June 30 - Training Day 4

We are starting to get into our routine of boatwork and training. Monday we spent the morning installing a new traveller bar on the boat so now Jen can trim the mainsail properly, which has led to fewer angry exclamations from the back end of the boat. We found an awesome machinist shop right by the marina where the machinist cut the bar down to size on a giant machine. He was very careful to put out his cigarette whenever he adjusted the machine and then lit up again immediately afterward!

We got on the water later in the afternoon and were immediately waved over to join in some training with the Croatian and Turkish mens teams. The coach would emphatically shout and wave at us "Girls! Tack!" Then we were joined by the German national team for some small races. These proved to be a bit of a gong show for us as we haven't done any short course work in a while and with a new boat and all the systems in the boat in constant flux we weren't very quick off the line or around corners.

Tuesday we launched with the Australian boy's and girl's teams and tuned up with them upwind. It was about 8-12 knots from a dark cloud in the SW with big short waves that were hard to get over smoothly. The Australian teams sail like skiff sailors - footed off and lots of sheeting. It was a bit strange to sail with them as we sail totally differently. We rarely were pointing the same direction; sometimes they had more speed but we were sailing higher, and sometimes we had equal speed but were sailing lower. We did some upwinds and downwinds together for a few hours until the cloud moved through and the breeze died down and swung around to the SE. The Aussies headed in, we stayed out for a while and worked on our boat handling.

Tuesday evening we met up with a French Canadian who has been living in Den Haag for the past two years. He works for the cartography company and gave us free charts and a current book for Den Haag, which is amazing! We cycled into Central Den Haag and he showed us the International Court of Justice, the Palace and the Legislator. We then went to a local pub to watch the Spain vs. Portugal match with a whole bunch of Spanish people.

Today when we arrived at the Marina a fog and a bit of rain was moving in. We did a bit more boatwork and the fog blocked our view of the marina entrance. It retreated and we headed on the water around noon. It was hard to tell how windy it was with the big short waves, fog and current, but somewhere around 16 knots. We were sailing around in the fog by ourselves when we found the Singapore mens team, and tuned up with them upwind. We were fairly evenly matched for speed (they don't sail like skiff sailors) except they were doing a better job of managing the big waves. By this I mean they did NOT get washed off the boat while I did! Eventually the fog cleared and the wind died down to around 6 knots. We joined the other boats for one race and then headed in. We had yet more boatwork to do. We have been trying to nurse along our spinnaker halyard by replacing some core and splicing in some extra line but it is a losing battle, so we are going to have to replace it.

Our boat parking spot has slowly been moved by some Australians who have arrived over the past two days. I guess we will be nice as one of them is the Bejing Men's 470 Gold medallist. I found this out after asking if he was the coach. Whoops! Maybe they will have some tips for us? Pictures from around town below.

Den Haag, NED

June 27 - On the water in Den Haag

Today we went training! It feels like it's been awhile since we did that! The wind was light out of the north about 4-6 knots, and about 3 knots of current from the north as well. It is quite warm here, so we could finally wear a few less layers then we have been at home and in Kiel. We were supposed to meet up with the Aussies at noon but we have no phone and they have no internet so somehow that didn't work out. We spent a good 3 hours focusing on boat handling and boat speed now that (most) of the systems on the boat are working. It felt really good to get back into the boat and work on things on our own for the first day. The wind is a thermal breeze which doesn't seem to appear until 11 or 12 and increases in velocity throughtout the day.

We have made up a schedule for ourselves for the next two weeks so we can get back into a routine. We will sail everyday this week then take the weekend off, then sail again next week. There is organized group training for the event July 6-8. Measurement takes place the 9-11th. The practise race is July 11th and racing is July 12-18.

There is a small group of boats training out of the sailing venue including the German and British teams but most teams are taking this week off and will show up next week.

Our apartment is a block up from the Scheveningen Pier and Strand. This is basically the beach where everyone in Holland comes for summer vacation, so it is packed full of people. Jen and I have both already been scolded in dutch for riding our bicycles on the Strand (apparently it's pedestrian only). Riding our bikes to the club is very nice as we cycle along in the bicycle lane with bicycle stop lights. We have rented one speed's with pedal brakes and panniers. I do enjoy cycling in an upright position, but sometimes I forget how to stop.

June 26 - Boat Setup

Our boat is set up and ready for training tomorrow.  We've still got some more work to do on the boat, but it's definitely coming along, and we got it rigged and tuned today.  The only downer today was that after all of the trouble that we've had with our top cover, the bottom cover completely disintegrated today when we unpacked it!  Hopefully we can save it...we'll keep you posted!
The harbour here is huge, I've never seen anything like it.  We're in an industrial looking area, and to get to the sailing centre we ride our bikes past herring canneries and through commercial chandleries.  To get out of the actual harbour we have to launch down a massive ramp and sail out through a huge concrete harbour that leads to the open water.  Outside of the harbour is open sea, which is why they need to have such big breakwaters, but it's very impressive.  We'll post pictures so that you can get an idea of how small the 470's look when they sail out of the harbour. You can see it on google maps.

Tomorrow we train with our Australian friends, and we're looking forward to getting out into the current-something that we Victorians know so very well.

Jen

World Cup Fever on the World Cup Circuit

Jen here,

Sometimes when you're least expecting it, an adventure presents itself.  Last night when we arrived in Den Hague, the Holland vs Camaroon match was just beginning.  We got ourselves unpacked and I walked to find a local grocer so that we could have something in the flat for breakfast.  On my way back, I was walking down the street and taking in my surroundings when suddenly, a very excited elderly gentleman dashed out of a pub, grabbed me by the hand, and led me into the pub all while speaking at me in Dutch.  He escorted me into the pub and sat me down-apparently I was to watch the match with this room full of strangers.  What else could I do but oblige?  I sure didn't want to be rude and leave the pub in the middle of the second half!
Over the course of the game I was introduced to the "Beesie" pronounced "Bay-shee" which is a little fluffy worm which you carry around with you to show your support for team Holland.  By the time I left the pub, I was adorned with a whole herd of Beesies, had learned the tune to half a dozen Dutch folk songs, and made friends with a lovely family, including grandpa.  All of this while Erin was at home, thinking that I'd got lost on my way to find groceries.  She was definitely relieved when I made it home, and laughed when I explained what had happened and why I was covered in little orange fuzzy worms.  We already have a date for the Holland/Slovakia game on Monday.  I think that Holland will be quite the experience this month...and training starts up tomorrow!
Jen

June 24 - Travel to The Hague

Lets discuss parking in Europe for a moment. It's pretty hilarious as everything seems to be fair game, intersections, sidewalks, even on the road beside other parked cars. As it is Kiel Week and World Cup, there has been absolutely no parking near our hostel. Everyone is trying to park for free and walk downtown. I have been doing a fairly excellent job of parking our rental car in random tight places and intersections etc. and so far the car has always been there the next day. This morning however, it wasn't. We left the hostel with plenty of time to gas the car, return it and then walk to the train station (as the car rental place and the gas station are 500 m from the hostel and the train station is 3 blocks, this seemed like it would work out fine). Except then the car wasn't there. After a brief moment of panic and adrenaline, we quickly got to work. We walked to the police station (also only 3 blocks away) and a very nice police officer looked up our car and told us where it was. Thankfully in Germany instead of towing your car to an impound lot really far away, they just tow it to a street with lots of legal parking and leave it. All we had to do was find it! The policeman called us a taxi and we headed over to the street where are car was actually fairly easy to locate. There was a note in German on the windshield which we haven't managed to translate yet but it starts off "Dier Idiote" which even I can decipher. So we got the car back, gassed up, dropped it off and headed to the train station and caught our train with plenty of time. All in all it was an excellent result to what could have been disastrous morning.

We then spent the rest of the day taking the train to the Hague, which was intermittently boring and stressful as our first train got delayed and we nearly missed the transfer to the second train. We have rented a 1 bed apartment in The Hague for the next month. The landlord very kindly picked us up from the train station. The apartment is a 10 minute cycle along the beach boulevard to the marina, so we will rent bikes tomorrow and get acquainted with the city.

I have posted pictures from the German Naval Memorial Museum.

German Naval Memorial Museum

Pack up after Kiel

Jen here,

The boat is all packed up and headed to Den Hague, we follow tomorrow via train.  Despite the surprises about our boat and all of it´s repairs and fixes and the lack of wind, it´s been a great experience and good to get our first European event under our belts.  We have a laundry list of further upgrades that we´ll do to the boat when we arrive in Den Hague, including removing the bridal traveller and replacing it with a proper traveller car system like our boat back home, new spinnaker sheets, and new auto bailers (ours leak!).  We´re also very keen to actually get SAILING! We´ve befriended an Australian team of twin brothers who will also be in Den Hague very shortly,  and we´re keen to train with them. 
After packing up the boat today, Erin and I went and visited the U-boat memorial in Kiel.  It was very interesting and do I ever feel sorry for the poor soldiers who had to serve inside of those tiny cramped quarters.

More once we reach Den Hague.

Cheers,
Jen

June 22-One race

Jen here, 

Well, after starting out our third windless day waiting in the boat park,  the RC sent us out at 12:00 for some light wind racing.  Erin and I were keen to put our days of boat work to the test.  We got out to the course, warmed up, tuned up and went upwind with some other boats before heading back to the starting area.  The whole starting process took close to an hour with the two mens fleets being recalled, and ours as well. We got a good start with speed off the line and were able to hold our lane...this was a major improvement over Miami!  We stayed mid fleet throughout the race, and seemed to have good boat speed in our new boat.  On the downwind we were able to work much lower than the boats around us, and picked up a number of places.  Then the breeze went very very soft, and on the final leeward mark to the finish we got involved in one of those slow motion pinwheels where you can see the whole thing coming from about ten minutes beforehand.  We tried to position ourselves favourably by slowing down...apparently slowing down on the outside of a pinwheel is only midly effective when everyone else is only going about a knot and a half.  All in all, though, it was a great day and nice to get an actual race in after all of the waiting.

Jen

June 21 - No wind

No wind today! Got to the sailing site at 7.15 as usual and checked a few things on the boat. We managed to get the spinnaker pump system working properly by capsizing the boat and fiddling with the halyards and then righting it. Not sure what this did, but I'm not complaining. At 9 am they postponed us on shore. They are nice and decisive about things, postponed and more information at 11. Then postponed and more information at 1. Then more information at 3. Then at 4 they postponed for the rest of the day. So what did we do with all this free time? Boat work, what else! While chatting beside the boat with some other sailors, I noticed that the screw for my jib block was loose. This was like pulling on a thread on your sweater. I pulled out the screw to seal and re-insert it. Turns out it wasn't a screw, it was a bolt. With no nut on it. It was pretty much just hanging out in there. So we decided to fix it. And with everything in life, fix it properly the first time right? So up to the chandlery to buy some more parts, and then a painful few hours attempting to remove the nut from the OTHER bolt (this involved me lying upside down in the cockpit with my arm inside the tank at one point). Anyways, we did some more boat work, and now some more things on the boat are working, and then we decided not to look to closely at the boat for awhile. We also chatted with other sailors and sat in the shade. After a very cold morning, it warmed up to maybe 14 degrees but at least it was sunny! There was a bit of wind out in the harbour so the 49ers got a few races off, but they were moving very slowly. With a regatta of this size each fleet has its own course, with its own area of water. Our course is the furthest out, and while there was a bit of a thermal breeze happening in the harbour because of the land, there was no wind out on our course. A bit disappointing as we would really like to do more racing and less boat work. Interestingly, we have now had 5 water bottles stolen from beside our boat. Apparently they are worth a lot if you return them for recycling, but in a boat park full of expensive sailing gear it seams like a strange choice. Since we are not totally exhausted from the day we are going to go check out the Kiel Week international market which is very close to our hostel.

UVic Ring Article

The June issue of Uvic's Ring magazine features an article about Jen.
http://ring.uvic.ca/10jun/braem.html

June 20 - afternoon

So today was the second day of racing at Kiel. It was pretty much the total opposite of yesterday, as there was no wind! We got up early again and launched at 9.15 for an 11 start. We got picked up by the Israeli couch and towed out to the race course, which took a full hour.The wind was about 3-4 knots from 280 degrees, then died, then filled from 20 degrees, then died, then shifted.... you get the idea. We tuned up and did some roll tacks and managed to get the spinnaker up and down several times. At 11 the race committee postponed the races and we drifted around. Every time the wind filled from a new direction we dutifully tuned up and tacked up wind a bit and then ran back to the starting area with the spinnaker, until about 12 when the wind totally shut off. The fleet drifted around and we passed the time by making friends with two Australian brothers who have their boat parked right next to us. They told us all about the predators that we'll see while sailing in Perth, which terrified Jen. Eventually the RC abandoned racing for the day and we all towed back in. The trip from the launch ramp to our parking spot in the boat park was hilarious, there were so many tourists and festival goers that it was a bit like trying to walk your boat through the PNE grounds or across the exhibition grounds at the Calgary Stampede. Picture us, boat in tow, in a hurry to get out of our smelly sailing gear, weaving our way through oblivious German tourists clutching giant sausages. The pictures below should give you an idea of the size of the sailing site. It takes about 15 minutes to walk end to end. We can only find our boat again by locating the GIANT Audi tent. A dozen workmen spent the two days we were setting up our boat meticulously applying the banners for this tent. They have around 15 different Audi's on display, including the 8 being used for trailer servicing, which have sequential license plates and whirr past us about twenty times a day. The one on display directly behind our boat is a Q7 with V12. This isn't the best part though. It is an auburn color on the outside, white leather interior with real teak detailing and inlay on the back of the seats like on a yacht. We have tried to convince the Audi guys to give it to us, but they say we can only have the A1. Our plan for the rest of the day is to continue working on the boat as today we discovered that it is leaking through the centreboard bolt! We will do this as soon as the storm cell which is pouring rain on us lets up.

Kiel Week

Long Day

June 19, 1:00am Jetlag and Punk Rock
Jen here,
Why is it that jetlag gets so much worse before it gets better? As I write this it's 1:00am on the morning of our first day of racing here in Kiel. Most other teams are sound asleep, with a few exceptions who are still needling away at the boat park. Yours truly, however, is contending with night number four of no sleep. The first night in Kiel was fairly typical: work hard to stay awake as long as possible and at the stroke of 9:00pm collapse into bed after over thirty hours in transit. Then came two nights of waking up at 4:00am-presumably because it's supper time. Those nights were dealt with by drinking three cups of tea while reading the sequel to Three Cups of Tea. Tonight, however, is a wee bit different. Our hostel lies across the street from an establishment called "The Hot Rock." The Hot Rock is a punk metal bar, and is hopping on a Friday night. Just as I drifted off to sleep this evening I was awoken by animated yelling and screaming from across the street. "Here we go again" I thought, and braced myself for an indeterminate period of lying in my bed and watching the ceiling. At first I used the time productively, I visualized the start sequence and how I'd like to position my boat. Then I reviewed my goals for tomorrow. After about half an hour, though, my thoughts began to drift towards the revellers across the street. How do they get their Mohawks to stand up so straight and what happens if it rains? Admittedly, I've never seen a punk rocker out in the pouring rain. What about the dye jobs, how do they get the colours to fade from red to yellow so evenly? Very productive for someone who should be resting up for the 16-20 knots forecast for today. Now, as I'm sitting writing this I can see a group of these punk metal fans hanging outside the entrance to The Hot Rock. Perhaps they're discussing their combat boots, or maybe the placement of the studs on one of their jackets, it's hard to tell. There is, however, some very coiffed hair, some moments of intense chatter followed by loud boisterous laughter, and a lot of beer. The night is still young for these partiers and I think that the evening, like my jetlag, is going to get worse before it gets better. What do you think would happen if I strolled over there in my pyjamas and blond fuzzy hair and explained to them that I'm just a poor little Canadian sailor trying to get some shut eye before Kieler Woche? Given how nice and how polite everyone here is, they would very likely apologize, buy me a beer, and then convince me to try out a new hairstyle. This is not what I want though; want I want is for the elusive sandman to come and shower me with his charms.
June 19 PM - Erin
So today was another long day. We got up at 6 am and over-cooked some eggs which we gagged down. Headed to the site at 7 am. Rigged and double checked everything, got dressed in almost everything we own (its freaking cold here people! The Aussies etc. are not pleased). We were ready to go on the slipway at 8.30. I put on my third rashguard, splash top, harness, over-rashguard - and then the announcement came on the intercom (Auchtung!) that we were postponed. Why? Because they couldn't do the fleet splits yet because there were STILL people registering! In fact, a trailer with 2 470's on it rolled in (and parked right on the launching ramp) at 9 am. Seriously! So hung out with the Isreali girls, who would really like to go to the 470 European Championships in Istanbul but might not be allowed to enter the Country.
Anyways - got on the water super early (we let a German team launch before us just so we'd know where to go). Headed out to the racecourse. Wind about 12-15 from the West. This is about when we discovered our spinnaker wouldn't go up. So we fiddled with that and got it up finally. Out to the race course, dropped a pin setting (this involves me physically moving the mast step while the boat goes over 6 foot waves) tuned up and headed back towards the starting line. As we were prepping for the start Jen pulled on the Vang - and it exploded! I did an awesome Miguiver fix with the spare parts we brought out with us and we got off the line. The boat was not working properly. It was full of water, Jen had tons of helm, the main sheet would not trim through the blocks, the jib sheets were too short and tangling. We capsized on one of our first tacks as I got totally stuck and tangled with the Jib. By the time we got it up the fleet was gone. We decided not to chase the fleet around but to get our boat working. The wind was now up to 20 knots, so we pinned down again and tried to fix a few things. The spinnnaker would now not go up at all. This is where we made the painful decision to retire for the day and continue working on the boat. We could have raced the next two races without a spinnaker and been lapped and still not have a working boat for tomorrow, or we could fix things so we can race again tomorrow.
So we came in and started the boat work over again. The man in the chandlery is now giving us a discount as we have purchased so much from him, and we have made some friends borrowing tools off other teams. And we are not alone in the boat fixing! Many other teams didn't finish races today and kept us company in the boatpark working on their own boats.
So far we have replaced the vang line and fittings, jib sheets, main blocks, re-rivetted main fittings, re-rivetted pole ends, spliced and run new tweaker lines, spliced a continous adjustable bridle/traveller (this took me three hours), replaced the spinnaker handle and re-spliced the halyard, replaced and spliced the jib halyard retrieval line, replaced the rudder with our spare rudder, replaced the jib halyard sheave box in the mast, and a whole host of other things.
We just got home from the boatpark and ate some leftovers for dinner.
Tomorrow is another day, I really hope we get some racing off!

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June 17 PM


Jen here,

Barry arrived just after noon today and Erin and I excitedly began to set up our new boat. The process of setting a boat up the first time is time consuming, and so we set one goal for the day: get the mast up. This may sound simple, especially to a laser sailor, but for us it’s a little more involved. First we had to wash and polish the hull. Then strip off the old gasket and replace it with a new one. Finally we were ready to actually flip the boat right side up. Then it was tinker with this, replace that, modify this etc etc. Until finally at about 7:00pm we were so hungry that we were beginning to do things incorrectly.

We had dinner on site with our friends Hunter and Gordon, Canadian 49er sailors, and set back to work stepping the mast. After a few more hours of tinkering and modifications, we stepped the mast just as the light was fading away. Fortunately we’re pretty far north so dusk fell on us at 10:30pm! Tomorrow will be finishing set up, tuning the rig and a quick sail to make sure that everything is running correctly in the boat. Whew!

Jen

June 18 pm

So it officially takes two full days to set up a 470 from scratch! We were hoping to get on the water this afternoon but it did not end up happening. The boat is fully set up though! We have gone over everything and re-done almost all of the major lines. The most amazing part about setting up the boat was tuning it. Barry said "I think we usually set up the base on the 7 pin" so we pinned to 7 and tensioned to 27. Mast rake was 101 cm, and spreaders were at 60 mm. Amazing! We got all our settings tuned in, even the 5th setting. This setting is for like, 35+ knots, or as we like to describe it, when the water catches fire and the boat flies through the air. I was having a mental block and asked Jen "what do you call the end of the world?" she replied the apocalypse - or 2012. So we have now called setting #5 2012, which we think is pretty hilarious.

We are registered and have even found someone to tow us the 6-8 miles offshore to the racecourse! This is excellent as it means we won't have to launch at 5 am to get to the course!

We cooked probably the largest and most balanced meal ever cooked in a hostel tonight. Salad, mashed potatoes and fish for Jen and chicken for me. I eat meat, but no seafood. Jen is a veggie, except for seafood. So we made a little tin-foil divider in our Tupperware from ikea to separate our proteins. Jen then said something extremely funny and sarcastic at dinner and I proceeded to laugh so hard tea came out my nose. I don't think I've had food-liquids come out my nose since I was about 8.

So we are having fun, maybe a bit over-tired? Tomorrow I think I will try and teach Jen to drive stick. We'll see how that goes. Erin

Kiel Week

June 17 in Kiel

Jen here,

We spent yesterday getting ourselves sorted in terms of phones, food, and tools.  Our hostel was advertised as having free wifi but apparently it is not being installed until next week, which is hilarious.  There will be free wifi tomorrow once the regatta starts so that should be much better. This morning we even found an Ikea where we managed to source out much needed towels and plastic bins for our gear!  Today we are enjoying a beautiful sunny day in the boat park (I'm told that this is a rarity) and waiting for our new boat.  Barry, who sold us the boat and who is bringing it to us, should be here any minute and so it feels a bit like the night before Christmas.   Today will be spent putting our boat together and setting everything up the way that we're used to, and we hope to get started on tuning as well. 

 

Kiel is a beautiful little town, and the regatta venue is very nice.  The scale and scope of this event is much bigger than any I have ever attended.  I keep seeing the production crews setting up tents, audio equipment, and lighting rigs and I think to myself..."hmmm....potential job opportunities for all the theatre folks back home!" 

 

Speaking of back home, in a few hours my cohort from the UVic MBA program will convocate.   A small part of me will be missing my classmates as they all cross the stage, get bonked on the head by the university Chancellor, and receive their parchment.  On the other hand...I'm in Germany!! I will think of you all, and Erin even conceded to allowing me to wear a gown and cap while tuning the boat-provided that I can find one.  I think that was part of why she agreed.  Congratulations everyone!

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Arrived in Kiel

Just a short note to say we have arrived in Kiel! Our flights were on time, uneventful and all of our luggage including the sail tube made it through! I drove the rental car without incident and we found our hostel. So far awesome! We bought some groceries and made some pita pizza's for dinner. We are seriously jet-lagged (jen is already asleep) but have tomorrow to aclimatize and find some plug converters so we can charge things!

On the Road

Jen here,

Well, after what seems like endless planning we're finally on the road for our three and a half months of racing and adventuring.  Erin and I caught the ferry over to Vancouver this morning and it was a beautiful sunny ride.  Now we're waiting for our flight to Hamburg here at YVR.  There was a moment of stress when we tried to check our sail tube at the check in counter. The ten foot long tube proved to be a bit of a challenge and for a moment we thought we would have to pay an extra four hundred dollars to get it on the plane! Fortunately Erin is an amazing planner and had pre-registered the tube.  Her organizational skills combined with a bit of left-over Olympic fever with the airport staff saw our two full sets of sails onto the plane for a mere thirty Euros.  Nice work Erin!
We were also objects of interest as we put our rudder through airport security.  The woman at the security gate took a look at the rudder through the x-ray machine and was very confused about what she saw. We explained that it's for steering a sailboat, and is made of cedar and fibreglass.  Out came the rudder for inspection and a bit of general confusion. Finally the security staff decided that it was safe to take onto the plane and off we went, breathing a sigh of relief. 
We will be in Kiel tomorrow evening, and our first day of racing is Saturday.  We race in Kiel until June 24th, and then it's off to the Worlds in Den Hague, Holland. 

New Website!

We have our new website online! It is located at the same address, www.jenanderinsail.ca. Thank you so much to my brother Tom Flanagan for his hard work writing the code. Please let us know what you think of the new design and also if you find any bugs by emailing admin@jenanderinsail.ca.

Team Jen and Erin awarded 470 Development Grant

A big thanks to the International 470 Class Association for awarding us the 470 International Solidarity Programme grant. As grant recipients, we will receive complimentary entry into the 470 European Championships in Istanbul this August.  Read on to see the 470 Class Association press release or click here to see a complete list of entries.

Twenty-five teams and 18 nations will benefit from the 2010 470 Solidarity Programmes, which provide financial support and equipment for aspiring 470 sailors. The 470 Solidarity Programmes offer a range of support to sailors and is fully encompassing to support those starting out on their 470 sailing career through to those campaigning to represent their nation at the Olympics. The challenges facing sailors in competing at events around the world are the same whatever your level of ability, and the programmes recognize that by providing an accessible pathway to financial support with up to EUR1000 per crew being awarded. Sails are also provided in partnership with Olimpic Sails. Reflecting the solid popularity in 470 sailing around the world, 43 applications were received from 25 nations.
The 470 Solidarity Programmes have been running for several years now with the International Solidarity Programme (ISP) and Olympic Solidarity Programme (OSP) focused on two different levels of ability. The ISP is aimed at those starting out in their 470 sailing and focused on “emerging 470 nations” which are developing their experience in the class and growing their base of 470 sailing. Alongside the entry fees, the capital expense of buying equipment is removed with the provision of new and virtually new 470 sails. For those sailors with the Olympic rings in their sights, the OSP provides crucial support on the campaign trail and supports entry fees towards the 2010 470 Class World Championships. Ultimately both programmes are aimed to provide the motiviation to compete internationally and achieve success.
Linking with the Solidarity Programmes, the 470 Class will also be running training clinics at several of its Championships this year.