Due to the Olympic Rules I am no longer aloud to write blogs on this site. I will be putting things up on my Blogspot.

www.paulgoodison.blogspot.com

Thanks
Paul

I write this yawning as i sit and wait for my next flight from Beijing to Quingdao. I didn’t catch much sleep on the flight so im fueling myself with caffeine to try and stay awake. It all feels very real having just validated my accreditation. Walking around in my team kit everybody seems interested in what im doing here and what sport im competing in, even getting my photo taken with Chinese ground staff at the airport.

I have just had a good weak at home with a mix of cycling, sailing and sitting at home waiting for the post man to arrive with a whole variety of packages of new ropes, tillers, wetsuits etc….

On Thursday I had one of the nicest sails in Weymouth ive ever had, the wind increased to over 20 knots from the South East as i sailed out of the harbour into the bay. The sun was shining as i was out heading up towards Lullworth with only a few mored tankers for company. I enjoyed some great rides home on the building swell before heading home for lunch.

I pulled out of doing a time Trial on my bike on Tuesday night as still felt a little tired from the Europeans but this left me all rested up for my first ever road race on Thursday night after a great days sailing.

I headed off with Alex Hopson the new local triathlon star!!! part time 49er crew, with both bikes in the back of the car out to Morton. After registering and paying for a temporary racing license we had enough time for a quick warm up. There were over 50 cyclists signed on and several of the elite group where warming up on turbo trainers which was a bit dawnting!!!

We started just after 7 about 2 minutes after the Elite group for 10 laps of the 4km course. It wasn’t the gentle started that id anticipated as we raced off with my heart rate pounding away.

After a few laps i was getting the hang of things and find myself leading out of one of the corners, the guy next to me said lets go as we put the pedal to the metal and tried to brake away. After a minute we managed to gain a bit of a lead on the pack, I looked at my heart rate to see it over 95% I put my head down and drove on, the next time i looked back everybody was right there behind us, GUTTED!!!!!!!!

I took a while to recover as i clung on to the back of the group for a lap. Having not learned from my mistake i tried again with another rider before being caught and getting a bit of an earful from one of the locals, I just smiled and pedaled on.

The pace increased as we entered the last 2 laps as several people tried break aways, with 2 corners to go 4 of the elite riders that had broken away came past, Alex and i managed to stay with them as we stretched out into the last corner for the last mile to home. Alex kicked hard as i clung onto the back and then sling shotted past for the sprint to the finish (the work horse, taking one for the team cheers mate). Two riders from the Elite group pulled away and I was just passed with 20 meters to go to take 2nd on the line!!!!! Alex sorted me out a treat but was swallowed up by the group just before the finish, I made sure i bought him a beer after….

It was a great experience to take part in my first road race and a great work out reaching heart rate intensities that are really hard to achieve with out the adrenaline pumping in a race situation. I had a great time and im sure ill be back for some more after China.

After a really tough week in Belgium I came away as European Champion again, 4 in a row….
Back in January when we were planning my run in to the games I was unsure whether to compete in the Europeans. The conditions are very tidal even stronger than China which could be great practice but, if there was to be a low pressure system it could be very strong south westerly winds and sailing into nearly 2 knots of tide it could just be a hike off with predominantly upwind sailing, not ideal when you are trying to be small for the Olympics.
We decided it would be a good regatta to go to to practice racing having missed a few regattas this year to spend time training in china.
The South Westerly winds blew and blew making it a very physically challenging regatta with some of the first beats lasting over 30 minutes.
I rose to the challenge well even though i was way too light, i battled hard having surprisingly reasonable speed upwind allowing me to hang in there. I sailed really well all week, starting well and consolidating my positions and taking the opportunities when they came.
To become European Champion for the fourth year running in such challenging conditions gives me great confidence going in to the Olympics.
I now have a few days at home before flying out to China at the weekend.


The results can be seen below http://events.laserinternational.org/en/events/results/100z19

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I’ve had a pretty good week at home training although the persistent wind has made it difficult to get out Laser sailing. I feel a bit sorry for the Moth sailors that are in weymouth who have sat in the club house as racing has been cancelled for the last three days and it doesn’t look so good today either.
I have managed to get a bit of windsurfing in each day followed by some cycling. Last night I was persuaded by one of the up and coming RSX sailors Richard Hamilton to go and have a go at a local time trial on my bike.
We turned up late after getting lost to register and receive our numbers and start order. I have never done one before so it was all a bit new and i felt well out of my depth. There where a lot of nice time trial bikes with Disc wheels and i seemed to be the only one with out tri bars!!!!
I sat on the start line waiting to leave a minute after Rich and i calmly asked the marshall what the course was!!! He smiled and gave me a quick run down of the 10 mile loop.
I started off hammer down and it wasn’t long before my legs where crying out for me to ease off, I slowly got into a rhythm but i still couldn’t see any body on the horizon so i kicked harder. In the distance I caught sight of a cyclist as i pushed on. I was so hoping it was Rich as i ground them down, I was gutted as i drew closer to see it wasn’t, I pressed on and went past concentrating hard to find the tight left hander as i didn’t want to miss the turn.
As we turned is was in to the wind for the last 4 miles. I passed another rider before getting Rich in my sites, I closed the distance but didn’t manage to catch him as I crossed the line in 24 minutes 45 seconds.
It was a great experience and Im pretty keen to have a go at some more.
Im sat on the ferry yawning as i head over to the Belgium for the Europeans, lets hope the rain stops and the wind allows some sailing!!!

Check out the cycling results below http://www.ccweymouth.co.uk/results/results.html

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Its been a busy few days.
On Wednesday I made the trip up to Northampton to collect a new boat ready for the Europeans. After swapping boats over it was off to the NEC to collect my Olympic Kit.
The whole process took nearly two hours as I was escorted from room to room trying each piece of kit on and getting sized up. I than sat in a waiting area with a few other sailors while our sizes where picked from stock before being packed into our nice new suitcases. The amount of stuff is amazing, two big bags one small bag and a suiter each, I struggled to squeeze both mine and Saskias kit in the car!
It was then off to Heathrow to Drop Saskia off before driving to Southampton to pick a box of sailing kit and then off home to Weymouth, getting home just after 12 quite a long day.
It was pretty exciting to pick up my Olympic clothing as it all starts to become very real, its nearly time and i cant wait!!!
I have had a few good days training in weymouth both on my bike and on the water. After 90km on the bike yesterday it was nice to go sailing today and take a closer look at the foiling moths in action as they prepare for there worlds next week. The wind increased and we had a great sail in the bay with some really nice waves before we reached home and i managed to get a sneaky windsurf in this evening!!!!

After another good week of training in China I returned home on Friday for the JPMorgan Round the Island Race.
I taxied from the airport straight to Cowes for some Volvo corporate and media racing in J80’s before a Volvo bbq in the evening. Fighting off the jet lag I made it through to about 10pm before I passed out.
The morning of race day, was an early start with a wake up call at 4am!!! Thanks to the jet lag I was wide awake and ready for some racing.

I headed down to the boat I was skippering – a TP52 called ‘Team Volvo for life 1’ – to meet the rest of the crew. I was sailing with some of the Volvo Keelboat squad, 3 Journalists, a TV reporter Tanya Arnold from BBC North and her cameraman, I also had a special guest Kevin Blackwell the mighty Sheffield United manager.

We left the dock and headed out to sea at just after 5am on ‘Team Volvo for life 1’. We started in a building breeze and headed upwind to the needles, after turning the corner and popping the kite we were off at pace topping out at 22.5 knots boat speed. It was a great ride down the back of the Island with a few good broaches, the most exciting of which we charged down a wave flat out and piled into the back of the next wave as the spinnaker exploded and the boat broached out leaving most of the crew dangling from the guard rails.

It took a while to get sorted but the crew did an excellent job of retrieving the broken kite and getting another one ready. While just under mainsail we still managed to hit 19knots down the back of one wave. We set a new spinnaker and we were off again rounding the forts off Portsmouth before beating home to Cowes.

We finished the race at 11:10:53 in a time of 05:10:53, this left us 5th in class 0 and 29th overall not bad out of 1875 boats.

It was a great days or should i say morning of sailing thanks to the team work of all on board, thanks guys….. and thanks to Volvo for making it all happen.

Im back out in China training again. Its quite nice this trip as most of the sailing team are here staying in the same hotel. The atmosphere is great and the competition is pretty high, pool, table tennis, tennis you name it theres always a challenge going on!!!
We have just had a really good week of training in quite a mixed range of conditions, it was pretty foggy again yesterday giving us a few navigational challenges to keep us on our toes. There is also quite a bit of weed in the water to avoid, despite the efforts of an armarder of fishing boats that go out everyday to pull it out of the water.
Today is a bit of a rest day so we are going to go and explore a bit this morning and play some more tennis this afternoon, it is quite a treat to have ball boys at the hotel but you soon get used to it.

On Wednesday night we had the sail for gold ball at The Hilton Park Lane, London.
Over 800 guests attended including HRH The Princess Royal for an evening of fun and fundraising hosted by Davina McCall. I had a great evening seeing many old friends and a good party afterwards.
Its time now to head back to China for some more training I cant wait….

Its nice to be home for a few days although I had a rude awakening this morning. At six am I had a knock on the door from the drug testers so had to wander downstairs still half asleep to produce a sample before staggering back to bed, I’m still suffering a touch from jet lag.
After weights this morning It was time to get back out on the water. I was joined today by a BBC film crew, to get some shots from a head cam and at one point another person on board filming which was pretty interesting.
It was so nice to get out on my bike again tonight joined by a few friends who are deep into their triathlon training but they didn’t manage to talk me into a sprint triathlon this weekend. I would love to have a go but my swimming and running are not so flash!!!!
Maybe next year…...

We had a great last day of sailing in Qingdao, one of the best Ive had there. It was a rare day where the sky’s where clear, the sun was bright and the wind blew. There was all of a sudden a mountainous back drop and a row of ships on the horizon that over the past week have only been heard and not seen due to the mist. After a great days sailing the boats where packed back in to containers before we headed out for dinner with the Finn boys.
Its been a good trip getting lots of sailing in and staying healthy which is pretty important, its now time to fly home for a few weeks before heading back out to China after the Sail for Gold Ball for some more training. I cant wait to see if the Finn boys have their Gold DJ’s made up??

Its been a pretty interesting day on the water today. The visibility again was pretty poor, down to around 80m at times. We headed out to sea to do some short course racing. Chris laid a course and gps marked the buoy positions. After we rounded the windward mark we headed back down wind on a compass bearing, neither of us could find the buoys so Chris motored to the gps position and they werent there!!! After a few minutes looking we gave up and decided to do some speed work.
May be well find them tomorrow?????

We have been here nearly a week now and have seen a good mix of conditions from no wind to 25 knots!!! so the training has been varied.
One of the biggest challengers was getting the boats out of the containers as we had no keys for the padlocks! Nick went for the brute force route trying to smash them off before i managed to borrow a hack saw, 20 minutes and a few blisters later and we where in.
Today the visibility was a real issue as we could barely see further than 100m, at one stage we lost the Kiwi coach as he drove off in his rib to be the leward mark. Chris had to telephone him with our gps coordinates, 20 minutes later he appeared through the fog!!!
The high light so far has to be the big Tennis match where Nick and I won in straight sets 6-0 6-1 against the NZL team of Foxy and Murdock, we even went to the trouble of buying matching team kit from the market.
The finn boys arrive tomorrow so it will be good to have some new tennis teams or easy pray????

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It has been a busy few days before Im finally here in China!

I took delivery of my new Volvo on Monday, not only does it look nice and clean but it has some fancy new extras ive not seen before. On Tuesday i had to give blood, I don’t usually enjoy this at the best of times. Nathan the nutritionalist was delayed so i had to meet him half way. I sat in the reclined passenger seat of his car in a Tescos car park while he took several samples of blood, we looked pretty dodgy and got some funny looks. The blood was then rushed off for analyses at the Lab.

I also managed to squeeze a fitness test in before I flew out on Wednesday. This involves a few tests at the University of Chichester. I started on a stationary SRM bike that is controlled by a computer to determine the exercise intensity. The first test was a 4 stage aerobic test that lead into a max test where you finish when you cant go any longer, this isn’t nice and you don’t feel too good at the end. Heart rates are reordered through out the test and samples of blood are taken at different stages. A mask is also worn to collect the air that’s exhaled at certain key stages. After this there was a short brake before a few strength tests and then a sprint test on the rowing machine. The initial reaction from the Physiologist Pete Cunningham was good. I now wait for the data to be processed for the more detailed results before i get my new training program. (Cant wait!!!!!!)

After the test i managed a sneaky 9 holes of golf before the evening Virgin flight out to Hong Kong. I met up with Nick in Hong Kong and we took the train into the city for dinner to have a look round. The best way to get around was on elevated walk ways, we cruised around on the these always taking the route upwards it seemed as this was usually on an escalator. It was a lively evening with lots going on. We managed to see quite a lot of different places before getting completely lost so we took a taxi to the ferry port. We caught the ferry back over to Hong Kong it was pretty cool to see the city from the water. It was quite late so we got a train back to the airport hotel for some rest before the morning flight up to Qingdao.

We have finally made it to the team house in Qingdao, which is right by the Olympic Marina. We had a bit of luck with the taxi driver who understood the Chinese written address cards and took us straight to the house.

The weather here is surprisingly cool and overcast so I might need to head down the market to buy some extra thermals for sailing, the upside is I wont be needing to drink 10 liters a day and change my t shirt every five minutes.

We have just met up with Chris and made some plans for getting the boats out of containers and the training ahead, with a bit of luck we’ll make it on the water tomorrow, fingers crossed!!!!

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This weekend was the last time I will compete on British waters before the Olympics. It was quite fitting that it was in Weymouth the waters for the next Olympic sailing event post China.

Saturday was very light winds and the race officer decided to hold the fleet ashore. Unfortunately the wind dropped and the racing for the day was canceled. A few of us decided that we would hold our own mini regatta using model RC Lasers off the pontoons. Penny Clark came out on top just ahead of her husband and Stewart Blithfield, it was a close fight between Nick and I for the wooden spoon.

Sunday was much better with the wind coming in from the East before swinging South East and increasing. We had three good races in the harbour in a 5 -12 knot breeze. I sailed really well to win all three races and take the event overall.

Im off to China on Wednesday with Nick and Im looking forward to starting my training in Qingdao.

For the Qualifier results click below http://laser.org.uk/docs/uploaded/wpnsastd.08nh.html

UK Qualifiers and Team Building

After Hyere I flew straight home ready for an Olympic team building session in North Wales. On the way up I met with a few of the other guys to go mountain biking, we stopped at Coed y Brenin which is a wicked mountain bike centre. The team building was at Plas Menai a great out door centre on the Menai Straights.

We started the first day with pico sailing and a regatta. I was teamed with Richard Langdon so while racing we were also official camera boat. We won the first two races before Richard stepped off. With most of the sailors determined to stop me making a clean streak of wins, it was Leigh Mcmillan that pulled my boom off and broke my Kicker!!!! After starting a little late with a broken boat and no kicker i pulled back to 4th to win overall. The rest of the time was mixed between class room sessions and a few more outdoor activities, gorge walking which was great fun and a pole jump which involved jumping off a large pole to try and touch a ball 30ft off the ground while harnessed up.

On Thursday I went to a Volvo track day at Rockingham Speedway. It was a mix of fun and education, after the unveiling of the beautiful new XC60 I was taken round a track by a racing driver and scared to death. I then had a go at drifting on a skid pan which was so much fun. It was pretty amazing to see the difference between traction control on and off and how the driver aids help you keep the car on the road.

At the weekend i was in North Wales again for the Laser Qualifier in Pwllheli, Three first places on Saturday meant that i only needed to do well in the first race on Sunday to win. A third in the first race was good enough to win the regatta with race to spare. I still sailed the last race before rushing ashore to go mountain biking again at Coed y Brenin. I drove to south Wales and stayed in Swansea for two more days riding to get some extra hours of fitness in the bag and some different riding before heading home to Weymouth.

I have a few days training now at home before another Qualifier this weekend and of to China next week.

With less than 100 days to the games its getting ever closer

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On arriving in Hyere I was looking forward to seeing how i would cope with the strong winds as i was now a bit lighter in preparation for China, I knew it was not going to be easy but I should benefit in the lighter winds.
Day 1
The breeze was onshore between 18 – 25 knots with a large sea. i didn’t start particularly well in the first race and had to duck pretty much the entire fleet leaving me on the right hand side of the course and in trouble as the left was favored. I climbed back from rounding in the 20s up to 16th by the finish.
Race 2 saw the breeze increasing again, with a heavily biased port end I started at the pin but struggled to get out of the line. This time i managed to stay to the favored left side of the course and round in contact with the leading bunch ending up 6th.
Day 2
Strong winds again, but this time off shore and shifty. It was snakes and ladders as the wind shifted and the gusts rolled down the course. I sailed a good first run to catch the leaders and ended up 4th. The second race of the day again saw an increase in wind, after a poor start i struggled up the first beat to pull back to 12th. After racing i went cycling for 50 km to think things over.
Day 3
The wind blew and blew with gusts of over 40 knots, the racing was cancelled just after 12. I tried to go windsurfing but the hire shop was reluctant to let anybody to take any equipment out in that much breeze. I sat at the beach frustrated and watched the pros looping around before going to the gym for an hour and then playing football with the guys, the Laser boys beat the 49er boys with ease nice work lads!!!
Day 4
The first day of finals and it was gold fleet racing. Race 1 saw fighting sea breezes increase slowly from two directions. The race got underway in shifty conditions. I got a great start and lead to the left hand side before a new breeze came from the right leaving a lot of work to do. I sailed a good reach and run before getting becalmed on the second beat to leave me in the last 10 boats and very frustrated!
In the next race i again started well leading out to the left before crossing the fleet and rounding the windward mark 2nd. I caught the leader and then passed on the run to lead up the last beat, the breeze switched directions and the race was abandoned to my frustration.
After a long wait and a tour round the bay we started again. I had a great start again and lead to the left, the wind wound right and i was unable to cross the boats on the right. A climbed a few places round the course but because of the large shift it was hard to make gains, finishing in the 20’s.
Day 5
I needed a good performance to make the medal race and with a 5-10 knot breeze it was all to play for. I started well in race 1 and crossed to cover most of the fleet, I rounded in the leading bunch and sailed through to finish 2nd.
In Race 2 i started well again but the right hand side was favored as i came from the left, I sailed a good run to leave me in the leading bunch. I sailed through to second on the next beat. There was a change of course and a mix up as we headed down to the leeward mark, the race was abandoned and the mark turned out to be the 470s windward mark.
It felt like the week was not meant to be as another race was called off when i was in a great position.
The time neared 7pm before another race got away again with the right hand side favoring i crossed from the left to round just inside the top 10, on the second beat i protected the right hand side to move up to 2nd. On the final run the wind started to die and it was a nice to cross the line in 2nd before the breeze disappeared.

Day 6
I had just made the medal race and was still in with a chance of medalling.
After watching the Finns race before us it was obvious it was going to be a tricky race as the wind wobbled around. In 7 knots of breeze we started. A managed to pick the breeze and the shifts well up the first beat to round 2nd before over taking the Canadian on the run. I extended up the second beat to sail a relaxed run to take the win. The Austrian sailed well on the last run to get back into 3rd overall leaving me with a 4th place overall.

After a mixed week of conditions I was happy with how I had sailed just a little frustrated with my starting early on in the week and disappointed that two races where abandoned one that i was leading the other 2nd, they never seem to get stopped when Im at the back!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Im back in the UK for a while off to Plas Menai for some Olympic team building and some UK based sailing before leaving for China in May
The games are getting closer and i cant wait

I have recently been competing at the Princess Sofia Regatta, which attracted over 100 of the best Lasers sailors from around the world so it was a very competitive event.

Luckily my wrist seemed to hold up well, and I am really pleased to have won this event, it gives me even more confidence to go into the Olympics!

I’ve just spent the past two weeks fitness and weight loss training in Palma prior to this regatta to get ready for the lighter winds in China this summer. My training schedule involves cycling, gym strength work and training on the water.

In Palma there are sea breezes in the afternoon and the water is nice and warm which is always a bonus!! The training has been varied – racing, tuning, round marking general tactic work and debriefing / coaching. The weight loss isn’t quite as hard as the last Olympics because this time I have a bit longer to lose the weight.

I have been back in the UK briefly training in Weymouth, and I will be heading back to Palma again to continue my training there before I head out to Hyere, France.

After the Laser Worlds, I flew back to the UK to catch up with friends and family. I had my wrist x-rayed and all is healing well, so now I am concentrating on getting back into my fitness training and weight loss programme for the Olympics.

Alongside my sail training, I do cardio fitness work on my Orange bike which I really enjoy. My schedule does vary depending on whether I am on a fitness training week or combining fitness work with sailing. But generally I will do cardio training before breakfast, followed by gym and core stability work and either sail training or another cycling session in the afternoon. The training includes racing, tuning, mark rounding, general tactic work and debriefing / coaching. Afterwards I head back to the hotel to chill out with the other guys – we just chat about our day or watch TV and films.

Despite my injury, my training for China is going well, and I feel more confident with my preparation than I did before Athens, both physically and mentally. I’ve already won the two Olympic test events: in fact winning the 2007 Olympic Test Regatta in Qingdao was the most satisfying – I put enormous pressure on myself to win to prove to everyone that I was going to be the man to beat in the Olympics in 2008.

I went to the Dinghy Show in London at the weekend with a full day of activities including a Laser master class, press interviews, book signings, Volvo RYA Champion Club award presentations and a highly competitive Skandia Team GBR sail off in the model boat pool!! I also spent time speaking to junior sailors. The enthusiasm is inspiring, and I am always happy to help encourage them and give them tips.

I have now finished competing in the Laser Worlds in Australia. Overall, I was reasonably pleased with how things went. With the preparation I had the things seemed not far off and the wrist seemed to hold up well which is a big relief

It was quite a good regatta with long races of about 1 hour 20 minutes as opposed to the normal 60 or so minutes and I was happy I was able to compete over races of that length when I had literally been sat on my backside for two-and-a-half months because of my injuries.

I was disqualified from a fourth in race six and had I won the protest I would have finished the regatta in the top five when I came here not really expecting great things. This regatta was just about doing some racing for me and getting back into the swing of things, I had no great expectations.

My first place at the Sail Melbourne result was a bit lucky if I’m honest; the races were only 50 minutes long and at the end of each one I was so out of breath and could hardly walk at the end of the day. Now I’m really looking forward to getting back into my fitness training and getting back on my weight loss programme for the Olympics. I get x-rayed again when I get home and then can concentrate on getting fit again and ready for china!

Reigning laser sailing European champion and Team Volvo for life sailor Paul Goodison has made a winning return to championship racing at the Asia Pacific Championship held during the Sail Melbourne Regatta in Australia 14 – 19 Jan 2008.

Despite a three month layoff due to a broken wrist Paul managed to beat the worlds leading laser sailors to claim the title. Paul got off to a brilliant start on the first day of racing finishing third and first. The lack of race practice showed on the second day with Paul sliding down the leader board into 11th place. Undeterred by the results, he came back fighting and finished in the top three of the next four races and went into the deciding day’s medal race in second place overall, on equal points with world champion Tom Slingsby (AUS). On the final Paul showed his class finishing second in the medal race with nearest rival Slingsby behind in seventh place, meaning the Asia Pacific Championship title was secure.

Paul was pleased with the result “It’s been quite a surprise to be competing so well so soon, I am still pretty poor at the boat handling as my wrist is a little restricted due to wearing a brace whilst racing and I’m suffering a little bit from lack of fitness in the boat but I have really enjoyed the racing and it’s great to be back in the boat again, the rust seems to be falling off bit by bit”

Sailing out of Royal Brighton Yacht Club the Asia Pacific Championships is a crucial event for sailors looking for preparation ahead of the Laser Worlds held in Terrigal Australia (5 – 13 Feb 08). With just five days sailing before the event, Paul has definitely shown he is one of the men to beat in Beijing this summer. Goodison who won the Olympic test event in Qingdao China last year is a light air specialist and with average conditions looking anything but gusty a medal is a real prospect

After coming back from injury things went better than i could have imagined.
After a really tough week of strong winds and big seas the sun failed to shine today for the medal race. The racing was posted until the rain cleared and the wind filled in to around 7 knots.
Going into the medal race i was in equal 1st with Australian Tom Slingsby with Andrew Murdock not far behind.
The medal race was tense close racing but i came out on top finishing 2nd on the water with Andrew 5th and Tom 7th.
It was great to win my first regatta back after injury and a lot more than i had expected.

Other images included with this entry..

After several weeks of boredom and sitting at home restricted by my broken wrist Im back on the water again!
On Wednesday I had another xray taken of my wrist, it came back good news. The pin was still in place and Im nearly fixed! After emailing the pictures to the surgeon in England i got the go ahead to resume light training.
I couldn’t wait to get out in my Laser again. I am currently in Melbourne where the wind has been blowing hard and the sun has been shining, 43 degrees on Thursday which was a bit too hot. I have sailed now for 4 days and Im getting back into the swing of thinks slowly. I have to sail with a brace on my wist which is a bit restrictive but its so nice to be back out sailing. Yesterday it blew 35 knots which is not easy with 2 hands never mind one, it was quite a challenge but really exhilarating. I capsized twice but i managed to prevent any further damage to my wrist.
I am training again tomorrow before taking part in Sail Melbourne next week, I am really looking forward to the challenge after being out of the boat since September, the rust is falling off bit by bit!!!!!!!

The BBC and Sport England Yorkshire Sports Awards was a star-studded event held in Barnsley on Sunday 2nd December. Paul won the Sport England Senior Male 2007 Award for his performance this year, which has included winning gold in the Pre-Olympic event for a consecutive year and being nominated by the RYA for a spot in the Olympic sailing team for the 2008 Olympic Games.

“It is fantastic to win this award, especially as sailing is not a big sport in Yorkshire, it makes it even more special,” said a very pleased Paul. “I have had a great year and am looking forward to getting back into training in the New Year in preparation for next August in China.”

Other winners included Sheffield born World Superbike Champion, James Tosland, who won BBC’s Yorkshire Sports Personality of the Year award after a second consecutive World Championship win. Legendary cricketer Geoffrey Boycott was presented with the Hall of Fame trophy.

Finally a special Spirit Of Yorkshire Award was given posthumously to charity fundraiser and married mother-of-three Jane Tomlinson who died this year.

After an eventful few weeks I’m back on the mend!
After falling off my bike a few weeks ago I fractured my scaphoid bone in my wrist. I have had several x-rays MRI scans and CT scans to work out the best possible way forward.
I had surgery on Monday to have a screw placed through the bone to help speed up the healing process and make sure that I am not vulnerable next year to another brake.
I have a 2 week wait before I have the stitches removed and see the surgeon to see what happens next. Fingers crossed ill be back on the water soon!.

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I have had some great news recently when I was officially recommended by the RYA to compete in the Laser Class at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. I had no time to celebrate my success however as I headed straight back into competition at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta 19 – 23 Sept 07 at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, my now local club.

The racing was pretty tough all week with some extremely windy days resulting in very tricky sailing conditions. Also other International teams haven’t had their Olympic nominations announced so the regatta was a very important Olympic qualifying event for them. I was 8kg lighter than at the Qingdao Olympic test event, and the Swedish guys here are fit, strong and pumped up for the event as they didn’t go to Qingdao. So from the start I had a tough task on my hands.

In the end it was an up and down week, the high point was leading the first race at the top mark and the low was capsizing twice but I fought back and I am pretty happy with my performance overall and finishing in second was a good result. Now I have been nominated for the Olympics next year all my concentration and focus will be on bringing back a medal from Beijing.

I would like to thank my family, friend’s, sponsors and the RYA for their continued support over the recent years, they have all played a key role in my Olympic selection.

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