Sometimes you dream about the perfect week of racing – sunny, warm, windy, blue waters, good racing… Well, that was Paros! An incredible week of racing, good vibes and an awesome location.
Perhaps the only imperfection in the week was the mission getting to and from the remote Greek island. Van, plane, taxi, local greek builder’s van (yes you read that right..), ferry, pickup. It’s never glamourous travelling with 200kg of kit but I have to say this trip nearly broke me! Every windsurfer has a trip from hell and I feel like I’m racking them up this year but when we finally arrived in this wonderful spot it was all worth it. Huge thanks to my parents for joining me on this trip as there’s no way I’d have made it to Paros on my own!
I arrived on Paros a week before the event started – a bit of a luxury to arrive so early but I thought it was a good idea to get some very much needed training in on the slalom gear before the event. I’d had a great month in the Canaries in the waves in July and come back to what felt like a completely windless August and thus my slalom training prep hadn’t exactly gone to plan… and my wind drought continued in Paros. In my week of “training”, I had 15 minutes on the water and stood on 3 sea urchins – perfect preparation for a World Championships if you ask me!
Day 1 of the event and at least that part of my training paid off – the waiting game was on – would the wind kick in for some light wind racing in the afternoon? Fortunately, the answer was no! Despite playing my best waiting game, staying hydrated and trying to continuously eat enough but not too much, starting racing after 6 hours of being sat in the heat is never easy and fortunately, the wind never showed.
Day 2 – THE STATS: Races: 9; 2nds – 8; 3rds – 1; Gear: Fanatic Falcon 121/106 | Duotone Warp_Fin 8.4/7.7.
THE STORY: Despite the lack of wind on day 1, we more than made up for it on day 2! 9 races for the girls fleet and 9 hours in the “wetsuit” (bikini) made for a long old day and over 130 km on the water – I don’t think I’ve ever sailed so far! Safe to say I was super grateful to have my parents on hand to feed me as soon as I got home.
Day 3 – THE STATS: Races: 6; 2nds – 5; 4ths – 1; Gear: Fanatic Falcon 106/90 | Duotone Warp_Fin 6.2/5.5.
THE STORY: That was a windy one, but oh so much fun! Despite the results not showing it, some of the races were really close with myself and Jenna Gibson (1st) and my kit felt really good despite some challenging conditions. The only disappointment on Day 3 was that actually, they stopped the racing at 4:30 pm when we had plenty of wind and epic conditions on the water.
Day 4 – THE STATS: Races: 6; 1sts – 1; 2nds – 3; 4ths – 1; OCS – 1; Gear: Fanatic Falcon 121/106 | Duotone Warp_Fin 7.7/7.0/6.2
THE STORY: Same conditions but a change in course led to the elusive bullet finally being scored! I’d been biting at Jenna’s heels all week so to finally be able to pounce on her mistake was such a relief! However, after every bullet comes and OCS… I don’t know what it is but I certainly don’t want to make a habit of this!!
Day 5 – THE STATS: Races: 6; 2nds – 4, 4ths – 1, 7ths – 1; Gear: Fanatic Falcon 121/106 | Duotone Warp_Fin 7.7/7.0
THE STORY: Well it certainly wasn’t the start that I wanted to the day kicking off with dropping both my port tack gybes (first gybes I’d dropped all week) and I limped through in 7th place. I was nervous. I was frustrated. I was angry at myself for letting the pressure get to me. Between races, I didn’t have much time but I sorted out what I needed to and then stood on the beach and mentally recomposed myself – a far cry from the athlete I was 3 years ago that nearly threw away a youth world title on the last day! I went back out and put out 4 solid scores and raced with the consistency I’d shown all week – for me this was the highlight of my week and proved just how far I’d come in the last 3 years! The last race was a classic lapse in concentration – Jenna Gibson dropped the first gybe, I saw the gap, got excited and missed the boom on my gybe and went swimming myself! Lesson learned…
All in all, it was a great week and to walk away as Vice World Champion was definitely a good feeling. I would have liked to have maybe put in more of a challenge for the top spot but hats off to Jenna Gibson for an outstanding performance all week! I know now what I need to work on and one thing is for sure
Standing on the second step just makes you hungrier for more…
