I flew out on the 3rd
of July with my mum and brother Graham and landed at Halifax airport that
afternoon after going via St Johns (a small airport in Canada). Once we’d
found our luggage which included 2 sails and a set of Byte foils and worked out
how to drive the automatic hire car we were on our way to Bedford. It was
extremely hot and we had to adapt quickly to these high temperatures. Our
accommodation for the next few days was in a Motel that backed onto Bedford
Basin. The rooms were basic but all that we needed. We decided to try and find
the Yacht club while we had plenty of time instead of doing it the next morning
when we were in a rush. The directions we had been given led us straight to the
yacht club where we saw many boats being unloaded ready for training the next
day. We asked around but there was no sign of the man (Craig Guthrie) who was
bringing a boat for me to sail. However, during this time, Graham managed to get
himself a ride out on one of the local yachts in the Wednesday evening race –
we hadn’t even been in the country for a day!
Our first night at the
motel had been very hot and we all found ourselves waking up at 5 o’clock in
the morning due to the time difference from England. Breakfast that morning was
in McDonalds as we had not really found out what else was available and when we
arrived at the club, it was already busy with more people unloading boats. It
wasn’t long before we found Craig and the Byte that was going to be my
battleship for the next few days. There were around 30 other Bytes at the
training and many other boats including 29ers, Laser 2s,Lasers, Optimists and
420s. The standard of the sailors was mixed and the top Byte sailors all came
from the Chester YC team. Most of these sailors decided to have Thursday off so
I found that I was easily the fastest on the water during simple exercises
including a slightly different version of a rabbit run called the Death Rabbit!
Friday brought slightly
lighter wind for the morning session and we stayed really close to the club. In
the afternoon the coaches set up a mini regatta so that everybody knew what to
expect the next day when the Regatta started. The wind had picked up for these
races and in the second race there was a nice 15knts blowing. This put off some
of the smaller sailors and for race three many of the Bytes and Lasers were
being sailed by the coaches. This didn’t put me off and I was still able to
win the race making it straight wins for the afternoon beating most of the
Lasers on the water. I was very impressed with one of the Lasers that was on the
water because it had a rainbow across the deck and also across the sail. I was
tempted to buy it and use it at a squad training! I had been invited to a BBQ at
one of the Chester team member’s houses as part of the Chester team dinner.
This gave me the chance to get to know everybody that I was going to be sailing
with.
We got down to the club
on Saturday morning in plenty of time to register and rig my boat as well as
socialise. There was a steady breeze of 10 knots and the sail to the race area
took half an hour. Once the courses were laid the starting sequences began but
this still meant that I had 30 minutes until my start, because all the classes
were sailing on the same trapezoid course. Shifty conditions meant that even
though I had a good start at the favoured port end, the sailors from the
committee boat got a big lift and were ahead. Myself and most of the Chester
team were stuck on the left had side of the course only managing to get a chance
to go back into the middle of the course at the windward mark. I rounded the
mark in fourth and by the end of the first run I had worked my way into first.
These two legs were typical of the
whole weekend. For the second race the wind had built to 20 knots leaving some
of the smaller sailors struggling. Luckily I was able to pull off a port hand
flyer, leaving the rest of the fleet 50m behind. I held the lead throughout the
race. When I came ashore I was met by my dad who had flown out earlier that day.
For the Sunday both
Graham and Dad got a ride out on the committee boat and where able to watch the
races that day. The courses were slightly shorter so that we could get three
races in before 2 o’ clock. The wind was still as shifty but not as strong and
I managed to win all three races but with some challenges along the way, from
the local sailors. At the prize giving I became the proud winner of the Byte
Belt (which is very similar to the belts boxers win) for the North East Coast
Byte championship and joint champion of the regatta.
Monday morning we moved out of the motel to a
friend’s house where we played badminton and made use of the private dock in
their back garden complete with yacht and kayaks.
Tuesday: I started
training with the Chester team at St. Margaret’s Bay. This location had a
reputation for being very windy and wavy. This was fulfilled when I got out of
the protected inlet into the bay to be met by a large swell. After spending a
day in these tough conditions I was disappointed when I saw the bed at our new
accommodation- a futon wasn’t what I had in mind!
Light winds on Wednesday
meant that it was a drift out into the bay, but I was glad of the long sail when
I saw a whale nearby. During the day I also saw seals and porpoises, which was
easily the highlight of the day.
On Thursday, one of the
girls, Victoria had her birthday that meant that she and the rest of the team
got pushed in off the dock. I was very scared of the live jellyfishes. As it was
a special occasion Chris our coach said that we would go on a trip around an
island commonly known as “Arsecrack” island. This trip took the whole day
even though it was 18 knot winds. Reaching there was exciting, going round was
scary due to the wind being funnelled throughout the crack, and beating back was
painful. We were all looking forward to the team dinner at Anthony’s house who
happened to be a very good Italian cook.
The next day was a lay
day before the St. Margaret’s bay regatta. The Blairs took advantage of the
hot weather and went to the beach, we couldn’t bring ourselves to move far
from water. I was very bored and wanted to go sailing.
The day of the regatta
arrived (Saturday) and brought with it as expected strong breezes and big swell,
these got the better of me in the first race which gave me a third. As the wind
built my increased stamina helped me to keep working throughout the long race.
The finish was close but I was slightly ahead for the bullet.
I slept soundly all
night ready for the three races on the Sunday. The conditions were slightly
lighter but the swell was still evident. The bigger sailors were more of a
challenge to me at this location with the races being tight, however I still
managed to end the day with three bullets. During some of the races I became
briefly distracted by the other members of team GBR who had flown out the day
before. At the prize giving that evening I had to say goodbye to all the new
friends I had made during the two weeks I had already been in Canada. I was
taken away from that event by Mark Barron our GBR team manager and would not see
my parents for the next week. It was nice to be taken to Oak Island Inn too meet
the rest of the team and to settle in for the next two weeks.
The week before the
regatta was spent resting at the hotel, making good use of their pool and gym
facilities. There was also tennis courts and crazy golf, which was where you
were most likely to find the boys from our team. On one of the days, we drove
into Chester where we hired some kayaks for the day. Unfortunately, I paired up
with the laziest boy on our team so I found myself doing most of the work while
he just sat there splashing the other people! By the end of the day I was soaked
through and glad to get back to the hotel.
On Thursday morning we
had to be up early to register for the event at the hotel. This included handing
over the water that you had brought from the UK for the mixing of the water
ceremony and also receiving some free clothing and Frisbee. Transport was
provided in the style of bright yellow school busses with a large amount of
flashing lights, however, we had hired our own transport for the week meaning
that we could get down to the sailing club earlier. It was about a 20minute
drive from the hotel and once we had arrived we found our boats that were issued
to us. The boats were already rigged so I was able to go out sailing very
quickly but on the 29ers, there were many things that our team had to check so
they were rigging most of the morning. It was against the rules to cut any rope
that was supplied or to use any of your own equipment, so there was not much I
could change. The sail about that I had was more of a drift in about 5knts of
wind but it was good to check that everything was working.
The practice race was on
Friday and this gave you a chance to see what the other sailors were like. The
race was started with a very light SW wind which did pick up slightly during the
race. With usual tradition of a practice race, most people did not finish and I
sailed in with the rest of the leading group after completing the inner loop of
the trapezium course. Many of the girls already knew each other from training
together before and also from the Europe circuit. I quickly made friends with
the New Zealand and Australian girls who like me, did not really know anybody
else. In the evening was the opening ceremony and it was a chance to wear the
team shirts that we had been supplied with. We also had a ride in one of the
school busses to get down to Lunenburg waterfront where the procession took
place. The town had a large group of sea cadets who led out the countries and we
had to sit next to the pride of the town which was a ship called the Bluenose II
while many speeches were said. The mixing of the water was done over the side of
the Bluenose. After the water had been mixed, we were driven from the cold
waterfront to Lunenburgh YC where there was a buffet meal for the athletes.
Returning to the hotel, we were able to relax in the pool meeting other athletes
before going to bed.
Waking up and looking
out the window on the first day of proper racing brought the sight of cloud.
Once we were down at the club there was a breeze of roughly 10-12 knots. There
was also a large swell going across the racecourse. It was very notable on the
way out to the racecourse that there was a lot of weed. I was quite nervous
before the start of the first race especially when it was postponed. However
once we had started racing I felt fine. I finished the first race in second
place behind the girl from the USA. This mostly came from being able to work the
waves both up and downwind. The wind dropped between the races and the start of
the second race was messy and at the windward mark five boats were pulled out
for being OCS, most of them being the favourites for the event. I finished that
race eight and then realised that there was a large lump of weed on the rudder.
However, I was placed in third at the end of the first day. That evening the
team GBR we were able to watch a film at the hotel through a laptop and
projector system. This impressed many other athletes as they saw the video on
the way to the pool.
The next day we had
three races in light southeasterly winds. My results in these races were 9, 7
and 7. The wind was fairly shifty and uneven, the leader of the race would
usually be the person who went furthest to an edge and who took the biggest risk
– I did not like or feel comfortable with making such risks. Typically, the
best wind of the day was on the sail in where the wind had picked up to about 15
knots.
On Monday, we had our
layday in accordance with the world youth day. There had been boat trips
organised on the Bluenose but Team GBR decided to relax at the hotel instead.
That evening we went to Lunenburgh where there was a sunset ceremony and a live
rock band on the waterfront.
After being fully
rested, we were all ready for the two races that were scheduled for Tuesday.
Once on the water, the wind was filling in from the sea breeze direction. The
first race was in fairly light conditions but the wind was building all the
time. By the end of the day, the wind had built to a steady force 3 – 4. My
results for today were two 9ths. In the evening all the athletes had
a debrief from Jim Saltanstall who had been out on the water during the day,
this happened every evening.
Wednesday brought light
breezes and no races were sailed until half past five when a minor sea breeze
had kicked in. After spending the whole day on the water it was very difficult
to get into racing mode. After being on the wrong side of the first beat, I
decided to go the opposite way on the second upwind leg. However, because of the
fluky winds, that time it paid to go the other way! It was a very difficult race
and was glad to finally get off the water at 7pm. There was a lot of excitement
that evening at the hotel when everybody had to be evacuated for a fire in the
boiler room. At first nobody thought that there was a real fire until the local
fire trucks arrived and started putting out the fire. Luckily, not much was
damaged and everybody could go back to what they were doing within an hour.
Three races had to be
sailed the next day in order to stay on schedule but the winds were similar to
the day before. The morning breeze would be quite strong from a NE direction but
would soon fade out until another breeze came in from the SE. The committee was
hoping to have one race in the morning breeze but the wind shifted 90º just
after a recall for the laser start. This meant a delay of about an hour and
because we needed the races, the course was quickly re-laid. However this meant
that it was going to be another long day of sailing in the light winds. The day
got better after having a disastrous 18th then a 15th and
in the last race and 8th. Looking at the results that evening, I was
in 11th place with 10th place being 10 points away and 12th
about 25 points behind. This meant that unless something shocking happened, I
would easily finish in 11th without sailing the last race.
The final day, Friday
came and again, light winds. We did not launch until 12:45 and the race had to
be started by 2pm. The course was set close to the club in amongst the islands
so that we could get there in time. It was going to be close to the time limit
but the race officer just managed to get us away exactly on 2 o’clock. The
racing was short and only windward, leeward but I managed a 15th
position in the shifty conditions. After crossing the finish line I found my
boat being attacked by the Canadian, USA and Australian girls and then I was in
the water! Everybody was in high spirits and the prize giving was really well
organised. The 29er girls had won gold so I was really nice to see them on the
podium. The evening passed spending time with the new friends that we had made
during the week. The next morning, most people had already left.
I really enjoyed the
time that I spent in Canada. The racing was very close and harder because
everybody you were racing against had maximum boatspeed. Any mistake that you
made lost you a lot of places. The people I met were so friendly and I am sure
that I will keep in touch with them all, I will probably race against many of
them in the future. I hope to do the ISAFs again next year in Portugal and that
year the racing will be in the Laser Radial so I will be more confident with
what I do. I just want to thank my parents and everyone who helped me over the
past few years.
Colette