Sad times

It has been a difficult time for us all these last couple of weeks.  The girl's granddad passed away after a long battle with prostate cancer on Saturday 13th October and so the last couple of weeks have been given over to funeral arrangements.  It has been great to be supported by so many relatives and friends and we are most grateful to everyone who has visited and for all the cards and other supports from family and friends.  We can feel comforted to have given granddad such a good send off and I am sure he would have approved of the arrangement's and been grateful too.

This weekend we have sailors to deliver to the RYA Champion of Champions event at East Lothian YC and it is back to training for Joanne who is still trying to set up a girl-girl partnership in the Youth classes.  If all goes to plan it will be 420 training Saturday and 29ers on Sunday although the forecast is not currently looking positive with regards to wind!

G.

Healthy eating

Spotted three 29ers and two 420's at the services when we stopped just before Birmingham.  saw the Kitson Jones' team and following them up the M6.  Strangely comforting to know someone else has these crazy weekends and they even have farther to go than we do!

Mixed emotions and difficult times.

A strange and mixed up tangle of emotions this weekend as the excitement and fun of our trip to Itchenor to join 32 other boats  at 420 Open training and to collect Joanne's new Racing machine was severely challenged by the sad news that Grandad finally lost his long battle with prostate cancer on Saturday and passed away quietly just after noon.  Grandad loved his granddaughters dearly and was so proud of all their achievements.  He will be very much missed by us all.

Typing this heading home up the A34 with just another 425 miles to get home!  Playing dodgems with 29ers flooding off of Hayling Island after their Grand Prix event.

Latest Developments

Another winter season approaches and so it is time for new plans and a new training programme. Samantha had  interviews at The UK Sailing Academy last week and has secured a place on the tri-watersports Internship Programme.  She will be starting work there in November and after completing her training will have instructor qualifications in canoeing, windsurfing and hopefully scuba diving and of course, high performance dinghy sailing.  She hopes to spend next summer working in somewhat warmer climes.

After returning from the Topper Worlds with a solid performance placing in the Gold Fleet with a consistent race series across all wind conditions it is finally time for Joanne to say farewell to Junior racing and move formally into a Youth Class.  Having not grown a great deal since last year she has decided the Laser Radial is just not a realistic option yet so the summer has been a time of re-evaluation and contemplation with the focus moving from 29er to 420 and back.  

Ultimately it is the all round nature and technical challenge of the 420 which has proved more attractive than the high adrenaline point and shoot nature of the 29er.  The 9er has been great fun and a real challenge particularly in the challenging, shifting winds of Loch Tummel and is very much the "cool" way to go but ultimately the strength in depth and quality of competition across Europe, (the French, Dutch, Germans and Belgians seem to have hundreds of them!) the availability of coaches (and parents) who also sail the boat at the highest level and also the example of Luke Patience in the 470 at the Olympics has swayed Jo towards the 420 and we will be collecting her new "blueblue" shortly after the UK Inlands at the end of September.  We plan to keep the 29er too and will be sailing both classes but will focus on the 420 for National and International Competition. 

The 420 is a two person boat and not generally one which favours mixed crews so if there are any dedicated  15 years old girls out there born in 1997 or later who would like to sign up for winter training and a full international race programme, please get in touch.

Championship Week

A busy week.  Samantha in Torquay for the 420 National Championships and Joanne in Workum, Holland for the Topper World Championships. Sure beats going back to school tomorrow doesn't it Jo.

Tay Yacht Clubs Association Youth Regatta

With Samantha coaching at Royal Tay Cadet Week Joanne decided to accept a long standing invitation from cousin and Topper 4.2 maestro Alastair Ferguson to come sail with him on the very tidal waters of the famous silvery Tay.

Having made a very last minute decision to take advantage of grandad's better condition in the hospice and head over to the 2012 Topper World Championships at Workum in Holland this also presented a great chance to shake off the Topper cobwebs and get in some practice.  Joanne was therefore delighted to enjoy four hotly contested races in the TYCA Youth Regatta and come away with the Topper class win and also the much coveted overall trophy for the all classes handicap race  comprising a variety of Lasers, Toppers, few as and RS 500, a terra and various other assorted youth vessels.  Joanne was also able to confirm the very high standard of the local competition which shows that Samantha's coaching had perhaps been of some help to the enthusiastic home fleet.

Well done all.

Tummel week 2012

Although family illness still presents a major cloud, especially for dad, the silver lining is that the first time in about four years we have all been able to participate in Tummel Week.  This is a brilliant family sailing week in the beautiful setting of Loch Tummel Sailing Club our original sailing home where we both took our first trips afloat.  Ten all classes handicap races over five days with boat swaps and fun racing very much the order of the day.  We mixed it up in 420, 29 er and RS200 and had a great time.  We even recorded our first ever race win in the 29er on the windy final day but oh boy we need to buy some ratchet blocks for the kite sheets!

Flanders week 2012

Jen and I ready for launch

With grandad still seriously Ill and too much happening at home to allow much travelling or serious training Samantha was delighted to be asked to go to Belgium to participate in the annual Flanders Youth Regatta crewing in a 420 with fellow Scottish sailor Jennifer Abraham.  The weather was brilliant for the trip down but the planned post regatta holiday was terminated by a torrential downpour which flooded out the campsite and had possessions floating away.  In between there was some great sailing in a wide variety of conditions and lots of opportunities to practice boat repair and be reminded of the importance of better preparation next time!  Next planned 420 outing will be the UK Nationals in August provided we can get a new rudder and stock sorted out by then.

Summer 2012

It has been a long time since our last post on the blog.  Winter training in the Radials came to an end with the RYA Youth Nationals at Pwllheli which was not our most successful ever event and was also Samanthas last competitive outing as a Youth sailor.

A catalogue of disasters had occurred just around the time of the Youth Nationals ranging from the theft and destruction of Samantha's car when she left it between Laser Qualifiers to fly back for a weekend of squad training with the Scottish Squad on Cumbrae to the sad news that grandad was very unwell with prostatic cancer and had to be taken into hospital and was near death for a time.

Following these events and the long winters training we were both ready for a bit of a change and so we have been taking some time out to sail in other boats.  We have tried swimming around a 29er in various wind strengths and states of tide.  Samantha has also tried some 420 crewing and Joanne has taken a fancy to helping a 420 whenever she can.

We have also purchased an RS200 which is a better boat for local club sailing both at Dalgety Bay and at Loch Tummel where we have been glad to return as more active members this year after several years away on the campaign trail.

It has also been great to get a chance to help some younger sailors and do some coaching at our clubs.  Samantha in particular has coached at Youth weeks at both Loch Tummel and the Toyal Tay Yacjt club.

Meanwhile Joanne has also been working hard on her school exams with some success and has also had at school exchange trip to Germany and also a week long outward bound week in the Scottish Highlands.

Life on the road as a professional athlete.

Charlotte in Action for Team GBR

Here is an except from the diary of Anna Dobson, currently the best Scottish Laser Radial Olympic athlete who is still battling for selection for the one place available for a sailor from Great Britain to compete at the 2012 Olympics.  It describes her winter training last year - up to sail for Gold 2011 where she won selection to the team for the pre Olympic event at Weymouth.  This gives some insight into the level of commitment it takes to make the step by step small improvements  necessary to become one of the very best.

"

GRAN CANARIA TRAINING CAMPS

2011 started off with a bang. The fireworks had only just fizzled out and I was on an early morning flight to Gran Canaria for my first training camp of the year. The climate in Gran Canaria is fantastic, usually a balmy 23 degrees and a huge variety of wind and wave conditions, which makes a perfect venue for winter training camps when the sea temperature in the UK hovers around an icy 8 degrees.

We sailed from the Real Club Nautico de Gran Canaria which is a beautiful club which has hosted many World and National Championships over the years. They have enormous wood paneled walls along all the staircases which have the names of all the champions from that club and those who have won regattas the regattas hosted there. It made for some really good coffee time reading picking out all the people you knew or had read about on the boards. The club had a full size gym too which meant keeping up with the gym programs easy. We even witnessed the 60 yr old + weekly Bench Off competition which I thought was an exclusively a Finn boy game but I was amazed to see some of the old men benching high into the 80kilos.

The camp was 10 days and mainly light winds. The venue has attracted a great deal of teams which provides a great opportunity to join up in the afternoons and do some long races after we have done our own exercises in our respective groups. I like training like this as you are always relating the small things your working on into the big picture of the race.

Back in the UK the next thing on the agenda was BOOTCAMP! I wanted to do a month period of high intensity training in the gym with all the specialists. I’ve recently had some lower back pain so it provided a good opportunity to investigate and work on the problem without the irritation sailing can cause to the injury. It was also a good opportunity to just beast myself in the gym and really maximize the gains at the beginning of the season so I can maintain later on in the year when the focus is definitely on the sailing. After fitness tests at either end of the bootcamp period it looks like I’ve definitely got stronger which was the key area I wanted to improve on. A usual day would include a weights session in the morning and then a core session or boxing session. I would then go home for a couple hours and try to do some admin but would invariably fall asleep and wake up ready to do the afternoon cardio pyramid session. I was a bit annoyed with myself for continually falling asleep at lunch time and I though it was just from the tedium of admin but in actual fact that is exactly what the rowers and cyclists do. They train hard early morning and then go to sleep for 3 hours until their next session in the afternoon to maximize their recovery. I couldn’t believe it when I fessed up to the physiologist that I was sleeping at lunch time that he highly recommended it!

After I finished a month of bootcamp I was feeling really confident with the gains I’d made and a having a whole month off sailing I was absolutely mad for yachting! I did two weeks of training with a couple of local sailors doing some boat handling exercises to brush up on that and lots and lots of time on distance starting work which put the foundations down for my next big training camp in Gran Canaria.

My second trip to Gran Canaria was a two week camp starting on the 21st March. This time I joined two of the top radial girls from Belgium and Czech Rep and a training group of Belgian youth boys. In all we had 12 in the group which was a perfect size for lots of race practice and starting practice. My coach, Tom came out for the second week which was brilliant to go through some of the decision making protocols with him which we’ll use in the upcoming regattas. The best part of the camp was I really noticed the progress I’d made strength wise in the breezy conditions, which is a huge boost and makes motivation easy for the next block of strength sessions as I can see the progress and I know the program is working.

Next on the agenda is a week long cycling camp in Palma with two of the 470 girls and another laser sailor - the fight for the Queen of the mountains is going to be a tough fight I think this year! After that I stay out in Palma for another week of laser sailing with the British team and also a small training regatta out there. Everything is building up to European spring leg of the World cup series at Princess Sophia regatta in Palm Mallorca at the beginning of April and then onto Hyeres Semaine in the south of France at the end of April. These two regattas will act as a mini peak for me to see where I’m at after the winter training program and assess what I need to work on before the first major peak of the year at Sail for Gold regatta in June which is the qualification for the Pre-Olympic Test Event is August.

Fingers crossed everything goes well for heron in. So far this winter has been great fun and I can’t wait for the regatta season to start!"

(Charlotte Dobson, March 2011.)

Winter Squad Regatta

With Sam still on compulsory rest it was just Joanne who could participate in the RYA Scotland Winter Squad Regatta this weekend.  Saturday was basically blown off so it was an opprtunity for yet more fitness tests which confirmed good progress and then more exercise and some land based training.  Sunday was a good day with light and testing winds giving excellent race practice. 

Next week is a normal squad weekend at Cumbrae and both girls hope to be fit.

Injured!

Samantha had an excellent weekend sailing for Team Scotland in the Tri-Nations inter-squad event at Pwllheli but unfortunately suffered a nasty shoulder injury which will take few weeks to heal.  Fortunately still a few weeks to go before the first Spring Qualifiers but the fitness programme has become a challenge with one arm.  No strength and conditioning work but lots of swimming (in a nice warm swimmimg pool for once).

Miami OCR 2012

Charlotte working hard at Palma in 2009

As the battle between the ladies for the Laser Radial berth at the London Olympics continues great news from Miami is that in the Rolex Olympic Classes Regatta Charlotte Dobson is currently lying 2nd overall behind Ladies World Champion Marit Baumeester and is on a very respectable 20 points from 4 races.

Good effort Charlotte.
G.

Sailing at Last

With a brief respite from the storms today we managed to get down to the sailing club.. Despite the wind looking less than promising we  decided to give it a go and later in the afternoon the wind arrived in good style so we were rewarded with a good blast in the 420 to blow the cobwebs away.  Fingers crossed for more weather like this.

G.

All quiet on the sailing front

Low Flying Lasers

Narrow escape for our 420
despite being tied down and mast
removed! (its under the 200).

With extreme weather battering the UK and Central Scotland seemingly getting the worst of it there has been little opportunity for on the water training in recent weeks so the Christmas holiday has given the opportunity for some well deserved rest time.  Rest is an essential component of every


athletes training programme and something that is often neglected in the busy training and racing schedules we follow.  Lets hope that a good winter break with only some modest gym work to keep the body ticking over will be our secret weapon as the new racing season begins....

Here are a few images of our recent storms.  And a link to a short video of waves at the club.  The weather station directly opposite on Blackhall Hill recorded 102mph whilst the Lasers were flying around the club grounds.  Fortunately our Lasers are safely in storage at home.