Update from Mat and Mal in Mallorca

 

Mathew and I find ourselves at the eve of the 3rd World Cup event.  This is being held in Palma de Mallorca.  This regatta is quiet often our first regatta for the European circuit.  Sure it sounds like a great destination, but it is always held in the early European spring time which means normally freezing conditions.  Not always windy, but normally we are shocked by the cold coming directly from the Aussie summer.  But the weird thing is, the weather has been amazingly warm over the last few days. The water is still very cold, but our 3 training days have seen light to moderate winds, and we both have managed so far to stay reasonably dry, which means a happy mood while sailing and no need to use the seat warmers in the car.  But I'm sure mother nature will throw the mandatory curve ball soon, and we will be shivering in our boots before we know it.

 

So we are very excited to be facing up against all our major competitors again.  This will be the biggest year with the number of competitors.  Many countries will have their Olympic selections this year, and a big push towards the Pre Olympics in August.  So people have been getting very serious.  Most teams have already been in Palma now for 1 month training for this regatta and the season.   We will see 82 boats from 27 countries competing in the 470 men.  So our 2 weeks of 470 sailing over the last 2 months probably is not the best preparation for this regatta.  So we are just keeping our results expectations in perspective.  Instead we are focussing on our performance and working towards our peak regattas later on in the European summer... which was always part of the plan.

 

One of the cool things about this regatta is, if you win you will get your medal presented to you by Spain's Princess Sofia, in their Mallorca palace.  Mathew sailing with his brother Dan had this privilege 2003 when they won.  I'm sure our competitive juices will be flowing on the start line tomorrow, and we will do everything in our power to fight for this.  But from a bigger perspective, we are looking just for another solid result to maintain our lead in the 2011 world cup series thus far and our no1 world ranking.

 

Thanks for your support.  You can follow the regatta results at www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/

 

Malcolm & Mathew

 

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