Where did May disappear to?! Time flies when you’re having fun, right?!
May started off with a really fun ‘Moppy Camp’ down at Salterns Sailing Club, the children’s sailing club in Lymington where I first learned to sail more years ago than I care to remember! There are two Moppy Camps per year where a lot of kids get taught a lot of sailing skills in one weekend! I still go back to help when I can. You may think that there are better ways to spend time than up to your armpits wading in a lake, but I would have to disagree!! I love it down there, and I love the satisfaction of helping someone to achieve something that they didn’t think they could. You see the confidence of the children increase so dramatically over the course of the weekend, which is just great.
I was so touched by the support from Salterns club members. They had made a little collection pot with lots of pictures of my sailing on it, and accumulated donations for my campaign from members over the course of the weekend which was really humbling. For the first time in my life I was signing lifejackets, splashtops and hats!! Quite surreal, it wasn’t too long ago I was asking amazing sailors to do that for me! I was also touched that Salterns are making a big effort for Bart’s Bash later this year on 21st September. It will be the first event organised by the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation in memory of the wonderful Bart. The idea is to have a mass participation global club race, attempting to get a Guinness World Record for largest sailing event ever. Hundreds of clubs have signed up worldwide. It’s going to be awesome, I’m so excited to see heaps of people get out on the water!
Shortly after Moppy Camp, I headed out to Split in Croatia for a training camp. Our Europeans are in Split – I head out again on Tuesday morning for the final run up before the event starts the following week. It’s shaping up to be a very funky venue. Lots of islands, mountains, odd localised wind conditions and currents. As a sailor that makes it pretty nerve racking for such an important event. But also very exciting. You have to view it that it’s the same for everyone, so take all the opportunities that come your way!
At risk of sounding like a travel writer, if you have never thought about Croatia as a holiday destination, you definitely should! It is absolutely beautiful. Islands, mountains, sun, sea, beautiful buildings, good food, lovely live music. What more can you ask for?!
Back in the UK it was time for some boatwork fun, an awesome productive training camp in Weymouth, and a little bit of time for logistics and organisation (even more fun!).
Excited now for the Europeans. Feeling good, strong, ready. Bring it on!