Issue date
Been a busy last few weeks, with a lot of freezing a lot of driving… And now finally a few days off!!
After Garda, we made our way up to Holland for the Delta Lloyd Regatta, which was the second EuroSaf event of this trip for us. It’s an awesomely run event, with live GPS tracking on all the races, and quick and efficient racing on the water – luckily for us – as this happened to be the coldest Delta Lloyd regatta in forty years. And let me tell you, it really was cold! We had temperatures out on the water of five degrees – that may not sound too bad – and its probably not if you are skiing or something, but sailing??
So yes, the sailing was a bit of a struggle at times, we were so cold and numb on the water that our boat handling went to crap, and we were able to blame a few mistakes on brain freeze… However it was the same for everyone, and we still managed to put together a decent regatta to go into the ‘final race’ in first, and then after a shaky start, managed to win the final race as well, to take out regatta number two. We were lucky enough to have Simon Cooke (the only kiwi to ever win a 470 class World Champs since the class turned Olympic) up to coach us for the event, and although he froze too, we learnt a lot, and now have even more to work on!!
Beklow is the interview they did with us after the final race. Be sure to check out Jo’s hat – she calls it her muppet hat – after all, our Olympic boat was called Muppet, and our new one is Gonzo (a blue muppet) and like to make sure we don’t get too serious!
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Anyway, after our week of being numb, it was definitely time to head to warmer climates. So after three days of driving (1845km) we arrived in Formia, which is about an hour and a half south of Rome. Its a lovely coastal town, and we were lucky enough to arrive a few days before their regional Italian Championships 470 regatta – where the organiser told us this was the coldest June they have had for ages – about 18 degrees – felt tropical after Holland. So this last weekend we took part in the regatta, where we embraced the warmer weather and the ability to actually feel our fingers – which obviously helps our sailing – as we came away as the overall regatta winners in the 44 boat fleet, beating all the boys!! Always good fun… The results can be found here.
Now we are off to Rome for a few days of ‘tourist-ing’, it will be nice to have a few days away from the boat, and doing something different. We can’t be this close to such an amazing city and not go and have a look!
Then we are back to Formia to get ready for the European Champs, which start on the 10th of June – the day before which we both have an exam to sit for University! So apart from the exams, we looking forward to next week as it looks like we will have a large fleet of around forty women’s teams which is the most we have raced in a long time!
