RS Tera Pro Nationals 2019

Photo credits: WS Photography / Tera Photos

From 24th August – 26th August I competed in the RS Tera Nationals at Brightlingsea SC. I decided to do this event for fun and to sail the boat one last time, I was expecting to be mid-fleet due to lack of practice.

On Friday afternoon, I went out with Esme Barraclough to do some training to familiarise the boat after not sailing it for a year. The training consisted of learning how to rig and de-rig the boat all over again, tacks, gybes, upwind and downwind.

When I first went out, I was really uncomftable in the boat and struggling to maneuver. However, as training progressed, I began to improve, felt more controlled and began to master the roll tacks and gybes.

On Saturday 24th August, the competion began. The conditions were very difficult due to the light winds and tidal area. The weather was really hard to read due to the tide there were many advantages coming from being able to lee bow the tide – creating a lift, however, this didn’t always work. On the first start, unfortunately, I was over after pushing the line too hard. Thankfully it was a blue peter do I was able to sail back over the line and continue the race. At the first windward mark, I was near the back of the fleet but constanly gaining. I managed to Finish the race 7th which gave me a confidene boost as I knew I was able to get a better result with a better start. At the end of the day, I was lying in 3rd with a 7th, 7th, 3rd and 4th.

Day 2 – the races were very close between the whole fleet, with some sailors achieving what they wanted and others not. The conditions were very similar to the first day, but with some larger gusts. For three of the races I was 1st at the windward mark however due to a lack of time on the water, I was loosing out a little on the downwind legs. I didn’t let this affect me, I recapped on what I thought I did wrong and spoke to my coach for the event, Sophie Johnstone. For the majority of the races you were able to just about lee bow the tide, but due to the shifty winds, I decided to play it safe and short tack on the shifts throught the tide roughly up the middle of the course which seemed to pay all day. At the end of day 2, I was lying in 3rd but now only 1 point behind 2nd but 4th hot on my stern.

Day 3 and it was all to pay for. The tide was in our favour upwind today as it was going out. However, this lead to a lot of general recalls due to some boats being pushed over the line. I managed to beat 2nd and 4th in both races, PUTTING ME INTO 2ND OVERALL!

I secured two 2nds on the last day and after some very tight races, the event was already over.

Alice Davies one the pro fleet by a 20 points – it’s safe she made the least mistakes throughout the regatta. I was very pleased that I finished with all top 10 results and second overall. Matthew won the Sport fleet with all by 3 points with Toby Smith right behind him. Due to some good results from the Yorkshire Dales SC sailors, we won the club trophy again, after winning it at the Inland Championships.