Lost in CyberSpace

While waiting with Scott on the beach for the boys to return, (and before we "lost" him) we spotted this very small boy pulling his boat up the beach with his Mum and another even smaller boy in the boat getting a ride. Mum stopped a little bit in front of us and told the little sailor to wait there while she went back and got "Johnny". Off she goes again way down the beach and little "Sammy" is left there looking after his "Opie" (as they call them here) and even littler "Joey". So we say wow he's a small sailor and ask him how old he is. "Six" comes the reply. WOW we thought and proceeded to have the age old debate about how young is too young to start them. I started when I was 5 or 6 because my older brother was sailing a P class. I had my ups and downs but went on to sailing as part of a career. I personally think we should encourage those that want to start their kids early to do so if they think that is good for them.

Anyway, Mum returns with the next sibling and "Opie" in tow and then starts getting them all up the beach. Scotty asks the 6 yo if he had had a good sail and if he is going out again tomorrow and gets a really positive "yes" in return!

The UK Nationals this year have some 440 participants. In addition to the Senior and Junior racing fleets (which are also split into Gold and Silver fleets after 6 races) there are 3 levels of what they call "regatta" fleet. The racing fleet, equivalent to our Green fleet, then a coached  race fleet and a sort of "learn to sail" fleet. I guess the octopus is a group of the the LTS. ie lots of progressive levels for encouragement through chances of success. Must be a few future Olympians here.

As reported by Scott, (how he knew that from his position on the beach I'm not quite sure) Leonard got called over the loud speaker system to report to the race office. We headed over there wondering what he had done wrong but it turned out they wanted him to make the "Sportsmans Oath" (or whatever you call it) on behalf of the International competitors at the opening ceremony. He accepted and here are a couple of iphone zoom pictures (quality not good when you zoom)

Practice Race

Hi to all you dedicated followers, everyone starting to get back into regatta mode (parents included) with the practice race today. Spent the morning chilling a little and rechecking and setting up the boats, we caught up with our Honorary Kiwi friend Max and his family today also. The forecast was overcast with 12-15knots gusting 22knots which sounded promising, but never eventuated and maxed out at around 10knots . The kids were out on the water at 1pm with a 1.55pm warning signal, one of the interesting things about launching was that the kids were advised to wear something on their feet before they went into the water as there was weaver fish (I think that was what they called them) that lay on the sand and if you stood on them they would sting you. The race finally got underway at around 3 pm after several general recalls and postponements. The rain came in and changed the wind direction causing the race committee to change the course no sooner was this completed it stopped raining and the breeze swung back causing another postponement, hopefully this is not a sample of what we are going to see for the week. The Windguru forecast is showing it will be quite a light regatta with a couple of days at 2-4knots and picking up a little towards the end but nothing above 8knots, time will tell though. As I have found out practice races are something that is not taken to seriously, it is as much about the race committee making sure they are ready and the same for the competitors, most competitors seem to take the start seriously go to the top mark and from then on tend to pull out, some say it is not wanting to show everyone else to early who is good, others say it is bad luck to finish the race let alone winning it. Our guys did the top mark wing mark and pulled out at the bottom mark, Isaac and Markus were in one flight and Leonard in the other. All three of them were in the top 10 before pulling out which they were all happy about. There is about 150 boats entered in the senior fleet from 12 different countries so quite an international flavour. Leonard was asked to speak at the opening ceremony on behalf of the international sailors seeing as the NZ team had travelled the furthest. Racing starts tomorrow at 11am (10pm NZ), we have a rib so will be out on the water so keep an eye on facebook as I am sure Rob will be throwing live updates in there, for those of you who like your sleep I should have the blog up by around 9am NZ with a link to the results also. So back into it.

A few pics from today, Rob has a few more and will post them when we can get the internet to go for longer than 30 seconds.Getting ready to go out for practice race, you will notice the boys are wearing a few more layers than in previous regattas.

You will notice the small tent on the beach, no different from home in the summer! The difference is we use them to keep out of the sun, here they have them so they can jump in and stay warm!!

Ready for the opening ceremony.


I have put this down the bottom hoping no one will read it.

Every day that goes by seems to have a little drama in it and today was no exception, the only problem is I was involved in this one, so as I am writing about today I thought great no need to tell anyone, I have since been threatened with all sorts of punishment if I don't write something. Went something like this...

We were sitting in the yacht club today when we get a txt from the coach saying kids on way in. Great we start heading for the beach. Once we get there we see the junior fleet coming in and possibly one of the senior fleets behind them. Rob was in jandals and I was wearing shoes. As you would have seen by yesterdays photos the tide goes a long way out, so Rob volunteered to go down and see the kids coming in I would look after the jandals and help them up the hill once they got back. Rob set off and I headed up the beach a bit to the dry sand and sat down, I pulled out my phone and checked a few txts etc etc, maybe 5-10min went by while I was doing this. I then got up and walked back down to where I was previously. It got down to about 20 boats left to come in, about 3/4 hour has passed now, I thought to myself typical our guys are out there playing silly buggers and will be the last in. I then here a whistle, I thought that sounds a lot like Robs whistle so I turned around and sure enough there he was standing up the beach, I went up to him and asked how did you get up there thinking he must have got a ride around in a rib or something. But no as it happens on his way down the beach to see the kids he was met by them coming up one of the first off the water, they got back up to where I was couldn't see me or the jandals

Robs first pics In Pwllheli

After quite a drive from London the last part was really nice. Green countryside and lots of old stone houses.

We had a leg stretch at this little town 30 mins prior to Pwllheli:

Why is it that boys have to explore anything and everything?

One way of attacting attention to your restaurant! Yuk!

We arrived at the UK Nationals venue at last!

Boy it's a long way out to the water at low tide!

The dinghy park. You tow your boat from here, through the sand dunes and down the beach.
Actually the venue is quite large and you can see the yacht club buildings and marquees in the background.

Measurement and registration was a breeze in the big tent....

  so the boys went for a sail in the afternoon with our local coach Dyfrig Mon
Dyfrig having a debrief after sailing today

 You can see the marquees and yacht club from our Pwllheli home....

 We can get wifi but it is in the apartment next door so you have to be resourceful to pick up a signal......

 Everything is built to last here.....

Bit different to Hamilton eh Dad....and no Scott hasn't taken to rolling his own smokes....I wonder what they were actually talking about......

The supermarket is just down the road so we laid in some supplies. Mark here checking on what Scott has bought for breakfast.

 We headed down the road for some dinner....

and the pub had a kids menu so....Hey Dad are we actually allowed in here?

Markus, Mark and Scott went for the ribs....

 Tonight they had a welcoming party for the International competitors..(bit more friendly than when we went to the Oz Nats)

The boys were chatting to Will and some guys they had met at the US Nats.....

 when the Irish girls discovered Isaac......

While Team USA had a briefing.....

In front of the real clubhouse!

Pwllheli - Wales

The lads making the most of the opportunity to catch up on some sleep on the way to Pwllheli

Well this time I am sitting on the deck at our house in Pwllheli (prounounce P-well-e) Wales. Most of yesterday was spent travelling from London to here, took around 6 hours with a food stop, actually had my first flat white since leaving NZ, it was so good (but not as good as your ones Tash).

So we have gone from Central London to the very outskirts of the UK, towards the end of the journey you could have easily mistaken that you were in NZ, plenty of green grass rolling hills, sheep and cattle. Got here around 6pm last night then checked out the local supermarket went to the sailing club and had a nose around then decided we would walk down to the local pub for dinner. Quite an eye opener, narrow streets with kids playing on them, front doors to houses as high as our kids. Had to try the bangers and mash with mushy peas, not bad.. Today we have been down to the club picked up our boats and the kids have been out for a sail. Tomorrow is the practise race so we are slowly getting back in the groove. The kids were all keen to say something so I will go pour a wine while they blog......

Leonard: The weather got colder when we arrived in the UK and as we were launching today I realised that this was not going to be a warm regatta. We got out there with Dyfrig and did a few tacks and we learnt about what the wind does here, we decided to go in and rest after that.

Markus:
First full day here in Wales and its not too bad. the weathers been great only needing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. The waters filled with these random little worms and its pretty disgusting really. Ive met a few mates while ive been here and I think all the kiwis are glad weve finally made it. Doverigg i think thats his name has been really good help and now we are all Pwllheli guru's! Hi everyone back at home, see you soon!!

Isaac:

Its great to talk again

USA was a great place to sail the water was a little bit brown but still very hot I didnt start the regatta off well with a raf and a ocs but i held my self straight and ended up 13th.

The weather in Wales isnt as hot but its not as cold as I thought it was going to be. Hi to all at home, hopefully we all have a good regatta, Talk soon

Photos from London

Not in any particular order - click on the photo if you want to make it bigger
A sample of the wares available from Harrods - a mere 37000 pounds

or if that is not to your liking how about an 80000 pound underwater scooter

or maybe an 8000 pound exercycle


They even sell fresh produce at Harrods

The London Bridge

The Tower of London - Location of the Crown Jewels

About to depart on our bike excursion

The Marble Arch - This used to be the entrance way to Buckingham Palace until the Queen at the time decided to have it moved (can't have been big enough I suppose)

One of the car yards in Central London- Gull wing Merc and a Lambo not bad!!

Directly opposite the car yard people riding horses in Hyde Park

Big Ben - apparently named after the guy who installed the actual clock his name was Ben and he was a big guy, makes sense I suppose.

The boys at the Maritme Museum, dressed for a day on the beach.

Maritime Museum, this boat was the first boat to reach over 100mph, held the water speed record at 111mph in 1933.

To all the shoppers looking, sorry all I could afford was the photo.

Standing outside the entrance to Churchills War Rooms

The boys with the guard standing near the entrance to the Primeministers house at 10 Downing Street. You will notice Rob also found a barber today hence the haircut, I am sure he only got it cut because the barber offered you free Beer...

Yeah Buddy, world famous in London..

You would have thought by the end of the day they would have no energy, wrong, hanging like monkeys on the tube ride home

Yes it is real gold, well gold gilt at least, hand painted on gold.

The last hurdle before arriving at the Hotel.