It’s been a crazy week and a half, but we are on the water in Palma getting ready for the first European stop on the 2012 ISAF World Cup Circuit. Logistical nightmares generally plague an Olympic campaign, and I’m glad we’re four years into this lest we be unprepared. The most important thing is that we are back on the water and feeling good with a few days to go before the Princess Sofia Trophy.
Coach Dave Hughes and I flew to London last Tuesday night on the redeye. We were scheduled to take an overnight ferry from Barcelona to Palma on Friday night. Seems easy at first glance, of course. However, we had to get to our van in Weymouth, then pick up our Olympic boat from storage in Southampton (two hours east of Weymouth) and return it to Weymouth. After that, we had to replace the rack on the coach-boat trailer we had shipped to Perth and return to Southampton to pick up our other boat for the journey south. Then began the easy part, the 18-hour drive to Barcelona. With a five-hour sleeping stop just north of Paris (mistake), and lots of morning rush hour traffic in Paris, we made it Barcelona with an hour to spare.
Trevor got out of this trip to, as he did both cross-country trips in the US in the fall. He took the time to visit our Finnish friends in Lapland, a northern winter wonderland that is within the Arctic Circle. He saw the Northern Lights, enjoyed some ice fishing, chopped a lot of wood, and generally relaxed Finnish-style. It was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience for sure.
It’s been light here in Palma the past few days, all the better for us to get our feet back under us. We are focusing on our boat handling and our in-boat communication. The next four regattas we do are practice for the Olympics, but we want to do as well as we can to give ourselves confidence and to get the feeling of going for it in the real thing.
Back in action in Palma. Dave Hughes photo
Stay tuned for lots more from Palma, Spain. Racing begins here on Monday and concludes the following Saturday.
Thanks to all of our supporters and sponsors. This year, especially, we are so fortunate to have such overwhelming backing from so many. Thanks to the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex. Thanks also to Sperry Top-Sider for their commitment to us, and to excellence in performance footwear!
Erik
Storck Moore Sailing