The iQFoil Youth and Junior Europeans were held on Lac Serre-Poncon this year near Embrun in the Alps of France. The event was held between the 2nd and 11th of July.
This was the toughest regatta that I have ever done both physically and mentally. The challenges started even before we got on the plane. Three days before we left, in my final training session, I broke my toe during a tack by kicking the foot strap.
We ultimately decided though, that I was still able to compete if I taped my toe and wore boots.
We arrived in Embrun around a week before the event started. I took part in the Emerging Nations/Off-continent training camp. This was a great way to prepare for the regatta and get used to the tricky conditions that we were faced with. In the weeks leading up to the event, the region had mass amounts of rain and snow melt leading to major floods. This washed many sticks, logs, and trees down into the lake creating a lot of obstacles and some tough moments.
By the time the regatta had started, the wood had mostly cleared up. The goal of the regatta was to learn as much as possible, hopefully make it into the gold fleet, and gain experience in a big fleet.
On the first day of racing, we were faced with very different conditions from the 12-15 knots that we had had in the training week. It was now 6-8 knots of shifty, gusty wind, which made for some very challenging slalom racing. With so many people on the start line compared with anything I’d raced before, the light winds only made for harder racing. It was a long day on the water with some disappointing results and extremely tough learnings.
On the second day of qualifying, we had a bit more wind so were able to do some course racing. Again, I struggled with starting and getting my arms out in the fleet. I was able to work my way back up in the fleet and make some headway, with better decisions around the race course and better speed throughout.
Unfortunately, though I was unable to make it into the gold fleet, with my results from the first day of racing really affecting my score. I was now sitting in the middle of Silver Fleet heading into day 3 and the rest of the regatta.
Days 3 and 4 of the regatta were spent on the beach with there not being enough wind for the silver fleet to race.
The following days were very much the same with 6-10 knots for all three days and slalom racing. Again, I struggled with my light wind sailing and having speed all around the race course. I had some moments of really good racing with good decisions and starting and others where I made silly mistakes that cost me the race because slalom racing is so quick. I came 95th out of 120 in the under 19 men’s fleet. Overall it was a tough regatta results and conditions-wise, but it was still an amazing experience on and off the water. I learned so much about big fleet racing and met so many new people. I am motivated now to go home and continue to work hard to improve in the months to come. Thank you to the Ron Tough Yachting Foundation for the support and grant that assisted me in the journey.