Issue date
A little update to let you know what we have been up to, in this past month, not long since our last post, but we have been keeping busy!
It has been no rest for the wicked as we headed off overseas again, this time to Oman and Malaysia. Two countries that we hadn’t been to before, so we were looking forward some new experiences.
The first stop was Muscat, Oman, for the ISAF World Sailor of the Year Awards and the Annual ISAF Conference. After sitting on a plane drying out in air-con for 13 hours it was like dropping into paradise at the Shangri La Hotel – white sandy beach, 30 degrees and lounge chairs calling our names – we had to have a laugh at where we had found ourselves. Trying to be good tourists, we headed off to Muscat itself and checked out the Royal Palace, Grand Mosque and local market for a bit of Middle Eastern culture and architecture.
Whilst experiencing the attractions of Muscat, we also sat in on some of the ISAF meetings that were taking place as part of the conference, they were a great opportunity to learn more about the structure and processes that go into producing the wide and varied sailing events that happen worldwide.
In the middle of all this we had the 2013 ISAF Rolex Sailor of the Year Awards, where we came away with the top honour. An exciting evening spent chatting and listening to how passionate the other nominees are about their area of the sport, a humbling group to be a part of and we are delighted to have capped off our year in this way. We are the first kiwi women to feature on the winner’s list, and humbled to be part of a legacy that includes some of our own sailing heroes such as Sir Peter Blake and Sir Russell Coutts. We still have a little way to go to be quite that amazing!
Next up, we headed to Port Klang in Malaysia to start the Raja Muda Race Week. A completely different style of sailing for us, four passage races and three days of inshore racing on a 40ft keelboat – KukuKERchu – with Dave Ross and his sailing team. They made it so easy for us to slot into our roles on the boat and have created such a relaxed and fun atmosphere, even with the ‘highlight’ of the day t-shirt looming over us!
We are now home for the summer, taking Christmas off, then getting down to the business of 470 training, gym work and prepping for the upcoming 2014 season.
We hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year!
