Miami Olympic Class Regatta
Biscayne Bay, Miami, 22-26 January 2007
Whimsically, over Christmas, I said to my brother, ‘one day I’ll be able to go to a regatta and just enjoy it, without any pressure…’ After Miami I have ditched that idea! I did enjoy it (blue skies, clear water, palm trees, a dip in the sea after training – why wouldn’t I?) but it was also a lesson in handling the ups and downs of international racing.
This was serious competition. At least four of the boats in the Skud fleet will be at the 2008 Paralympics and everyone knew how important it was to perform. I had never sailed in a regatta at that level and suffered terribly from nerves. However on the first day we did brilliantly, winning both races, again completely unexpected and tremendously exciting. Unfortunately this high was followed by some serious lows. We struggled for the next two days in the light winds – we’ve had very little experience of them (Weymouth is blowy!) and the boat handles completely differently; and then when the wind did pick up we made a couple of mistakes which probably lost us a medal. I was devastated but Harvey and Allan more sanguine. ‘Would you have learned as much if you’d kept winning?’ said Harvey and it’s true, that day is forever burned into my consciousness. We also know exactly what areas we need to address in our sailing. Thankfully on the final day we picked up, had another win, a second and a fifth, and in the final results were just one point behind Gustaf. We were still the top British boat.
When I got home I felt as if my brain had been fried – so many experiences in such a short time. But now I understand much better the reality of competition at this level and how to handle it. It was fantastic to be out on the water in such fabulous conditions, seeing all the Olympic classes racing and being in the company of sailors from all over the World. We managed to have some fun, too – driving over the Rickenbacker Causeway with Miami City lit up behind us, balmy nights out in Coconut Grove, early morning swims and the inspiration of meeting all the other paralympic sailors. Never has a pontoon hosted so many empty wheelchairs – the drivers had all gone out sailing!
We did schedule some training in Weymouth in November but the winds were too strong to go sailing (this is not being chicken – we would have broken bits of the boat). Harvey (our coach), Allan and Peter (our stalwart shore crew) had to put up with my palpable frustration while we worked on the boat and did some campaign planning.
However in January we were invited to a pleasant diversion – to attend the London Boat Show to receive a cheque on behalf of RYA Sailability, donated by the Little Britain Challenge Cup. Little Britain raised £140K for charity from their 2006 Regatta, which was distributed between 11 organisations including the Jubilee Sailing Trust and the Ellen MacArthur Trust. The LBCC is a strong supporter of Skandia Team GBR Paralympic Team and we are very grateful for their continued donations. We also met Ellen MacArthur, which was a thrill for me, she has always been one of my heroes, and has proved beyond doubt how much women can achieve in sailing. It still staggers me to think of her out in the Southern Oceans, climbing masts and grappling with the mountainous waves.
From the beginning we had a great regatta – good starts, fast speeds upwind and downwind gains. We only had one bad day when the wind was shifty, gusty and full of holes (we sailed right in to one). Overall we came second to Gustaf – a silver medal. And we improved as the regatta went on, in both proficiency and tactics, a big confidence boost. Unfortunately the racing was cancelled for all paralympic classes on the Sunday (my birthday…) because the winds were too strong, very frustrating because we are good in strong winds and were sure we could have handled it. For me this was a fantastic result, I never expected us to do so well. We won three of the races and came second in all the others apart from the wind hole experience, a consistent performance which won us a place on the Skandia Team GBR squad.
