10th at the RS200 Nationals

Just finished another brilliant week at the RS Games in Weymouth, this time in a slightly different boat to usual, the RS200.

The RS200 is a double handed, spinnaker hiking boat so very different to the sailing I'm used to! Teaming up very last minute with my friend Sophie Dawson after her helm pulled out, I turned up in Weymouth on the Sunday to sail with her for the first time before the racing against 120 boats started the next day.

The racing was extremely hectic and we didn't make it easy for ourselves, sinking in the first race and having to return to shore before various other incidents during the week such as a couple of capsizes here and there - not fast! Gate starts were also a totally new experience for me and proved to be incredibly hard to judge.

Still, we managed to finish in 10th overall, something I'm really happy with especially considering my very limited 200 and spinnaker boat experience and having never sailed with Sophie before. It was great fun racing against many of my sailing friends new and old and I really hope we can make the nationals next year. Talking about the nationals next year does this means we're pathfinder for race one next time then?!

Sam

RS Aero World Champion

Very proud to announce that yesterday I won the RS Aero World Championships in Weymouth as part of the RS Games, one of the largest sailing events ever held!

It truly was a superb week full of tough racing, wacky conditions and great onsite support & activities. The fleet was huge; 206 Aeros in total with 103 in the 7 fleet alone. Split fleet racing was required and was very tough with Aeros firing in from all sides of the course at any moment which made it essential to pick the right time to tack back in.

The 5 day long event started off with light winds before progressively getting windier as the week went on. By racing on Friday we had gusts over 30 knots during racing which made it a wild ride onboard but great fun with smiles all round. 

I put quite a bit of time before the event figuring out some good settings for high and low modes and it was very pleasing to see during racing that I had great upwind speed, allowing me to work my way to the front of the fleet even when things did go pear-shaped!

Downwinds were great too and the wider angles I were doing in the event really seemed to pay off. Don't be afraid to reach!

My starting generally was also very good with the exception of one race, which was also very pleasing as there were many many black flagged starts (usually a small weakness of mine seems to be picking up these!).

My boat was also working perfectly and I knew all the control lines inside out which always helps. I could have tweaked them mid-event as they were slightly out of range but decided to stick with what I knew and left them as they were. Used some great new ropes from Sailing Chandlery.

Overall it was a wonderful week full of great racing, great conditions and great people. It feels great to be world champion and I look forward to hopefully defending my crown next year!

Laser National Champion!

Very excited to announce that last week I won the prestigious Laser Nationals, held in Plymouth over 6 days against some of the UKs best sailors.

It was a fantastic week down in Plymouth and despite 2 days being called off with a lack of wind we still managed to get 10 races completed in some really tricky conditions.

GBR 213719

Unfortunately due to one bad event for me at the very start of this season I have not qualified for a space at the World Sailing Championships. I'm furious I'm not there but am determined to go and prove that there has been a big mistake made. I am not going to rest until I win. 

Instead I am going to be competing at the RS Aero World Championships, in Weymouth. These are going to be great fun and I really cannot wait to start racing on Monday. Going to go out there with fire in my stomach and an open mind and see what I can do! 

Had the pleasure of meeting Mike Bushall from BBC Breakfast the other day. What a nice guy he is. Looking forward to working with him in the future. Watch this space!

Cheers.

Sam

June - RS Aero Nationals & Kiel Week

June started off for me at the RS Aero Nationals, a great event I went to with my younger brother Ben. Read about it below:

RS Aero Nationals 2018 

With the past three months being a whirlwind of activity in many different counties it was nice to return home and go do a fun event with my younger bro Ben. 

Having both had an awesome time at the RS Aero nationals last year we were eager to return to the great atmosphere and racing, making the drive up to Abersoch, in Wales, with much excitement a few days beforehand. 

It was Ben’s turn to repay me for all the free taxi rides I had given him over two years and so he drove, with me being in DJ/entertainment in the passenger seat. 

Some amazing scenery on the roads to Abersoch.

Arriving on the beach in Abersoch we were greeted by cloud and rain - not ideal!

Luckily the weather did clear and things were quickly made up when we found out our charter boats were brand new, so it was a delight unpacking everything from the wrapper - thanks RS Sailing for the amazing service.

One of my personal touches - elastic pulling the downhaul and outhaul up and off. 

I also fitted a smaller, thinner mainsheet (just personal preference) and put my watch in front of the mainsheet boom blocks.

Unfortunately the weather forecast did not look good at all for the 4 days, with some very light winds predicted with little chance of a sea breeze.

Indeed the first day greeted us like this! No racing.

Luckily the sun came out for the next day and we finally got some wind.  

Over the next two days we got in some good racing, with extremely tough conditions in winds ranging from 3-12 knots. 

Unfortunately there was no wind on the last day and no sailing but after putting myself in a good position after the previous two days it was an amazing feeling to win the Aero nationals for the second year in a row!

Bringing the trophy home for the second year in the row!

Returning home to Swanage it was amazing to see the paper covering my story at the Aero nationals. It was, however, much tougher than simply ‘easing’ to victory!! 

Following on from my article I wrote last year about the Aero Nationals (found here) I have started work on a intructional video series, aimed at showing how to get the best out of your Aero across all areas such as setup, technique, decision making and more. Here is a small promo video:

Epic shots courtesy of @themaxdooley 👍🏼😎⛵️#sailing #coaching #fast #rsaero #tips #win

116 Likes, 3 Comments - Sam 🐳 (@samwhaley97) on Instagram: "Epic shots courtesy of @themaxdooley 👍🏼😎⛵️#sailing #coaching #fast #rsaero #tips #win"

 Back to Swanage

The following day after getting back I jumped straight back into my training. Below is a photo of my favourite cycling route, a challenging 23km route with over 500 metres of climbing over a mixture of terrain and beautiful landscapes. Highly recommended!

Dream team. 

Whilst home for those few days I also did some coaching in the RS Vareo with a local sailing club member. It was great fun and always useful to learn and understand how every boat ‘works’ and what I can do to drive every little bit from the boat.

I also went out for a big day in the Laser just off of Durlston Head with a friend of mine, Ben Flower. It was great windy training with huge waves to test our boat handling skills. Learnt some valuable mode settings in conditions where knowing when to go high or low was vital. Check out the video of Ben and his wipeout!

@flozz_ ejecting in some monster waves today 😂😂 #nailedit #wipeout #waves #lasersailing #fun @pitchpolecentral

177 Likes, 1 Comments - Sam 🐳 (@samwhaley97) on Instagram: "@flozz_ ejecting in some monster waves today 😂😂 #nailedit #wipeout #waves #lasersailing #fun..."

Back in the Laser 

Weymouth Harbour 6-7 knots.  

Straight back into my Laser I went to a youth squad camp in Weymouth for a couple of days before setting off to table to Germany for Kiel Week.

 Kiel Week

After driving for an entire day from England to Kiel in Germany I was greeted with cold rain (there seems to be a trend with rain on my arrival!). Luckily some of the showers passed and I was able to set up camp in my tent.  

Kiel is great for camping as the site is right next to the dinghy park and the facilities are good so it’s usually the one camping event of the year.  

Kiel Week is much more than just sailing and so the place is really alive and buzzing with people from all over the world. This means the ‘sailing club’ is also awash with pop up stalls of all kinds, live music and a great atmosphere all round. 

Setting up base.

Fireworks on our first night there.

Tent life isn’t too bad!

It was nice to be next to my brother Ben with his 470 next to me in the boatpark.

After a couple of days of lovely sunny conditions and shifty but entertaining training we set about racing for 5 days. 

Well it certainly turned out to be a windy, wet and cold week! I had a strong start to the regatta and whilst I had a few minor hiccups along the way I finished 19th overall/120, a respectable results given the seriously tough fleet this year with numerous Olympians in the racing. 

I was really happy with my thinkings having improved my process execution considerably as well as my starts, only getting one bad start during the week.  

However still lots to improve!

Returning back home to Swanage in baking heat and sun, if not a touch too little wind! 

With the UK summer now in full swing there really is some beautiful scenery around back home.

So that’s the end to another big month. July looks to be even bigger with training out in Aarhus, Denmark, and the Laser nationals at the end of the month. 

Stay tuned! 

Sam 

Medemblik Regatta

Despite being back home for less than a week I was back on my travels once again, this time heading to Medemblik, in the Netherlands, for the annual Medemblik Regatta (formally Delta Lloyd Regatta).

With just my coach and fellow British Sailing Team Laser sailor, Elliot Hanson, we drove out in one of the team Volvos and went straight into our training.

We got one fantastic day on the water, with some light and shifty wind making training very interesting.

Unfortunately I had a disastrous start to the regatta and was immediately on the back foot going into day 2.

My performance throughout the week went from strength to strength and I really found my form upwind in the last three fleet races, leading around every first windward mark.

Despite my performance getting better throughout the week I missed out on the medal race and ended up finishing 13th overall, not a result I am happy with.

On the plus side I did get some fantastic rides under my belt in the amazing Dutch weather.

Up next for me is a small rest before heading off to the RS Aero Nationals later this week with my brother Ben, I'm really looking forward to be racing this fantastic boat again!

Thanks for reading.

Sam