Olympic nominations

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.