Getting settled in Weymouth

Well we arrived in Weymouth on Tuesday evening after taking the BA red eye from Bermuda on Monday night. We had to pick up our boat at Paul Hiles's house in Torqay (southwest of England) and then put it on our rental car without roof racks and take it to the 2012 Olympic venue. Good thing Paul had some old pillows that we could lay down on the roof because they allowed us to put our '2 by 4's down to support the boat! We had tie-downs running through the inside of the car to support the wood/pillow roof rack! Anyways, we hope to never do it again because it endangered our boat and the car's roof (we can't afford to mess with either)! Photos above.

Special thanks to Paul and Lyn Hiles for accommodating our boat and reviving us after our red eye flight! Paul has also been extremely helpful getting us oriented in Weymouth, helping us with everything from current/wind local modeling to hooking us with great housing and boat storage in Weymouth. We look forward to continue to working with Paul as he is a great local contact with a wealth of sailing knowledge at an international standard. We are stoked! Thanks Paul (I doubt he will ever read this blog, not his thing!)!


Practice - Day 1
We had a great day of practice here in Weymouth today. It was WNW breeze (any element of westerly breeze is offshore in Weymouth), anywhere from 10-18kts. In the morning we did some boat handling and starting exercises in the harbor. This was a great way to warm up to the boat after our 3 week break since Poland.

In the afternoon, we ventured out into Weymouth Bay, just beyond the large breakwater (think Dockyard times 4!) where our 49er course is located. The breeze built and we had a great practice sailing in 12-18kts. The sailing area is still pretty flat water because it is in the lee of the breakwater, making for good skiff conditions. We did a practice race with the fleet and then sailed by ourselves working our tacks and gybes. It was great practice and we both feel like the we are figuring out our footwork better. It hardly felt like we skipped a beat from our sailing in Poland and we feel fresh and ready to move forward - we must always remember to plan time away from the boat to let the learning soak in and to stay fresh. We will be practicing until the event starts on Monday.

-Zander