Hi guys,
So since my last update I have been very busy; travelling to Spain and competing in the Palamos Christmas Race. The journey to Spain itself was a bit stressful as at one point I lost my passport but after arriving safely in Palamos with said passport I quickly settled into my routines and had one day of excellent training before the competition started.
Day 1 bought light to medium strength winds with a quite unstable wind direction leading to some interesting racing. I was quick but unfortunately a few small errors cost me a few places.
One hectic windward marking rounding on Day 1 of Palamos Christmas Race 2016.
Day 2 was a lot windier and the huge sea state made very fun and challenging conditions. I had improved my starting and decision making and coupled with good speed I had some good races where I felt like I really showed what I was capable of.
Unfortunately the following day it was very windy with monster waves rolling in. After waiting around for a few hours to see if racing would happen the decision was made by the organisers to cancel racing that day. A few people still went out and had a blast in the waves as the video below shows. I wish I had gone out now!
The next day was the final day of normal racing before the last days Medal Race. The medal race is where only the top 10 sailors race against each other in a short and dramatic double points race where anything can happen. Since I was in 11th position overall and only 3 points off 10th place anything was possible and I had total confidence that I could make it.
Unfortunately I was so confident that I ended up starting too early and was 'black flagged', or given a scoring penalty for being over the start line. Whist this ended my medal race hopes and moved me down to 12th overall I was not too disappointed but rather happy with some aspects of my sailing and full of ideas on what needs to be worked on next.
I arrived back home today and am now spending Christmas and New Year with the family before getting stuck back into training the first week of January. I cannot wait!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Thanks,
Sam
