A winter of learning
Written by Hannah Diamond | 16 January 2014
We have just arrived in Miami and rigged our new boat 'Sasher', and we are hoping to have our first sail in her tomorrow!
The weather is disappointingly British at the moment with rain and clouds but we have high hopes that the typical Miami heat will return soon!
We have been in Portugal since early November for the bulk of our training with the British Nacra squad. It’s fair to say that we’ve had some pretty epic days sailing with conditions ranging from 3 knots and flat water to 20 knots and huge waves so the venue has been very kind to us!
So far this winter we’ve managed to escape with fewer bruises than last year so that must demonstrate some improvement(?!), but there are still conditions where the curved foils and new carbon rig make for an exciting ride both upwind and downwind! Just when we feel like we are really getting to grips with the big waves and keeping the boat in the water, we kick into another gear and we are back to fighting to keep the boat in the water! It’s amazing to be sailing a boat that is so challenging and exciting every day!
After 3 months of training and no racing it will be great to get out on the race track again, beginning with the North American Championships on the 18th January, and then the Miami World Cup event starting on the 25th January. We have a decent number of entries here and we will be aiming to keep our race skills sharp whilst still learning as much as we can about these amazing boats – every day is a school day!
We will leave Miami at the beginning of February and head back to Lagos, Portugal for our final two blocks of training there and then head to Palma where training ramps up towards the racing season. The Princess Sofia World Cup Event begins at the end of March, and from then until the end of September we have a pretty packed programme of racing and training all leading up to the ISAF World Championships in Santander in September.
Ben and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our sponsors for their continued support and we look forward to a busy and exciting 2014!
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