Off to Germany and North american success (2/2)

PART 3: Back to Germany

After arriving home, it was only a few days before I was on the move again. This time I was headed to Kiel Germany to compete in Kiel Week and take part in a Sail Canada Team Camp. This would be the second Team camp of the year after Palma. The Team camps provide a place for everyone from all the classes to stay together in one accommodation. This allows Sail Canada to have meetings with the whole team and is a great opportunity for bonding and team building within the classes. Camps like this are the basis of a strong team which can function smoothly as a unit when attending big events like the Olympics and the Pan Am games.

Arriving in Kiel is always a bit of a shock due to the year-round rain and cold temperatures, but this year arriving so soon after Mexico added an extra little bit of pain. The regatta was to be four days of racing and a medal race on the fifth. The goal was obviously to make the medal race, but there were plenty of quick young sailors we would have to beat. Preparation was going great up until 3 days before racing. We were doing some practices races and I made a weird movement tweaking a muscle in my upper back. It was the same place I had tweaked my back earlier this year in Ft. Lauderdale and the resulting pain left me unable to twist at all. After I got off the water, I went straight to a Physio which was recommended by a friend who sails for Germany. She was very knowledgeable, having worked with many top laser sailors in the past, and she knew exactly what I needed but it was going to be a race to be ready for the first day. I decided to take the rest of the days off before racing to give myself a chance to properly recover. As frustrating as it is to be at a venue and mentally but not physically able to get out on the water, the focus needs to be being as close to 100% as possible for the first day of racing.

By day 1 my back was feeling good enough to sail and with lots of Advil it was even boarding normality. Unfortunately, the wind was not so good, three light wind races left me with plenty to be desired and I found myself with lots of work to do heading into the second and last day of qualifying. However, when day two came around there wasn’t a breath of wind to be found, after a couple hours of sitting around waiting, the race committee decided that it was no use, and they sent us home with no racing for the day. With only 3 races completed in two days, qualifying was extended by a day. On day three we finally got some wind! A lovely 15-18 knot sea breeze filled in around mid-day and we got in three solid races in perfect sailing conditions. I scored an 8, 8, 7 moving me up to 16th overall with one day of racing to go. The wind gods however  decided they would not be doing us any favours. Day 4 was again extremely light and variable.  We did manage to get one race off for gold fleet, but almost half of the fleet was scored BFD and unfortunately, I was one of them. A sorry way to end a regatta, falling 11 places to finish 27th overall out of 98 boats but the important thing was my back was okay.

Once I was home, I got the attention I needed for my back at the Sports Center in Toronto, and I am now working through a strength program that will hopefully help mitigate these problems in the future. Laser sailing is something that takes a toll on the body, and I am now getting to an age where I need to start really looking after myself if I want to stay injury free in the coming years. Injury prevention is now becoming a critical part of my daily routine.

PART 4: North American Championships

After Kiel was over, we were headed to Kingston for the North American Championships. It was a quick turnaround with only one day of rest at home after traveling. This was going to be another important regatta as it was another chance to qualify for Sport Canada funding for next year as well as the first chance to qualify Canada for a place at the Pan Am Games. It was also going to be my first time sailing on Canadian waters since I had left for Malta in July 2020. I think of Kingston as my sailing home as it is where I did the majority of my training and racing while growing up and throughout university. It was nice to be back in a place I had spent so much time and where I was so comfortable, but at the same time everything felt very different. Now being two years older and not a part of the university scene, I couldn’t help but feel a bit nostalgic for an era gone by. It was even hard to find a house to sublet as we realized, since everyone we knew from our university days has graduated and moved on.

Though many things had changed one thing that hadn’t was the wind. As usual, Kingston set the stage for some great racing. Day one was a light sea breeze with big shifts and pressure differences. After a day of snakes and ladders I managed to come away with two 7th place finishes. Neither of these were great but they were two solid finishes on a day when many people had a good and a bad race. Consistency is key. Day 2 was a bit more wind but still a little flukey. A few too many mistakes left me with an 8th on the first race and then I was able to have a better second race to finish 4th. I was happy with this as there was plenty more racing left, and I was staying consistent. However, as I was doing my post sailing recovery in the gym, I received a call from the race organizers. Due to an issue with the online filing system, they had allowed a late protest to be filed against me, and so I was summoned back to the club. The protest was for contact on the start line which I did not think I was at fault for, so we entered to the jury room. After about an hour of examination, going over video evidence, taking statements and back and forth we finally were asked to step out as the jury came to their decision. In the Laser fleet it is generally understood that minor contact especially on the start line is tolerated, very much a rubbing is racing mindset. However, in smaller regattas where the fleets are very tight at the top protests can make a big difference so there is often more follow through. In the end it was decided that I was on the wrong and therefor was scored a DSQ for race number 4. This left me with 3 days of racing left and plenty of work to do.

Days 3 and 4 delivered classic Kingston sea breeze. 15-18 Knots from the southwest was exactly what I needed and executing on my good pin end starts and upwind boat speed I was able to finally bring in some good results. Two 4ths a 2nd and 5th brought me up into 4th place with one day of racing to go, and to make things exciting 3rd to 6th place were within 4 points of each other.

The pressure was on and as we headed out for racing, the sea breeze hadn’t filled in yet. A light and flukey first race was not quite favourable conditions for me but I managed to finish with a 6th and the way the others finished we were headed into the last race 4 boats separated by just 2 points. Now the pressure was really on. The sea breeze still hadn’t filled in, but we could see that it was coming. As the race started, I was at the pin end of the line, fighting for a run to the left side of the course as is so often the case in Kingston. This time though my start wasn’t very good and within a few minutes I had to tack out. I was being forced to take sterns on port as I looked for a clean lane to tack back into. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I found one and tacked back onto starboard. As the race began to develop, I was looking around and began to realize that the sea breeze was filling in and reaching the right side of the course first. I knew this was my opportunity and decided to head out to the right, something that is rarely done in Kingston. As I reached the pressure, I began to be able to hike and by the time I reached the windward mark I was in second place, only behind one boat who had managed to have an amazing start and survive on the left side. Unfortunately though, the boat in first was one point ahead of me meaning whoever beat who in this race would claim the final podium spot. On the reach and the downwind legs, I was reeling him in. By the leeward mark I was right on his tail. He was rounding directly ahead of me, and he knew the battle was on, I tacked away, and he tacked on me, I tacked back, and he followed. This tacking battle continued for most of the upwind all the while those who had been far behind us at the leeward were getting closer and closer. By the time we got to the top, another boat had caught a shift from the right and made it a three-boat battle for the race win. I knew because of how the tie breaker worked that if I won the race, I would be third, but if I finished second, I needed at least one boat in between the boat I was battling with to take the final podium spot. By the windward we were running 2ndand 3rd in a close three-way battle. I knew that because of the tie break situation, I would need to start taking some risks because if I didn’t win the race I was done. We battled all the way downwind and by the end I was still in third. I was disappointed but knew I had done all I could.  I sailed over to my coach Andrew to get my water and head in. As I got closer I saw that he had a big smile on his face which I thought was strange, but as I pulled alongside, he told me that the boat who had beaten me was over early in the last race! It was disqualified and I was promoted to second in the race and third overall in the regatta.

I can’t describe the feeling; pure joy is all I can say. To be up against the wall and to come out on top after such a roller-coaster of a regatta means the world. I know it isn’t a Worlds or an Olympics or even a European championship but with funding on the line, and the chance to qualify your country for the Pan Am games it feels good to be able to deliver. It feels like the endless hours of training, working out, fundraising are all worth it. They’re all slowly but surely moving me towards my end goal.

 PART 5: What’s Next

After North Americans I had been racing for close to four months straight. I enjoyed three well deserved weeks out of the boat at home. This time I took to really get my fitness back up to my pre-injury levels. Many hours on the bike and in the gym were a welcome change from the last four months, and even though they weren’t necessarily restful they were a good mental break. By the end of three weeks though, it must be said I was dying to get back on the water.

August started off with a 10-day training camp in Halifax with the National Team. The focus for the week and a half was downwind sailing and St. Margret’s Bay was the perfect location. One of my teammates, Ryan, has a family cottage at the end of the bay which we used as our base for the week. 8 of the ten days we towed up to Peggy’s Cove giving us a long downwind session allowing the time to really focus. Because lasers sail upwind so much slower than then go downwind, training sessions often end of being mostly upwind sailing. This can be challenging when you’re trying to develop downwind technique and so camps like this allow us to make focused improvements.

After getting back from Halifax I had one day at home to relax before I was off again. This time the destination was Vilamoura on the southern coast of Portugal. In order to fund my campaign, I often take odd jobs like towing trailers and coaching younger athletes so when the opportunity to coach 6 young Canadian sailors at the under 21 World Championships came up I jumped on it. Coaching for one is a great experience as it gives the chance to watch racing from the rib and see how races play out. But it is also a great opportunity to get involved in the Canadian sailing community. I take lots of pride in being a role model for younger kids coming up the Canadian Laser pipeline and so being able help some of them one on one is very enjoyable.

As I write this, I now am on my way from Portugal to a training camp in Belgium where the Canadian and Australian national teams are joining up for a week.  I will then head to Lake Garda for 3 weeks of further sailing and cycling with the focus being a continuation of our downwind camp in Halifax. After Garda I will be spending 3 weeks in Victoria BC for another National team camp before finally heading back to France for the Senior European Championships. This has without doubt been the busiest year of my life in terms of travel and it is not over yet, but I am enjoying every second of it along the way and step by step getting closer to the level I need to be at to qualify for Paris 2024.

Please take a look at my website gallery as I have updated it with all the pictures from my adventures over the past few months and as always, if you are able, any amount of support is greatly appreciated through the donation section of my website or through wind athletes.

Until next time,

James