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!

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.

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.

Namibia count down has starteed

It's drawing nearer. Final preparations are being completed for the world record attempt.

Big news is I have three new companies that I am working with, details to follow but they are all integral in the big push for the outright world speed record.

The sun has come out big time in Guernsey over the last couple of weeks but the wind has disappeared. Training is going great, a bit of Stand Up Paddle but mostly my 3 mile run then 2 mile swim 6 days a week. It's easy to keep going every day but I make sure I have a day off otherwise my body doesn't recover and I end up with sore throat run down feeling.

The list of competitors should be out any day, as soon as it is I'll post it.

A small break in the rain

For a change the rain stopped in Gernsey yesterday and the sun decided to pay us a visit. Force 4 -5 winds and small 2-3' waves rolled in at Vazon and it turned into a perfect summer play with my 7m Hotsails Super Freak and my 103ltr Starboard Kode.

Week ending 22/06/2012

Busy busy week.

After a week off training monday was time for a cliff run, really hard and running up the cliff steps my right knee gave way twice. Not nice. Then a mile swim, I find the swim is almost a warm down exercise. I swim with 1kg wieghts on each wrist and a swim float for my legs. My theory is the run works out my legs and then the swim does my arms, it seems to be working.

Tuesday day off, give the knee a rest.

Wednesday cliff run, a little further but hard again and again my knee gave way. Back in the pool after.

Thursday 5pm and the wind is howling. Tide too high for speed but cross shore at Vazon and a nice 3' wave rolling in. 5.5m Firelight and Starboard kode 94, believe me this is small kit for me in the waves. Hutchy is on his 4.2m. A few flip de doos over the handle bars and a good work out.

Friday and it's still windy 6.0m smack and Kode 103 and again I'm flip de doing both ways but after 1 hour my right knee is giving me jip.

At first I thought that having the previous week off had been the trouble with my leg giving way this, but now I know why. Last Sunday on Fathers day I played 9 holes of golf with my son and Father, thats were the problem came from. The twisting of my back leg in the follow through. Now it all makes sense, I haven't really had much knee problems since giving up golf 4 years ago.

Next wind is forecast for Sunday. Hopefully good for speed.

June 8th

So much promise but when I arrived at the beach the wind looked like it was starting to drop. I rigged up the 6.6 and went out for a couple of runs but the wind wasn't anywhere strong enough. Still you always learn something. I had a racing 28cm fin in the W54 for the first time and had no problems with spin out. It should prove to be faster by quite a bit compared to the R30. I'll still use the R30 in open water contests and tight courses. After a couple of runs I packed up and went down to Vazon for a bit of down the line wave sailing. 6.0m Firelight and Starboard kode 103 were perfect for some hits. Very strange jumping back on wave kit though after all the speed. A good couple of days sailing then followed by a couple of days of running and swimming. All starting to pay off now and plenty of time till Luderitz in Nov.