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May 2003 - Hyeres Regatta

We have just returned from Hyeres regatta, where we finished 15th a disapointing result for us. Hyeres a notoriously windy regatta but this year we got a mixture of conditions we had one day that was gusting 30 knots and others where we struggled to get a race in due to a lack of wind.

Early on in the event we lost 2 potentially good results. In one race we capsized whilst in 2nd and the other we were over the line and had to go back. This meant that despite some other very good races we went into the finals with our backs against the wall with no discards. The weather during the finals was terrible with the race committee letting some very bad races go ahead. Normally we cope with these sort of conditions well, but we made some bad starts and struggled to make any sort of tactical plan. The main positive we can draw from the event is that it was our qualification for the pre Olympics and we qualified. An event we felt was essential to compete in if we are to stand a chance of getting gold in 2004. The pre Olympics is an exact replica event of the Olympics at the same time of the year as the games so there is a lot of experience to be gained by competing.

From here on we are absolutely flat out, we are training in Hayling Island over the next week and competing in a small regatta there. Then packing up and going to Spa regatta in Holland. This is another ISAF grade 1 event and will have the same fleet that was in Hyeres so a chance for revenge awaits. Chips Howarth from Proctor masts will be coaching us there which is a huge bonus as we have had very little coaching recently compared to our foreign rivals and Chips is an excellent coach. I will write again before Spa to let you know how our training has gone and how we got on at the Hayling Island regatta. Thank you