Freezing January

Yep, its definitely got a lot colder now! Unfortunately the warm spell we had over December seems to have ended and the freezing sub-zero temperatures have returned, leading to some pretty cold sessions on and off of the water.

2017 started with some time with the family back home in Swanage. It was great to be back and relax, reflect and prepare for the year ahead.

I feel so lucky to call this place home.

It also was very nice to return home to find the local newspaper covering my story about being part of the British Sailing Team - thanks guys!

Great to see sailing taking the back page.

I then was at Hayling Island Sailing Club, near Chichester, for some training with one of the best coaches in the country. We had a solid plan and learnt so much which we will definitely use moving forwards.

First training session of 2017!

Despite the cold my training always continues as normal. Sailing sessions have to be shorter and more intense but it's a good job I have some lovely warm winter kit to prevent hypothermia!

Thanks to Zhik and Sandiline whose products help keep me warm on these cold winter sessions.

As part of my training I've also been putting in a few miles on the bike and have had some great rides with the guys. Apart from the cold it has been really nice weather and we've been exploring the local area. I even discovered an old railway track (now cycle path) which I had never seen before and in the process learnt quite a lot about the history of Weymouth & Portland! Crazy times.

Exploring the roads around Portland on my bike.

2017 has also brought change in the form of a new place to live. Last week I moved into my new accommodation, sharing a lovely little house with a fellow sailor. It's the perfect setup and I even have a lovely view of the sea out of my window - allowing me to capture some epic sunset photos like this one below.

The view from my room.

Upcoming I've got a busy month ahead, with a few week blocks of training with a coach before the start of 2017 competitions next month in February. Fingers crossed they won't be too icy cold...

Game face on!

2016 was undoubtedly the best year of my life. There was a lot of change, many tough decisions and countless obstacles but I worked hard to overcome the challenges and I now feel more at home than ever before.

So what's the plan for this next year? Well I have a few goals, a big plan and a lot of determination. Hopefully combined with a little bit of luck, 2017 will be even better than 2016. We shall see.

I'm doing what I love and what I dream about and for that I am incredibly grateful. Thank you to everyone who is, and has, made this dream a reality. Lets keep pushing onwards and upwards!

Sam

Palamos & Christmas

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

Officially Winter

Hey everyone,

The last few months have really flown by and I cannot believe that it is almost Christmas! With the days being a lot shorter and temperatures being a lot colder my training now has to be even smarter and more organised in order to still get the quality time on the water in. 

Despite the weather and limited sunlight every day, November was still a very busy month. I attended one of the British Sailing Team squad camps which included a very useful race weekend to keep our racing skills sharp. Straight after this I was lucky to be offered the opportunity to sail a Nacra 17 with my brother Ben for one day. It was great fun for both of us and a nice change where I could learn about another boat.

Sailing the Nacra 17 catamaran with my brother, Ben.

 After this I had a nice week to work on my program myself, catch up with emails and admin and recharge before another upcoming block of training. I got up to quite a lot of things including repairing a friends MacBook Pro (see photo below!) and going for a few rides with my friends.

Repairing a friends computer - one of my many hobbies I enjoy in my free time.

The view from the top of Portland Hill overlooking Chesil Beach and Weymouth in the distance.

Other notable events which have occurred is the British Sailing Team Awards Dinner, an event designed to celebrate the achievements of every sailor over the past year. It was a very fun night and great to meet so many new people! It did feel weird not seeing everyone in sailing kit though!

A fantastic evening with many friends new and old at the British Sailing Team Awards Dinner.

I've also been looking at how I could maximise my learning from every session I do. Personally I learn the quickest visually and so knowing that video footage is particularly effective at maximising my learning I've been interested in buying a Laser GoPro mount to properly film my sessions and replay them back to analyse my performance at a later time. Instead of paying £100 for a third party mount I thought I could design and build my own which was a great experience. I ended up only spending £17 for materials and after a couple of hours work I had a mount which would fit onto my boat!

My home made Laser GoPro mount -made of a carved wooden base with copper tubing.

My £17 GoPro mount fitted to the back of my Laser.

Now all I have to do is test it....

The picture from the GoPro mount was insane! Big thumbs up from me.

Despite being December the weather this particular day was stunning and I captured some amazing pictures whilst training.

So the GoPro mount was a huge success! I captured some great video and it was very interesting watching myself back on the video.

Unfortunately it was all short lived. I put the mount on for my next training session and whilst out sailing my friend Jack accidently crashed into the mount, destroying it and ruining any chance of using it again. I did manage to save my GoPro from sinking though! Oh well I'll just have to make it again. Watch this space...

On another note I am currently working through half a weeks training with one of the best coaches in the country. I have been working on a few key areas which could make a big difference to my sailing and I feel like I am moving in the right direction.

After this I am down in Weymouth until next week before preparing for the Palamos Christmas Race, a regatta held in Spain just before Christmas.

Thanks for reading!

Sam

Autumn

Hey guys,

So autumn has well and truly set in now. With it now being the start of November it should be obvious that autumn has been with us for a while but after such a whirlwind year I still feel like I'm stuck in the middle of summer. I'm definitely finding it hard to believe that Christmas is only next month!

Autumn leaves back home in Swanage.

With the year starting to draw to a close it is a perfect time to reflect on my year to date. I've had plenty of highs and a few lows on the way but the most important thing is that I have learnt so much about myself, my sailing and my life. I am incredibly lucky to have sailing as my job and every day I live the dream the only a few can ever experience.

The support I have received over the year has been truly amazing, especially since joining the British Sailing Team in September - I am very excited for my future as part of the team.

I've also been very confident with my development and learning this past year. Sometimes its very hard to see improvement even if you have done everything right but I have had confidence in myself and my techniques to critique every part of my sailing.

One thing I think is very important when being a full time athlete is to participate in many different hobbies and dedicate some time every day to them. I find it allows me to properly relax and reflect on my performance from the day as well as learn new and exciting skills. Since moving to Weymouth in September I have participated in many activities such as golf, 5 a side football, countless trips to the local cinema, cycle trips and much more. I also have a huge passion for design and technology and using my skills that I learnt at Microsoft last year I have started designing and programming computer applications. I have created a variety of different applications (all of them related to sailing in some way) with my best to date being SailPlan 2016. This application is the ultimate sailing tool for serious sailors and by using computer algorithms to process and display huge amounts of data in one single interface it allows you to effectively brief and debrief your sessions, maximising productivity. Whilst the app currently only runs on the Windows operating system, I am in the process of creating an iPhone and iPad version. Watch this space....

As I settle down and prepare for the upcoming winters training I am looking to carry on this momentum into next year and hopefully it will bring a lot of success and learning along the way.

Looking forward to the upcoming classic windy Weymouth winter!

Thanks,

Sam

British Sailing Team

Hi guys,

I am really excited to announce that I am now part of the British Sailing Team! After the U21 Europeans I qualified myself for the newly formed Pathway to Podium Potential (P3) squad.

I had to take a photo after sticker-ing up my boat!

Since hearing the exciting news I have now moved to Weymouth to continue my full time sailing. It has been a great introduction to the team and I still can't believe how lucky I am to be in surrounded by the best support team in the world.

What has also amazed me is the friendliness of everyone in the team - Olympic medal athletes often come up and introduce themselves, asking how my day has been etc. It really is an honour to now call these people my teammates.

Training out in Weymouth Bay with Portland a few miles in the distance.

Since starting training here in Weymouth I have been fortunate to train with some legends in the Laser, including Alex Mills Barton who made his return for the Hayling Island national qualifier.

The first autumn national event took place on the 17th/18th September in South Shields SC - some 9 hour drive up north! I was very lucky to have my parents take my boat and I up for me which saved me a lot of stress the day before the competition. On the Saturday I had a really strong start having figured out the conditions and almost beat Elliot Hanson, who is ranked in the top 20 in the world. I had some other consistent results which left me 2nd overnight. Unfortunately Sunday dawned with no wind and after a few hours waiting onshore no wind arrived and the day was cancelled, leaving me 2nd overall at the event.

A few weeks later on the 8th/9th October was the second autumn national event at Hayling Island, near Southampton. I had another good first day, lying 4th overnight but unfortunately a slightly disappointing second day meant I finished the event in 7th overall. Although I lost a few places on the second day I did learn a huge amount in the tough conditions and it will make me a stronger sailor in the long run.

After these events I have just had a P3 squad camp down here in Weymouth which has been really good to make new friends and learn from the useful talks which have been put on throughout the week, including one from double Laser world champion Nick Thompson about his journey.

Next week is also my first proper rest week which will be great to reflect on the lessons of the past month and prepare myself for the next block of training to make sure I return stronger than ever.

Thanks for reading!

Sam