NIKOLA GIRKE- Sailing

A week has already flown by since the end of the French Olympic Sailing Week - and I'm happy to be home after being away for over 5 weeks.

After the first day of the regatta with nice breeze, the winds remained quite calm for the remainder of the regatta. After the first 6 races, the fleet was divided into Gold and Silver fleet (top half/bottom half). Although I had a few bad races, I did have 3 top 10's in the first series which easily put me into Gold Fleet. With only the top girls in the final series, the racing was much tighter and any mistakes that were made, were much more costly. 

The wind conditions and sea state made it quite hard on me. For the most part I had decent starts and a pretty good first 2/3rds of the upwind, but then I became unglued at the top mark. With the fleet being so tight, the distance between being in the front pack and the back pack wasn't very much and my errors in positioning at the top mark had me slide into the back pack most times. Once in the back, it's always a struggle to catch up, one is always in dirty air and my decisions often clouded or ended up being dictated by others due to this. Needless to say, it was a trying regatta for me.

If I can take one thing away from the regatta, it would be that I never gave up. It's pretty easy when you round the last windward mark in last (which happened a few times)...to put your head down and just want the race to be over with, trying to convince yourself that you don't really care....when you really do. Determined that I was not going to come last, I continued to work hard and my relentless effort made me pass a few boards each time... Every single point counts, even when one is in the back of the fleet, with the highlight of the last race being the passing of a Chinese girl, which everyone in the fleet knows...the Chinese never let up or give up. 

I finished 33rd. The regatta pointed out a few key things I need to work on for my next stint...which although a bit daunting, I'm excited about and it's keeping me quite busy at the moment.

Up next is the "Sail for Gold" regatta in Weymouth, England, June 5-11. This is a pretty important regatta for many sailors as it's a qualifier for the Pre-Olympic Regatta in August.

And until then... I'm home and loving it :)

Thank you for your on going support.

Nikola

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www.nikolagirke.com <http://www.nikolagirke.com>

SARAH BOUDENS- Canoe/Kayak - Slalom

I’m the first Canadian athlete to get onto the new 2012 London Olympic course….and it’s AMAZING!!!  I was helping out with the 2011 British Team Selection event and was doing the demonstration and foreruns for the races which took place over three days. 

Leading into the competition I had 8 sessions on the water over the week.  I was absolutely exhausted by the time the race came around but I just couldn’t force myself to get off the water, it was so much fun!  The conveyor belt which takes you from the bottom to the top of the course allows you to fit in many more runs which can be a blessing but was definitely adding to my exhaustion!

It’s an absolutely amazing facility and I think it’s my new favourite.  My hopes are to make it to my 2^nd Olympic Games so I can race on this course when it counts.  T-minus 450 days!