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May 2004

The Newsletter of Spinnaker Club, Ringwood

www.spinnakerclub.co.uk

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Letter from Laura

Extracts from Laura Baldwin’s ‘Living the Dream’ diary, March 2004

It’s the end of March already, somebody slow the clock down, please!! It’s all going too fast!

I’m not letting a second escape me though. After the Athens Europlymp Regatta [placed 18th – Ed.] I took a couple of weeks off to rest and reassess all that I’d done and all that I still had to do.

I’ve not over complicated things although in thought and talk I have sieved through a lot of ideas.

I am clear about what equipment I would still like to test and how to go about testing it. I am testing one more mast. If this one doesn’t click then I will stay with the RYA masts and could even end up with Shirley Robertson’s mast from Sydney 2000!

I had been looking for something softer than Shirley’s mast but over the winter I have gained the extra kilos I need and am a lot stronger than I was in October. I’ve gone from bench pressing with 12kilos dumbbells to 22kilos, in each hand!

This month I have spent in Palma. The first week I trained with Chris Gowers. Other Europe sailors were arriving and everyone joined in racing together. I just got a brand new hull that had been treated by Peter Bentley to some special treatment. It felt quite different and I wasn’t quite on the pace upwind.

As I got used to the new hull the results started to come. There were now 22 Europe’s sailing and I won a race. My mum flew out to visit, which was very nice. We went shopping one day, which was a real treat, I can’t remember the last time I went clothes shopping! I bought some pretty Spanish shoes for 25 euro and a ring for 10 euro for the Sail for Gold Ball. I only need a necklace and a jacket now as I found a dress during the January sales in Fleet. It’s red and fitted perfectly. I’m going to have one of the lowest cost outfits but I don’t think it will show.

Keith Wilkins came to coach me for a week two in Palma. 40 Europe’s joined for racing out of Can Pastillia Yacht Club organized by Mark Littlejohn. The wind started off at 30 knots on day one and I lost the battens from my sail after capsizing during a 360 for being OCS, it was one of those days. I was wildly overpowered and I discovered later I had way too much mast rake.

With the boat set up properly and the breeze a bit less I had much better speed. The results started to come in with several top 5 places, the highest being a 3rd. The wind dropped all week until we were sailing in 4-5 knots on the last day. I was fast in this stuff so finished the regatta quite happy with my progress.

Keith was excellent. He taught me to meditate. We meditated for 15 minutes every morning before breakfast. This made me a far calmer person and so my thoughts were clearer and I could concentrate deeper for longer. I will continue meditating every morning. Keith also ran through some more tactical ideas and made me focus on sailing conservatively.

Week three saw John and I working together again. I trained with Carolijn Brower from the Netherlands mostly. This was great. Trimming the edges. Lots of starting practice and tight courses. We got some great breeze. John taught me to sail more powerfully in the strong winds. Tacking, gybing and doing 720’s on his command. My heart rate went sky high as he made me bang them out one after the other. It’s a breakthrough, I didn’t capsize!!

I flew to the UK for a day to meet my new clothing sponsor, Gill. It was a dream trip, being fitted out in a whole load of new kit. I was really in need of it as I’ve been wearing the same kit for 4 years and it’s ready for the bin!

The Gill head office in Nottingham was very impressive and the team working there is really friendly. I met with Nick Gill, the Chairman. He’s very enthusiastic and has built a great company. Jane Watson, the Marketing Manager, was lovely and made me feel really special introducing me to all the staff as their new Olympic Sailor. It still sounds strange to me to hear my name linked as an Olympic Sailor!

The gear is great! I well recommend you take a look at their web site www.gillmarine.com and order a brochure. They’ve really excelled in the dinghy range. I’m looking forward to putting it all to test.

My boat is beautiful! She couldn’t be better! Most of my equipment is custom made to the highest spec. I definitely have no excuse not to do well. I’ve named this boat ‘Mucho Gusto’ which to me sounds Spanish for ‘lots of gusts’, but it means ‘like a lot’ which is also appropriate.

So, next week the season really kicks off with the Princess Sofia Trophy…

Laura Baldwin

Princess Sofia Trophy: 19 out of 126 entrants. Current ISAF ranking: 29 - Ed

Lock up

There were some disturbing cases of burglary and theft last year.

If you are the last to leave the car parks be sure to close and lock the gates. This can apply at any time, not just the end of the day.

It is important that the Club building and other buildings are kept locked when not in use. When nobody is inside the Boat Store, keep the doors closed to hide the contents from view and help protect them from the weather.

Remember that lock codes changed on 1 April. If you are unsure about any of the procedures please ask! Ed

Safety boat course
Reality or scenario?

Having proved to Alan Copestake that I was of level 2 standard to drive a RIB, I joined the Safety Boat Course over the weekend of 13/14 March. Alan gently stated that a good windy day would help to bring a little reality into the event, and did we get the wind! With 7 of us altogether on the course, Alan, with John Clarke assisting, put us into scenarios that we just couldn’t imagine beforehand. The wind was such that we were stretching minds, nerves, and muscles to bring casualties, and boats ashore.

I would like to recommend Hywel Morris for a BAFTA award for his acting part in having an angina attack, followed by a heart attack. He was so convincing I was sure we had moved into reality. At least those “unconscious” and floating in the water had silly grins on their faces.

Recovering boats was also far more difficult than anticipated. With the winds nearing 25 knots, to rescue the crew and recover the boat, on a lee shore, with its mast jammed in the rocks, or in trees, became a major operation. This was not helped by the fact that the anchor was no longer holding, and that the RIB was drifting onto the shore. Happily I can say that we achieved all the rescues successfully, including attending every entry in the Sunday racing, as half the fleet at anyone time were upside down.

This course/qualification is essential for anybody on safety boat duty, and the Club needs members qualified to work the safety boats on rescue. So if you fancy doing safety boat duties and are not qualified, please contact Alan Copestake. You will enjoy the course! Brian Watkins