WORLD CHAMPION

Wow what a busy month it has been for me… Early in January I was out in Australia for the World Championships.. AND I WON!!!!! Its amazing, I am so happy.

So it has been a long road since the world championships last year where I came second by a single point, I was heartbroken and bitterly disappointed, however I made sure that I worked harder than ever over the past 6 months to make sure I have been in top condition for the most recent world championships. I love sailing in Australia, and the conditions were amazing! We had 30 – 40 degrees each day, 18knots and large seas, which lead to very physical, very tricky sailing, but it was awesome! The Aussies as always put on a great show, and hosted a great championships.

We were in the top 2 from day 1 in a close battle with an Australian team. Going into the penultimate day there was only a single point between us. We managed to extend this to a 4 point lead by the end of the day, giving us the upper hand heading into the final day of racing, however, there was going to be another turn in the story. All we had to do was get 5 or less points for the day or win a race, to win the world championships. In the first race, the aussie boys rompt to the race win while we sailed our worst result of the championships, long story short, we were on equal points heading into the last race of the vent. It could not have been closer!

After we finished that first race, I thought we had blown in, I felt a little sick with upset, however, we knew what we had to do, after sailing away to gather our thoughts we had a chat, it was simple, this world championships would come down to who beat who in the final race. We knew what we had to do. We made sure we started near him, and rounded the top mark in 1^st.. the aussie, by true form were in second. We held them off for the majority of the race before making a mistake letting them throw, we were second in the race and second in the championships, I have never worked so hard as I did on the upwind leg, eventually overhauling them by the top mark, we rounded back in first place and were never letting go from there, we extended slightly and crossed the line in 1^st place, meters in front of the Aussie boys, we were world champions! It was such an incredible feeling, to be European and World champion in the same year is an incredible feeling!

A huge thanks must got o everyone who has supported us and helped us get to the top of the world!

Next for us is the European defence in July then the national title in August. We are aiming this year to retain the European trophy and win the national title, meaning we would become the only team in history to hold all 3 major titles simultaneously.

On wards and Upwards.

Sam