Kiel Week 2019

Once again this year we travelled to Kiel for the worlds largest sailing event. A massive two week sailing regatta/city festival, this area of Germany not only is very pretty but also offers some nice on-water conditions in (mostly) flat seas and shifty winds.

I had a reasonably consistent week with some stand out moments but unfortunately two black flags (disqualifications for starting too eary; ie a false start) put me out of the medals and heading into the medal race I couldn’t move up or down in position.

I won the medal race happy but slightly bitter at not being on the podium and finishing 8th overall. Still I was happy with a great improvement from last year in terms of performance and result. In what has been a difficult year I have been chipping away well and steadily correcting my weaknesses to become what I feel like a much more well rounded sailor.

Next up for me is the Laser Nationals, held in Largs in Scotland, which start tomorrow. I am defending champion so there is certainly expectation to perform in what is looking to be a light and tricky week. Apart from the torrential rain forecast I am looking forward to it!

San Francisco

After the Waszp Nationals finished in Rutland I drove home and immediately started packing for a great opportunity to go to San Francisco. Waking up early the next morning, I hopped onto a flight across the pond and arrived that evening (or afternoon in California). After a 2 hour wait at customs I was through and on my way to St Francis Yacht Club to start the two week camp.

I was staying near Mill Valley, which was a beautiful area with plenty going on.

I even managed to borrow a road bike and went on a fantastic ride in the nearby nature reserve. 50K down!

My real purpose in San Francisco was sailing with the American team. Starting our training the day after I arrived, we encountered some great weather as we were hit with an unexpected heatwave. This meant whilst the wind was less that what we had hoped for, we still got a solid 6-17 knots everyday.

The scenery was absolutely stunning and most of our training took place under the Golden Gate Bridge, an incredible experience.

There was also pretty strong movement around the bridge, sometimes meaning it took minutes to move a couple of metres forward. Check out this video!

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Took me so long to get round this mark @instagram wouldn’t even let me put it into one video 🙄😂 @britishsailing @actisense_activeresearch @sailingchandlery @laserperformance @joesgymswanage @marlowropes @uk_sport @tnluk #fail #lasersailing #upwind

A post shared by Sam 🐳 (@samwhaley97) on Jun 9, 2019 at 2:23pm PDT

My sailing fitness was tested hard as there were full hiking conditions pretty much every single day.

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Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge is pretty cool 😊 #sailing #job #lasersailing #training #awesome

A post shared by Sam 🐳 (@samwhaley97) on Jun 4, 2019 at 9:36pm PDT

It was good to focus on getting more comfortable with a tighter hiking strap. Being a quite long legged human I have slowly realised that I don’t need a loose strap for pure leverage and instead am more comfortable being locked into the boat.

After almost two weeks of solid sailing it was unfortunately time for me to head back home. On the final day we did a quick morning sail before I spent the afternoon being a tourist visiting the sights around SF.

We all went for one final dinner at Sam’s (a pretty nice restaurant actually!) before I got back on the plane the very next morning. Heathrow here I come!

So that was the end of my time in San Francisco. An incredible experience - and one I hope to repeat in the future. Thanks to Chris and John for making it all possible and allowing us to get some solid training in.

Sam

4th at Waszp Nationals

Last week was my first ever Waszp event - the UK nationals, held on Rutland Water. This was a completely new style of sailing for me and I had only ever sailed against 2 other Waszps before so it was a bit of a shock to turn up at the start line surrounded by over 25.

What a week it turned out to be! Honestly one of the best events I have ever done. So much fun with close, tight knit racing followed by great socials and food in the evening.

Check out the video highlights below and keep an eye out for me in my red Waszp, number 6 (pictured in the video cover below):

Overall I finished 4th overall and 3rd British, a great achievement for my first event. I was, however, beaten fairly by my Laser coach James Gray so I am fired up ready for revenge at our next event!

A brilliant week, with brilliant people in a brilliant place. Thoroughly recommended.

Sam

39th at Laser Europeans

Pleased to announce that I finished 39th at the Laser Europeans two weeks ago, held in Porto - Portugal.

Whilst it wasn’t the top 30 as I had in my season goals it still was a solid result and I am happy with how things are progressing.

Onwards and upwards to my next event: Kiel Week!

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