The good news is that a few days completely off has sorted my back. It was the right lower back muscle that was causing all the problems. That now has gone, I have a lower middle ache every now and again but I put that down to many years of abuse. Stretching has never been one of my priorities and it's stating to show. I don't know if it's too late to start but I'll give it a go.
Last Tuesday the 18th I started swimming again with my wrist weights and just using my arms. It works out my arms shoulders, chest and stomach. My legs are usually worked out by running but that won't start again until after Namibia. (too much risk of a back injury again)
Yesterday we had torrential rain, I rigged up in it. A rubbish wind direction for Guernsey, easterly, 10 knots gusting 30. Then when I was going to suit up the thunder arrived closely followed by the lightning, the rain increased and started to have my doubts whether it was worth going out. On seeing another sailor gently float out to see in the water start position, a fading forecast and worse to come on the horizon I knocked it on the head.
Today was better. Westerly 30 knots and rising tide, Strong Westerlies are no good for speed but I checked out the whole coast just in case. As it turned out tide wise Pembroke would have been ok at 8.30 for some speed runs if the wind had been SW or South. Back to Vazon and I rigged up my Firelight 5.5 and Starboard Kode 84, the sail was a bit big but still it was fun riding 8 foot suckies reef and getting the smaller 4 footers close in. Pierre came down to practice with the video camera so that we are set for Namibia.
Tomorrow is back to speed. The forcast is for SW force 6-7, should be good for my GPS 7.3 and Isonic speed W54
Monday, September 24, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Back injury
Finally had to stop light training to get this back fixed. Felt like it was mending last week, still training, then my youngest asked to go and do 9 holes of golf on Saturday, big mistake should have known better. Since then I trained Sun, Mon, Tue and had another therapy session on Wednesday. The good news is Wednesday session has made me feel better than I have in the last 4 weeks but I have decided to halt the training until I can't feel any pain.
Booked in for last Bowen Therapy session on Tuesday then keep figures crossed to be fit for Weymouth. I can't see that will be a problem because I could sail as I am but don't want to take any chances with both Weymouth and Namibia coming up.
Have a look at the new speed demon attached. Starboard Isonic Speed W44 with Black Project X45 nicely slotted in. Hot straps for comfort and performance.
I'll be taking both the W44 and W49 to Africa along with some speed special sails, new Hot Sails GPS 2013's and new masts.
Flights, Car Hire and Hotel all booked. Just to make it a bit more difficult and expensive Guernsey decided to close it's airport for a week when we are due to fly back.
Now we are catching a ferry over night to Portsmouth, drive up to Heathrow, fly out to Capetown, drive 10 hours from Capetown to Luderitz, arrive hopefully about 10 pm ready for Monday sailing. Two weeks later we do it in reverse.
It sure isn't easy getting there, or cheap!
Booked in for last Bowen Therapy session on Tuesday then keep figures crossed to be fit for Weymouth. I can't see that will be a problem because I could sail as I am but don't want to take any chances with both Weymouth and Namibia coming up.
Have a look at the new speed demon attached. Starboard Isonic Speed W44 with Black Project X45 nicely slotted in. Hot straps for comfort and performance.
I'll be taking both the W44 and W49 to Africa along with some speed special sails, new Hot Sails GPS 2013's and new masts.
Flights, Car Hire and Hotel all booked. Just to make it a bit more difficult and expensive Guernsey decided to close it's airport for a week when we are due to fly back.
Now we are catching a ferry over night to Portsmouth, drive up to Heathrow, fly out to Capetown, drive 10 hours from Capetown to Luderitz, arrive hopefully about 10 pm ready for Monday sailing. Two weeks later we do it in reverse.
It sure isn't easy getting there, or cheap!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Weymouth training
Only 1 month before Weymouth and time to try and loose as much weight as possible, Weymouth is usually a light wind event.
Had a good session on Wednesday back on my Hot Sails GPS 8.8, Starboard Isonic 127 and Black Project Fins R45. This is the combination that I usually need most at Weymouth.
1 month of fasting then 1 month of putting on weight again for Namibia. (the right type of weight however, you have to be able to handle it)
One niggling problem is my back at the moment. I have been doing so much training that my lower right side is giving me problems. I have started having Bowen therapy to sort it, if you have back problems I would highly recommend it. One session down with the therapy and another booked for Tuesday, apparently I am all out of alignment. The good thing is I can still do light training.
I keep you informed on how it all goes.
Had a good session on Wednesday back on my Hot Sails GPS 8.8, Starboard Isonic 127 and Black Project Fins R45. This is the combination that I usually need most at Weymouth.
1 month of fasting then 1 month of putting on weight again for Namibia. (the right type of weight however, you have to be able to handle it)
One niggling problem is my back at the moment. I have been doing so much training that my lower right side is giving me problems. I have started having Bowen therapy to sort it, if you have back problems I would highly recommend it. One session down with the therapy and another booked for Tuesday, apparently I am all out of alignment. The good thing is I can still do light training.
I keep you informed on how it all goes.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Luderitz 2012
The runners and riders have been announced, you'll get the line up here - http://freightfocus.net/Riders/Riders/
It's been a really frustrating year, a couple of injury missed West Kirby days earlier on in the year and a lack of first class locations for speed competitions have kept me quiet.
Everything is about to change though. The British Speed Championships are coming up in Weymouth UK from the 6th-12th October then the big one.
Luderitz Namibia
I'll be there from the 16th November till the 3rd December.
When I started speed sailing there was only one record to break, your average speed over 500m. Now there are a few. What I would like to happen is that most if not all get broken at the same time. My list of records to break in Luderitz are as follows,
500m British windsurfing record - currently 44.34 knots
500m British speed sailing record - currently 44.78 knots
500m Production world speed sailing record - currenty 46.51 knots
GPS 5 x 10 second average speed - currently 48.40 knots
GPS 500m average - currently 48.71 knots
GPS Maximum 10 second speed - currently 49.05 knots
GPS 250m average - currently 49.08 knots
500m Windsurfing world record - currently 49.09 knots
GPS 100m average - currently 49.80 knots
GPS Maximum 2 second speed - currently 50.51 knots
500m Outright world speed sailing - currently 55.65 knots
If the winds blow I believe that a new Windsurfing world record over 50 knots will happen. I believe a windsurfer will reach over 52 knots but at this stage it may be only a maximum speed but who knows! We have got to give it a go.
I have a maximum speed of 49.5 knots sailing into 30cm high chop with no way of slowing down till you crash. That was achieved in West Kirby with my Hotsails gps 5.5m, Starboard speed W49 and Black Project Fin X40.
In Namibia I will have the new Hotsails gps 2013 and speed prototypes down to 4.8m, I will have the Starboard speed W44 and Black Project X50. Smaller kit means faster speeds so watch this space.
My partners who this record attempt are,
Hot Sails Maui
Black Project Fins
Starboard
Chinnook
Gath Helmets
Flying Objects
Aurigny airlines
Wetsuit sponsor tbc
My thanks to all of them.
It's been a really frustrating year, a couple of injury missed West Kirby days earlier on in the year and a lack of first class locations for speed competitions have kept me quiet.
Everything is about to change though. The British Speed Championships are coming up in Weymouth UK from the 6th-12th October then the big one.
Luderitz Namibia
I'll be there from the 16th November till the 3rd December.
When I started speed sailing there was only one record to break, your average speed over 500m. Now there are a few. What I would like to happen is that most if not all get broken at the same time. My list of records to break in Luderitz are as follows,
500m British windsurfing record - currently 44.34 knots
500m British speed sailing record - currently 44.78 knots
500m Production world speed sailing record - currenty 46.51 knots
GPS 5 x 10 second average speed - currently 48.40 knots
GPS 500m average - currently 48.71 knots
GPS Maximum 10 second speed - currently 49.05 knots
GPS 250m average - currently 49.08 knots
500m Windsurfing world record - currently 49.09 knots
GPS 100m average - currently 49.80 knots
GPS Maximum 2 second speed - currently 50.51 knots
500m Outright world speed sailing - currently 55.65 knots
If the winds blow I believe that a new Windsurfing world record over 50 knots will happen. I believe a windsurfer will reach over 52 knots but at this stage it may be only a maximum speed but who knows! We have got to give it a go.
I have a maximum speed of 49.5 knots sailing into 30cm high chop with no way of slowing down till you crash. That was achieved in West Kirby with my Hotsails gps 5.5m, Starboard speed W49 and Black Project Fin X40.
In Namibia I will have the new Hotsails gps 2013 and speed prototypes down to 4.8m, I will have the Starboard speed W44 and Black Project X50. Smaller kit means faster speeds so watch this space.
My partners who this record attempt are,
Hot Sails Maui
Black Project Fins
Starboard
Chinnook
Gath Helmets
Flying Objects
Aurigny airlines
Wetsuit sponsor tbc
My thanks to all of them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
