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wSunday, December 30, 2007 | |
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 Nikola: "Happy Holidays!"I wanted to write an update a while back but I have not actually had a single moment free... finally its Christmas and I am taking a few much needed days off. I have been in New Zealand since the middle of November, training starting immediately and well...now its already been 5 weeks. Each day over the last month, Takapuna Beach - where the RSX Worlds are this January, more and more windsurfers from around the globe show up, all coming down to train up for the last Olympic Qualifier. We have had really great conditions, almost too good as its been somewhat windy and sunny for the most part. I competed in the New Zealand RSX Nationals that were held from December 13-16th. Generally a Kiwi only event, this year we had 35 competitors from all over the World. This made for really great racing and competition. It was my first time competing since August, so it was a really great opportunity to get the cobwebs out. Made plenty of mistakes throughout the series of 8 races, learning heaps each race and finished the regatta off with a few 6th place finishes. I finished 14th overall, although I probably would've been in the top 10 had the race committee not scored me wrong for the first race and my two Z-flags which gave me an additional 14 points overall. I had never seen the Z-flag before, it's a flag that was never used in the 470 dinghy racing that I did. The Z-flag means that if you are over the starting line within one minute before the start, you have to return to the proper side of the starting line, but you carry a 20 percent penalty of the overall fleet size added to your race score. Unfortunately, getting 2 of those in one day did not help the results. But...better now than at the Worlds! So, even with all my mistakes I ended up top Canadian and when I finally got my act together on the last day I was mixing it up with the best to finish with two 6ths. Along with my training partners, Romy Kinzl from Germany and Hayley Thom from New Zealand, we hired Aaron MacIntosh, a Kiwi windsurfing guru and Olympic medalist to coach us for 9 days. We spent 5-6 hours each day on the water, had lengthy debriefs and video-analysis. Apart from windsurfing, eating and sleeping....there was not much time for anything else. Coaching ended on the 23rd... its my first time in a few weeks to put my feet up and relax a bit, and finally an update. Training continues throughout the holidays as January 10th is approaching quickly. All the very best for the holidays and thank you for your continued support! Nikola posted by editors at 12/30/2007 12:31:00 PM |
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