Volvo

It’s been a tough, varied but thankfully improving month.  The after-effects of my back injury did drag on but after 3 weeks of constant physiotherapy I was feeling strong enough to hit the water. 

My training partners Elliot and Rich had both headed out to the European Championships , an event I had decided to leave out of my preparations for this year's upcoming Skandia Sail for Gold regatta. This is at the future Olympic venue of Weymouth so it's really important I get as much competitive race action there as possible in preparation for the Olympics in 2012.

Luckily I was not the only person not attending this year, with the boys gone I’ve had the opportunity to train with some of the best.  Joao Rodrigues and Dorian van Rijsselberghe have both been in Weymouth getting some experience on the Olympic waters which I call home.  Training with these boys has been great, the only downside though is I can't really push myself to hard as I am still recovering from my injury and I need to protect my back and not  ail as hard as I would like. 

So I’m not 100% but I am getting there and having to play catch up with the rest of the field.  Also With the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta just 3 weeks away I’ve got a lot on.  Most areas of my sailing I’m happy with, others I’m working very hard on to improve in time.

Away from the sailing I had the new experience of hosting a web chat for Volvo where I answered a variety of windsurfing, fitness and Olympic questions.  I must admit I was quite nervous about it but I think it went pretty well.  You can view some of that session at http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=449997561270

It felt good to be able to pass on some of the tips and training skills which I have learned over the years, and hopefully this may lead to a few more people taking up the sport.

The wife’s been in Holland this past week for her 470 World Championships, her and Saskia have done really well. Finishing 5th at your first Worlds is really a great achievement and shows how far they've come along in such a short amount of time together. I can't wait to have her home, and Thomas certainly misses his mum!

Hope to see some of you at Sail for gold, and thanks to all who took part in the Web chat. Hopefully I will get to do another one soon!

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