BUILD UP TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES……….by
Jo Aleh
So, as most of
you probably know, I will, in August be competing at the Olympic Games, in
Beijing (or
Qingdao
for sailing..) So here is what I have
been up to this year, and what I am about to do, in order to help me (or not?)
prepare me best for the big regatta…
I have been to Europe twice so far
this year, I went up early to do a regatta in Lake Garda (Italy) and then Hyeres regatta in France. This first trip was
an interesting one as we flew into Amsterdam, had to get the car fitted with a
towbar (which we had to customize, as it didn’t fit out kiwi trailer), pick up
the coach boat and get to Italy all in 24 hours, in order to make the first
race..
We drove through the night, and made it to the yacht club
at 9am race day, with a brand new shrink wrapped boat waiting for me.. (Over
there they don’t kit out new boats like they do here, so everything needed to be
screwed on.. and put together) And
I made it on the water in time to start.. It just so happened this was probably
the coldest day ever as well.. so a few hours later, on 4 hours sleep for the
past two nights, I was absolutely freezing and in no way happy. But I eventually made it through the
regatta, complete with ocs, dnf, dsq.. (Just trying to collect all the
letters..) After this rough start,
Hyeres was
easy.. I had an ok regatta, some
good races, some not so good, and ended up 6th..
My second trip to Europe was in May.. I flew into Holland with a few days to
chill before I had to start sailing (I had learnt from the last trip..) I also had some fun up there though.. On
May 15th (my birthday) myself and Scotty (Olympic sailing team sports
psyche/coach boat driver who was my coach for the regatta) decided that we would
just drive things from Medemblik (the normal regatta centre) to Hoorn (the yacht
club I was doing a warm up regatta at) – I would drive the laser around on the
roof rack, and he would drive the coach boat by water..
What should have been a simple 2 hour effort.. was anything
but. I made it, but Scotty didn’t,
we may have not noticed that he had to drive through a lock (hole in the dyke)
to get through to Hoorn..
So he when he called me, he was about 30k in the wrong direction.. Then the next call really summed things
up.. He told me that he had hit a
fishing net, the prop guard had ripped off, and taken some chunks out of the
prop. So he had no idea where he
was, and he was stuck. Eventually
he got a tow to this little town, and I raced back to Medemblik to grab the
coach boat trailer, then found out that I had to be in Kettlehaven (where Scotty
was) in 60min, or the marina would close, and we would be stuck (especially as I
started sailing the next day) And
the GPS said it was a 1h 20 drive,
so I took off.. as I drove I
also realized the Laser (still on the roof) was not tied on very well.. but with
my time schedule I just couldn’t stop..
The last few k’s were back road, so where the gps thought I would do 50k,
I was doing more like 115.. So I actually made it, just as the harbour master
was getting in his car to leave..
And we got the boat out and it was all ok.. But really not my best
birthday ever.
So after all that excitement, the sailing part was not a
big deal, the practice regatta went ok, we had 9 general recalls on the first
day, (as the fleet was mainly youth boys) and the wind was a bit random.. Then it was on to Holland regatta, where I
had a shocker result’s wise, I think I ended up 13th overall, not my
finest hour, but I learnt a lot, and had great starts the whole way through..
The problem was that the people who had bad starts kept hitting the other side
to me, and rounding the top mark at the front, and me with my good start got
smacked..
So after that I went off to Qingdao in China, for some training at the
venue.. I was just there for a week
and a day, but it was worth it! Even just to be reminded of just how weird the
sailing there really is. You can
have 3 knots of breeze, 1 knot of tide, with 1.5m swells from the side, and a
bit of chop thrown in for good measure.. Really there is nowhere else like
it.
I am now off to Germany, for the Kiel Week regatta,
the last regatta I will do before the games, a time to stop working on things,
and just go sailing. Then I fly to
China again for another two
weeks training in the Qingdao conditions, before heading home again
for three weeks, until I fly up for the final time on the 1st of
August. And then its all
on!
Sailing in Hyeres, France
‘Customizing the towbar’
The get-up
required for Garda
Scotty killed the prop…
Notice Board
Chairmans
Report
Two 2008 World
Masters Champions
2008
Women's Laser Radial Championship
2008
Men's Laser Radial World Championship
2008
Youth Laser Radial World Championship
Build
Up to the Olympic Games by Jo Aleh
North
Shore Freshwater Championships
Murray Binning
2008
Subs
