Our first major goal of the year has now been achieved! When Sarah and I first started putting together this campaign we said our first major goal and stepping stone to Gold in Beijing was becoming World Champions. Winning the Yngling Worlds Championships certainly met our expectations. The work the four of us, including Paul Brotherton our coach have put in this last year was certainly worth it and the feelings we experienced crossing the finishing line eclipsed Athens.



The Worlds were in Cascais at the beginning of July. Unlike most regattas this year the forecast was for wind. Due to all the Olympic fleets trying to race in the two week period our race course changed most days and we had start times in to the early evening. This made our days quite different to normal, we still had to weigh in first thing but most days we then came home to relax make a big difference was having a ‘team mum’. Paul’s mum came out to fulfil this task and having supper on the table after our days racing certainly helped!

The first day was a perfect 12 knots and we had two solid results. Day two was another cracking day with winds of up to 27 knots – the windiest we have sailed in since the Olympics! Day three was the windiest day I have ever sailed in with the first race peaking at 33 knots. This wind strength caused a lot of carnage in the fleet with only the first four boats able to fly the spinnaker and get down wind. Day four was a rest day. Day five was unfortunately cancelled due to too much wind leaving only two races before the medal race. The penultimate day dawned a bit lighter and we raced in very shifty conditions varying between 6 and 14 knots. We went into the day with a good points advantage but things didn’t go our way and our lead was eaten up.

In the medal race we could be beaten by the British, Dutch and Americans making it the most exciting medal race yet. Shirley Robertson started to engage us in match racing pre start. Our training with Ian Williams came into its own, enabling us to break away at the appropriate time, win the start and be in the commanding position straight away. In the very shifty conditions covering was tricky but we rounded the top mark second with all of our competition behind us. The Americans got past us up wind but weren’t going to be able to put the required number of boats in between us.

To the spectators and the watching Media disaster then struck, just as we tacked in at the top mark, Pippa missed her toe strap and fell out of the boat. The automatic reactions that ensued showed a truly great team at work. I just caught her wrist and within seconds she hauled herself back into the boat. Sarah meanwhile had not lost an ounce of concentration and steered us around the mark, and we did a perfect hoist a matter of seconds later. Anxiety levels remained normal and we sailed a good run to the finish. Our race result was good enough to crown us World Champions and following the new format we sailed straight in and got on the podium!

Thank you to all of you that have written, emailed, texted and called with your congratulations, it means a great deal to all of us to have your support.

We are now in China, preparing for the Pre-Olympic Regatta. Our racing starts on the 15th August. It will certainly be a different event to Cascais with only 16 boats and light winds but so far training and acclimatisation are going well. The regatta website ishttp://www.2007qdregatta.com/ we will also try and keep you updated.