Smack down under?
Written by Dylan Fletcher | 11 February 2012
To kick off our 2012 training, the Skandia Team GBR 49er squad decided to head back out to Perth for some epic conditions.
This was decided back in September but after the disappointment at the worlds in December, Perth was the last place we wanted to be!
Alain went off traveling around Australia in a camper van and I went home for a break with family and friends spending some time in Scotland and London. Both of us had wicked breaks, exactly what each of us needed. So after picking ourselves back up it was not long before we were itching to get back to Perth/Fremantle and start training again.
The main proviso of the trip was to get 3 weeks of windy sailing down, warm (although hot would be better) and plenty of hours of light in the day to get everything done. Fremantle/Perth was the best choice after weighing up Cadiz again, which despite being a great venue was not all that windy. Fremantle on the other hand is windy most days, whether its catching a gradient early morning or out in the Doctor (what the sea breeze is known as down there) in the afternoon. Plus it was over 35 degrees everyday! Which is when we learnt that sailing in over 40 degrees even in 15-20 knots its near impossible not to overheat. The crews just could not keep cool, which is no big surprise as they have always struggled trying to be cool…
After meeting up with coach Paul Brotherton and boot camp boss Alex Hopson we found out the plan for next 3 weeks, which was going to be tough work. There was fitness planned most days and one intention sailing, to get better at boathandling in the breeze (i.e crew snapping territory).
Overall Fremantle delivered in style, we had to make use of the gradient breeze quite a few times that meant early dawn raids on the water. Then some epic conditions when the doctor showed up, we have never done so much sailing it just Champagne, glamour, perfect, awesome, noshing etc conditions for that length of time. San Fran delivers on breeze but not the relentless heat that Western Australia kicks out.
On the sailing front we have made some big improvements, making gains in a few areas we did not think there was much room to improve. As a team we are stronger than ever, it was difficult to deal with the worlds but we are closer as a team because of it.
Right now we are 2 hours away from Heathrow wide awake at roughly 3am UK time or 11am Perth time. Once we get home we have a few days rest before heading down to Weymouth to pimp out our latest racer. We have got quite quick at sorting new boats out with the amount we have gone through so hopefully this one should not take to long. After that we head out to Palma near the end of February to prepare for the first major regatta of 2012 the Princess Sofia. It’s a big one for us, the selectors will be watching and its our time to put right what happened at the worlds.
Whilst we were out there I put together a little video of us blasting around -