17 May… training and more training!
Well, end of another wonderful day in Valencia. We had a good 4hrs of sailing and I spent half the time in the mid section of the boat… the dreaded grinding area! It is certainly hard work! I was helping to “initiate” the new Chinese fella Wen Pei in the grinder position. Thierry is the teacher and I am the translator.
Oh yes, did I mention that my French is improving by the day? And I get quitemixed up sometimes… speaking in all 3 languages all the time - English, French and Chinese… and sometimes broken but easily understood English (much like what i was used to when we were training with the Ukrainians in 470) with Piotr, our Polish trimmer.
OK, back to the sailing…
Well, I was exposed to a “different” kind of sailing today… in fact, I hardly know the heading and all, being in the front of the boat… very different from what I do at the back, where I must keep track of everything! On the pedestals, just flat out during each maneuvre! After an hour, I was soaked with sweat!
Damn… not so fun being a grinder… but you must respect these guys! And it does help to have huge arms! Ah yes, did I mention that we probably have the smallest team? At the Oracle party last night, we looked like midgets… actually, with our unique blue shirts and jackets… we really looked like smurfs! Picking our way through the giants! Everyone is huge! Like NFL players!
Well, we are looking forward to the fleet racing this Friday. I think it will be splendid! And the canal will certainly be electrifying! When we get towed out, it is like a procession and with all the mega yachts motoring along also… simply amazing sight!
Tonight, we will have Chinese food for dinner… thanks to our chefs! And tomorrow, for the first time in over 2 weeks, a rest day! Well, not really a rest day, since it will be gym and running for at least 2 hrs in the morning. For me, will probably try to cycle around and check out the other parts of the AC port village. Maybe pop into the various team shops. Some of the Team New Zealand and Prada outfits are real cool. And lots of catching up to do on the news back in Singapore and more reading on match racing!
Ciao!
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