It has been a complete culture shock since getting home from Miami on Monday.

What with the Worlds in Perth, holiday in Bali and then Key West Week followed by the Miami Regatta, I have only spent one night in my house in Weymouth since 17 November and it was absolutely freezing when we got back! The heating was been on full blast from the minute we walked through the door but it took absolutely ages for it to feel warm!



We definitely seemed to have timed it badly coming back from super warm Florida, where there was a perfect 8-15 knots of sailing breeze every day, just as the weather has turned really cold. But it is ok because I’m off to Tenerife for a week’s training with the Spanish Laser boys next Thursday (9 February), so I’ve not got to freeze for too long!



Winning the Miami Regatta was a great start to the Olympic year for me. Although the Worlds were always intended to be a process regatta, to have been in second all week and then mess it up on the last day to finish fifth was very frustrating.



I wasn’t originally going to do Miami but I was in Florida for Key West Week, and there were a few things we had identified to work on after the Worlds that heading up to the Miami Regatta from Key West ended up making sense. I only had a few hours’ training before the event started and felt a bit rusty because I hadn’t been in a Laser since the Worlds but it felt really good to be back in the boat again.



Although there were specific things I was focussing on during the regatta, especially around gaining increased consistency and confidence in some of my starts, it was important that I stamped my authority back down in the Laser and actually won an event. I sailed really well in qualifying and then it was about consolidating the lead after that. The Brazilian, Bruno Fontes, came back strongly however, and we ended up tied on points going into the medal race so it was very pleasing to gain control of the medal race early on and build from there.



Key West Week proved to be a really worthwhile event for heaps of reasons. Not only did we win the Farr 400 class but with it being a new boat to me and the rest of the guys, it was super nice to have a new challenge while still practice the tactical elements out of a Laser environment. I only have three more Laser events on the calendar before the Olympics – Palma, the Worlds and Sail for Gold – and as the Olympics gets closer so the events become less and less about processes and more about results so it was great to get some good race practice in.



After I get back from Tenerife, the 2012 selected British team sailors are going to the Olympic Park Velodrome in London for two days for the Olympic Cycling Test Event, which will be pretty cool. I’ve not seen any of the other Olympic venues outside of Weymouth yet, and I know a few of the cyclists from having won gold at Beijing 2008, so it will be really interesting to see them race and just being there will be pretty inspiration and exciting.



Tomorrow I will be unloading the container from Perth, which Colin Murray is joining me for. He assures me he will be helping out while interviewing! I’m having a fitness test and a few sports science meetings.



After the gym this morning a new Orange mountain bike arrived. A super cool prototype that has been loaned to me, I had a fun ride this afternoon and the wind, mud and rain didn’t stop me from grinning most of the ride. I may need to order some warmer cycling kit though!

Happy new year! I hope that you have all had time to enjoy the festive period.
After the last few months its quite a shock to return to the cold but nice to spend a night in my own bed!

The training in Perth was good and the focus around technique change seemed to have brought some positive changes and I feel I have made progress here. The Worlds was not a key event but after sitting in second all week I was very frustrated to slip out of the medals on the last day of finals after a poor performance with my mind else where, mainly on planning for the games rather than the job in hand.

Going in to the medal race there was still a good chance of Silver with the points quite tight. After a good start at the starboard end I sailed towards the wall packed with spectators. After bouncing around off the wall tacking and ducking in the disrupted water, the boats that had tacked and ducked early headed right to make big gains. After rounding towards the back I pulled back through to finish 5th which was only good enough for 5th overall a bit of a disappointment.

After the Worlds in Perth I headed to Bali with friends for a surfing trip over Christmas on the way home. It was a great away to chill and rest up ready for the hard miles ahead.

It has been quite a year to look back on with several highs and a few lows. The main aim of the year was to secure selection for the 2012 Olympics which was going to be a tough job. Medaling in the Olympic venue at Sail for Gold and then the Test Event was enough to secure selection, and a step towards 2012. The other highlights include winning at the Princess sofia regatta and medaling in Miami.

I am super excited about 2012 and with the opportunity to work with a new coach over the next few months I feel super motivated with the Olympics closer than you realise There is still plenty of work to do but with the fresh ideas of a new coach and the help of one of the best training partners in the world in Nick Thompson I feel my program will be good enough to deliver in August.

I have had to make a few changes to my program. I am pretty disappointed that I am not heading to the sun and gorgeous sailing conditions of the Dominican Republic tomorrow, instead I fly to the Alps for boot camp on cross country skis! not the nicest way to start the new year but its what is needed and Im sure some bits will be fun.

Thanks to everybody for your ongoing support and I hope you can share and enjoy the journey to 2012 with me.

Its been a long trip but quite an awesome day for my first day in oz. After getting to Perth at 3am I managed a bit of sleep before being wide awake…….
The only thing to do was head down the club to sort my boat out. After finding all the kit and a spot of lunch it was off out sailing. The Freemantle doctor was in with wind up to 25 knots and a steep chop. The sailing was great although I did capsize!
I was pretty quick to get back in the boat after all the chat of sharks in the area.
I came in pretty tired, a touch jet lagged but after hearing the lads were off to Perth to watch the Kings of Leon I thought it would be a great way to stay awake listening to one of my favourite bands.
We headed in to Perth for an amazing open air gig. Its days like today when you realise how lucky you are!
Looking forward to a proper sleep and back on the water tomorrow.

I’m sitting here looking out of my office window at a 470 and a 49er out on the water in a cold, grey Weymouth and all I can say is I’m pleased that I’m off to Australia on Thursday for training before the ISAF Worlds at the end of next month.

I am really looking forward to the three weeks of training in warmer climates with a good training group prior to the Worlds. I’m sure a lot of guys will be really fired up as the Worlds is a key part to the there selection for the games, so it will be good to train against guys that are a little heavier and really optimising for the Perth conditions. It will be fascinating to observe how they perform under huge pressures.

The goal is still to do well in Perth but having already been selected for London 2012, I have to look at the big picture and use the event as a chance to test some of the techniques I’ve been working on in pressurised race situations, to see how automatic they have become.

I’ve been working really hard in the gym over the past month building up my strength, but by doing that I’ve had to compromise some of the cycling that is usually such a big part of my programme. I’m hoping we will start seeing the benefits of that strength work on the water in Perth and it will be interesting to see how the decreased level of bike work translates into a seven-day regatta.

That’s the beauty of being selected early. You are able to periodise your training into blocks, whereby you can concentrate on improvements in certain areas for specified periods of time before bringing everything together to hopefully peak when it matters most.

I’ve had plenty of encouragement on how my campaign is progressing over the past fortnight, not least when my kit failed to turn up on time to a training camp in Tenerife and I managed to still do ok using branches retrieved from a nearby tree as sail battens! I managed to borrow hiking shorts, boots, rudder and tiller and the only thing missing was sail battens so we went and got some twigs and job was a goodun! I’m not sure if it’s worrying or not that they didn’t seem to make much difference to how quickly I sailed!

By day two my kit had arrived so normal service was resumed and I enjoyed a great five days sailing with guys from all over the world in a group invited by the Spaniard Javier Hernández. It is always good to check in with other international sailors. It was a great venue with a couple of days of strong breeze and a bit more lighter, fickle stuff and I was encouraged by how I fared across the range. I definitely want to go back and train there in January.

I headed straight to Tenerife from the start of the Volvo Ocean Race, which was just incredible. Although I went to the stopover in Portsmouth last time, I’ve never been to the start and I just couldn’t get over how professionally everything was set up and run, and how it was all so much bigger than I expected. The biggest thing that struck me was all the teams had these massive Formula 1 style tents and trailers, very impressive.

The Volvo Ocean Race is something I’ve always said I fancied doing for about 24-48 surreal hours before I quickly change my mind and talk myself out of it! But chatting to some of the guys who were doing the race, the amazing challenge of it all, and how revved up they all were before setting off I think it’s definitely something I want to do in the future now. Well until I do another two days’ offshore sailing and convince myself otherwise again!

I have been based in Weymouth for the last few weeks getting stuck in to the training. The weather has been surprisingly warm and the training has been good. It was nice to have some foreign visitors over to freshen the training up and a brief trip to Hayling Island for a Qualifier. On the eve of the Qualifier I attended the BOA Gold ball in London for an amazing event including acts from Tom Jones and Tinchie Strider that in the end raised £700,000 for the BOA. Unfortunately this left me with a late night and an early train down to Hayling. Nck and I had some close racing in some glamour conditions 15 knots and large waves, I eventually went on to win, winning both races on Sunday.
I have been involved with a few other cool things including a filming day with Sperry Topsider and the launch of the Volvo Sailing App. The new App is pretty cool, check it out by searching for Volvo Sailing in the App store. Its Cool and its free…..
Today has been the annual World Class day for all sailors in the RYA Squad, lots of info but quite draining. I woke myself up after with a quick ride to the gym on my new Orange bike, the cold air definitely did the trick before nailing my legs in the gym. I hope they still work for racing tomorrow. As they say no pain no gain!

I had a good two weeks in Palma doing the Melges 32 Worlds recently – I managed to do some cycling and gym work around the sailing which was good to keep things ticking along. As a team were a bit down on training time together with only four full days on the water before the worlds. We struggled a little with starting but had some great comebacks. It was a little disappointing not to get any racing in on the final day as it seemed we were getting better every day. We ended up eight in the end, which I guess was a fair result in a competitive fleet.


Its back Laser training again in Weymouth and this weekend we missed a day sailing through no wind, which is very rare! My cousin and his family came to visit this weekend with the aim of learning to Kite surf. The lack of wind didn’t help but we had a cool time paddle boarding, rock climbing and model boating. There wasn’t a huge amount of wind but we managed to get the kites in the air on land and the kids managed to get some serious air! It was nice to break up the training doing some cool stuff with the kids.

Last week G4S invited several of the team to an Olympic celebration in London, hosted by the broadcaster Claire Balding. Sparky, Stevie and Ben and I were interviewed along with legendary Ethiopian distance runner Haile Gebrselassie – what a super cool guy, he was just so humble and interesting to listen to.

The morning after we were invited to run with him. A 6.30 pick up was a struggle but the sun rise as we ran around The Serpentine was pretty cool. I only just managed to keep up, but my calf muscles are still aching almost a week later! He runs about 200 kilometres a week, I’m lucky if I cycle that!? It was fascinating speaking to him about how he keeps himself focussed and what he thinks about while he is doing these training runs.

It is now back to Laser training in Weymouth with Nick Thompson and a couple of Canadian and American guys who are coming over to train with us. I haven’t really done much Laser sailing since the Olympic Test Event in August so I’m really looking forward to it.

At the beginning of next month Nick Dempsey and I are off to Alicante with Volvo guests for the start of the Volvo Ocean Race. I was lucky enough to see the boats leave Portsmouth last time, which was a great spectacle.

After that I’m off to Tenerife for a bit more Laser training, then on to Barcelona for another Melges event, before I leave for Perth for the ISAF Worlds so I’ve got a busy few weeks to look forward to!

Other images included with this entry..

It has been a difficult few days to try and keep it secret but I can finally say I’m qualified and will be on the start line next year.

I received the phone call while out cycling n Palma, I was expecting the call and heard my phone ringing halfway up a climb. I stopped quickly to recognise Sparkys voice, he asked me to get my breath back, I just wanted the news.
It felt great to be told that I had been selected. The rest of the ride I seemed to have a bit of a spring in my step and rode with a big smile on my face.
I feel like I have got over the first hurdle and can now focus fully on retaining my Olympic title, the longer the trials process goes on the more of a distraction it can become.
It has definitely been the toughest trials process since I missed out in 2000 to Ben. Nick has not made it easy and has pushed me hard. I hope that we can start to work together again as we did before Beijing.
Having selection complete allows me the best preparation for the games. I have a good idea of the things I need to change and develop to be in the best place to deliver at the Olympic games.
I will be going out to Perth at the end of the year for the worlds but will now primarily be using this trip for technique change and development before heading back to Europe for the winter.

One of the biggest challenges is going to be making the most of a home games. There are going to be plenty of distractions and staying focused is going to be key.

I would like to thank all my sponsors and people that have helped me to be in this position. With out my sponsors and the great support team the RYA provides I would not be able to achieve the tough goals I set myself on a daily basis. I had such an amazing experience in China becoming Olympic Champion I can not imagine what it would be like to repeat this on home waters in Weymouth and Portland. Exciting times ahead……

I am currently out in Palma for the Melges 32 Worlds with team Red, Wow its smoking hot out here…..
After missing some training together as a team this year we have made good use of the 4 full days training with the race team. The training has been very similar each day with a light sea breeze developing and ranging between 8-12 knots. This has allowed for some nice cycling in the morning as the riding out here is amazing. Tomorrow will be our last day on the water before the Worlds kicks off and there is a change in the weather, a spot of rain and more wind. A bit of variety will be a nice change I suppose.
We are down on training time but will hopefully be able to challenge the top teams. Its going to be a tough regatta but if we can pull together we can do well.

After a really full on few weeks in Weymouth with Sail for Gold Regatta and then the Olympic test event it’s a time to look back and reflect.

Leaving with two medals is hopefully enough to show the selectors I am capable of medaling at the games next year, but I cant help feeling a little disappointed. In both regattas I went in to the medal race with a realistic chance of winning gold, and only came away with Bronze.

I have had a good look at myself and hopefully identified what needs to be done to make the difference for the games next year. It is a little difficult to plan for the next few months until the selectors make an announcement on what happens next in September.

I have medaled at every regatta this year except Hyere and been unbeaten by any of the other British boats this year in International competition. This has been a bit of a distraction as I feel that I have not achieved my full potential due to a bit of a break down in the squad system. It’s always going to be hard when two guys are competing for one spot. Hopefully we can start working together again in the build up to the games to give GBR the best possibility of winning.

I finally got out of Weymouth after what I think has been my longest stint there for a long, long time…… I joined Saskia for Mersea week but was unable to get a ride on a Winkle Brig (the class that Saskia was racing) apparently my CV was not up to scratch!

I did get the opportunity to go racing onboard and helm Kismet, (somebody obviously saw I had some potential) a beautiful classic built in 1893 and restored back to immaculate condition . She wasn’t quite as responsive as the Laser but was a joy to sail. Probably the high light of the week was Richard (the owner of Kismet) taking me for a round of golf after sailing in his helicopter. After getting over the initial anxiety of my first helicopter flight I was allowed to take the controls, Wow amazing…..

I headed back to Weymouth on Thursday for the RS100 sprint race challenge to help raise money for Cancer research. The boat looked pretty tricky to sail and I haven’t sailed a single handed asymmetric boat before. With only 10 minutes to practise, things didn’t look good! I capsized leaving the slipway, capsized attempting my first gybe and then again attempting my first gybe with the spinnaker up!

The growing crowd seemed to appreciate this as they jeered on.
The two minute gun went before I had completed a gybe with out getting wet not ideal. Luckily I was a quick learner and went on to win the heats and final, almost feeling like I knew what I was doing by the end.
After receiving my prize I decided to auction it off to the crowd and raised another £100 for a good cause.

Its back home to see my new niece for the first time and catch up with friends before its time to put my head back down with the next block of training, exciting times ahead…………..

After a tough week of racing in the bay, it all came down to the medal race. With all three medals still up for grabs it was everything to gain nothing to loose. I had a few points to make up but, was determined to give it my best shot. After an early lead up the first beat a few boats came round the top mark in front. After a solid run I took the lead up the second beat and, went on to win the race. The drama was unfolding behind as Tom (AUS) made a good come back to cross the line just in front of Rutger (NED). Unfortunately this left me with Bronze. A little bit disappointed but I guess I couldn’t have done much more. With plenty of things to work on over the next 12 months it is time for a brief break before knuckling down to get where I need to be in 2012…
I will be heading east for the premiere West Mersea Race week for a few days and then back to Weymouth for Thursday Evening at the RS games to help raise money for Cancer Research…


The medal race can be watched belowhttp://static.sportresult.com/federations/isaf/Sailing/raceviewer_0_9_14/index.php?dev=1&v=4a6&id=503c9387-66e7-4773-ac45-90867ca9a8dd&event=70

Well after all the waiting we are up and running….
Today was pretty tricky with a 10- 12 knot building thermal. After taking a penalty at the top of the first beat I recovered to 6 in race one and then followed it up with a 7 in race two to leave me 4th Overall. Not quite the start I was after but still it was ok.
Keep up to date with the week on facebook and twitter
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paul-Goodison/139497762780076
http://twitter.com/#!/paulgoodisongbr

It has been a full on few weeks of training as I prepare for the Olympic test event. I opted to train in Weymouth rather than travel to Finland for the Europeans as did a few of the other top sailors as I feel the Test event is the priority and learning as much as possible about the weather conditions in Weymouth is key. This also left me with the opportunity to compete in the Round the Island race this year which was pretty epic with strong winds and big waves.
Check out the video of our race belowhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0UDrZk6qAA&feature=player_embedded

I have had quite a mix of people to sail with, sailing with the Finn guys for a week, this was good fun all be it a little frustrating as they are just a fraction quicker. It was good to do a week with the Italian Laser team and then the Swedish Laser guys for some quality time in Weymouth bay. The last few days Nick has been around and Brad Funk is here so we have had a good mix of sailing golf and cycling. It is getting busier and busier as more teams arrive for training.
Training is all going well, it has seemed to be a little one dimensional with strong South Westerly’s we did have a few days of North easterly to mix it up. It seems a while since we did any non hiking sailing hopefully get a few days practice in this stuff at the weekend.
I am feeling pretty exhausted after a full on few weeks but finding it hard to do nothing…… Its raining today so it should be a bit easier and it looks like a good stage of the tour so the sofa is the place to be this afternoon…..
Hopefully the weather clears up tomorrow and I can make it out for my first bike race of the year, feeling very inspired by le tour….

Keep up to date on twitter and face book
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After a tough week in Weymouth for the Sail for Gold Regatta it was straight off to Sardinia to sail with the Red boys. After missing an event due to Olympic commitments it was good to be back. We all looked in good shape until the morning of the first race when Mark bowman Williams tripped over a curb / wall and put him self out of action. We just managed to get a replacement in time for the first race. The distraction seemed to help as we won the first race!! We followed this up with a 3 and a 5 in the building breeze for a solid first day. Day two saw more breeze again and we started well and then took the lead on the first run to win the race. Unfortunately things were taken out of our hands as an unfortunate mistake by another boat caused a head on collision in the pre start damaging both boats and injuring crew. We had to retire and missed the rest of the racing that day. The protest for redress was pretty straight forward and we were awarded average points of 2.5.
The final days racing was abandoned at 11 am due to gusts of over 60 knots leaving us to take the overall win.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable regatta thanks to a great team effort.
Next stop Round the Island Race………

photo credit Guido Trombetta/BPSE/Studio Borlenghi

Wow after quite a week I finished with a medal, not the colour I wanted but not far off after a frustrating medal race that didnt quite go my way.
Sail for Gold was incredibly important with the pre Olympic spot on the line. Iit was a physically challenging week that not only need physical strength but mental perseverance….. I may have started the week a little conservative rather than attacking straight from the start but that was always the plan to have a solid foundation to build on. I thought I was sailing well but things weren’t quite coming off.
In the finals things came together when the pressure really came on and I needed to pull myself out of trouble, I managed to finish with a 3, 3, 1 guaranteeing a medal going in to the medal race. With the possibility of gold still on, I attacked hard and thought I had given Tom a penalty at the start. In the process of struggling to get my protest flag out and hailing the jury I was a fraction late at the start. After tacking out the wind filled from the left leaving me stranded on the right a long way behind. I fought back but it wasn’t good enough leaving me with Bronze.
The most important thing was I got the pre Olympic spot which is a vital part of defending my title in 2012.
Im now in Sardinia with team RED which is a nice change to the Laser training and looking forward to the challenges of Melges 32 racing.

There are only a few days before Skandia Sail for Gold so this week has been about just winding down a little bit, getting some time to catch up with a few things off the water and giving my body and my boat the attention it needs to be ready for when racing starts.

It’s been pretty intense for the past two weeks and we’ve had some really windy conditions so when I’ve come in from sailing, I’ve been pretty tired and there has not really been any time to do any paperwork or any of the other stuff that just needs doing.

I joined a golf club a couple of weeks ago because I thought golf would be a brilliant way to take my mind off sailing, but while it was a really nice idea, by the time I’ve been cycling or been to the gym too, the last thing I want to do is walk around a golf course for three hours!

I did get to play a round on Thursday though; there was no wind and it was a beautiful day so we put a bit of time in on the golf course. I ended up with bright red forearms because they never see the sun when I’m out on the water!

Me and Saskia also spent the day in Bristol on Sunday just to get out of Weymouth and be somewhere completely away from sailing. It was lovely to spend time chatting in the pub talking about everything but sailing; sometimes you need to do that so you can really keep your mind fresh because the last thing you want is for sailing to feel like a chore.

I’m really looking forward to Sail for Gold starting. This is the busiest I’ve ever known Weymouth before an event. It seems like a lot of the international teams have taken a leaf out of the Brits’ book from China, and are spending as much time in the venue as possible. There have been 40-50 Lasers out training some days this week, and while that is great in terms of always having someone new to train against, it inevitably ends up having a knock on as everything takes a bit longer to do or to get anywhere. I’m really pleased I put all the work in early so I don’t get wound up by not being able to do certain things now. The whole atmosphere around the venue is certainly more stressful than normal.

I may spend some time on the water before the event starts if we get a couple of lighter days, as we’ve not had much of that recently but aside from that I just need to give the boat a good polish and we’re ready to go.

I am going in to win and I’m reasonably confident I can be there or thereabouts at the end of the week. My thing before China was to be unbeaten on the Olympic racetrack going into the Games. That hasn’t happened with Weymouth because Tom Slingsby beat me here last year so I definitely want to win here again. But as important as this regatta is, I’ve not lost sight of the fact it’s still another step on the path to the most important thing; London 2012. Until that event everything is about learning more and inching out even the smallest gains.

We had a great day a couple of weeks ago doing a helicopter photo shoot for Volvo. I’ve never known anything like it, with the helicopter swooping so low sometimes the downdraft it created almost tipped you out of the boat! It was amazing though, such a rush, the noise was incredible. The pictures from the shoot are super cool!

Cant wait to get racing next week…….

Photo Credit Lloyd Images

Its been great to be home for some good training out on the Olympic courses. Each week we have had 3 days of organised racing out in Weymouth bay with some special sailing conditions. Each day has produced solid breezes meaning hiking conditions and some great racing. It was a nice change yesterday to sail in some lighter conditions and it didnt seem to take long to adapt to the change which was good. Today was a bit of a blow out as we opted for a bit of RC laser racing in the little bay off the house, nice to have an easy day before back in to it tomorrow.
With just over a week to go until Sail for Gold preparations are going well. After the weekend training will start to ease a little as the regatta approaches. I feel good all be it a little tired and the sailing has been going really well so looking forward to getting started.
Keep up to date with progress on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/paulgoodisongbr
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Photo Credit Lloyd Images

After the disappointment of Hyere with things not quite falling in to place and may be trying to force it to happen, its been nice to have a week at home to reflect and recover from the last few months.
Its been good to put in some quality gym training, having more time to recover not sailing helps to push things forward and with the cycling racing starting on Thursday night I have been out training with the boys which is always fun.
Weymouth is starting to fill up with foreign sailors again, as I drove to the store last week to collect my boat about 8 or 9 foreign trailers where heading the other way. Training starts again tomorrow, getting back in to a routine training from home is going be great especially as there will be several foreign teams to train with keeping it fresh each week.
I was a little disappointed by the decision of ISAF last week on the classes for the 2016 Olympic games. I think the the woman’s skiff has been long over due but dropping the keel boat (star) I think is a poor decision with so much talent in the class. I do feel that the boats are in need of an update, the skiffs are great to watch but why cant more of the classes be? with the multihulls back in it will be interesting to see what boat is selected and if they go down the wing mast path? but for me I really feel that a foiling class should be in there, they are fast and good to watch…..

Any way is off to the club for a photo / video shoot, quite excited about a heli shoot never been involved in one before…..

It’s been a good week for sailing in Palma with a successful regatta.
The week started with some really strong off shore shifty winds, peaking at over 30 knots. As the week progressed the sea breeze became more dominant. On day 2 and 3 we had a race in the morning in a 16 knot decreasing offshore breeze and then a race in 10- 12 knot sea breeze in the afternoon. Gold fleet racing was dominated by unusually shifty sea breeze conditions.

In the strong winds on day one I lead the first race to just miss out on the final beat to take 2nd, after a mistake at the start of race two I had a massive comeback from the late 20s to 7th
On day 2 and 3 the results settled with a string of 1st despite a bit of a back injury. Physio flash did a great job of piecing me back together each day.
Tom Slingsby was all so putting a good set of results together as we seemed to swap yellow and blue jerseys each day.

After the gold fleet racing was complete only 2 points separated the top 3, guaranteed a medal it was all down to the medal race to determine the colour.
The sea breeze developed for some nice conditions on the final day.
I watched the radials finish their race giving me a clear plan of what I wanted to do. After a good start I lead at the top mark with a good few boats between me and the other medal contenders. After a safe run I split on the second beat from NZL to loosely cover the guys I needed to. I was second around the top and with a comfortable lead it was wrapped up, for a relaxing final run.

To see high lights of the medal race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzM_TkvRs6A&feature=player_embedded

For results see
http://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/result.php?miclase=Laser%20Standard

Its great to have performed well under the pressure of such a tight medal race and come out on top.

I’m pretty happy with where I’m at with my sailing right now as I head back to Weymouth to fix my body and get ready for Hyere.


Photo Credit, Nico Martinez, Richard Langdon

Other images included with this entry..

After the disappointment of no racing last weekend in Plymouth it was back out to Palma on Wednesday. It’s been a busy few days, with a mixture of meetings, media requirements and sailing.
Team GBR are here in numbers, taking over most of the dinner hall in the hotel we are staying, its nice to have the other classes around.
On Thursday I was on the water doing some filming for one of the team sponsors, Friday some filming for Meridian. This was quite a laugh; I went out cycling with Stu and Giles, a taxi chased after us with a cameraman hanging out of the winder. We did a quick interview by the side of the road and we were asked what we had been chatting about, we had just been chatting about our chances in the team sprint at the games, slim and NONE!!!
This morning I was part of a photo shoot for the Financial Times with team Volvo sailors Hannah, Sas and Nick and the other Beijing medallists before hitting the gym and then a sail this afternoon. I have registered, measured and given the boat a bit of TLC this evening. After a pretty full on day I am ready for an easy day tomorrow, maybe go and find a golf course….
The weather has definitely changed in Palma from the last camp its no longer cold and windy but sunny and sea breeze conditions. With a mixed forecast for next week I am looking forward to getting racing. Most of the top boys are here so should be a good regatta.

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for a quick look at how breezy it was in Palma last week…….

I survived with a few capsizes, others were not so lucky, broken spars, broken boats! Christian the Norwegian had a rib roll over his capsized laser…..

Its been another good week sailing in Palma and its getting warmer…..
There have been a lot of teams here this week, the Brits, Swedes, Germans, Spanish, Danish, Norwegians to name a few. After a few days of individual training we all came together for 3 days of racing at the club Nàutic s’arenal regatta. With over 40 boats entered we had three long days of racing, the first two days in a sea breeze and the final day with a strong offshore breeze peaking at over 20 knots. With a mix of conditions it was nice to race on a full length course with 15 minute plus beats rather than the 5-8 minutes we have been doing in training. I felt I raced well and had good speed, my starts left a few questions to be asked on the final day as a few of the fleet became pretty trigger happy and I was a bit too determined not to go with them starting a few lengths back in the final two races, not ideal……
It was good to win the regatta by 14 points sailing consistently and making some good recovery’s to keep all my results in the top 4 in some shifty conditions. Many thanks to the club for organising and putting on a good regatta, no entry fee, bbq’s after sailing and a prize voucher for €150!!!!! If Carlsberg did sailing regattas????
I feel pretty tired as I have been trying to keep the off water training up on top of the sailing. I have three more days here for a bit of sailing and cycling before heading home.

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ts been another good week in Palma with a mixture of sailing. cycling and gym work. Its back to reality after being spoilt with the sun and fun in Mexico.
Palma has been pretty wet, well very wet, windy and not particularly warm rarely getting above 10 degrees. Its been pretty intense with tough days trying to fit everything in. Its all been worth while as I leave feeling exhausted. I was pretty close to not leaving this afternoon as I got a bit carried away and lost out riding my bike. After a quick pack up and mad dash to the club, Scotland aka Mark Andrews dropped me at the airport just in time to make check in.
Its the Volvo RYA Dinghy show this weekend at Alexandra Palace where I’ll be on Saturday and then back home for only the fourth day this year. Im really looking forward to a few days at home to recharge the batteries before heading back to Palma for some more training….

It was quite a change in scenery as I arrived from Mexico to Italy. In Carrera it was 8 degrees and raining as we put the boat in the water ready for racing. On the first day we sailed 2 legs of the course before a large wind shift caused the race to be abandoned. After this happened twice we were sent ashore. On the second day the sun shone and the weather warmed up, not much though! We had four races in a variety of conditions. After a disappointing first race we got it together for a 2, 1, 1. On the Saturday night Luca through an amazing party in a local night club with his Melges 32 in the water and lite up like a Christmas tree. The final day was cold and wet again, after a 3, 2 we could only be beaten by one boat if they won and we were next to last. It all seemed quite easy until we started early and had to go back….. We got back in to it with the right boat behind us finishing 4th while they were 8th. All in all a great regatta for team red, it was nice to sail with the full strength squad and be right where we need to be.
http://melges32.com/?p=news&id=722

Ive been in Palma now for four days with some good sailing and a bit of cycling with the boys. We even saw the Saxo bank team and Alberto Contador out training this morning, we went straight past them…..(the other way)
Its nice being out in Palma again quite easy living and good for training. There are quite a few Laser sailors out here at the moment so the training is pretty good.

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Pit Stop

After two weeks in Mexico I leave with a smile on my face after a great training camp at the ISA centre in Puerto Cruz www.internationalsailingacademy.com

I have really enjoyed the camp, we have had a good mix of sailing conditions and a good training group, Nick, Bapsey, Brad Funk, Rob Crane along with a few other US and Canadian sailors. The facility there is pretty special, a great house on the beach only a 5 minute walk from the Marina. The beach in front of the house even had surf on a few occasions. The local gym was good and the catering was amazing thanks to Lea the training centres chef, I’m pretty sure we had something different every meal, not like the standard rolling 4 menus we tend to eat while away!
I leave pretty tired after an action packed 14 days. Each day we tried to achieve a Mexican hatrick….. 3 activities in a day! This generally included gym, sailing, and another activity more on the fun side. This ranged from Surfing, mountain biking to even going to a Bull Fight, I’m not sure what we were thinking with the bull fight, culture???? I didn’t enjoy it and definitely won’t be going to one again.
It’s a long Trip home now and I’m seriously tired and ready for some economy class snoozing, early morning flight to Dallas, then on to Miami and then back to London.
It’s a quick pit stop for my third day of the year in the UK before flying out to Carrera Italy, for a Melges 32 event with Team Red. Its then straight to Palma for some more Laser sailing……

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I have been here now for coming up to week, With six days of sailing in predominantly light winds it may be time for a rest day tomorrow. Its been quite an action packed few days with gym, sailing, mountain biking and some surfing filling most days. There have been a few funny moments thrown in there too.
We drove home the other night and got pulled over by the police. Vaughn the driver got taken to one side and was told he was going to be fined etc… Five minutes later he came back to the car ‘we need 300 pesos’ after paying the cop off we drove on. It sounded like tourist tax for swerving to miss a speed bump / pot hole.
The other day I couldn’t find my team cap with the Volvo logo on the side, I thought I had just misplaced it. After packing my boat up on the walk home, I walked passed a local and had to double take, after a second glance I noticed he was wearing my cap! After shouting at the guy and pointing he glared at me and off he went. I found it pretty hard to believe it was being worn less than 50 meters away from where it had been taken…
All in all we have had a good week, some good sailing but not the true thermal breeze as it has been quite cloudy, it is supposed to clear and get back to normal in a few days so hopefully some breeze.
We have had a few good surf trips with some small but clean waves and a good mountain bike tour where we were taken in to the mountains to a house of a drug barren who was jailed several years ago. The trails were either really dust or running river beds pretty different to home and great fun, way more interesting than sitting on the bike in the gym….

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