October Update
Just like the rest of this year, summer passed like a whirlwind and it’s been a while since I last managed to stop and catch my breath - no complaints, being busy is a luxury and it has been a fantastic summer of sailing this year from racing with the Duchess of Cambridge in Plymouth, a podium finish in St Tropez and launching the Athena Pathway Programme.
As I write this I am on a study day for my 4th Physiotherapy Placement in the Emergency Department and Acute Medical Unit. (bet you didn’t know Physios worked there!!) In between trying to learn more about Respiratory Physiotherapy, I am trying to catch up on all the other admin that comes with trying to have a dual career. I began my Physio degree in September 2020 in the midst of the Covid Lockdowns and studying was a great way to be productive during an otherwise very quiet time for professional sailing, with only events such as the America’s Cup and Olympic Sailing allowed to continue, any privately owned projects were put on pause. Since then, racing in general is booming and I have been fortunate enough to be involved in some really cool initiatives which are really accelerating the pathway for Womens’ sailing, I am determined to qualify as a Physiotherapist next summer so while I may have fewer days on the water than usual this winter, I think the change of scenery between these two worlds really helps me to focus on being the best that I can be in each area. It’s also really refreshing to be around different environments and people who challenge your ideas in so many different ways.
We recently returned from La Rochelle where I skippered the Athena Pathway Programme team at the last event of the ETF26 season - we had a number of camps over the summer where lots people had the opportunity to try the ETF as part of the Pathway element to the programme with hopes of accelerating the learning curve for talented sailors into fast foiling boats. I was joined by long time friend, competitor and fellow SailGP GBR sailor Nikki Boniface as well as young upcoming sailors Hattie Rogers and Ross Banham and we were fortunate that Luke Parkinson was relieved of his Ineos Britannia duties for a week to come along as our coach. The goal was to go and find out what we needed to work on prior to taking part in the full season in 2023 so very much a process regatta and in that respect we reached our goal. Along the way we also picked up some great results and if it wasn’t for a very slow motion capsize which was totally my fault with a boat handling error we would have finished much higher up the leaderboard! It was encouraging to see that even with very little training time as a team we could pick up some decent results in a quality fleet and it’s just a shame that we have to wait so long to get another go!
For now, it is back to placement for the next 5 weeks and starting to write my third dissertation which I hope will be my most interesting yet as it is a project in collaboration with the Medical Team at SailGP and I hope the results can really help inform future management and prevention of injuries in fast, foiling boats.
