Unexpected Positives

After racing in the Sailing World Cup Hyères at the end of April, I split ways with my coach, Brett, and my training partners, Stef and Colin, who were heading to Mexico to compete in the Laser World Championship. Because over the coming months their training will become more and more centered on preparing for the Olympic games, we decided that my best option would be to split from the program and use this time to get as much racing experience as possible before reconnecting with the group in early October, after the Olympic Games are over. Initially, I was understandably quite nervous about this. I mean, 5 months is a long time to go without having any coaching support or being a part of a structured training program. I would just be travelling around with a training partner and hitting off as many regattas as possible Now, having just completed the first of those regattas, I am getting comfortable with the way my program will be over the next five months, and actually think that this will be really positive in terms of my long term development. It is forcing me to think critically and even though I might make more mistakes on the racecourse than I would with my coach’s wisdom, having to make these mistakes and experience how drastic the consequences are is definitely a powerful (although often quite agonizing) way to learn what not to do in the future!

The regatta that I just competed in this past week was the Garda Trentino Olympic week. Although the regatta didn’t have the fleet size or quality that it usually has given that the dates coincided with the world championships, there was still some good competition. Unfortunately, the conditions did not come through for us, and the race committee were only able to get off 5 of the 8 races scheduled. Even getting off five races in the conditions that we had was only made possible due to great race committee work. This regatta was an interesting one for me because although I would say that I sailed better here than I ever have in these conditions, I was very frustrated about the way that I sailed. I think that was largely due to the amount of potential that I created in each race and then couldn’t put together in the end. I did so much right, but then made so many rookie mistakes and was literally just giving away positions. In the end, even the fact that I created that potential is a sign of progress, because I couldn’t do that in the past. Now if I can start to eliminate some of these mistakes, I will start seeing some great results in the near future.

Congratulations to Sergei, Nicolo, and Viktor who took home the medals at this regatta. All three managed to stay consistent despite tricky conditions, and consistency is key in this sport.

Now I am in Medemblik in the Netherlands training for the Delta Lloyd regatta that will be held here in about a week’s time. This is the last regatta of my springtime European trip and I am hoping that I can put together everything that I have learned over the last three regattas to end this trip on a high note.

Thanks for reading,

Fillah