Life in China
Hello from Qingdao in China, the site of the sport of sailing for the 2008 Olympic Gams, which kicks off in five weeks…
We arrived here a week ago after two weeks at home following the European adventure. It has been a very hectic few days of logistics, boat prep, sailing, fitness stuff, eating and sleeping.
There was a fair bit of stress involved in the shipping and receival of our three boats. One boat was air-freighted from Europe and encountered a delay due to Chinese customs finding some pills in a bag and also some car bog for boat repairs. We eventually got that boat on Tuesday. Then the other two boats (shipped by sea from Miami and Los Angeles respectively) were released to us late on Friday afternoon, but only after Customs agreed to let us break the seal of the container (as long as we took pictures…??…). (more…)
Nice article….
FYI, see this article on the ROAR website on our Star campaign for the Olympics….
So long, Europe….
Back home now in Avalon, Sydney, after an epic couple of days travelling.
The regatta in Croatia finished anti climactically for us, as we were unable to take part in the last race due to scheduling problems. During the four scheduled days of the event, only three of the six races were held, due to a lack of breeze. That meant the event going into the reserve day, which was not a scenario we had planned for. Our issue was this was mainly that the boat needed to get up to northern Europe in a hurry to get air-freighted to China. (more…)
Croatia. Should have been here last week.
We arrived in Split, Croatia on Sunday 1st June.
The previous week was full of action and work. We left Holland in the very early hours the day following the medal race there. It was a 14 hour drive to the western shore of Lago di Como. Situated there is the boatbuilder, Lillia. What followed for the next five days was some un-planned hard toil on the boat. We had to sort out a little measurement problem on the bottom of the hull, so from there the job expanded into a full fairing of the hull and keel and a re-spray (and a final sand, wet-sand and polish). Basically, approx 14hrs a day for the three of us. The glamour of an Olympic campaign…..not! (more…)
5th Place at the Delta Lloyd Regatta - Medemblik, Holland.
Two hours ago, Iain and I finished a Medal Race here in Holland, where we place 8th and finished 5th in the event.
The regatta has been very positive for us in the lead-up to the Olympics. The weather for all of the fleet racing was generally light winds and sunny skies. After the fleet racing, we were placed equal third, level on points with Freddy Loof (SWE) and two points in front of Robert Schiedt (BRA). The leader was Flavio Marazzi (SUI, with Mateuz (POL) in second. (more…)
A long time between posts - Holland - May 08
Hello to all,
Apologies for the (very) long time between blog posts. I have been pretty slack in terms of keeping in touch with friends and family for many months. I used to be pretty good at keeping in touch. Firing out regular e-mails from my travels over the years, firstly with Cameron Miles, Andrew Hunn and James Mayo aboard the Soling in our campaign for the Sydney Games. (more…)
Olympic Test Event - Qingdao, China.
Iain and I have been in Qingdao, China competing in the Star class at the Test Event for next year’s Olympic Games. Racing concluded for us a couple of days ago.
We finished in 11th place, missing the medal race (top ten teams) on a count back. This was a result below our expectations and capabilities.
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Worlds result brings Olympic Dream closer to reality
In early July, Iain Murray and I placed ninth in the Star Worlds, which were held in Cascais, Portugal.
Very significant result for us. It means that we have qualified Australia for a place in the Star class at the 08 Olympics in China. Further to that, as there are no other Aussie star teams with “benchmark” results, meeting the criteria for Olympic team nomination, we are now very close to securing the Olympic team spot for our country. From here the process (as I understand it), is that there is one more regatta for an aussie star team to meet the Aus nomination criteria. That is the European Championship on Lake Garda in Italy during September. If no aussie finishes in the top five there, then we will probably be nominated by Yachting Australia to the AOC to represent in China. IF another team finishes top five in Garda, then Yachting Australia has a choice to make, between us and the other team. So, in summary, we are looking good for China.
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4th Place at the Bacardi Cup in Miami!!
Last Race of the Bacardi Cup finished a couple of hours ago. The regatta Winners were current world champion, Hamish Pepper of New Zealand and his fill-in crew Dave Giles of Sydney. It was a close run thing in the end, with Sweden’s Freddy Loof closing to within three points in the final tally today. Today Hamish was 7th (I think) and Freddy was 3rd. Iain and I placed 4th today to finish the regatta on a positive note and place fourth overall behind three very strong crews.
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Goodbye to the 30’s….
I am here in Miami sailing Stars at the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta with Iain.
I have spent my last 6 Australia Day’s here in Miami. It’s also my birthday. This year is the 40th!! I have three more hours to go in my 30’s.
So, there goes another decade…… Where did that go?
By the way, the regatta here is going ordinarily…. Coming 21st with a day to go. 67 boats. Pretty hot competition.
Big day today with a fair bit of wind. Masts over the side, collisions and a boat nearly sank. Thankfully none of that happened to us. But we did finish 19th….. So it could have been better.
It has been a good trip though. Last week I had the pleasure of joining Lang Walker’s Team Kokomo for some Farr40 coaching in Key West. They ended up 4th in a pretty hot fleet of 17 boats from the USA and Europe. Nice bunch of people on Team Kokomo and working hard to get to the top of the class. Always a pleasure in that sort of environment.
The next time I update this blog I will be an old bloke in my 40’s. After seven days of Star sailing, I feel a hundred years old, so 40 is an improvement.