Flora Stewart Sailing

National Ranker

flora — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:50:03 +0000

The National Ranker this weekend in Weymouth was very different to the one last month. It was light winds are very shifty. On Saturday we sailed well and had a second and also a race win. Sunday showed us some similar conditions, we had a second then two frustrating races where we lost quite a lot of positions on the bottom reach. It was a very exciting weekend and great to be racing at the front of the fleet. We finished 3^rd ladies overall and was also 3^rd overall in the National Ranker series.

Training this week in Weymouth which is going to be very cold. Looking forward to our fitness test on Wednesday night.

Prestigious Marlow Rope Award

flora — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:08:41 +0000

Skandia Team GBR Transitional Squad sailors Anna Burnett and Flora Stewart have received an additional boost to their flourishing 470 campaign by being awarded with the prestigious Marlow Ropes Award.

The Marlow Ropes Award was introduced in 2002 with the aim of rewarding Britain’s most promising young sailors for their determination, focus and talent.

Go to Links to read more.

Marlow Rope Award

flora — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:33:52 +0000

We have just been awarded the Marlow Rope Award where we collected our prize at the Southampton Boat Show. This is a brilliant award to win as it will supply us with the best rope on the market for a whole year. This means we wont have to worry about our boat as we will have the best equipment so we can just focus on our sailing.

September

flora — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:30:23 +0000

September has had its good and bad moments. We went back training and hit it hard, but unfortunately I got ill so it put us out of training for 2 days. Putting in long hours on the water while the temperature is still bearable. We had a National Ranker to finish the 2 weeks of training in very windy conditions. Going fast in general but annoyingly we capsized in the 3rd race and dropped back from a good position.

New boat

flora — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:59:04 +0000

Down in Weymouth, training at the moment. I am fighting a throat and eye infection so didn’t sail yesterday. Had a good sail today but in the last hour lost a lot of my energy. Early to bed tonight before the National Ranker at the weekend. It was our first sail in our new boat which was very exciting, it was quick which we were very pleased about.

Training Starts Again

flora — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:46:03 +0000

First couple of days of training has passed and we haven’t got out on the water yet. Wind speeds of 58 Knots. It does mean we have been breaking ourselves in the gym. We both survived the Fitness test today and enjoyed getting our skin folds done. It was nice to relax with the other girls at the cinema tonight.

The wind is less but still very windy so we should defiantly get out tomorrow. But first we have a strength session at 8.30.

Silver Medal at 470 Junior Championship 2011- Summer Review

jane — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:33:13 +0000

Over the past couple of months we have seen a huge improvement in our sailing. For the first time ever we were able to put a series of results together in a major competition. Before we had a wind strength that was favored over others but now we can sail consistently in most wind conditions with areas still to work on.

The 470 Junior World Championships was the regatta that we were hoping to peak for. We certainly did. We came away from the competition delighted with our Silver medal and winning the medal race.

The 470 Junior European Championships were held in Belgium. We were sitting 4^th going into the medal race. With only 1 point separating the boats behind we knew it was going to be very tough. A medal was what we were aiming for. Unfortunately we dropped to 8^th overall, which was 7^th European. We were disappointed with this result, as we had sailed well during the week.

Having both of these results has given us the determination to work very hard this winter.

Olympic Transitional Squad

flora — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:37:32 +0000

GREAT NEWS!! We are now in the Olympic Transitional Squad so we are now being funded. “This is in recognition of the professionalism and commitment we have shown to date and hopefully the potential to develop into a World Class Team.” There is no stopping us now.

Sail For Gold

flora — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:32:13 +0000

This was truly an incredible event to be apart of. With over 1000 athletes all competing at the Olympic Venue for 2012 means there was an awesome atmosphere. Sail for Gold was the trails for the British team and also many other countries so the fleet was smaller than normal, but it did mean only the best were there. The training before the event was lovely, 10 knots and the sun shinning, not the Weymouth I know, but this quickly changed. We were fortunate for the postponement on Monday which meant Anna could sit her exam in Southampton then get back before the first start. Due to the late start on the first day we didn’t get home until 8.30 so we quickly realised the week was going to be about stamina. The wind then picked up and just would not stop blowing, so the days were very physically demanding. We performed better at the end of the week as people were getting tired. Its nice to see the hard training in the gym paying off.

The end result was not a focus for us as it is an experience game. But we were focusing on the process and trying to build a series together. We have come away having learnt a lot and pleased with where to take our training.

Next inline is training in Poole at the beginning of July, then onto the Junior Worlds in Netherlands.

I now head home and leave Bath for the summer and get to spend a couple of weeks with my family, which does not normally occur.

Success isn’t something that just happened success is learned, success is practiced and then it is shared. (Sparky Anderson)

ISAF Decision 2016

flora — Sun, 08 May 2011 17:50:16 +0000

ISAF has now decided the boats that will be sailed in 2016 and it’s exciting. The two Olympic Keel boats are out and the 470 remains in for both men and women. Two new boats are introduced, a women’s skiff and a multihull boat, potentially mixed. The women’s skiff sounds very exciting and I believe it could suit my style of sailing, as you have to be very physical in the boat. Time will tell what happens.