End of Season

Well that was quite an exciting end to the season! Whilst my performance at times has been far from perfect it has definitely been an eventful couple of months and one that I will remember for a long time and take all the learning from. Follow my journey over the past few months below:

Training off Durlston Head back. After spending the last few weeks of September back home in Swanage training, I headed off to Split, in Croatia for the Men's Senior Worlds.

A wide range of weather greeted me in Croatia, from scorching sun you would expect to severe rain and thunderstorms with hail the size of golf balls! 

After flying in, collecting my charter boat and setting her up I was ready to go for the start of the competition!

The racing was extremely tough and I struggled to get into my groove. Combined with some bad luck I ended up with a disappointing performance, but happy with some progress I had made.

Celebrations at the prize giving as Pavlos Contides (Cyprus) wins the Laser World Championships 2017.

So whilst my first senior world championships didn't go to plan I'm still very happy to have been able to compete against the best in the world. I know I can do so much better and am looking forward to next year where I will hopefully be able to show everyone what I'm capable of.

I quickly returned back to the UK and was straight off up to Sunderland for the first of the autumn UK national qualifier events. It was a great weekend with warm temperatures and great conditions on the water - I would even go as far as saying the best qualifier ever?! Anyway, after some really close battles I finished 3rd overall behind fellow team mates Micky Beckett and Jack Wetherell. Special shout out to my parents who drove my brother and I to and from the event, we wouldn't have been able to do it without you!

Results from the Noble Marine Laser Qualifier 4 at Sunderland.

After a few days of rest I was fired up to go to the Europeans, held in Barcelona, Spain. 

Arriving nice and early in Barcelona I had to somehow navigate around the Spanish Metro system which was confusing to say the least!

I soon arrived at the Barcelona International Sailing Centre raring to get going. After a couple of splendid days training in some mixed conditions I was ready for the competition to start.

Unfortunately the first day of the competition was cancelled after the political events going on in Catalonia surrounding the referendum! 

Over the next few days we had some really great racing with a wide range of conditions. Perfect! Unfortunately on the first day I developed an infection from a mosquito bite and after battling my way through 3 days of racing a trip to hospital was required. Very frustrating!

With the infection becoming pretty serious, I was given doctors orders to not sail again in the championships and fly home and rest. Not the end of competition season I had hoped for!

Whilst it was quite upsetting to have not finished the Europeans in the way I would of liked it I knew my foot was in a bad way and enjoyed some nice rest back home before getting ready to try a new style of sailing with my younger brother Ben, double handed sailing in the Endeavour Trophy. Find there full report on that here:

Leading around the windward mark on one race at the Endeavour Trophy.

Hugging the shoreline in less tide at the Endeavour Trophy.

So the Endeavour finished and allowed me to get back home and start my preparations for moving to Weymouth for winter training. Although the picture below isn't really preparing for the move the surf was too good to ignore!

Bodyboarding in waves off Swanage Beach.

First winter training session in Weymouth - the classic to Osmington Cliffs and back!

Marked my first night living in Weymouth with a trip up to the top of Portland to see the Olympic Rings next to the lovely sunset. Just ooking at this picture makes me hungry for success.

After a couple of weeks training down in Weymouth I travelled to Grafham Water Sailing Club for the Laser Inland Championships. Held in very shifty and cold winds, I am very pleased to say I won the event for the first time. Here are a few shots of me from around the race course:

Cruising upwind on a big left shift - I was feeling pretty good at this point!

Just after rounding the windward mark and sending it onto the reach.

Sending it on the last reach on my way to win the race.

Me with the Laser Standard Inland Champion trophy and my younger brother Ben who won the Laser Radial Inland Championship!

Returning back to Weymouth I have been hammering in some decent on the water and gym sessions. Hopefully it wont get much colder!

So what next? Well having moved to Weymouth now I am settling into my training routine, setting clear goals to ensure that I am making progress 24/7 and doing everything I can to ensure that my success is inevitable. 

I have a few upcoming weeks of training in Weymouth before heading out for the Palamos Christmas Race, always a great event that I am really looking forward to.

Thanks,

Sam

RS Aero Tips and Tricks

Firstly can I just say it was an absolute pleasure to sail at the 2017 UK RS Aero Nationals earlier this month at Hayling Island Sailing Club and one of the best weeks sailing of my life. Not only did we have great weather with plenty of sun and wind but the class was incredibly friendly, welcoming and fun. I met lots of new people and really look forward to sailing at more Aero events in the future.

I learnt so much from the Aero nationals and I thought it would be nice to write up my top tips and give something back to the class. I hope you find them interesting and maybe even learn a thing or two!

Having a great time on the water is always an essential!

The nationals were quite a challenging event held in a wide range of wind conditions, from a light 5-7 knots on day 1,  light-medium 6-13 knots on day 2 and finishing off with a strong 14-22 knots on the last day! Here are my key learnings, top tips and things to look out for that I discovered during the event and used on my way to winning the national title in the 7 rig:

Mainsheet

On Day 1 and 2 of the championship we experienced light to medium winds ranging from 5 - 12 knots and I thought that in these wind speeds your mainsheet trim was critical if you wanted to sail fast and point high on the upwind legs.

On the Aero the mainsheet changes the sail shape dramatically and can reduce/induce depth very easily and on Day 1 and 2 I thought if you played the mainsheet on the upwind legs you could be very fast and point high at the same time as long as you had the rig setup correctly (see next section).

My technique I was employing was in the light spots was to ease about a foot of main and then in the gusts I would squeeze the mainsheet back in a foot or so depending on the strength of the gust. With the mainsheet squeezed in you could sail higher (watch your tell tales carefully here!) and as soon as you hit a lull you would ease the main slightly and bear away a little which at least kept your speed through the water. In the two pictures below, by looking at the angle of the boom, you can clearly see the two differences between sailing in a lull and in a gust.

Looking at the angle of the boom, we can clearly see I have eased the main slightly and must be in a lull. Note the slack kicker, deep outhaul and no downhaul on at all.

Here we can clearly see I am sheeted in more than the previous photo so must be in a gust, pointing higher whilst sailing fast. Notice the creases in my sail - more on that in the below Downhaul section.

So by sheeting the main in and out and changing my upwind sailing angle very slightly I found I had a fast sailing mode in the lulls and the gusts, a powerful combination on the race course.

(I was using 13 metres of Marlow Excel Fusion 6mm as my mainsheet, rather thin for some but excellent for maximum feel downwind and easy flowing through all blocks.)

Rig Setup

At 45 seconds to go before any race start I always set up my sail to ensure that at go I was at my perfect setting and going my fastest. Here were some settings that worked well for me during the event:

5-10 Knots

In the light 5-10 knots going upwind I had a medium tension kicker setting (usually pulling around 40cm through the deck cleat), no tension at all on downhaul (more on that in the section below) and a surprisingly loose outhaul (usually a hand length and a half. Some might say this was too deep but being one of the bigger guys in the fleet I found it allowed me to point higher and it just felt 'good').

Downwind I kept the downhaul off completely, left the outhaul the same one and a half hand length deep but released the kicker off all the way (I quite liked a loose leech which felt great sailing by the lee).

10-15 Knots

Fully hiking weather + a bit more = depowering time. In the 15 knot gusts you wanted to be depowered but in the 10 knot lulls you killed your height and speed if you depowered too much. Combined with the difficult Hayling chop and that threw up some challenges.

I found that a tight kicker (approx. 60cm through deck cleat), a outhaul approximately a hand length deep and a light-medium downhaul setting worked well. On the upwinds I was keeping the mainsheet pinned in but actively playing the downhaul, releasing in the lulls and tightening in the gusts.

Downwind I released the downhaul completely, let the outhaul off to be one and a half hand lengths deep and released the kicker about 45cm so that it wasn't too loose whilst surfing waves.

15-25 Knots

I found that at these winds upwind I was fully depowering so I had max kicker on, a hand length deep outhaul when I wanted to point high, flattening off to half of that when I wanted to go low and fast, and a lot of downhaul on. The more overpowered you are the harder you pull the downhaul and kicker on! Other than that hike hard, move back in the hiking strap slightly and keep the boat flat and it feels like you can get the boat planing upwind. Very fun.

Downwind I released the downhaul and kicker a lot and if it wasn't too hairy the outhaul would come off too!

Hiking hard! Mind you I've never been good at pulling a good face whilst sailing...

Downhaul

Now it could of been my sail specifically but in the lighter winds I was finding my sail got quite a few diagonal creases when sheeted on in an upwind setting. This might be due to the elastic bolt rope, but I'm not sure. Whilst it was very tempting to pull the downhaul on to remove them, if you watch the leech I found it was changing the whole sail shape and opening the leech, something you don't want and was making me not point as high. Obviously I didn't want this so I left my downhaul off and ignored the creases, which seemed to work well.

Note all the diagonal creases in the sail.

 

Strategy

My top strategic tip from the nationals was definitely SAIL IN MORE WIND. If you're simply in more wind than someone else it will be very difficult to go slower than them. Sounds simple right? Unfortunately it is not that easy.

The first thing I would recommend is trying to learn how to sail your Aero by feel and so if you look away for 5-10 seconds you can maintain a perfect course. As the picture below shows, the majority of the time whether going upwind, downwind or reaching I was constantly looking upwind to see where more wind is and where it will be in 30 seconds etc. The more time you can spend spotting gusts, the more gusts you will find and therefore probably the faster you will go. Free, effortless speed.

Here you can see me really looking upwind trying to find where the most wind is, where it will be and how I can best make use of it as I approach the windward mark.

Hardware

So what physically was different between every Aero and would of made life easier/faster? Well I made a few changes to my charter boat but it was by no means perfect.

The first change I made was to fit a thinner, 6mm mainsheet. I prefer the feel and how smoothly it runs. It was a dream to use in the lighter winds.

I then fitted a masthead wind indicator which was very useful for sailing downwind as well as a wind indicator at the bottom of the mast just for reference.

I tied a slip knot in the main halyard, tied some elastic to that and led it down the boat to the downhaul block. This was used to pull the downhaul off when I released it, especially useful if you don't have over-deck controls.

I also tied elastic to the outhaul block and round the boom gooseneck to pull the outhaul off when released.

I tightened the top batten tension on day 2 by approximately 6 turns, leading to a more hooked sail. Felt good.

I flipped my boat over and gave my boat a thorough wash and clean. You'd be amazed how much grime, sand and dirt sticks to the hull even when wet so I would recommend doing this as often as possible!

Quite a few boats had over-deck control lines. These looked very cool, seemed to work a lot better and I was very jealous that my charter boat didn't have them! I have fitted a Rooster over-deck controls kit recently to another Aero at my home club and found it to be very high quality and simple to do with a nice video to guide you along the way.

Other than that my boat was a standard RS Aero charter boat, kindly supplied by RS (thanks guys!).

Simply put, if you get a good start and sail fast in the strategically right direction you will win the race! Its the small things which put together make a big difference.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this article as much as I have writing it! If you're feeling generous it would mean a lot if you might donate towards my Olympic sailing campaign here.

Any questions feel free to send me a message on the Contact page here.

I am also available for Aero coaching, please visit the Coaching page for more details.

Thanks!

Sam

2 National Titles Later

Wow, what a month. After a very eventful July at the Worlds and Europeans it was nice to be back home in Swanage with lots of time to enjoy the British summer and get back into training.

Check out my story of the past month in the pictures below:

I resumed my training back down in Weymouth almost immediately with the Podium and Podium Potential squads. It was really great training against the double world champion and all the guys. Lots of learning took place!

Summer is great back home in Swanage with lots of activities going on. After years of clashes and being away I finally was able to be around during carnival week and had a great time. Here is a picture from one afternoon watching the Red Arrows perform, shame I couldn't be sailing at the same time!

I then was around for RNLI week and entered into the build-a-boat challenge. 4 hours, 1 sheet of plywood, 30 screws, 30 nails and a whole lot of duct tape later and I had a boat to race across the bay! Unfortunately I finished second but I hope to be back next year with a better design for more.

R.I.P Swifto. After being evicted from the family house Swifto unfortunately met the end at the local tip.

Anyway back to proper sailing! As well as my training in my Laser I organised a group of friends to sail the Waszp down in Weymouth. I was happy to find the Waszp fits perfectly on my corsa roof.

On the water rabbit run with Stu on the other Waszp in Weymouth. I did get rolled from here!

It was awesome to finally line up against another Waszp, race around Portland and then let the lads have a go at their first foiling experience.

Foiling gybe and what?! 😎⛵️ The BEST morning session with the lads @jackwetherell @jc_cookson @danwhiteley1 @ben.whalex #completeditmate #sendingit #waszp #sailing #sailorslife

A post shared by Sam Whaley 🐳 (@samwhaley97) on Aug 23, 2017 at 12:10pm PDT

Check out the video from the Waszp session above! Pretty happy to pull off a relatively slick foiling gybe on camera.

After my hard days training in Weymouth it was nice to go home, take a walk and reflect on the day gone by. When met with sunsets like this it really makes me appreciate where I live.

On Saturday 19th August I volunteered to help out at the Upton House Parkrun. It was awesome to be involved in this wonderful community activity and I was impressed with the enthusiasm and friendliness I encountered. I really would recommend everyone to go to one of these and see what its like, whether you want to get into running or just want to experience the lovely Upton Country Park. It's fun, free and I definitely will be back to run myself soon!

I've also recently got into 18 hole putting at the local Beach Gardens in the evenings after sailing and have enjoyed many a round with my brother Ben. We're not great (yet) but we are getting better! The Masters 2030?

After sailing the RS Aero only a handful of times I headed up to Reading on my holidays to compete in the Aero Youth Nationals. The 9 rig was very interesting to sail but at my 80kg I struggled keep the boat driving and felt quite over-powered in only 12 knots, leaving me thinking that a 7 might be better suited to me. Still it was a very, very fun event and although we didn't have any wind on the Sunday I had some epic battles over 6 races on Saturday with the likes of Ed Higson, Ben Rolfe and the rest of the fleet.

There was a slight bit of confusion over the final results but I am pleased to say I am RS Aero 9 Youth National Champion!

A couple of weeks later I headed to Hayling Island Sailing Club for the actual RS Aero National Championships where there was a huge 114 entries across the three rigs, with 73 in the 7 rig. Having been quite over-powered in the 9 at the Youth Nats I decided to enter in a 7 rig instead and after coaching the fleet the day before racing I watched with interest what the top guys were doing in the Challenge Cup, the practice race with a reward at the end of it! I was itching to sail but it was very fun and rewarding sharing tips with the rest of the fleet, I hope it made their racing better.

After 3 days of intense and close racing, especially with my brother Ben, I was very pleased and honoured to win the RS Aero 7 Nationals! We had a wide range of conditions, very light winds on day 1, light to medium winds on day 2 and finally some windy weather sailing on day 3.

Whatever the weather conditions I was loving sailing the Aero. It was so light, responsive and fun to sail. Always had a smile on my face!

Congratulations to my little bro Ben for coming second, Kristo for 3rd and having some insane downwind speed, Steve C for coming 4th with his super quick windy weather speed and Steve Norbury who was very consistent at being up there with an impressive last race.

Awesome to have won this great trophy!

So what next for me? Well tomorrow I fly out to the senior Laser World Championships, to be held next week in Split, Crotia. Really looking forward to sailing against some of the best sailors in the world and giving it my all.

For regular updates about next week follow my Twitter @samwhaleygbr and Instagram @samwhaley97

I'll let you know how I get on!

Thanks,

Sam

4th & 5th at U21 Europeans and Worlds

Hi guys,

Yesterday I returned from a 3 week trip around Europe competing at the Under-21 European and World Championships. It certainly was a very memorable trip! Here is the story:

The first part of the trip was the massive drive all the way to Douarnenez, in France, for the Under-21 Europeans. Luckily I went with the rest of the lads in the team van so I only had to drive for a couple of hours. Cheers to Coach Dre and Millsa for driving the rest of the way!

Arriving in Douarnenez late that evening I checked into my hotel - check out this lovely view across the bay from the breakfast room. Perfect for checking out conditions before racing every morning.

The view from our room over the surrounding town was very pretty.

Stunning weather greeted us on our arrival in Douarnenez - for the first few days of training anyway!

After a couple of days pre-event training we had a rest day where as a team we went and explored the coastline....

...And ended up surfing on a lovely beach just down the coast. Despite it being my first ever time surfing I learnt quickly and had a whale of a time surfing some awesome waves!

We then had a team photo - Alex, Jack, Dan, Dre and I.

The next day racing started with variable conditions and close racing. I was pleased to finish day 1 with a score line of 3 and 1 to be 2nd overall.

After a few more days of racing I went into the final day in 4th overall with a big possibility of a medal.

Heartbreakingly some silly errors cost me the chance of a medal and I ended up 4th overall at the U21 Euros.

The next morning we drove all the way to Nieuwpoort, in Belgium, ready for the start of the Under-21 Worlds a few days later.

After a solid day of driving we arrived in Nieuwpoort to some epic conditions. Sun, wind and waves! We had one day of pre-event training before headin into the competition...

Day 1 of racing was a mixed bag. Scoring two 3rds in the first two races I was set up well for the last race when a 40 degree shift meant our upwind became rather skewed to one side - I did 0 tacks and somehow got overtaken by 10 boats :(

Determined to improve from the previous days nightmare last race I was focused and ready heading onto the water.

Big conditions on the water. I had some good speed but struggled with consistency and had some incidents on the water which set me back.

On my way to winning my second ever race at a World Championships!

We had light winds on the penultimate day and despite attempting a start racing was soon abandoned for the day.

With a black flag and multiple big scores, I headed into the final day in 12th overall with a strong belief that anything was possible. Scoring a 3rd in the first gold fleet race I moved up to 8th overall. In the final race I had a disastrous first beat and rounded in the 50s but sailed fast and smart to move through the fleet considerably to finish 17th. This comeback pulled me up in the overall results and meant I finsihed 5th overall!

Whilst I am very happy to have finished 5th at the Under-21 Worlds what is very exciting is that I know I am capable of so much more. This result has made me more determined than ever to succeed and I know I can achieve greater things. Onwards and upwards!

Overall the trip was very successful; I achieved my best ever Under-21 international results, won 5 international races and learnt so many things about my sailing which I have never come across before.

Looking forward I now have a month back home training in Weymouth and attending many smaller, more relaxed events before gearing up to the Laser Senior World Championships in September, to be held in Split, Croatia.

Hope you enjoyed the read!

Sam

Fun Times in June

Hi guys,

Welcome to the June blog, hope you are all well. It has been a very exciting month for me and everyday is more and more thrilling as we get closer and closer to the Under-21 World and European championships at the end of July. Here is my timeline of what I have been up to in the past month!

I started June off by coaching some young Topper sailors in Poole Harbour. Having never really been involved in the coaching scene before (I've always been too busy focused on my own development!) it was really nice to get out on the water in a rib and coach our next generation of sailors. It was very windy and they did a great job of coping!

I then went on holiday to Perranporth in Cornwall for a relaxing few days on the beach mixed with a bit of surfing. Being the last time available for holiday before the Under-21 competitions, it was great to recover and refresh from my training and have fun in a beautiful coastal location. Check out how good this beach looks!

A lovely sunset whilst on holiday in Cornwall.

I then returned home for a couple more days of training in the Laser and the gym as well as mixing it up with some kayaking and Waszp sailing in the incredibly hot weather we had!

Next for me was Kiel Week, held in Germany. After loading our boats onto a big British Sailing Team trailer we headed off in the van towing our boats all the way to Germany. Unfortunately this journey happened to be at the same time as the thrilling Americas Cup matches on TV so not wanting to miss it we set up a livestream in the front using our coaches phone and connected it up to the van speakers. Win!

After a day of travelling we arrived in Germany and unloaded boats and set up our base camp with our tents. To save costs I decided to camp as it was quite easy and having a nice small, comfy tent it wouldn't be too bad as long as it didn't rain! Unfortunately the weather gods weren't looking too fondly on me that week and there was a lot of rain...

We had to think outside of the box for some things whilst camping. Here we set up a washing line to dry our sailing kit using an old mast and a mainsheet strung between a lamp post and car trailer. It worked surprisingly well!

Kiel Week is a huge festival not only about sailing and as a result there was a huge carnival style setup with many stands to visit. In the sailors lounge one company was giving away free cookies if we took a picture on the sofa so not wanting to turn away delicious food naturally my teammate Jack and I quickly agreed!

Can anyone spot me? I am sail number 209493 and wear a blue bib....

The racing over the week was very close and exciting with a variety of different conditions. I really found my groove in the windier stuff towards the end of the week and was thrilled to record my first international senior race win in race 6 of the regatta!

I then had a solid last day in gold fleet to move up the leader board even more to finish in 12th place overall out of 135 boats in total! Also being 2nd Under-21 I am thrilled with the result although know I can do a lot better which is very promising looking ahead.

After the final day of racing we watched the medal race with the top 10 before packing up and driving back home ot the UK.

Returning back home I was very excited to find my new kit for the Under 21 competitions had arrived. Many thanks to SANDILINE for supplying the kit which will enable me to perform at my very best (Loving the new design as well!).

I now have a few days back home to upgrade some parts on my boat before heading out to Holland for a final training camp with the Dutch Laser Squad before the Under-21 Europeans which start on July 14th. Exciting times ahead and I am feeling as confident as I have ever been. Lets do this!

Thanks for reading,

Sam