Takapuna, Auckland, NZ
March 14, 2008

The 2008 Laser Radial Women’s World Championship starts tomorrow, Saturday, here off Takapuna Beach in New Zealand with the first race at 11:00 am. There are 119 entries from 40 countries. For six countries, it’s their last chance to qualify for the Olympic Games while for some sailors it’s their Olympic Trials. The tension in the boat park is building steadily as everyone makes their last minute preparations for the big event.

Sunrise over Rangitoto - - Photo: Luther Carpenter

For the last couple of weeks I have been training hard with Brad Funk. Last weekend we had a Pre-Worlds Regatta. It was a low key event with full-length windward leeward courses to give us an idea of what to expect in this coming week. We had five official races and one unofficial one over the two days with 78 boats competing. My goal for the event was to work on my starts and get a feel for the best tactics for the area. We race on the Hauraki Gulf on the inside edge of the 2000 and 2003 America’s Cup courses. On the first day we had a light wind from the NE with a strong current flowing and a short chop. My finishes were OK, but I was a little disappointed with how I sailed the first half of both races, with top mark roundings in the deep 30’s. My first day finishes were 10-16. The next day we had a SW breeze that built through the day. There were two official races and one that was unofficial because it wasn’t started before the official cutoff time. My official finishes were 13-9 and I was second in the unofficial race. I finished 9th overall so it worked out OK, but I wasn’t fully happy with the weekend. I did however learn a lot about the conditions and where to make some last minute improvements in my sailing. China’s Lijia Xu won the event with three firsts and a seventh.

Windy weather training with Brad - - Photo: Luther Carpenter

Early in the week we took a road trip to the remote little township of Raglan south of Auckland on the west coast. The drive was about 1 hour 45 min. It is a very beautiful location on the edge of the Tasman Sea and great for surfers. We met up with one of Lisa Ross’s friends and Brad, Lisa and Rob went surfing for a couple of hours. I went for a run and lay on the beach. Eventually the sea got two sloppy for surfing and we took a break for lunch. Later we headed farther down the beach to watch the experts in the big surf. We saw some amazing surfing and some amazing scenery. After a very good dinner at a little restaurant in the town we headed home to Takapuna.

With Lisa, watching the surfers in Raglan

With Peter Montgomery, the Voice of NZ sailing -- Photo: Gareth Cooke/Subzero Images

Today I’m resting up. The forecast for tomorrow is for good wind, albeit shifty. I’m going back to watching movies and stretching and hopefully I’ll have some good news tomorrow night to start the event off.