I had a tough month in February after injuring a disc in my back at the World Cup event in Miami right at the end of January. I spent 4-5 weeks down in Weymouth with the sports science team of physiologists and physiotherapists, all working really hard to try and get me back out on the water as soon as possible. Nonetheless it was a frustrating time. I was spending 5-6 hours a day doing fairly dull and monotonous (but ultimately very necessary!) mobility exercises, and building back up the gym training. All I really wanted to be doing was sailing!

Alongside all the gym work, there is always plenty to do when you’re not training on the water. The logistics of running your own campaign is akin to running your own business; fundraising, sorting out equipment, booking accommodation, flights, entering events, working out how to get your boat from Croatia to Spain and wondering what you are going to do about the fact that one of your boats is going to live in Rio for the next 2.5 years… Answer: you have to buy a new boat! Well, thanks to the help and support of the Beaulieu Beaufort Foundation, and the wonderful members of my 100 Club, I have just about managed to buy a new ship. Her name is ‘Over the Rainbow’ (in honour of one of my closest friends who I lost to cancer last year), and I can assure you that she is not only beautiful, she is rapid too! A proper rocket ship!

I also had the honour of being guest speaker at Salterns Sailing Club’s annual dinner. I learned to sail at Salterns. It’s a children’s sailing club in Lymington run by children for children, and it’s very close to my heart. It was a really lovely evening.

Three weekend National qualifiers take place each spring, and three each autumn, and the series is used to allocate places for the World and European Championships that take place annually. It is a relatively rare opportunity for girls to sail against the men in the Laser Radial as internationally, girls sail separately. The Laser Radial is the women’s single-handed Olympic class of boat. We have had the 3 spring qualifiers on 3 consecutive weekends this March. They are normally a little more spread out over the spring period than that, so it’s been quite full on!

It was a race against time to get me ready to sail again in time for the qualifiers. We had to look at the bigger picture and the more important International events later in the season when deciding whether or not to compete and how many races to do. The first of the National qualifiers at Stokes Bay at the beginning of March was the first time I had been back in a boat for about a month due to the back injury. I completed 2 of the 3 races on the Saturday but my back was flaring up a little so we made the tough decision that it wasn’t worth the risk of completing the event. Those 2 races were enough to put me in the top half of the fleet when the fleet is split into Gold and Silver for Sunday racing, and not slipping below mid fleet overall meant that if I sailed well at the two following qualifiers, I would still get a spot at the Europeans and Worlds.

It seems that it was a sensible decision. I have returned to full training and had two successful weekends at the following two qualifiers at Pevensey Bay and Highcliffe, finishing 2^nd overall and 1^st Lady at Pevensey, and 1^st overall at Highcliffe, counting four 1^st places out of five races. It’s the first qualifier I’ve actually won overall. The first time I’ve beaten all the boys!! It’s a great confidence boost – I was quite a way ahead in all four of the races I won, and had some really great feedback from some of the top guys I was racing against. There is a lot of mutual respect among sailors so when you are complimented by competitors it always means a lot.

I’m writing this as a procrastination technique instead of packing, which is what I really should be/need to be doing, as I am catching an early train up to Gatwick tomorrow for a flight out to Palma, Mallorca for the next World Cup event which starts in a week’s time. I am very lucky to be doing something that I still get so excited about. I have had one day of admin and packing and already I am itching to get back out on the water and racing. Palma, bring it on!