Subject: Miami OCR 2007! Its a big one!
Hello Everyone!
I hope that you all enjoyed your holidays over the winter and that you're all in the swing of things for 2007. I hope this year brings all of you good things.
I am in Miami right now preparing for the 2007 Rolex Miami OCR. This year's entry list it definitely the most impressive one I've seen in all the years that I've been doing this event. Pretty much everyone who's anyone is here, so it will make for a fantastic event! The last week I've been here just training at the site getting used to the conditions here again. I'm feeling really good in my boat and pretty strong, which is always a good thing! I’m looking forward to some challenging racing in tricky conditions!
Over the last month and a half I have been doing a lot of physical training and I had some good quality training over in Hawaii and Australia. I have to thank John and Danielle Myrdal for having me in Hawaii as well as Mike Leigh and Kat Wade for looking after me in Australia. Both places were fantastic, and what made it even better was the fact that I'd never been to either place before, so I got to be a bit of a tourist! The sailing was really great. Completely different from each other, but always interesing, challenging and fun. Hawaii had a variety of conditions to choose from with little boat traffic but lots of turtle traffic, whereas Sydney Harbour was absolute chaos! Wow! I have never seen so many boats in one area before. It was even more amazing when I got to watch the start of the Sydney-Hobart race! All of this was great to get me comfortable in what I’m doing again. Its time for a new season and a fresh start!
So now I'm all geared up for this years big North American event! I'll keep you all posted much more regularly, this I promise! If you want to watch the regatta online, go to www.rolexmiamiocr.org.
Top Canadian at this event will get a berth at the Pre-Olympics this August in Qingdao China. Also it is a part of our National Qualifying criteria. Wish me luck and I’ll write again soon.
Ciao for now!
Keamia
Monday, March 26, 2007
October 9, 2006
Subject: EPIC UPDATE!! 2006 season
Hello to everyone!
I would like to start by apologizing for not having sent many update e-mails this year. I haven't forgotten about any of you! This year has proven to be challenging for me and I was having a hard time to put my thoughts and experiences into words for a while. I really managed to push myself to the edge this year with the scheduling and traveling. Though I had an extremely difficult time with my season this year, I'm happy to say that I'm back on with my e-mails again. A lot has happened and I've once again learned a lot; a lot about my personal limits and a lot about how to go about planning a better season.
If I could translate what my season has been like this year into a rollercoaster ride, I think I'd have a good chance of being in competition with the rides at Disney World! Having started off strong in the early months of this year I felt great and I was ready for anything... Or so I thought. Europe this year proved to be something else. With all the major events back-to back, there was no time off for those of us who decided to do them all (that would be me!). Princess Sofia, Hyeres, World Sailing Games, Spa, Europeans and then a small break before worlds. That's 5 major events in 3 months (excluding the Worlds). Looking back now I can see that its ridiculous to expect to do well at all of these events, but I was very naive. I could go on and on about these events and how frustrated, tired and upset I was that I didn't do well, but that would be much too long, even for me! I can summarize by quoting the Steve Miller Band and their song 'Jet Airliner': "You gotta go through hell before you get to Heaven".
After a tough season in Europe, I took a week off completely and then did some training in Houston at the Houston Yacht Club. With the help of the coaches there, I did some drills with the youth sailors and just got back to the basics. This was probably the best thing I could have done for myself in preparation for this year's World Championships. I got to the worlds feeling refreshed and ready to bring it on. I am happy to report that I had a pretty good event overall, finishing 33rd in Gold Fleet. It wasn't quite the result that I had aimed for, but I had some fantastic races and managed to qualify for the National Team for 2007. I am really happy with how I sailed, though it was another stressful wait for me to see if I made the gold fleet this year. Tommy, my coach, told me that I had to finish in the top 4 in the last race of the qualifiers in order to certainly make the gold fleet. I tried my hardest, but the best I could get was 5th!! So I was completely stressed out until they finally posted the results that showed me in the Gold! Then the next day I proved that I belonged there with a solid 4th in the first race and a 13th in the next. This one, I can't complain about, especially with the kind of season I had been having.
After the Radial Worlds, I coached at the Youth Radial Worlds, which was a nice change of pace and a lot of fun. It was a good break from always being watched, and to finally be able to watch others.
2006 Good Luck Beijing Qingdao International Regatta.
Try saying that regatta name 5 times fast!
After doing some coaching I flew out from LA to China and did the Olympic Test Event (Otherwise known as the above mentioned regatta). This event was... How can I put it... Interesting?! I am really happy that I was able to go to Qingdao and see the venue this early on, as it is very different from anywhere I've ever been before. With winds around 4 knots and tides of around 2 knots, it made for some very difficult sailing, and not very much racing. I could also go ON and ON about this event, but I will try to keep it short.
China is prepared to give the world a grand Debut of the New, Modernized China. With the Opening and Closing Ceremonies televised live and with all the important people there, it was quite impressive! (they love their fireworks!!) The venue was almost completely prepared, with only an athlete's village and some minor things within the venue to finish up before the main event in 2008. This is almost unheard of for any Olympic Venue! It was really fantastic in that respect, though the organization/race committee does have a lot of work cut out for them though in the next two years.
The Chinese were extremely hospitable and always had a police officer around to make sure we were safe. It was pretty scary riding in the Taxi's there, but at about $1-$2 to go anywhere in the city, it was the way to go! The culture there is just so different from our Western Culture, but it was really a great experience, and I do feel like I could go back there again and feel a lot more comfortable now that I know what to expect.
The sailing itself wasn't very good at all. The main objective of this trip was to go and see what it was like. So it was a good trip! I just know now that I should go and train in places with very strong tides. Though there was next to no wind, on the last day a storm came through and brought some good conditions for the sailors in the medal races. This proves that you really have to be prepared for everything! This is always the goal.
SO... Now I'm in Vancouver after having just driven from Houston. It was a long haul, but I'm happy to be here. This coming weekend we have our Canadian National Qualifying Regatta (NQR) at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. I haven't touched my boat since China, so this will be a nice event to get myself back in the mode to do some serious training this winter. I will be based here in Vancouver for the next 2-3 months, with only one trip in that time. I will go to Hawaii to do some training with Danielle Myrdal, one of the American Radial sailors. The objective for the next 3 months is to really focus on building a solid plan for this upcoming season. The Worlds 2007 in Portugal is the first opportunity for anyone to Qualify for the Olympics, so its really cruch time now. Time to 'Go Hard or Go Home'! I'm planning on going HARD!!!!!!
How do you feel after reading this Epic Update? Did it feel Epic? Ha ha... I don't know, I thought maybe more people would read this if it had a catchy title! It seems to work for newspapers, right!?
I do hope that all of you are doing well and I really look forward to hearing back from you. It always brightens my day!
Ciao for now,
Keamia
Hello to everyone!
I would like to start by apologizing for not having sent many update e-mails this year. I haven't forgotten about any of you! This year has proven to be challenging for me and I was having a hard time to put my thoughts and experiences into words for a while. I really managed to push myself to the edge this year with the scheduling and traveling. Though I had an extremely difficult time with my season this year, I'm happy to say that I'm back on with my e-mails again. A lot has happened and I've once again learned a lot; a lot about my personal limits and a lot about how to go about planning a better season.
If I could translate what my season has been like this year into a rollercoaster ride, I think I'd have a good chance of being in competition with the rides at Disney World! Having started off strong in the early months of this year I felt great and I was ready for anything... Or so I thought. Europe this year proved to be something else. With all the major events back-to back, there was no time off for those of us who decided to do them all (that would be me!). Princess Sofia, Hyeres, World Sailing Games, Spa, Europeans and then a small break before worlds. That's 5 major events in 3 months (excluding the Worlds). Looking back now I can see that its ridiculous to expect to do well at all of these events, but I was very naive. I could go on and on about these events and how frustrated, tired and upset I was that I didn't do well, but that would be much too long, even for me! I can summarize by quoting the Steve Miller Band and their song 'Jet Airliner': "You gotta go through hell before you get to Heaven".
After a tough season in Europe, I took a week off completely and then did some training in Houston at the Houston Yacht Club. With the help of the coaches there, I did some drills with the youth sailors and just got back to the basics. This was probably the best thing I could have done for myself in preparation for this year's World Championships. I got to the worlds feeling refreshed and ready to bring it on. I am happy to report that I had a pretty good event overall, finishing 33rd in Gold Fleet. It wasn't quite the result that I had aimed for, but I had some fantastic races and managed to qualify for the National Team for 2007. I am really happy with how I sailed, though it was another stressful wait for me to see if I made the gold fleet this year. Tommy, my coach, told me that I had to finish in the top 4 in the last race of the qualifiers in order to certainly make the gold fleet. I tried my hardest, but the best I could get was 5th!! So I was completely stressed out until they finally posted the results that showed me in the Gold! Then the next day I proved that I belonged there with a solid 4th in the first race and a 13th in the next. This one, I can't complain about, especially with the kind of season I had been having.
After the Radial Worlds, I coached at the Youth Radial Worlds, which was a nice change of pace and a lot of fun. It was a good break from always being watched, and to finally be able to watch others.
2006 Good Luck Beijing Qingdao International Regatta.
Try saying that regatta name 5 times fast!
After doing some coaching I flew out from LA to China and did the Olympic Test Event (Otherwise known as the above mentioned regatta). This event was... How can I put it... Interesting?! I am really happy that I was able to go to Qingdao and see the venue this early on, as it is very different from anywhere I've ever been before. With winds around 4 knots and tides of around 2 knots, it made for some very difficult sailing, and not very much racing. I could also go ON and ON about this event, but I will try to keep it short.
China is prepared to give the world a grand Debut of the New, Modernized China. With the Opening and Closing Ceremonies televised live and with all the important people there, it was quite impressive! (they love their fireworks!!) The venue was almost completely prepared, with only an athlete's village and some minor things within the venue to finish up before the main event in 2008. This is almost unheard of for any Olympic Venue! It was really fantastic in that respect, though the organization/race committee does have a lot of work cut out for them though in the next two years.
The Chinese were extremely hospitable and always had a police officer around to make sure we were safe. It was pretty scary riding in the Taxi's there, but at about $1-$2 to go anywhere in the city, it was the way to go! The culture there is just so different from our Western Culture, but it was really a great experience, and I do feel like I could go back there again and feel a lot more comfortable now that I know what to expect.
The sailing itself wasn't very good at all. The main objective of this trip was to go and see what it was like. So it was a good trip! I just know now that I should go and train in places with very strong tides. Though there was next to no wind, on the last day a storm came through and brought some good conditions for the sailors in the medal races. This proves that you really have to be prepared for everything! This is always the goal.
SO... Now I'm in Vancouver after having just driven from Houston. It was a long haul, but I'm happy to be here. This coming weekend we have our Canadian National Qualifying Regatta (NQR) at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. I haven't touched my boat since China, so this will be a nice event to get myself back in the mode to do some serious training this winter. I will be based here in Vancouver for the next 2-3 months, with only one trip in that time. I will go to Hawaii to do some training with Danielle Myrdal, one of the American Radial sailors. The objective for the next 3 months is to really focus on building a solid plan for this upcoming season. The Worlds 2007 in Portugal is the first opportunity for anyone to Qualify for the Olympics, so its really cruch time now. Time to 'Go Hard or Go Home'! I'm planning on going HARD!!!!!!
How do you feel after reading this Epic Update? Did it feel Epic? Ha ha... I don't know, I thought maybe more people would read this if it had a catchy title! It seems to work for newspapers, right!?
I do hope that all of you are doing well and I really look forward to hearing back from you. It always brightens my day!
Ciao for now,
Keamia
May 2, 2006
Subject: Long time since the last one!
Hello all!!
I am in Riva del Garda right now for some training leading up to the World Sailing Games which will be held in Austria in just over a week. I just arrived here a couple days ago, and if the wind fills in today it will be my first day out here for some good training with a great group of girls. I traveled from France to Italy with the Canadian Yngling team and we stopped in Monaco for lunch on the way over... We stopped in at the Yacht Club there and were treated like celebrities. The city is beautiful and I even got to see some Ferrari's close up! Pretty sweet!
Let me first fill you in quickly on what's happened since Midwinters East! I know its been a long time and I do apologize for that.
After having been in Florida for nearly two months, I headed back to my brother's house in Houston to relax a bit... But not for long as I headed to the Dominican Republic for a Canadian Sailing Team Training camp!
The Dominican Republic is a really beautiful place. I hadn't been there since the Pan American Games in 2003, so it was really nice to go back there and the sailing was FANTASTIC! Big Breeze everyday... Great fitness training. And might I add that we were living and launching off the beautiful beach there. It was really a great opportunity not only to work on my sailing fitness, but to get to know a lot of the other people on the Canadian Team who I'd never really gotten to know before. I was there for 2 weeks, one week training and one regatta. It was an adventure getting to the venue for the regatta as it was a 3 hour drive on a road full of potholes, but it was beautiful scenery of rainforest and small villages. I won the regatta and came home with some prize money which was really nice!
Before heading to Europe I had 2 weeks down time at my brother's place, where I managed to get really sick and injure my knee all at once, but I'm all good now, so it was good it happened then!
This year I decided to go to Europe a little earlier than I had previously and I hit the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. This was a great warm-up event for the european circuit. Not only that, but it was nice to see a new venue this year. The sailing there was really quite nice, unfortunately I had a difficult time to clear my head and get focused on the task at hand until halfway through the event. It was difficult for me as I missed the Gold Fleet by just a few points again like at the worlds. I did manage to get through it and came out with some good insight into what I need to focus on for the rest of the summer here.
Following Palma, I headed back to France for the Semaine Olympique Francais again this year. This event went a lot better for me, though I didn't reach my goal for my result, I managed to pull off some good starts and I was always up there for most of the race. I still have work to do to keep myself up in the top 10. I did finish in the Gold fleet and I was fighting hard to keep moving up the fleet.
Now I'm moving forward with my training and just waiting for the wind today, as the rain managed to kill off any possibility of the 'sea breeze' here.
I have attatched a couple of photos from over here in Europe! I hope that you are all having a great time and I'm looking forward to hearing back from you! I will make sure to write more frequently again so that these mails aren't so long!!
Take care!!
~~Keamia~~
Hello all!!
I am in Riva del Garda right now for some training leading up to the World Sailing Games which will be held in Austria in just over a week. I just arrived here a couple days ago, and if the wind fills in today it will be my first day out here for some good training with a great group of girls. I traveled from France to Italy with the Canadian Yngling team and we stopped in Monaco for lunch on the way over... We stopped in at the Yacht Club there and were treated like celebrities. The city is beautiful and I even got to see some Ferrari's close up! Pretty sweet!
Let me first fill you in quickly on what's happened since Midwinters East! I know its been a long time and I do apologize for that.
After having been in Florida for nearly two months, I headed back to my brother's house in Houston to relax a bit... But not for long as I headed to the Dominican Republic for a Canadian Sailing Team Training camp!
The Dominican Republic is a really beautiful place. I hadn't been there since the Pan American Games in 2003, so it was really nice to go back there and the sailing was FANTASTIC! Big Breeze everyday... Great fitness training. And might I add that we were living and launching off the beautiful beach there. It was really a great opportunity not only to work on my sailing fitness, but to get to know a lot of the other people on the Canadian Team who I'd never really gotten to know before. I was there for 2 weeks, one week training and one regatta. It was an adventure getting to the venue for the regatta as it was a 3 hour drive on a road full of potholes, but it was beautiful scenery of rainforest and small villages. I won the regatta and came home with some prize money which was really nice!
Before heading to Europe I had 2 weeks down time at my brother's place, where I managed to get really sick and injure my knee all at once, but I'm all good now, so it was good it happened then!
This year I decided to go to Europe a little earlier than I had previously and I hit the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. This was a great warm-up event for the european circuit. Not only that, but it was nice to see a new venue this year. The sailing there was really quite nice, unfortunately I had a difficult time to clear my head and get focused on the task at hand until halfway through the event. It was difficult for me as I missed the Gold Fleet by just a few points again like at the worlds. I did manage to get through it and came out with some good insight into what I need to focus on for the rest of the summer here.
Following Palma, I headed back to France for the Semaine Olympique Francais again this year. This event went a lot better for me, though I didn't reach my goal for my result, I managed to pull off some good starts and I was always up there for most of the race. I still have work to do to keep myself up in the top 10. I did finish in the Gold fleet and I was fighting hard to keep moving up the fleet.
Now I'm moving forward with my training and just waiting for the wind today, as the rain managed to kill off any possibility of the 'sea breeze' here.
I have attatched a couple of photos from over here in Europe! I hope that you are all having a great time and I'm looking forward to hearing back from you! I will make sure to write more frequently again so that these mails aren't so long!!
Take care!!
~~Keamia~~
February 16, 2006
Subject: Strong Start to 2006!
Hello hello!
Well, this e-mail is a little past its due after the Women's North American Championships.
As mentioned in my last e-mail, the two positions for the Worlds this year were on the line there. I am happy to report that with my 4th place finish, I managed to clench the second spot for North America at the Radial Worlds this year. The regatta was very interesting with some tight scores going into the last day. The winds were not too strong and there were waves for most of the days, but on the final day it was very light coming offshore and it was flat water and very shifty winds. Going into the last day, I was tied with Jen Spalding and very close behind (2points I think) was Lisa Ross. All fighting for the top spot to qualify for the worlds. After Jen won the first race, things were looking only mediocre for the rest of us, but then I managed to pull off a second place in the next race, which brought things closer again. So it came down to the last race of the regatta. It was very tricky, and it went from Jen having the worlds birth, to Lisa and jen being tied and me being totally out of the picture. Of course the big lesson I've learned recently is that "it ain't over 'till its over". Coming up the last leg of the race, I saw that the breeze was dying out on the right for everyone and all day there had been some great pressure and lifts out of the left of the course. So I headed to where I saw the wind coming from next and it paid off big. I went from 9th at the leeward mark to 3rd at the finish and I managed to earn the birth at the worlds!
I am very happy with my fourth Place finish at this regatta. Paige Railey sailed a solid event and finished first with Anna Tunniclife and Laura Baldwin tied for the second and third position. With Paige earning an automatic birth at the Worlds as she is the reigning world Champion and Laura Baldwin being from the UK and not eligible for a North American birth, the two positions went to Anna and myself.
After those two major events at the very beginning of the season, a new World Ranking came out. I am pleased to say that I've managed to crack the top 10 in the ISAF World Rankings once again. I am sitting in 10th at the moment which also qualified me to be invited to the ISAF World Sailing Games to be held in Austria in May this year!
After the North Americans in Ft. Lauderdale I scooted across the state to hit Clearwater where I've been training with Paige, Laura and Jen. Its been pretty good and I'm looking forward to the next event which is Laser Midwinters East. This event starts on the 23rd and ends on the 27th. Regatta info and results can be found at www.clwyc.org
Again, I hope all is well with all of you and I am looking forward to hearing back from you!
Cheers
~~Keamia~~
Hello hello!
Well, this e-mail is a little past its due after the Women's North American Championships.
As mentioned in my last e-mail, the two positions for the Worlds this year were on the line there. I am happy to report that with my 4th place finish, I managed to clench the second spot for North America at the Radial Worlds this year. The regatta was very interesting with some tight scores going into the last day. The winds were not too strong and there were waves for most of the days, but on the final day it was very light coming offshore and it was flat water and very shifty winds. Going into the last day, I was tied with Jen Spalding and very close behind (2points I think) was Lisa Ross. All fighting for the top spot to qualify for the worlds. After Jen won the first race, things were looking only mediocre for the rest of us, but then I managed to pull off a second place in the next race, which brought things closer again. So it came down to the last race of the regatta. It was very tricky, and it went from Jen having the worlds birth, to Lisa and jen being tied and me being totally out of the picture. Of course the big lesson I've learned recently is that "it ain't over 'till its over". Coming up the last leg of the race, I saw that the breeze was dying out on the right for everyone and all day there had been some great pressure and lifts out of the left of the course. So I headed to where I saw the wind coming from next and it paid off big. I went from 9th at the leeward mark to 3rd at the finish and I managed to earn the birth at the worlds!
I am very happy with my fourth Place finish at this regatta. Paige Railey sailed a solid event and finished first with Anna Tunniclife and Laura Baldwin tied for the second and third position. With Paige earning an automatic birth at the Worlds as she is the reigning world Champion and Laura Baldwin being from the UK and not eligible for a North American birth, the two positions went to Anna and myself.
After those two major events at the very beginning of the season, a new World Ranking came out. I am pleased to say that I've managed to crack the top 10 in the ISAF World Rankings once again. I am sitting in 10th at the moment which also qualified me to be invited to the ISAF World Sailing Games to be held in Austria in May this year!
After the North Americans in Ft. Lauderdale I scooted across the state to hit Clearwater where I've been training with Paige, Laura and Jen. Its been pretty good and I'm looking forward to the next event which is Laser Midwinters East. This event starts on the 23rd and ends on the 27th. Regatta info and results can be found at www.clwyc.org
Again, I hope all is well with all of you and I am looking forward to hearing back from you!
Cheers
~~Keamia~~
January 30, 2006
Subject: Miami OCR, first event of the year!
Hello!
I do hope that you all had a great New Years Celebration. I ended up just sleeping through New Years, which was actually quite nice and relaxing.
At the moment I'm in Ft Lauderdale, getting prepared for the Women's Single Handed North Americans. This event coming up is our first qualifier for worlds spots. There are two up for grabs here.
It really is great to be in Florida! I sometimes feel like I'm right out of one of those endless summer surfing movies... Always going somewhere new and warm for sailing!
The Rolex Miami OCR just finished up on Friday. This regatta was quite important for me and I am pleased to say that I managed to do exactly what I needed to do. I had to finish in front of most of the other canadians in order to qualify for the National Team for 2006. Also, there were two places available for the Olympic Test Event (pre-pre olympics). At the end of the regatta I ended up 8th overall and got both a place on the National Team and a spot for the Test Event. Jennifer Spalding finished 3rd and was top Canadian my miles. She was quite close to winning the event for a while which was great to see!
I am very happy with how I sailed at this event. With all the pressure that I had put on myself I still managed to pull through and not let it get to me. Leading up to the event I got quite nervous and I was feeling very rusty after having not done any sailing after the worlds. But it all came together quite well in the end.
This year at the Regatta, the Canadian Yachting Association had a very large support team available to us. This included coaches, sports psychologist, physiologist, and rules expert. It was a phenomenal change and a great step in the right direction for Sport in Canada. I do think it was one of the first times in a long time that I felt looked after, which did help to take a little of the pressure off. Even people from other countries were impressed by the strong canadian showing!!
Anyways!! Now I'm getting ready for the Women's North Americans and moving on with my planning for the year. Looks like this year is going to be quite busy. After Ft Lauderdale I'm heading to Clearwater to train and prepare for Midwinters East. Should be a good time. I will be training with Jen Spalding and hopefully Paige Railey (the reigning world champion).
I hope all is well with all of you. I do hope to hear back from you and find out what your years are shaping up to look like!
Take care and keep in touch
~~Keamia~~
Hello!
I do hope that you all had a great New Years Celebration. I ended up just sleeping through New Years, which was actually quite nice and relaxing.
At the moment I'm in Ft Lauderdale, getting prepared for the Women's Single Handed North Americans. This event coming up is our first qualifier for worlds spots. There are two up for grabs here.
It really is great to be in Florida! I sometimes feel like I'm right out of one of those endless summer surfing movies... Always going somewhere new and warm for sailing!
The Rolex Miami OCR just finished up on Friday. This regatta was quite important for me and I am pleased to say that I managed to do exactly what I needed to do. I had to finish in front of most of the other canadians in order to qualify for the National Team for 2006. Also, there were two places available for the Olympic Test Event (pre-pre olympics). At the end of the regatta I ended up 8th overall and got both a place on the National Team and a spot for the Test Event. Jennifer Spalding finished 3rd and was top Canadian my miles. She was quite close to winning the event for a while which was great to see!
I am very happy with how I sailed at this event. With all the pressure that I had put on myself I still managed to pull through and not let it get to me. Leading up to the event I got quite nervous and I was feeling very rusty after having not done any sailing after the worlds. But it all came together quite well in the end.
This year at the Regatta, the Canadian Yachting Association had a very large support team available to us. This included coaches, sports psychologist, physiologist, and rules expert. It was a phenomenal change and a great step in the right direction for Sport in Canada. I do think it was one of the first times in a long time that I felt looked after, which did help to take a little of the pressure off. Even people from other countries were impressed by the strong canadian showing!!
Anyways!! Now I'm getting ready for the Women's North Americans and moving on with my planning for the year. Looks like this year is going to be quite busy. After Ft Lauderdale I'm heading to Clearwater to train and prepare for Midwinters East. Should be a good time. I will be training with Jen Spalding and hopefully Paige Railey (the reigning world champion).
I hope all is well with all of you. I do hope to hear back from you and find out what your years are shaping up to look like!
Take care and keep in touch
~~Keamia~~
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Subject: Worlds are done!!
Hey there!
Well, the worlds are finally finished (for 2 days now) and its been a
great relief to have this event over and done with. I hadn't realized how
stressed I was until the regatta finished. It felt like a huge weight was
taken off my shoulders and I could finally relax. I did a lot of training
to come here and in the end it was a bit disappointing to not make the gold
fleet. The last two days of finals were quite good training and though I
wasn't on top of my game for the second last day, I seem to have found my
pace again for the last day. Unfortunately we only had one race on the last
day because of the time limit for the regatta. In the last race, I rounded
the top mark in the top 8, then the bottom mark in the top 5. The second
beat and the reach proved to be difficult and I let 3 boats pass me, but I
hung in there and passed those boats again on the second reach and the last
beat to the finish. I ended up 5th in that race which was a nice finish to
the event. Unfortunately it only moved me up into 6th place in the silver
fleet.
I am happy with my sailing, though the results were not the greatest. I have
every intention of looking at my sailing again after this event and working
on all the things that seemed to be holding me back. There are a lot of
things that I learned here, and a lot of things I learned that I have to
work on. For the moment, I plan to relax a little and get a few days of
skiing in when I get home. Then its Christmas with the family and then back
to the grindstone! Miami OCR is my next event
Thank you to all of you who have been so supportive. Your e-mails really
helped me to keep positive and keep pushing myself forward this regatta.
Big congratulations to Paige, Sophie and Anna who took all the spots on the
podium. They sailed the most consistently in all the conditions and showed
us that they really belong where they finished. Well done ladies!
All right! Well, I have to go and start packing as I fly home tomorrow. Its
going to be nice to get out of here, but I know that I will miss this place
as soon as I'm gone. The sailing has been fantastic!!
Ciao for now!
~~Keamia~~
Hey there!
Well, the worlds are finally finished (for 2 days now) and its been a
great relief to have this event over and done with. I hadn't realized how
stressed I was until the regatta finished. It felt like a huge weight was
taken off my shoulders and I could finally relax. I did a lot of training
to come here and in the end it was a bit disappointing to not make the gold
fleet. The last two days of finals were quite good training and though I
wasn't on top of my game for the second last day, I seem to have found my
pace again for the last day. Unfortunately we only had one race on the last
day because of the time limit for the regatta. In the last race, I rounded
the top mark in the top 8, then the bottom mark in the top 5. The second
beat and the reach proved to be difficult and I let 3 boats pass me, but I
hung in there and passed those boats again on the second reach and the last
beat to the finish. I ended up 5th in that race which was a nice finish to
the event. Unfortunately it only moved me up into 6th place in the silver
fleet.
I am happy with my sailing, though the results were not the greatest. I have
every intention of looking at my sailing again after this event and working
on all the things that seemed to be holding me back. There are a lot of
things that I learned here, and a lot of things I learned that I have to
work on. For the moment, I plan to relax a little and get a few days of
skiing in when I get home. Then its Christmas with the family and then back
to the grindstone! Miami OCR is my next event
Thank you to all of you who have been so supportive. Your e-mails really
helped me to keep positive and keep pushing myself forward this regatta.
Big congratulations to Paige, Sophie and Anna who took all the spots on the
podium. They sailed the most consistently in all the conditions and showed
us that they really belong where they finished. Well done ladies!
All right! Well, I have to go and start packing as I fly home tomorrow. Its
going to be nice to get out of here, but I know that I will miss this place
as soon as I'm gone. The sailing has been fantastic!!
Ciao for now!
~~Keamia~~
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Subject: Close but no cigar... :(
Hi to all!
So I'm past the halfway point of the Laser Radial Worlds, and for those of
you who are following the results, you will see that things have not gone as
well as I would have liked. Currently I am winning the silver fleet and I
hope to keep it that way for the last two days of the regatta.
My expectations for this event were to finish in the gold fleet, and I
would have liked a top 20 finish overall. As it goes, the conditions were
not what was expected of the area and it has proven to be a much more
challenging event in many ways. With very light and shifty conditions for
the first couple of days and always lots of big waves, the racing was very
tricky. All I can say is that if you are to look at the results from the
first few days, you will be able to see that mostly everyone was having a
tough time. I am happy to say that I have had some great races and that my
speed is definitely up there in most conditions! I am able to hang with the
top girls in the strong winds and the lighter stuff, so that is great!
For the moment I am focusing on just sailing fast and keeping my head on
straight. I have had quite the event with equipment failures (nothing that
has affected my racing... Touch wood). I think the guys here who do the
repairs should know me by name by now!!
Anyways! That's all for now from Brazil! I am keeping my thoughts positive
for now and I am looking forward to some great training in the silver fleet
with all the heavy air specialists who didn't make the cut. Should make for
some great racing.
I hope all is well and I will write again after the event is finished...
Ciao for now
~~keamia~~
Hi to all!
So I'm past the halfway point of the Laser Radial Worlds, and for those of
you who are following the results, you will see that things have not gone as
well as I would have liked. Currently I am winning the silver fleet and I
hope to keep it that way for the last two days of the regatta.
My expectations for this event were to finish in the gold fleet, and I
would have liked a top 20 finish overall. As it goes, the conditions were
not what was expected of the area and it has proven to be a much more
challenging event in many ways. With very light and shifty conditions for
the first couple of days and always lots of big waves, the racing was very
tricky. All I can say is that if you are to look at the results from the
first few days, you will be able to see that mostly everyone was having a
tough time. I am happy to say that I have had some great races and that my
speed is definitely up there in most conditions! I am able to hang with the
top girls in the strong winds and the lighter stuff, so that is great!
For the moment I am focusing on just sailing fast and keeping my head on
straight. I have had quite the event with equipment failures (nothing that
has affected my racing... Touch wood). I think the guys here who do the
repairs should know me by name by now!!
Anyways! That's all for now from Brazil! I am keeping my thoughts positive
for now and I am looking forward to some great training in the silver fleet
with all the heavy air specialists who didn't make the cut. Should make for
some great racing.
I hope all is well and I will write again after the event is finished...
Ciao for now
~~keamia~~
Friday, December 2, 2005
Subject: Brazil Worlds... Ready to go!
Hey folks!
After a long and interesting trip to brazil, I am happy to say that I've
made it safely and that I'm ready to go. I have been sailing here for the
last 5 days and it has been fantastic! Big breeze, nice waves and a lot of
sun! Its been hot and windy every day and its been great to sail. Today I
did only a very short session and tomorrow I will do nothing (and I'm
looking forward to it!). Racing here starts on Sunday.
The Canadian Team is quite strong here with 7 girls and one boy. We are
even mentioned on the ISAF website in their pre-worlds article! Go Canada!
I think the whole team is looking pretty strong and so it should be an
interesting event to watch from home.
Fortaleza is not the most charming of places. Its actually quite scary
outside of the hotel with the amount of poverty and the stories we've heard
from the Standard sailors. I've managed to check out a few of the local
markets and there's lots of neat stuff, but I am quite happy to stay in the
hotel most of the time here. The sea, the wind and the sun make up for any
of the scary things around here though. I hope on my day off tomorrow to
take some pictures of the area and maybe send some along to you.
Please follow the results and read the reports from the event at
http://www.2005laserworlds.com.br/
Well, that's all for me for now! I'm off for dinner!
I will try and send and e-mail halfway through the event, and for sure at
the end of the regatta.
Take care and talk soon!
Ciao ciao
~~Keamia~~
Hey folks!
After a long and interesting trip to brazil, I am happy to say that I've
made it safely and that I'm ready to go. I have been sailing here for the
last 5 days and it has been fantastic! Big breeze, nice waves and a lot of
sun! Its been hot and windy every day and its been great to sail. Today I
did only a very short session and tomorrow I will do nothing (and I'm
looking forward to it!). Racing here starts on Sunday.
The Canadian Team is quite strong here with 7 girls and one boy. We are
even mentioned on the ISAF website in their pre-worlds article! Go Canada!
I think the whole team is looking pretty strong and so it should be an
interesting event to watch from home.
Fortaleza is not the most charming of places. Its actually quite scary
outside of the hotel with the amount of poverty and the stories we've heard
from the Standard sailors. I've managed to check out a few of the local
markets and there's lots of neat stuff, but I am quite happy to stay in the
hotel most of the time here. The sea, the wind and the sun make up for any
of the scary things around here though. I hope on my day off tomorrow to
take some pictures of the area and maybe send some along to you.
Please follow the results and read the reports from the event at
http://www.2005laserworlds.com.br/
Well, that's all for me for now! I'm off for dinner!
I will try and send and e-mail halfway through the event, and for sure at
the end of the regatta.
Take care and talk soon!
Ciao ciao
~~Keamia~~
November 16, 2005
Subject: France Training! Wicked!
Hey to all!!
I've just arrived back home after some serious training over in the south
of France.
The short short version: It went really well!!
But here's a little more for those of you who like to hear about these
things!!
The first few days I was in Hyeres. The set up here was that we would do 5
or 6 races a day, different lengths and the coaches would keep track of
points. Each day we sailed for at least 4 hours with lots of wind for the
first four days and some light wind for the last two. With 25 Radials in our
fleet we had people from France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Finland, Denmark,
Austria, Switzerland and of course, yours truly... hailing all the way from
Canada! The Laser Standard fleet also had a very strong showing. Not a bad
turnout I thought!
The waves here were really nice, and apparently quite similar to what we
can expect at our worlds in Brazil. So that's an added bonus to the
training here! I do admit that I was having some troubles getting off the
line a couple of times, but I had managed to make it a priority for my
training to win some starts. I ended up with some much better starts later
on in the training!
The coaches here did a really excellent job at making it feel like a low
key regatta, even though it was only training. Sophie and Solenne were very
helpful with getting a boat for me to use and I really appreciate that! It
was bizarre to be at a training camp with no coach to help me at all, but in
the end with some reflection and the re-birth of my logbook, I think I
managed okay.
After the training in Hyeres, I went only 40 mins away from there to
another place called Ile des Embiez. I did a week training camp with
Sailcoach at their sailbase. Alp Alpagut coached us. It was really great to
have some small group training to really focus on those basic skills. We did
lots of mark roundings and it was quite good. We had all kinds of winds
again here, and again we sailed a minimum of 4 hours each day. After that
coaching, I still had an extra 4 days to kill in France and I managed to
sail all of those days as well, even though I was quite ready for a break.
In the end, after all this training I am feeling very tired. BUT what's
most important is that I'm feeling good. Strong, fast and ready to head down
to Brazil. I leave Calgary on the 24th of November. Only a few more days of
downtime and easy exercise before its back to the grind of heavy wind
sailing. Bring it on!
That's all for now. I heard that there is internet access in the lobby of
the hotel we're staying at, so I hope to send a few e-mails from Brazil to
all of you.
ciao for now,
~~Keamia~~
Hey to all!!
I've just arrived back home after some serious training over in the south
of France.
The short short version: It went really well!!
But here's a little more for those of you who like to hear about these
things!!
The first few days I was in Hyeres. The set up here was that we would do 5
or 6 races a day, different lengths and the coaches would keep track of
points. Each day we sailed for at least 4 hours with lots of wind for the
first four days and some light wind for the last two. With 25 Radials in our
fleet we had people from France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Finland, Denmark,
Austria, Switzerland and of course, yours truly... hailing all the way from
Canada! The Laser Standard fleet also had a very strong showing. Not a bad
turnout I thought!
The waves here were really nice, and apparently quite similar to what we
can expect at our worlds in Brazil. So that's an added bonus to the
training here! I do admit that I was having some troubles getting off the
line a couple of times, but I had managed to make it a priority for my
training to win some starts. I ended up with some much better starts later
on in the training!
The coaches here did a really excellent job at making it feel like a low
key regatta, even though it was only training. Sophie and Solenne were very
helpful with getting a boat for me to use and I really appreciate that! It
was bizarre to be at a training camp with no coach to help me at all, but in
the end with some reflection and the re-birth of my logbook, I think I
managed okay.
After the training in Hyeres, I went only 40 mins away from there to
another place called Ile des Embiez. I did a week training camp with
Sailcoach at their sailbase. Alp Alpagut coached us. It was really great to
have some small group training to really focus on those basic skills. We did
lots of mark roundings and it was quite good. We had all kinds of winds
again here, and again we sailed a minimum of 4 hours each day. After that
coaching, I still had an extra 4 days to kill in France and I managed to
sail all of those days as well, even though I was quite ready for a break.
In the end, after all this training I am feeling very tired. BUT what's
most important is that I'm feeling good. Strong, fast and ready to head down
to Brazil. I leave Calgary on the 24th of November. Only a few more days of
downtime and easy exercise before its back to the grind of heavy wind
sailing. Bring it on!
That's all for now. I heard that there is internet access in the lobby of
the hotel we're staying at, so I hope to send a few e-mails from Brazil to
all of you.
ciao for now,
~~Keamia~~
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Subject: Brits, Team Racing and Kingston!
Hello to all!!
I know it has been a while, and boy has a lot happened in one month for
me! As you know from my last e-mail I was off training with the British
Team for a few weeks. That went really well and I was very happy with my
sailing during that time. I started out slow, but managed to get myself up
to speed with the rest of the girls. The coaching that we had there was
also quite good as there was a lot of information on what to expect at the
worlds this year. My friend Andrea and her family took good care of me
while I was over there and on the days when there was either no wind or when
it was a proper rest day, I was off to be a tourist. I managed to see
Petworth House, Windsor Castle and the Historic Dockyard at Portsmouth. It
was really cool to see how much history there is in that country! I got to
sail in several different venues in the UK as well... All along the south
coast though. Highlife, Paignton, and Hayling Island. Not too bad for my
first time over in the UK! Its funny when you go to new places though... I
was expecting the traffic to be on opposite sides, but I was not expecting
the handles to flush the toilets to be on the opposite side from what we
have in Canada!! It was strange!
I had a really great time and I thank all of the British Girls who are very
strong sailors, and to the coaches for allowing me to train with them.
Special thanks to Andrea and her family for taking care of me and making me
feel at home.
For two weeks between training with the Brits, I managed to scoot back over
to North America and jumped right into the Team Racing Worlds held in
Newport, Rhode Island. The New York Yacht Club was the host and it was
beautiful there... Can you say "POSH"?! I felt a little out of place there,
but it didn't last too long. We were well looked after for sure. Did I
mention that I have never really done and Team Racing before? On top of
that I had also never met most of the people on my Team until two days
before the event started. It was great fun to meet lots of new people from
Canada as well as from all over the world and to experience something so
different in sailing. The Irish and the New Zealanders were especially
helpful to our team and I really appreciated the tips they gave us along the
way. Thanks soo much guys! Team Racing is a completely different ball game
to fleet racing and it was quite bizarre at first, especially since my rules
knowledge wasn't quite good enough. We were sailing Vanguard 15s which was
a lot of fun for me as they are just an oversized laser with two sails and
no spinnaker! So it was a comfortable boat for me, but when it came to boat
on boat tactics, my learning curve was VERY steep! I think it was for the
entire team as well! It was funny as I sort of took on the role of coach for
my team, even though I didn't really know what I was doing there. The best
part for me was being able to watch the finals with the best teams in the
world competing for the top 4 positions. The brits and the Americans really
know how to do it.
I wanted to thank all of my team for coming out and experiencing a new
aspect of our sport and representing out country. Thanks to David Sprague
for organizing it all and allowing us to literally kill his van on this
trip!! (minor breakdown on the way home!!)
After all the team racing, I was back in the UK for two more weeks and then
I flew into Toronto and drove out to Kingston for the Laser and Radial NQRs
(National Qualifying Regatta). It is Monday the day after the regatta and
all I can say about that event is: BRRRRRRR!!!! My goodness, its events
like this that really make me wonder why I chose this sport! It was very
very very cold for the regatta, but the sailing was good with winds around
12-15 knots (daily high temp of around 8 degrees Celsius with rain). It was
shifty and quite tricky to make your way around the windward leeward course.
Lisa Ross won the event hands down having won all but two races. She was
very aggressive on the starts and shot out in front right away. I was quite
cautious with my starts, for no good reason really, but I managed to finish
2nd overall with all of my results being either 2nds or 3rds (save for the
last race which was my drop). I always perform better when there is no
stress, and I didn't feel too stressed at this event. I do know that I can
sail better than this still. It was really nice to be back in Canada though
and to see all of the new up and coming sailors in both classes. I managed
to get in contact with lots of people who I should have been connected with
earlier in the year, and so it was important that I came here for that
reason as well. I do hope that the weather we had at this event motivates
the organizers to move our nationals to earlier in the fall! Its just too
cold at this time of year!!
With the NQRs now done, I am moving on to training again right away.
Today I will fly to France and do two training camps. The first one is with
the French Sailing Team and several other teams that will come. The second
one is with Sailcoach. I am really looking forward to both of these camps
as they will be a good push before the worlds. The French team is very
strong and I am hoping to be able to match their speed.
The training with Sailocach will be with a smaller group and we will have
Alp Alpagut and Vasilij Zbogar coaching us. Vasilij is a Bronze medalist at
the Athens Olympics last year and just recently finished 4th at the Laser
Worlds in Brazil. I hope to get some top tips from those coaches!
So that's the latest!! I have got to go and wash my sailing kit now... It
is pretty potent at the moment... Ewww. Other than that, its just some
re-packing and then I'm off! Two more weeks until I can sleep in my own bed!
Doesn't sound like that long, right? On the 14th of November I will fly
home and ten days later I will be flying to Brazil for the Laser Radial
Worlds. I will send another e-mail before I fly to Brazil and that will
have the links to the regatta.
I do hope that you are all well. I look forward to hearing back from you!
Take care,
~~Keams~~
Hello to all!!
I know it has been a while, and boy has a lot happened in one month for
me! As you know from my last e-mail I was off training with the British
Team for a few weeks. That went really well and I was very happy with my
sailing during that time. I started out slow, but managed to get myself up
to speed with the rest of the girls. The coaching that we had there was
also quite good as there was a lot of information on what to expect at the
worlds this year. My friend Andrea and her family took good care of me
while I was over there and on the days when there was either no wind or when
it was a proper rest day, I was off to be a tourist. I managed to see
Petworth House, Windsor Castle and the Historic Dockyard at Portsmouth. It
was really cool to see how much history there is in that country! I got to
sail in several different venues in the UK as well... All along the south
coast though. Highlife, Paignton, and Hayling Island. Not too bad for my
first time over in the UK! Its funny when you go to new places though... I
was expecting the traffic to be on opposite sides, but I was not expecting
the handles to flush the toilets to be on the opposite side from what we
have in Canada!! It was strange!
I had a really great time and I thank all of the British Girls who are very
strong sailors, and to the coaches for allowing me to train with them.
Special thanks to Andrea and her family for taking care of me and making me
feel at home.
For two weeks between training with the Brits, I managed to scoot back over
to North America and jumped right into the Team Racing Worlds held in
Newport, Rhode Island. The New York Yacht Club was the host and it was
beautiful there... Can you say "POSH"?! I felt a little out of place there,
but it didn't last too long. We were well looked after for sure. Did I
mention that I have never really done and Team Racing before? On top of
that I had also never met most of the people on my Team until two days
before the event started. It was great fun to meet lots of new people from
Canada as well as from all over the world and to experience something so
different in sailing. The Irish and the New Zealanders were especially
helpful to our team and I really appreciated the tips they gave us along the
way. Thanks soo much guys! Team Racing is a completely different ball game
to fleet racing and it was quite bizarre at first, especially since my rules
knowledge wasn't quite good enough. We were sailing Vanguard 15s which was
a lot of fun for me as they are just an oversized laser with two sails and
no spinnaker! So it was a comfortable boat for me, but when it came to boat
on boat tactics, my learning curve was VERY steep! I think it was for the
entire team as well! It was funny as I sort of took on the role of coach for
my team, even though I didn't really know what I was doing there. The best
part for me was being able to watch the finals with the best teams in the
world competing for the top 4 positions. The brits and the Americans really
know how to do it.
I wanted to thank all of my team for coming out and experiencing a new
aspect of our sport and representing out country. Thanks to David Sprague
for organizing it all and allowing us to literally kill his van on this
trip!! (minor breakdown on the way home!!)
After all the team racing, I was back in the UK for two more weeks and then
I flew into Toronto and drove out to Kingston for the Laser and Radial NQRs
(National Qualifying Regatta). It is Monday the day after the regatta and
all I can say about that event is: BRRRRRRR!!!! My goodness, its events
like this that really make me wonder why I chose this sport! It was very
very very cold for the regatta, but the sailing was good with winds around
12-15 knots (daily high temp of around 8 degrees Celsius with rain). It was
shifty and quite tricky to make your way around the windward leeward course.
Lisa Ross won the event hands down having won all but two races. She was
very aggressive on the starts and shot out in front right away. I was quite
cautious with my starts, for no good reason really, but I managed to finish
2nd overall with all of my results being either 2nds or 3rds (save for the
last race which was my drop). I always perform better when there is no
stress, and I didn't feel too stressed at this event. I do know that I can
sail better than this still. It was really nice to be back in Canada though
and to see all of the new up and coming sailors in both classes. I managed
to get in contact with lots of people who I should have been connected with
earlier in the year, and so it was important that I came here for that
reason as well. I do hope that the weather we had at this event motivates
the organizers to move our nationals to earlier in the fall! Its just too
cold at this time of year!!
With the NQRs now done, I am moving on to training again right away.
Today I will fly to France and do two training camps. The first one is with
the French Sailing Team and several other teams that will come. The second
one is with Sailcoach. I am really looking forward to both of these camps
as they will be a good push before the worlds. The French team is very
strong and I am hoping to be able to match their speed.
The training with Sailocach will be with a smaller group and we will have
Alp Alpagut and Vasilij Zbogar coaching us. Vasilij is a Bronze medalist at
the Athens Olympics last year and just recently finished 4th at the Laser
Worlds in Brazil. I hope to get some top tips from those coaches!
So that's the latest!! I have got to go and wash my sailing kit now... It
is pretty potent at the moment... Ewww. Other than that, its just some
re-packing and then I'm off! Two more weeks until I can sleep in my own bed!
Doesn't sound like that long, right? On the 14th of November I will fly
home and ten days later I will be flying to Brazil for the Laser Radial
Worlds. I will send another e-mail before I fly to Brazil and that will
have the links to the regatta.
I do hope that you are all well. I look forward to hearing back from you!
Take care,
~~Keams~~
Monday, September 5, 2005
Subject: End of Summer... Not the end of sailing!
Hello to all of you!
It has been a couple months since I last wrote, and I have to say its been quite busy on my end of things. I have spent the last 2 months coaching for the Alberta Sailing Team and its been a great time. I've had a wonderful opportunity to come back to my home province and I've met a whole lot of upcoming prairie sailors with lots of potential. It certainly is a change of pace from sailing full time. Thank you to the Alberta Sailing Association and all the sailors for this great opportunity and experience.
Now for me its back to work on my own sailing! I am heading to the UK tomorrow to do some training with the British Sailing Team. I will be doing a few of their Qualifying regattas as well as some training camps. I am really looking forward to getting back on my own program and sailing lots in the next few months! Around the 23rd I will be heading to Rhode Island where I will be on the Canadian Team for the World Team Racing Championships. This is going to be quite the experience for me I believe as I haven't ever done that much team racing in my career so-far! After those worlds, I will head back over to the UK for some more training. THEN its time for the Canadian National Qualifying Regatta in late October. This event will be in Kingston, Ontario. All I have to say is... Its gonna be cold!! I am packing all my clothes for that trip.
At the moment, I have my plans so that I would fly home after the NQRs, but I am looking at flights and costs to go back over to europe for a few more weeks, this time to France. The French Team is having a training camp and I've been invited and told this is one not to miss, so I am doing my best to try and make it back for that. It will be fantastic training as well as a good time to meet up with some potential coaches for the upcoming years.
After all of that is done, I will head home for a week or so and then off to Brazil for the Laser Radial World Championships. This is the major event of the year and all this training will hopefully not be in vain! It is at this event where I need to qualify for the Canadian Sailing Team for 2006.
So that is a preview of the next 4 months for me. I am really excited, but also a little stressed as there is a lot going on. I am sure that once I get back into a laser radial and I'm training again things will all calm down for me.
On that note, I do think its about time for me to start packing for my long trip! I won't be back home until November sometime! Wow!
Take good care! You will be sure to hear from me again soon.
Ciao!
~~Keamia~~
Hello to all of you!
It has been a couple months since I last wrote, and I have to say its been quite busy on my end of things. I have spent the last 2 months coaching for the Alberta Sailing Team and its been a great time. I've had a wonderful opportunity to come back to my home province and I've met a whole lot of upcoming prairie sailors with lots of potential. It certainly is a change of pace from sailing full time. Thank you to the Alberta Sailing Association and all the sailors for this great opportunity and experience.
Now for me its back to work on my own sailing! I am heading to the UK tomorrow to do some training with the British Sailing Team. I will be doing a few of their Qualifying regattas as well as some training camps. I am really looking forward to getting back on my own program and sailing lots in the next few months! Around the 23rd I will be heading to Rhode Island where I will be on the Canadian Team for the World Team Racing Championships. This is going to be quite the experience for me I believe as I haven't ever done that much team racing in my career so-far! After those worlds, I will head back over to the UK for some more training. THEN its time for the Canadian National Qualifying Regatta in late October. This event will be in Kingston, Ontario. All I have to say is... Its gonna be cold!! I am packing all my clothes for that trip.
At the moment, I have my plans so that I would fly home after the NQRs, but I am looking at flights and costs to go back over to europe for a few more weeks, this time to France. The French Team is having a training camp and I've been invited and told this is one not to miss, so I am doing my best to try and make it back for that. It will be fantastic training as well as a good time to meet up with some potential coaches for the upcoming years.
After all of that is done, I will head home for a week or so and then off to Brazil for the Laser Radial World Championships. This is the major event of the year and all this training will hopefully not be in vain! It is at this event where I need to qualify for the Canadian Sailing Team for 2006.
So that is a preview of the next 4 months for me. I am really excited, but also a little stressed as there is a lot going on. I am sure that once I get back into a laser radial and I'm training again things will all calm down for me.
On that note, I do think its about time for me to start packing for my long trip! I won't be back home until November sometime! Wow!
Take good care! You will be sure to hear from me again soon.
Ciao!
~~Keamia~~
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Subject: Ending the Europe Trip! Coming home!
Hello Hello!!
I am just in Amsterdam right now, waiting for my
flight tomorrow to finally make it back home.
I know I haven't written in a long time and a lot
has happened since the Holland Regatta. where to
start?! The Holland Regatta was a rough event for me.
I didn't even make the gold fleet. I sailed well for
the first two days, but on the third day, I managed to
choke and lose enough places to end up in the silver
fleet. I found myself not caring for a lot of the
event. Looking back right after the event, I realised
that I had sort of burnt myself out. I had "lost my
mojo" for sailing at that point. I arrived in Europe
in the middle of april and I was going full on, racing
the whole time all the way up to and including the
Holland Regatta. I was very tired and I had put a lot
of pressure on myself to do well at that event. I'd
have to say that plan blew up in my face a little!
After the Holland Regatta, I stayed in Medemblik for
2 weeks. I took the first week I was there off
completely. Normally I hate to 'waste' time over here
like that, but it was well needed. Certainly not a
waste as I have learned the hard way that time off is
just as important as time on! I got back training
after a week's rest and I was feeling good again.
Still not 100%, but a lot better! On the 13th of June
we headed off to Kiel and trained there for a week
before racing started there. The training there was
pretty good for the first few days, but then it got
real hot and sunny which means no wind for that area.
Even with very light winds, we managed to get in a lot
of races, and I ended up 30th overall. Not a great
result overall, but I had some really good light wind
races, which for me is a little extra special. Light
stuff isn't my specialty!
Its going to be strange to be back in Canada again
after being here for so long, but I am really looking
forward to doing some coaching and some sailing at
home. I know in about a week's time I will be having
Europe withdrawls!! But it happens every time! The
next two months, I will be coaching for the Alberta
Sailing Team. My plans for that time include some
serious time in the gym and I will get out on the
water whenever I can with my sailors. It will be good
to have a little down time though. I have some plans
for a website that I would like to make, and hopefully
I can get that going in the meantime as well. I do
not know how, or any of those details yet. If any of
you have some advice, or some skills that you are
willing to lend, please let me know!
I do have some exciting news! I have managed to get
my very first sponsor onboard for my campaign. A
sailing gear company from Australia called Zhik is now
sponsoring me. you will all see me wearing the gear
when I'm back home! The gear is very high quality and
all the top people are asking for it over here in
europe! You can check out my profile on the team page
of the zhik website. www.zhik.com
The other cool thing to let you know is that even
with some not-so-hot results here at the Holland
Regatta I am still ranked number 1 in the world!! I am
not sure when the next ranking will come out, but
after Kiel I should still be up there. Yay! It is
very exciting, and I am happy to be there. I do have
heaps of work to do to stay there, but it is
motivating me to try and keep this ranking as long as
possible.
Take care and I'll see a lot of you shortly!
ciao
~~Keamia~~
Hello Hello!!
I am just in Amsterdam right now, waiting for my
flight tomorrow to finally make it back home.
I know I haven't written in a long time and a lot
has happened since the Holland Regatta. where to
start?! The Holland Regatta was a rough event for me.
I didn't even make the gold fleet. I sailed well for
the first two days, but on the third day, I managed to
choke and lose enough places to end up in the silver
fleet. I found myself not caring for a lot of the
event. Looking back right after the event, I realised
that I had sort of burnt myself out. I had "lost my
mojo" for sailing at that point. I arrived in Europe
in the middle of april and I was going full on, racing
the whole time all the way up to and including the
Holland Regatta. I was very tired and I had put a lot
of pressure on myself to do well at that event. I'd
have to say that plan blew up in my face a little!
After the Holland Regatta, I stayed in Medemblik for
2 weeks. I took the first week I was there off
completely. Normally I hate to 'waste' time over here
like that, but it was well needed. Certainly not a
waste as I have learned the hard way that time off is
just as important as time on! I got back training
after a week's rest and I was feeling good again.
Still not 100%, but a lot better! On the 13th of June
we headed off to Kiel and trained there for a week
before racing started there. The training there was
pretty good for the first few days, but then it got
real hot and sunny which means no wind for that area.
Even with very light winds, we managed to get in a lot
of races, and I ended up 30th overall. Not a great
result overall, but I had some really good light wind
races, which for me is a little extra special. Light
stuff isn't my specialty!
Its going to be strange to be back in Canada again
after being here for so long, but I am really looking
forward to doing some coaching and some sailing at
home. I know in about a week's time I will be having
Europe withdrawls!! But it happens every time! The
next two months, I will be coaching for the Alberta
Sailing Team. My plans for that time include some
serious time in the gym and I will get out on the
water whenever I can with my sailors. It will be good
to have a little down time though. I have some plans
for a website that I would like to make, and hopefully
I can get that going in the meantime as well. I do
not know how, or any of those details yet. If any of
you have some advice, or some skills that you are
willing to lend, please let me know!
I do have some exciting news! I have managed to get
my very first sponsor onboard for my campaign. A
sailing gear company from Australia called Zhik is now
sponsoring me. you will all see me wearing the gear
when I'm back home! The gear is very high quality and
all the top people are asking for it over here in
europe! You can check out my profile on the team page
of the zhik website. www.zhik.com
The other cool thing to let you know is that even
with some not-so-hot results here at the Holland
Regatta I am still ranked number 1 in the world!! I am
not sure when the next ranking will come out, but
after Kiel I should still be up there. Yay! It is
very exciting, and I am happy to be there. I do have
heaps of work to do to stay there, but it is
motivating me to try and keep this ranking as long as
possible.
Take care and I'll see a lot of you shortly!
ciao
~~Keamia~~
Thursday, May 05, 2005!!!!!
Subject: WOW!!! Number one in the world! Who would have thought??
Hello Everybody!
Well, as some of you may have already noticed (and thank you for your e-mails) I am currently ranked number one in the world on the ISAF World Rankings! Yay! Tonight I am going to have an ice cream to celebrate I think!
The last day of Hyeres was a bit of a joke as we managed to race in some super light and super shifty conditions that normally we would not race in. I finished the regatta with a 23rd in the last race. Obviously my worst race, and therefore became my drop. Even with that terrible race, I didnt move from my 12th overall. I feel pretty happy with this event, and looking at my results I see that I sailed pretty consistently in all the different wind conditions that the place had to offer. I do think that I could have done better, but I always think that and I know that. I was sailing with a clear head the whole time and I have taken the time to reflect on the things that I can improve on in the future. For now though, I am back to training.
Right now I am in Riva Del Garda at Lake Garda in Italy. I am here until the 15th of May and I am training and then I will be racing the Lake Garda Eurolymp Regatta. It is an ISAF Grade 2 event for all the olympic classes. The sailing here is perfect... every day at 1pm guaranteed there is at least 12-15knots if not more. Like clockwork. I am training at the moment with some of the standard sailors as there arent many radials here yet. Its been good and I am looking forward to the next few days training with some of the top guys in the world...
For now, I am going to find a printer and see if I can print off the page that shows me on top of the world!! he he he... it makes me giddy, and it also makes me want to continue on the upswing and keep training harder and harder!
I really hope that all of you are doing well and I will write again in a couple weeks. The website for the regatta here in Garda is http://www.fragliavelariva.com/
ciao from Italy!
Keamia
Hello Everybody!
Well, as some of you may have already noticed (and thank you for your e-mails) I am currently ranked number one in the world on the ISAF World Rankings! Yay! Tonight I am going to have an ice cream to celebrate I think!
The last day of Hyeres was a bit of a joke as we managed to race in some super light and super shifty conditions that normally we would not race in. I finished the regatta with a 23rd in the last race. Obviously my worst race, and therefore became my drop. Even with that terrible race, I didnt move from my 12th overall. I feel pretty happy with this event, and looking at my results I see that I sailed pretty consistently in all the different wind conditions that the place had to offer. I do think that I could have done better, but I always think that and I know that. I was sailing with a clear head the whole time and I have taken the time to reflect on the things that I can improve on in the future. For now though, I am back to training.
Right now I am in Riva Del Garda at Lake Garda in Italy. I am here until the 15th of May and I am training and then I will be racing the Lake Garda Eurolymp Regatta. It is an ISAF Grade 2 event for all the olympic classes. The sailing here is perfect... every day at 1pm guaranteed there is at least 12-15knots if not more. Like clockwork. I am training at the moment with some of the standard sailors as there arent many radials here yet. Its been good and I am looking forward to the next few days training with some of the top guys in the world...
For now, I am going to find a printer and see if I can print off the page that shows me on top of the world!! he he he... it makes me giddy, and it also makes me want to continue on the upswing and keep training harder and harder!
I really hope that all of you are doing well and I will write again in a couple weeks. The website for the regatta here in Garda is http://www.fragliavelariva.com/
ciao from Italy!
Keamia
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Subject: Windy weather in France!
Hey everybody!!
Well, since I last wrote to you all, I was still home in Canada. Now I am at the midway point at the Semaine Olypique Francaise here in the south of France. I arrived in Amsterdam just fine and got the car and boats without any problems. My jet lag made for some interesting driving times on my way to Hyeres, but whats important is that I made it safely. When I first got here it was pretty quiet and only some polish and russian people were here training, but that quickly changed with heaps of people arriving all the way until the last minute before the regatta.
The training here before the regatta was good. My first day out was very short and I was literally giggling when I was on the water because I was so happy to be here again. The next few days I trained with a bunch of different people inluding the teams from Sweden, Norway, the UK, Belarus and Israel... by the time it was only a few days before the event everyone was practicing together so it was nice. It was strange at first to not have a coah, but I quickly learned how to manage!
The regatta has been going very well for me so far: It has been windy as hell for us here until today, which was a nice change. With winds from 20 to 30knots everyday, it was really a struggle to get around the course at times. I was hiking hard and I know now that I still need a lot of conditioning to be able to play the sheet for the whole race and keep in the game. that considered, I managed well during the qualifying round and was 15th overall coming into today. Today was the first day of finals with winds at about 5-10 knots. I thought I would be dead slow in these conditions, but I managed to pull off a 3rd place in the first race and then a 13th in the second race today. (the second race was a bit of a crapper as the wind kept shifting to the right and the race committee didnt move any of the marks until the last beat...) I dont know where I stand right now overall; butI am happy with the way things are going for s! ure!!! Two more days to go and I dont know what the weather will bring, but I am ready for it!!
After this regatta, there has been a change in plans as Mike and I are going to head to Italy to do a regatta at Lake Garda and then we will go back up to Holland for training and some more racing. I will be sure to keep you all posted as things unfold!
To see the results and pictures from this regatta, go to http://sof.ffvoile.net/gbr/news/home.asp?intitule=informations
I hope all is well with you and you will hear from me again in a little while!!! take care!!!
~~Keamia~~
Hey everybody!!
Well, since I last wrote to you all, I was still home in Canada. Now I am at the midway point at the Semaine Olypique Francaise here in the south of France. I arrived in Amsterdam just fine and got the car and boats without any problems. My jet lag made for some interesting driving times on my way to Hyeres, but whats important is that I made it safely. When I first got here it was pretty quiet and only some polish and russian people were here training, but that quickly changed with heaps of people arriving all the way until the last minute before the regatta.
The training here before the regatta was good. My first day out was very short and I was literally giggling when I was on the water because I was so happy to be here again. The next few days I trained with a bunch of different people inluding the teams from Sweden, Norway, the UK, Belarus and Israel... by the time it was only a few days before the event everyone was practicing together so it was nice. It was strange at first to not have a coah, but I quickly learned how to manage!
The regatta has been going very well for me so far: It has been windy as hell for us here until today, which was a nice change. With winds from 20 to 30knots everyday, it was really a struggle to get around the course at times. I was hiking hard and I know now that I still need a lot of conditioning to be able to play the sheet for the whole race and keep in the game. that considered, I managed well during the qualifying round and was 15th overall coming into today. Today was the first day of finals with winds at about 5-10 knots. I thought I would be dead slow in these conditions, but I managed to pull off a 3rd place in the first race and then a 13th in the second race today. (the second race was a bit of a crapper as the wind kept shifting to the right and the race committee didnt move any of the marks until the last beat...) I dont know where I stand right now overall; butI am happy with the way things are going for s! ure!!! Two more days to go and I dont know what the weather will bring, but I am ready for it!!
After this regatta, there has been a change in plans as Mike and I are going to head to Italy to do a regatta at Lake Garda and then we will go back up to Holland for training and some more racing. I will be sure to keep you all posted as things unfold!
To see the results and pictures from this regatta, go to http://sof.ffvoile.net/gbr/news/home.asp?intitule=informations
I hope all is well with you and you will hear from me again in a little while!!! take care!!!
~~Keamia~~
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Subject: Spring has Sprung! Do I see a Finn in my future?! (I hope not!)
Hello to all!
I would like to start by saying that if you do not want to hear from me or be on this e-mail list to please e-mail me back to let me know. On that note, if you know of anyone else who should be added to this list, please do not hesitate to let me know that too! (or if you have a new address that you would prefer this e-mail to go to)
It has been a while since I have e-mailed you last, and its the first time for some of you. I normally send out e-mail updates at every regatta that I'm at to keep you all posted on my progress. There are a few things I need to update you all on since it has been a while...
As most of you already know, the Olympic Class has changed to the Laser Radial for women, and as a result I have made the switch to the Radial. For me it has not been too hard as I have been doing a lot of radial sailing in the last few years (Pan Am Games, World Sailing Games etc...) I am quite excited to the new challenges ahead of me as this fleet becomes more and more competitive! Bring it on!!
Now to do a quick update on the events that I have done so-far this year...
Miami OCR- Light and shifty and very tough for me. I finished 15th in this event and I was not very pleased with that result at all. I know that I can sail better than that. My head was not in the game and I was not really ready for an event like that. That said, I do not regret going there as there is no better way for me to get back into the racing scene!
Midwinters East, Clearwater Florida- Yet another Light wind event... quite an interesting regatta with only 3 races in 4 days... One of my 3 races was a BFD (Black Flag Disqualification) for being over the line early. 36th overall and not impressed at all!! Who knew that the first two events of the season would be so difficult for me?!
Midwinters West- Three times lucky, right? Well, not so much this year... ANOTHER light wind event at Marina Del Ray California, this time with big swells just to keep it interesting! I finished 14th which still wasn't very good, but considering the conditions and the general size of all the competitors in the fleet, I have to say that I was a little more pleased with my result, though I still think that I should have been able to do better. By the end of this regatta I thought that I was doomed to sail only light wind events for the whole year!! How depressing!
ABYC OCR- Alamitos Bay, California- Well... to start off I thought that my depressing thoughts from the previous regatta were true! For the week of training before the event there was some decent breeze, but when the regatta started, there were about 4 systems fighting each other right where we were trying to sail. This made for some super light wind and super shifty. In the end though, it cleared up and was typical ABYC with a beautiful strong seabreeze at about 15-18knots. As soon as the breeze came in, I managed to win every race and won the regatta. yay!!
Those have been the major events so-far this year...
You might be wondering why I mentioned the Finn Dinghy in the title of this e-mail, and well... that's because between mids west and ABYC, I raced the US Collegiate Finn Nationals. It was light wind and the racing was inside the bay at ABYC. I managed to finish 3rd overall and I now have a Finn Trophy sitting on my desk!! It was heaps of fun!! 8 short races and lots of tight competition! Not too bad for my first time sailing a Finn I'd say. It is the new Open Class at the Olympics you know.... ha ha ha...
What's next?
April 12th I leave to head over to Europe for several regattas. I will do the same tour as I did last year starting out in France at the Semaine Olympique Francais, then to Holland for SPA Regatta (though apparently its now called the "holland regatta") and then off to Germany for Kieler Woche. There will be some smaller events between these ones as well.
The last thing I want to mention that I think is pretty cool to look at is my World Ranking... As you can see, I haven't had many good results yet this year, but as the Rankings are new for the Radial (fresh start), my ranking is pretty good since I have gone to all the events that count in North America. Please go to www.sailing.org/rankings and click on Laser Radial-Single Handed Dinghy to see for yourself, but I will tell you if you'd like. I'm in 6th place in the world at the moment. I've already printed off the page to keep for my records!!
I really hope that all of you are doing well and i hope to hear back from you! Happy Sailing!
Hello to all!
I would like to start by saying that if you do not want to hear from me or be on this e-mail list to please e-mail me back to let me know. On that note, if you know of anyone else who should be added to this list, please do not hesitate to let me know that too! (or if you have a new address that you would prefer this e-mail to go to)
It has been a while since I have e-mailed you last, and its the first time for some of you. I normally send out e-mail updates at every regatta that I'm at to keep you all posted on my progress. There are a few things I need to update you all on since it has been a while...
As most of you already know, the Olympic Class has changed to the Laser Radial for women, and as a result I have made the switch to the Radial. For me it has not been too hard as I have been doing a lot of radial sailing in the last few years (Pan Am Games, World Sailing Games etc...) I am quite excited to the new challenges ahead of me as this fleet becomes more and more competitive! Bring it on!!
Now to do a quick update on the events that I have done so-far this year...
Miami OCR- Light and shifty and very tough for me. I finished 15th in this event and I was not very pleased with that result at all. I know that I can sail better than that. My head was not in the game and I was not really ready for an event like that. That said, I do not regret going there as there is no better way for me to get back into the racing scene!
Midwinters East, Clearwater Florida- Yet another Light wind event... quite an interesting regatta with only 3 races in 4 days... One of my 3 races was a BFD (Black Flag Disqualification) for being over the line early. 36th overall and not impressed at all!! Who knew that the first two events of the season would be so difficult for me?!
Midwinters West- Three times lucky, right? Well, not so much this year... ANOTHER light wind event at Marina Del Ray California, this time with big swells just to keep it interesting! I finished 14th which still wasn't very good, but considering the conditions and the general size of all the competitors in the fleet, I have to say that I was a little more pleased with my result, though I still think that I should have been able to do better. By the end of this regatta I thought that I was doomed to sail only light wind events for the whole year!! How depressing!
ABYC OCR- Alamitos Bay, California- Well... to start off I thought that my depressing thoughts from the previous regatta were true! For the week of training before the event there was some decent breeze, but when the regatta started, there were about 4 systems fighting each other right where we were trying to sail. This made for some super light wind and super shifty. In the end though, it cleared up and was typical ABYC with a beautiful strong seabreeze at about 15-18knots. As soon as the breeze came in, I managed to win every race and won the regatta. yay!!
Those have been the major events so-far this year...
You might be wondering why I mentioned the Finn Dinghy in the title of this e-mail, and well... that's because between mids west and ABYC, I raced the US Collegiate Finn Nationals. It was light wind and the racing was inside the bay at ABYC. I managed to finish 3rd overall and I now have a Finn Trophy sitting on my desk!! It was heaps of fun!! 8 short races and lots of tight competition! Not too bad for my first time sailing a Finn I'd say. It is the new Open Class at the Olympics you know.... ha ha ha...
What's next?
April 12th I leave to head over to Europe for several regattas. I will do the same tour as I did last year starting out in France at the Semaine Olympique Francais, then to Holland for SPA Regatta (though apparently its now called the "holland regatta") and then off to Germany for Kieler Woche. There will be some smaller events between these ones as well.
The last thing I want to mention that I think is pretty cool to look at is my World Ranking... As you can see, I haven't had many good results yet this year, but as the Rankings are new for the Radial (fresh start), my ranking is pretty good since I have gone to all the events that count in North America. Please go to www.sailing.org/rankings and click on Laser Radial-Single Handed Dinghy to see for yourself, but I will tell you if you'd like. I'm in 6th place in the world at the moment. I've already printed off the page to keep for my records!!
I really hope that all of you are doing well and i hope to hear back from you! Happy Sailing!
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Subject: Being robbed in france, and other news
Hello!
I am writing to you on the morning of our first day of racing. things dont get started until 2:30 for us today, so its pretty relaxing right now. the wind and the sun are up so its nice.
as the title of this email says.... we were robbed here the other day. its really unbelievable. if you dont lock up everything that you own, it will get stolen here. We left our apartment to go sailing for the day and when we came back our apartment had been broken into and all the cash and credit cards were stolen from my team mate and my coaches wallets. for some reason my wallet was un touched, but my digital camera and a few other pieces of equipment were stolen. That was a horrible day for all of us as several other canadians and the chinese team were robbed too. Unfortunately there isnt too much that can be done about it now, but i have been making sure to spread the word to everyone that I know so that it doesnt happen again.
Other than that, there isnt much big news to tell you! I just thought that I would write while I had some time on my hands. There are 2 fleets of europes and 3 fleets of lasers and we are all on the same course. This year we are a lot closer to shore than we were last year which means smaller waves and more shifty winds, so it should make for a challenging regatta! There are only 5 places left for the olympic games, and there are several countries who have not yet qualified, so it is definitely going to be cut throat competition.
I do hope things are going well with all of you. I will keep you posted, but you can also check the results on the ISAF website where there will be daily updates as the regatta unfolds.
Take care, and thanks for all of your replies to my last e-mail.
~~Keamia~~
Hello!
I am writing to you on the morning of our first day of racing. things dont get started until 2:30 for us today, so its pretty relaxing right now. the wind and the sun are up so its nice.
as the title of this email says.... we were robbed here the other day. its really unbelievable. if you dont lock up everything that you own, it will get stolen here. We left our apartment to go sailing for the day and when we came back our apartment had been broken into and all the cash and credit cards were stolen from my team mate and my coaches wallets. for some reason my wallet was un touched, but my digital camera and a few other pieces of equipment were stolen. That was a horrible day for all of us as several other canadians and the chinese team were robbed too. Unfortunately there isnt too much that can be done about it now, but i have been making sure to spread the word to everyone that I know so that it doesnt happen again.
Other than that, there isnt much big news to tell you! I just thought that I would write while I had some time on my hands. There are 2 fleets of europes and 3 fleets of lasers and we are all on the same course. This year we are a lot closer to shore than we were last year which means smaller waves and more shifty winds, so it should make for a challenging regatta! There are only 5 places left for the olympic games, and there are several countries who have not yet qualified, so it is definitely going to be cut throat competition.
I do hope things are going well with all of you. I will keep you posted, but you can also check the results on the ISAF website where there will be daily updates as the regatta unfolds.
Take care, and thanks for all of your replies to my last e-mail.
~~Keamia~~
Monday, April 19, 2004
Subject: Keamia does Europe... again!
Hello everyone!
well, its that time of year again. I am in europe sailing my europe dinghy, travelling around to all the big events improving my sailing on the way. I have been in europe for 2 weeks already. I spent the first week I was out here in Italy at Lake Garda where I sailed with the Danish team in a training camp they had set up there... only 65 danish europes showed up for that camp! 65!! unbelievable. It was great sailing there. Good training to get back into the swing of things before the pressure builds up at the big events. By the way... Lake Garda is absolutely gorgeous!!! if any of you have a chance to go there, I highly recommend it. it is a lake surrounded by beautiful mountains and there is always wind there. a perfect training place! while I was there, an opti regatta was on too... I have never ever seen so many optis in my life!! 800 little optis out there racing every day. it w! as pretty cool to see.
Right now I am writing to you from Hyéres, France. I arrived here a week ago and I have been sailing practically every day (we missed one day because of a HUGE storm that came through... it was difficult to even stand outside the wind just blew you over.) The training here has been great. Being able to sail with many of the girls who have already been selected to go to the olympics, and several other strong sailors who are still trying to qualify, really makes one fight hard to keep up! my speed has been going well, and I hope to keep that up during the regatta.
This regatta (Semaine Olympique Francais) is our last chance to get a spot for Canada at the Olympics in the Europe Class. For Canada to qualify, one of us has to finish in the top 12 overall. I have my fingers crossed that we can do it. If this does happen for us, then we will be using SPA Regatta as our qualifiers to decide who takes the spot to go to the games in Athens this summer.
Racing starts later this week with registration on the 22nd.
My time on the computer here is almost up! I do hope that you are all well and I hope to write to you again soon. Please if you know of anyone who would like to be on this list, please forward their email address to me. Also, if anyone knows how to make a email list that doesnt show all the addresses, if you could let me know that would be great... Im sure it must be annoying to have to scroll down through all these addresses before getting to the rest of it!
Take care
Keamia
What is this all about?
Hello!
It was brought to my attention that it might be a good idea to post my old e-mail updates along with my new blog. I am not too creative, but I thought that it would be good to just start another blog with my old e-mails on it. I have not been able to find ALL of my old e-mails, but i managed to salvage a few. Please browse through, let me know what you think!
Thank you kindly for your interest in my sailing adventures and my Olympic Dream.
Keamia
It was brought to my attention that it might be a good idea to post my old e-mail updates along with my new blog. I am not too creative, but I thought that it would be good to just start another blog with my old e-mails on it. I have not been able to find ALL of my old e-mails, but i managed to salvage a few. Please browse through, let me know what you think!
Thank you kindly for your interest in my sailing adventures and my Olympic Dream.
Keamia
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