Three iconic foods from three iconic countries. I cannot tell which one I like more, stroopwafel, bratwurst or gelato. Have you tried any or all three?
Despite the culinary delights, that’s not what I came back to Europe for; I came back to race, train and improve!
After catching the flu on a quick return home, I was off to Europe again. This time a much longer trip with a few more crucial places involved. Our journey started in a place called Almere, which was about 40 mins outside of Amsterdam city. We raced on what was essentially a lake, which was covered in weed. The most annoying part of the plant is when you run over them, they tend to stick to your boat, which inevitably slows you down. Not what you need during a race! However, one of my goals for this venue was to stay positive and not let frustration get in my way. It’s easy to go down that rabbit hole, but everyone is in the same boat (excuse the pun)!
Lake sailing is not typically one of my strengths, so I came into this with an open mind and was keen to improve on a weakness. We had a very tight lead time into the event, which can often make everything feel chaotic. Still, for some reason, I felt reasonably at home with the venue and the surrounding town. The one thing I like about Holland is that the people are always friendly and everything about the city seems very familiar.
I was now ready to get on with the next World Cup of the season here in Almere. Our first day started with a bit of a wait onshore, but after a few hours, we got away with just one race completed; I knew from there it would be a long event.
I have an open mind and respect when it comes to race committees. Often, they have flown in from different countries or towns and are not locals to the area, which makes a massive difference in sailing. However, this race committee pushed everyone’s limits!
For starters, they were using robotic marks. Which isn’t a bad thing…if you were sailing in Lake Garda, which is 400 meters deep, we were on a lake no more than 2 metres deep! Another issue: it is typically VERY shifty on a lake, so it’s hard to lay a course. I sympathised with the race committee in this area because it was incredibly challenging. Although the robotic marks were too long to move, they often kept missing the wind shifts, resulting in us waiting another 30-40 minutes to be corrected. It would have been so much quicker just to move them by hand.
Hilariously, during an Aero7 race, someone on the start boat accidentally clicked the “Go home” button for the robotic marks (an iPad controlled them). They all started heading back for the harbour, and the race had to be abandoned!
After some reflection from my last race in Hyeres, my main goal for this event was to start well and be strong on the start line, and not be bounced around by other sailors. I felt I did a pretty good job of this during the week, leading to more consistent results. I was also happy to be in another Medal Race and continue to get comfortable in this format. This time I had the chance to move up a couple of spots. I had a tremendous final downwind, which led me to finish 3rd in the medal race, which mathematically would have moved me into8th position. However, a scoring error on the side of the race committee had me finishing 5th, that pushed me back to 9th overall. There is a rule that you must check the back of the finish boat within 2 minutes of finishing a medal race to contest their scoring, a rule which I didn’t know. I tried to challenge it back on shore but failed for those reasons. A harsh lesson to learn, but I am still pleased with how I sailed, so smiles all around!
After the regatta finished, we were off to a seaside town called Den Haag or The Hague. We came here for a week of training and finally back to some ocean sailing. This will be the place for our Worlds next year and one of our qualification events for Paris 2024. Training times are minimal at this venue, so it was crucial to get this week in. I also had an exam to complete for Uni, which always adds extra stress when you’ve already maxed out with training. Still, I always do my best to continue my studies and get that life balance.
We learnt a lot about the venue and some critical things like sailing in a powerful tide. Something we aren’t often exposed to in Australia. I also discovered some very cool local cafes and restaurants, which will be a bonus when we return next year.
After a week or so of training, we had a few days off before heading to Kiel, Germany, for Kiel Woche.
We drove six and a half hours from Amsterdam to Kiel, towing a massive rig for our poor car! We made it in one piece, thank goodness! Sometimes I wish I did a sport where my equipment could fit in a bag, like swimming or athletics! Not taking away the toughness of their sports, but sailing requires A LOT of logistics and with us, it’s a bunch of poor twenty-so-year-olds organising it!
Regardless, we made it and were welcomed by a hot Kiel, astark contrast to the 16 degrees and rain we had last time we were here.
I will forever live by the rule in Northern Europe: If it’s cold and rainy, it’s windy, and if it’s sunny and hot, there is no wind. I believe this to be relatively true, waiting seven hours on water to complete just one race on our final day. Unfortunately for me, I was disqualified for being over too early. Although frustrated, I was still pleased with my race, which would have placed me sixth had I not been disqualified. These typically are conditions I usually struggle with, so I stillhad some positives to take away. My consistency during the week (once again) allowed me to qualify for yet another Medal Race. Better yet, the whole ILCA 6 girls’ squad also qualified. As far as I know, we are the only AUS squad to ever achieved that, so this was very big deal to us. A testament to our hard work and focus over the past few years!
This event concluded our block for this sector; I was stoked to have notched up 3 out of 4 medal races (top ten results) since racing in Europe, which includes two World Cup events.
For now, two of our squad have headed home to catch up with family, and two of us have stayed in Europe. I couldn’t justify heading home for two weeks, just with the stress of travel on the body and the risk of getting sick again. So, being the sensible person I am, I made my way to Lake Garda. Here I will be getting my tan on, eating gelato (duh!) and continuing my off-water training with some hard cycling and gym sessions!
From there I will be heading to Marseille, the venue of the Paris Olympics. We will complete a three-week intense training camp, ending with a coach’s regatta and some prize money. Now that’s a first for our sport!
In the meantime, I will keep the fitness turning over whilegetting some down time from the boat; and then hitting out one last hard block of training and racing before heading home mid August!
Until next time, Ciao!
Elyse Ainsworth Sailing 