Off to China…

This month I have enjoyed a nice rest since returning with the Gold Medal from the Pre-Olympic Competition in QingDao, China. I have been chilling with friends and family, playing golf, going to windsurfing parties and having fun. But I have also heard some good news that I am the sole nominee of the RS:X Women for the British Team going to the Olympics in 2008. The announcement for selection was made on Tuesday 18 September in front of a large press audience at the Sailing Academy in Weymouth. I had been given the phone call from the Olympic manager the evening before, but not until ten o’clock at night! So I had been hanging onto my phone all day and had almost given up hope. When I got the call I could not stop smiling. We soon opened the champagne and even my Gran, who is ninety six, joined in the celebrations. Most other sailors who had a phone call they wanted to hear went out in Weymouth that night, which turned out to be a late one!
Bryony controlling the board and the fleet

87.7 Skandia Sail4Gold FM

With all that going on I then had to compete at the Skandia Sail For Gold Regatta from Wednesday to Sunday. The wind didn’t make those five days any easier as it blew up to 30 knots for the first three days with windsurfers buzzing up and down by Chesil Beach at the top of the harbour on 4.2m sails whilst the RS:X fleet were coping with the harsh chop at the bottom of the harbour on our 8.5m sails! The wind had a rest for the Saturday, but that just meant more pumping. All week the racing was filmed and put up on massive screens all round the Academy for spectators to watch, and there was continuous commentary all week on “87.7 Skandia Sail4Gold FM” radio. All this showed how easy it could be to make Olympic Sailing enjoyable for spectators, but it would not have been possible without the generous sponsorship from Skandia. There was a great international turn out in the RS:X fleet; French, Spanish, German, Norwegian, Danish, Canadian, American with Olympic and World Champion quality. So it was a good event for me to win (and by a ten-point margin) but I need to sleep for a week! All results and photos from the event are at www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk

Now the training is continuing. I have strict fitness targets to make and the World Championships in New Zealand in January are not far away. Within all this I intend to take full advantage of the October winds on some new North and Fanatic freestyle kit.

Bryony is sponsored by Skandia Team GBR, UK Sport, Fat Face.