finish.In the second race it started
much
the same good start and a reasonable beat only losing up at the top of the
pitch when I sailed into less
pressure and the boats on the left crossed ahead. But again where I lost unlimited
pumping flag was still up. I feel I was going too high trying to
get speed rather than pointing at the mark and pumping. By the end I finished
29th.Overall I was 17th at the end of the first day, and was much happier
with
my starts and my upwind from past events, but was not happy at all with my
downwind as it lost me a lot of places and I had been work on it.
The next to days there was no racing due to the lack of wind.Day four the
wind was back in town and after to days on the shore we were
raring to go.The day did not start very well for a lot of people including
me, when 18 boats were black flagged from the one start. Soon after the third
race the
wind began to drop and by the time of the fourth race the wind was around
5 knots but very patchy. The start of the fourth race went well, clear of
the
line with a good lane and went well up the first two thirds of the beat. Near
the top of the course though I ran out of pressure to come back in on
and ended up near the back of the fleet. Downwind went well with good boat
speed I managed to take about ten boats by the bottom mark. Upwind
positions stayed more or less the same but down hill to the finish I managed
to take a few more places.By the time of the next race the wind had more or
less gone,
but with two days already been called off and the next days forecast looking
just as grim, the race officer was keen to get another race in. This race
soon
turned in to a real drift and the race turned into a bit of a joke as boats
who were in dead last ended up in the top five in one beat after
hitting the left hand corner. In the end we only just finished within the
time limit after the race was shortened. After the days fiasco many boats
decided to pack up early and go home early which in the end was a good call as the final days racing was abandoned. Overall I feel I sailed better here than at any
other regatta this year, but with the very poor racing conditions the end
result does not show this, which is very frustrating. I thought I had very
good starts and sailed
very conservatively which in most regattas would see you in a good position
at the end of the regatta. Maybe in these more random conditions you need
to stick it out in the corners a bit more and try and get one or two good
scores, which will pull your result up? Throughout July I will be training
down in Lymington as well as a few days
on a lake in preparation for the European Championships next month in Sweden
and then the Worlds in September. I sure I will keep you all up to
date with how it is all going.
