A SEASON LIKE NO OTHER

from Tidings Magazine - September 2020

THE BOSUN’S LOCKER

LASER RADIAL TRAINING 2020

THE 2020 SAILING SEASON WILL go down in history as one of the most extraordinary that’s for sure. My year started in Melbourne where the bushfires resulted in smoke so thick that some days on the race course you could not see the top mark and races had to be cancelled.

Following the World’s, the Laser Radial squad looked to a European summer season and the work began. Training on Sydney harbour in February the Ruby Princess sailed passed, docking at Circular Quay. It was the beginning of what was to be a rapid escalation of the global spread of COVID-19.

Just one week later all of the European events were rightfully cancelled and our Western Australian ‘lockdown’ began. Lucky to catch the tail end of summer, I was able to surf and sail with my brother and keep up fitness in my home gym.

After escaping up north for some warm weather, COVID-19 started to calm down so we made plans to come together on the East Coast to train…just as we began to gather in Sydney, things went from bad to worse in Melbourne. And so our adventures of the past two months began as we raced up the coast against border closures and the spread of COVID-19 as well as racing each other! Our goal initially was to search for bigger swell venues and as much sunshine as possible. In reality a COVID-19 free environment also became a key factor.

Working with the Laser Radial national coach Tristan Brown and Olympic gold medallist Tom Burton there has been plenty to gain by returning to the basics of sail boat racing. As anyone who sails or has sailed a Laser in the past would know, there is a never ending amount of fitness and hiking to be done (fun!).

The first 2 weeks were spent in Coffs Harbour, NSW. Some days we were greeted with too much swell and close out waves across the harbour mouth so we couldn’t actually go sailing. Other days we lined up against more whales and dolphins than Lasers, quite a change compared to the Swan River and winter easterlies. But such glamorous sailing conditions!

Next we dashed further up the coast to the Queensland border with the majority of the Australian Sailing Team to continue training in what is a very mild winter! We spent two weeks training and exploring the surroundings of Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron before heading further north again to Mooloolaba for another block of training.

We had such a lot of fun and a really productive two months given that we were supposed to be racing across Europe.

I am currently completing my 14 days’ isolation, safe in WA and looking forward to the fast approaching summer season. Which is also set to be a little different with the majority of big events cancelled, but what a great time to jump in as many different classes as possible and race with friends in local events and club racing!

See you on the water.