Delta Lloyd Regatta & More

Hi guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Time flies by when you're having fun!

It really has been a very busy period (as usual!) with lots going on since the RYA Youth Nationals. There has been a lot of training in Weymouth, a competition in Holland and fun times in the Waszp back home in Swanage. Scroll through the following pictures to find out what I have been up to:

Training in sunny Weymouth at the start of May was great fun and we had a interesting mix of conditions.

I then travelled to Holland for the Delta Lloyd Regatta with the rest of the British Sailing Team Laser squad. This is the view from our lovely bungalow, just a few miles away from the sailing club. This picture also sums up the weeks weather pretty well!

We had a great mix of conditions out on the water.

And encountered lots of close racing at Delta Lloyd Regatta 2017.

After a close week of racing I finished 33rd overall and 3rd Under-21. A great warm up regatta to kick-start preparations for the U21 Worlds later in July. At the end of the week I was lucky enough to be able to go on the water and watch the Laser medal race action from the rib with fellow Brit and teammate Elliot Hanson taking the overall win.

Sailing causes some pretty bad tan lines as I found out during the week.

Returning back home to Swanage thick fog greeted me - no sailing :(

The bad weather gave me a great excuse to do a spot of exploration. I love being able to explore our beautiful coastline and capture moments that I know I will always look back on fondly.

Running up a huge hill was physically pretty demanding but a great challenge and worth it for this next shot...

Can you spot me?

The weather then cleared and allowed me to get back out sailing again! With no Laser around due to it being in Weymouth I sailed the next best thing - the Waszp. I finally managed to nail the foiling gybe and although I unfortunately didn't get it on camera I did get this awesome drone footage - check it out!

It's been an interesting month and one where I have learnt so much. I know I say it all the time but with every life experience I feel like I learn and adapt and ultimately end up a stronger person. I firmly believe that if I keep sticking at this, learning, developing and performing, then I can become a better person all round on and off of the water.

Thanks for reading and I'll keep you updated soon!

Sam

Bronze Medal at U21 Nationals

I'm very pleased to announce that last week I won a bronze medal at the RYA Youth Nationals 2017, held in Hayling Island near Southampton. 

On the podium with my teammates Dan Whiteley and Jack Cookson. Photo credits: RYA/Paul Wyeth.

It was a very tough week with a lot of close racing and although they weren't my favourite conditions I took a lot of things from the week and had a lot of fun at the same time!

My favourite conditions were on the Wednesday when we had a lovely 10-17 knots with awesome waves.

A big well done to my brother who won gold convincingly in the Under-19 Laser Radial category, winning by over 28 points!

My younger brother Ben on his way to winning gold in the Laser Radial fleet. 

A bad picture of us both! Me with my bronze medal and Ben with his gold medal.

At the beginning of the month I also competed at the Princess Sofia Regatta, held on the island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean. After a slow start to my first senior event of the year, I was pleased to sail progressively better everyday after that and finished on a high in Gold fleet, knocking in a 10th and a 11th to finish 40th overall. For my first Princess Sofia regatta ever I am happy with the result and made some good steps forwards in my sailing.

About to round the windward mark in 2nd place.

Brit 1,2,3 at the front! Me, Elliot Hanson and Micky Beckett.

I've now got a small break to rest and recover after the very busy last period before getting back into training and attending Delta Lloyd regatta at the end of May. I also have just received my brand new carbon top section so am very excited to go out on the water and test her out!

Thanks,

Sam

Introducing MindOdyssey

I'm proud to announce that MindOdyssey are now supporting me on my Olympic sailing campaign.

Performance psychology aims to help athletes have a positive, winning mindset to focus on performing at their best in pressurised competitive environments. Through making marginal improvements in training, athletes develop the tools to build a stronger competitive mentality, which could make the difference between winning and losing.

Working with Sally is helping me to prepare psychologically and to put systems in place for both training and competitions. Having a positive and focused mindset in pressurised environments has helped me focus and maintain optimal performance to ensure winning is inevitable.

More details can be found at: mindodyssey.co.uk

I really look forward to continue working with MindOdyssey and learning new skills in the future.

Sam

March - The Busiest Month of the Year

Hi guys,

Weirdly enough this year March is my busiest month of the year and I've been at full speed making good progress in all areas.

Going back to the end of February I had my birthday and spent a few days back home with the family. I did however manage to sail the Waszp which was great fun. Think I got a new top speed record as well... Across Swanage bay in under 2 minutes! Here is a small video from the session:

Sailing the Waszp in Swanage Bay.

Before I went I also went on a great mountain bike ride around the Purbeck hills with some awesome trials. It was great to be back on the Cannondale again and hopefully I will have as good weather next time I go riding!

Awesome section of the ride through the forest.

Great view overlooking Poole Harbour and Studland Heath a.k.a mountain biking heaven!

The very next day I returned to Weymouth back to start another British Sailing Team squad camp with my fellow team mates. We had some extreme conditions during the week and on one day I unfortunately snapped my mast!

You know you are pushing hard when the boat breaks before you do!

The snapped mast showing how much load goes through the boat.

Luckily I had a spare at home and my mum kindly drove it all the way to Weymouth the next day to ensure I wouldn't miss any time on the water. Shout out to my amazing parents for all the continued help and support.

The next day was extremely windy and the squad went out for a short and sharp training session. We had great fun and had some serious speed on at times. As the photo below shows, it was very easy to dig the bow of the boat in and pitchpole! Oops.

The short, sharp chop of Weymouth Harbour threw up some challenges...

I also got some great news that I had been selected for the British Sailing Team Marlow Ropes award! This award allows me to have a certain allowance of Marlow products which will enable me to rig my boat to the highest of standards. It is an honour to have been selected for this and I look forward to many hours of fun rigging up my Laser with the best ropes in the world.

The Marlow Ropes Award will allow me to use the best ropes available in the world and ensure my rigging is the strongest and most reliable in the fleet. A big thanks also to UK Sport who enable me to have world class coaches and training.

Over the last few weekends I have also been competing at the second and third Laser World & Europeans Qualifier, at Weymouth and Stokes Bay SC near Southampton.

The second Weymouth qualifier was again a mixed bag. I had good, average and bad moments but ultimately I finished in 10th place overall and most importantly learnt so much. Its funny how you can spend an entire winter training in one thing and at the first competition of the year realise that you now have a weakness in something different.

Laser Worlds and Europeans Qualifier 2 - Race 2 Leg 2 Downwind.

I then attended the 3rd and final of the spring Laser Worlds and Europeans qualifier, held this time at Stokes Bay near Southampton. The Saturday was pretty windy with some harsh chop making sailing upwind and downwind rather difficult. I sailed fast and consistently to end up with a 5th, 7th and a 7th to leave me in 6th overnight.

Unfortunately on Sunday the wind was howling and after waiting around for a few hours the weather showed no signs of dissipating and the call was made to abandon racing for the day. Therefore I finished in a respectable 6th overall and first Under-21.

Results from the Laser Worlds & European Qualifier 3 at Stokes Bay where I finished in 6th overall.

Unfortunately a error on my behalf meant I was forced to sail the event without any gloves. As someone who has worn gloves his whole sailing career this caused a few issues later on...

It was worth the pain!

I have just flown out to Palma de Mallorca for the start of the first senior international competition of the year, Princess Sofia regatta. As a group we've managed to find a really nice, affordable apartment close to the sailing club which always makes it easier.

The lovely view from our apartment.

Thanks to Bolle I have some new sunglasses to test out on the water in the Spanish sun!

Racing gets underway on Monday and runs through until Friday. I am raring to go and feeling confident with my abilities!

Thanks for reading,

Sam

February Update

Finally! Days are getting longer, temperatures (slightly) warmer and the sun has even come outfew time down here in Weymouth. I was actually thinking the other day how I couldn't remember the last time sailing without being cold..

This past month has been a busy one as always. As a small hobby I've been lucky enough to be able to start learning how to sail a Waszp, a high performance foiling (or 'flying') dinghy. Using a hydrofoil under the water it generates lift in the same way an aeroplane wing does and rises out of the water at a certain speed. Its a awesome fun and great to learn how to foil, even if I've crashed and got wet loads of times!

The Waszp foiling dinghy which I am learning how to sail.

Flying above the surface of the water you go very fast which leads to some spectacular crashes!

...Such as this one!

We've had a range of conditions throughout this month from very light to crazily windy. The month started off quite light and we had some awesome training in the sunshine and fog. I was testing out combinations of different equipment which was great and allowed me to gain a bit more knowledge on what measurements I want for future equipment.

The first warm day of 2017. Pretty cool sailing in the fog as well.

We then had a squad camp where there was a huge range of conditions ranging from a mega first day and gently calming down throughout the week. We are getting a good number of boats out every session which is allowing us to have intense sessions and good racing.

TEAMwork.

Very close racing has allowed us to sharpen our racing skills up immensely.

The week after the camp finished we got a surprise visit from Alex Thompsons HUGO BOSS. This carbon fibre round the world ocean racing yacht recently finished the Vendee Globe and even after losing her vital starboard foil Alex raced her to her max and finished a very close second place. After the finish she was sailed to Weymouth where she was moored up and I was lucky enough to have a look on-board which was seriously cool. Its amazing how much attention to detail goes into even a 60 foot yacht!

I then had the first national competition of the year, the Noble Marine Worlds & Europeans qualifier held in Weymouth. It was great to have it at the place I live which simplified logistics considerably!

After a long delay due to lack of wind the first day of racing did not go to plan at all. I was being very ambitious with my starts and often struggled to execute my manoeuvres in the final few seconds meaning I was already on the back foot. I then made some poor decision around the race course which ultimately put me in a poor position overnight leading into the second day.

Day 2 of the competition went a lot more to plan. In the first race I had another disappointing 13th position overall however in the final two races I stuck to my plan, played the shifts and sailed fast to finish race 4 and 5 in 2nd and 1st overall. The weekends racing then finished and I was left in 9th place overall - not a disaster but a respectable result especially considering my first day dramas. I need to work on my consistency that's for sure! The next qualifier is once again held in Weymouth in March which should be great fun. Can't wait!

Great sunset on the tow in after day 1.

With my birthday being next week I am going home for a few days with the family before back in Weymouth for another intense squad camp. Fingers crossed the weather will be good!

Sam