09/03/2010
The 2010 season starts this weekend
with the first UKLA World & European
Qualifying event being held at Stokes
Bay near Gosport in Hampshire.
15/03/2010
A great start to the season, my 2009 form
continued finishing 2nd at the first
Spring Qualifier and the first time I have
beaten World Sailing Cup winner and World
no 2 Nick Thompson on the water.
It also confirms my qualification for
both Senior and Youth Europeans which is a
great relief, back to work now for a
couple of days and then off to Plymouth for
the next Qualifier.
21/03/2010
After a long drive to Plymouth for the next
qualifier, we had 6 hours on the water with
lot of the fleet still strugling home as
darkness fell.
My consistency has improved this year
and after some pretty tough racing I
ended the event in 5th position, hope to
keep it going for Palma and the Youths.
22/03/2010
Just boarding the plane to Palma with a couple
of team mates and really looking forward
to seeing how far my sailing has
improved at a Grade 1 event, setting the
Gold fleet as my target and even that will
be hard looking at the entry list.
02/04/2010
Really hard event and didn`t quite make gold
fleet this time but had some good races and
finished 8th in Silver and 72nd overall.
09/04/2010
Got back from Palma and then straight on
to the National Youth Championships
won the first race and finished 3rd in the
second but found I had been OCS, it was close
all week but lost out to Effion and Stuart
to finish 3rd overall and pick up a Bronze.
11/04/2010
Had another 2 day competition after the Youths,
a National Ranker and had another 3rd place
finish behind Paul Goodison and
Nick Thompson.
18/04/2010
Really good weekend, only finished 8th but
it has moved me up to 4th in the UKLA Senior
ladder and top Youth. Some of the top guys
in the World sailed the event as
the Worlds are here in August which
made it pretty tough racing.
19/04/2010
I was supposed to be having a couple of days
rest before flying to Hyers with TEAM
GBR on wednesday but the Ash Crisis has changed
my plans. A few of us have managed a
quick turn arround and we head off in the
RYA mini bus tomorrow instead.
29/04/2010
Hyers has been tough lots of really good
sailors and light fluky winds, but I have
sailed well and made my first Gold Fleet
in a Grade 1 event. A black flag in the final
race dropped me from 36th to 43rd but it
was still a really good event and I
cant wait for Medemblik and the Spa
regatta.
08 / 05 / 2010
It`s been great to have a few days off and
catch up with everybody at home and sail
at NSSC again. Medemblik is my next event
and after that its full on for a couple of
months.
15 / 05 / 2010
Only a week to go before I leave for the
Spa regatta, it is going to be tough again but
I am looking forward to it, especially the
trip out to the event. Travelling out with
Paul Goodison in the RYA van and sharing
a cabin with our Beijing Gold Medalist, hopefully
I can pick up a few tips.
28 / 05 / 2010
Just arrived back from Medemblik, I had a
great first day but then struggled to come
to terms with the sea conditions and short
deep chop.
I still made Gold Fleet for the second time
in successive World Cup events, and there
were quite a few of the Worlds top sailors
behind me, even Goody and Nick found it difficult
to be consistent.
12 /06 / 2010
My best International result of the
season so far, with most of the
Worlds best Laser sailors competing I made
gold fleet on the last day of qualifying
with a 12th and a 3rd to pull up 23 places, got Silver
in the Under 21`s Championship and finished
34th overall in the European Senior Championships.
24 / 06 / 2010
After the highs of Estonia, Kiel was next
on the agenda for the penultimate round of
the Saing World Cup, I had a great start
posting a 3, 9 & 19 to stand
27th overnight. The wind dissapeared for
2 days and we only managed to get one more
race in but I finished top Brit in 33rd which
would have been another Gold fleet Finals
position had
the fleet split, roll on Poland.
17/07/2010
Arrived in Poland and ready for a hard weeks
racing, most of the Worlds best Youth sailors
are here, we start racing on Monday so hope
I can maintain my form from Kiel and
the senior Euros.
29 /07 /2010
Poland was really tough and I never
got to grips with the shifts and made to
many mistakes, only had 3 good
races all week.Not a good result but they
happen but hopefully I can pick it back up
for SFG and the Worlds.
06 / 08 / 2010
Not long back from Poland and still feeling
a bit tired, but the squad have some training
at weymouth that I need to get in ready for
Sail for Gold, hopefully I can get my sailing
back on track after Poland.
15 / 08 /1020
Didn't make Gold fleet this time finished
10th in Silver but still had a lot of good
guys around me so I am not the only one.
Just shows how hard this event is now, any
of the top 30 in Silver could be at top end
of Gold, but at least I had a couple of good
races so feeling better than I did after
the Youth Euros.
23 / 08 /2010
Just the big one left and my sailing in the
pre-event training at Hayling is feeling
pretty good, really looking forward to it
now.
06 / 09 / 2010
Managed a good one this time and got on the
podium in Bronze Medal position, the last
day was very tense I thought I had let the
Croatian guy in after a double capsize but
thankfully he didn't capitalise on it
and I managed to hold on.
05 / 10 / 2010
Off to Wales again for the first of the Autumn
Qualifiers, just had the nod that I am in
the ODS squad woohoo, I needed to keep top
5 for the Q's as next years World Championships
are part of the ISAF Olympic qualification
event and places will be scarce.
Had a solid weekend in some big sea's
and finished 5th but should have done better.
19 /10 / 2010
Back in Weymouth for Q5, and we were in for
a windy event, returned another 5th which
was a bit dissapointing but still in the
target area for a 2011 World spot in Australia.
06 / 11 / 2010
The final Autumn Q at Whitstable was cold,
wet and windy, managed to break my run of
5ths with a 4th and another counter in for
next year but dropped to 5th in the ladder.
No more events this year now so it will be
off to Weymouth for lots of training.
10 / 01/2011
Ready to Fly out to Miami to compete in the
Rolex for the first time so should be an
interesting trip and deffinately looking
forward to some warm weather sailing after
the cold of Weymouth this Winter.
11 / 11/ 2011
Had a great start to the year and a boost
to my morale after picking up the Marlow
Ropes Award at the London Boat Show.
18 /01 / 2011
Eventually got my charter boat after a couple
of days delay and looking forward to a few
days training before the event starts on
Monday 24th.
31 / 01 / 2011
Miami was pretty tough, a lot of the top
guys entered last minute and an easy Gold
fleet was never going to be a certainty,
but I got there after a really good second
days sailing. I was looking good for my first
SWC point for a while but dropped back to
32nd which is still my best SWC position
to date. Back home to a few weeks training
now before the Q,s start in March.
06 / 03 / 2011
February and March have been quiet without
any events and Weymouth was really cold,
but the Palma training was top notch, 2 /
3 hours on the water most days and lots of
cycling, really looking forward to Stokes
Bay now, only a few days to go and then its
full on for the best part of 4 months.
16 / 03 / 2011
Not my best weekend, the RO called us in
after after race 3 with no wind on the course,
I was lying 2nd at the time, half way through
packing up we got called back out and I posted
a BFD in race 4 and mid teens in race 5 to
drop back to 8th overall, not the result
I needed.
29 03 /2011
I had hoped for a good race score at the
Plymouth Qualifier after my poor show at
Stokes and the wind looked promising in the
days leading up to the event, but never materialised
and the event was eventually canceled.
03 / 04 / 2011
Full on now and off to Palma for the Princess
Sofia, hope to keep my Sailing World Cup
progression going and get into the Gold Fleet.
09 / 04 / 2011
Had some good results in Palma but missed
out on Gold Fleet, 2 poor races in the qualification
dropped me down the order, had a good last
day with a 1st & 2nd to pull up to 7th
in Silver and give me my first bullet in
a Sailing World Cup event.
16 / 04 / 2011
Managed to hang on to take my first UK win
in a major event at the RYA Volvo Youth Championships,
after two 3rd places over the last couple
of years it was great to finally nail it.
17 / 04 / 2011
No rest for the wicked, off to Hyeres on
Wed to compete in the Olypique Francaise,
fingers crossed for a good one.
05 / 05 / 2011
Best result in an SWC to date, had a couple
of really good races in Gold and all of the
Worlds top Laser sailers where here getting
their Olympic campaigns off the ground.
09 / 05 / 2011
Great weekend and my first Qualifier win
in Pwllheli, no Paul or Nick but satisfying
anyway, down to training now before Sail
for Gold at the end of the month.
15 / 05 / 2011
No events for a month just training in Weymouth
in the run up to Skandia Sail for Gold.
11 /06 /2011
After a weeks holiday and no boats for 10
days, I was really looking forward to sailing
again, Sail for Gold was a really windy event
with the first 3 days racing in 25 to 30
knots. I put in some good numbers and had
a couple of poor races but made it into the
Gold Fleet finals. Friday was had the best
day ever with a 2 and 4 beating the Worlds
top 4, Slingsby, Goodison, Thompson and Bullot
to finish 26th and my best Sailing World
Cup event to date, cant wait for Finland
and the Euros now.
09 / 07 / 2011
Senior Euros in Helsinki,Not my best event
this year, too inconsistent, made too many
mistakes and a bfd just when I didn't
need it, but lots of light wind practice
for the first time in a few weeks.
Only 3 days R & R and then off to France
for the Junior Worlds hope I can get back
in gear.
25 / 07 / 2011
World & European Youth Championships,La
Rochelle,What a week, 16 to 25knts every
day, really tiring but it was worth it, ran
in 2nd place for most of the week but I couldn't
catch Sam Meech, picked up Silver this time
but Gold in European, brill European Youth
Champion and booked my place in Perth for
the ISAF's.
27 / 07 / 2011
After a busy and productive 6 months of almost
solid sailing it nice to wind down a couple
of notches for a few weeks, hoping to try
some Kite Surfing before the Nationals at
the end of August and then the Qualifiers
before the build up to Perth and hopefully
Melbourne as well.
26 / 08 / 2011
After a month off from training and sailing,
its been tough getting back into the action
and really tiring, the Nationals start tomorrow
but it,s a bit weird knowing I can't
do the whole event, just hope I am not winning
on Thursday.
02 / 09 / 2011
Had a fantastic day with Active Sussex at
the Sussex Sports Awards launch and met some
really nice people and hopefully some possible
sponsors, which I really need but slightly
odd knowing that I still had a chance of
a top 3 at the Nationals.
03 / 09 / 2011
3rd at the Nationals, so quite sattisfying
considering I have had a month off and couldn't
sail the last day, back into full training
now ready for the Q's in a couple of
weeks.
20 / 10 / 2011
Its been a really tough few weeks and I am
only just about getting my feel back for
the boat, finished 3rd in the UK senior rankings
this year after an 8th in Weymouth,
3rd in Highcliffe and a 4th in Paignton at
the Autumn Q's.
26 / 10 / 2011
Full on in training now with Paul, Nick and
Martin and starting to feel happy at last,
with my fitness, racing and boat skills,
only 4 weeks before we leave for Freemantle
I hope I can pull it all together for a good
event.
