Waiting for wind in Hyeres
Written by Ben Rhodes | 26 April 2010
We’ve arrived in France for the 4th ISAF World Cup Event. I borrowed Ed’s book ‘Less Than Zero’ and read most of the way down, whilst Stevie and Dave drove! Ed passed the time by drawing a moustache on Dave every time he fell asleep and Stevie woke up from a sleep thinking he was driving but other than that a pretty uneventful road trip.
We’ve been out on the water twice since we arrived in Hyeres testing some prototype wetsuits and base layers, I can’t say too much about the specs but the base layer is so far pretty impressive. Best thing being that it doesn’t smell which any sailor will appreciate!
We haven’t had much time on the water as there has been no wind, I’ve been killing time playing the guitar, I bought my strat out and am trying to get as much time as I can practising for my sideline interest, a band ‘Jake The Dog’ I’m a part of. We’ve started gigging in Exmouth, and were at the Boat Shed a week or so ago so keen to keep the practise going when I have some time to kill.
Looking forward to getting out on the water as racing got canned yesterday, and right now I am waiting for our racing to start in the team base with the rest of the squad. We’ve got a scrabble competition going on the Iphone, Rich Mason has emerged as a stealth cheater and Ed has the biggest word score so far.
Hoping to get out on the race course at some point, even though it is not looking very promising at the minute. Stevie and I are looking for a good result from this regatta, ideally first!
Hyeres didn’t finish too well for us last year with the medal racing possibly being the most embarrassing race of our lives with no less than 4 capsizes trying to cross the line after the rest of the fleet had finished, so we are looking to redeem ourselves this week by topping the fleet. Our toughest competition will be from the Brits and also the French.
Ben