Readers of the web site will have worked out I am goal and process oriented. The easy bit is to sort out the process. The hard task is to establish achievable goals so here is my thinking so far.
The Alioth is a competitive design in the hands of the top sailors and here I mean Juan the designer and Craig Richards in the UK. One of my key objectives is to see how far I can take it in this competition. The Worlds entry list is dominated by the V series from Australia, the Venti, Kantuns, a handful of Britpops and a few of the new VISS designs. The question will be, have I got the capability to keep up with the top sailors after only 3 years racing these boats and will the Alioth deliver enough performance to allow me to compete.
Recent results would suggest I havent a chance, but that is deceptive as through the year I have been trying options and configurations that clearly did not work but now have a package that should deliver the best performance. Unlike all my peers in the UK who have sailed these boats for decades, I have not had time to find out all the things that do not work.
So having said that, what are the goals;
Have a great time and enjoy the journey
Set the boat up before every race with precision
Stay out of trouble
Race in the A fleet.
Whatever the result learn, have fun and enjoy the experience
Make friends
The plan is to get out to Gladstone early to aclimatise and have a good look around as well as put in a few hours sailing in the harbour to get used to the conditions.
I remember speaking at a conference in Singapore and the first night when I went to bed, realised it was only 2pm on my UK clock. I was there for 3 days and had no chance to adjust my body clock. When I used to go to China, the adjustent was easy but tough on the body. We would fly out at 12 noon and after a 14 hour flight would go straight to an office for a presentation, then do a client lunch, another meeting in the afternoon and then a client dinner. It did not matter what time zone I was in, cos I was ready for bed after that day. For this trip I have given myself plenty of time to adjust the body clock.
With the worlds coming up in Datchet in 2026 I will have the opportunity to find out what the Australians have done in planning and putting on the worlds event. I will blog as much as I can. The racing will be covered by a professional streaming service so I will not cover that. Races will be streamed between 1pm and 9am GMT.
All the details are here
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