In the Easter Holidays I went on a 5 day training camp with the GBR National Topper Squad in Hayling Island on the south coast between Portsmouth and Southampton.

The winds were varied, with three days of heavy wind sailing (12 – 20 knots) and then two lighter days with around 8 – 10 knots as well. The wind was not as much of a problem as the tide, which flooded in and out of the Bay extremely quickly, making it very hard to sail in a straight line!

Throughout the week we sailed a series of Counter Races, sailing around two or three races a day. At the end of the week we finished off with a Medal Race on the last day in which only the top ten positioned people from the counter race series were allowed to sail. The Medal Race was run as a normal race, but then the position that you finish in is then doubled so that you get doubled points.

The highlight of the week was winning the Counter Series and the Medal Race, so I had a great week all in all. I also learnt loads about wind strategy and tactics, along with so much more. This is definitely something to do like this because you learn so much and just have a great time with all your squad members.

The weekend after there was an event at Datchet Water Reservoir, near Heathrow Airport which was very quiet because there were no planes taking off! However there was no sailing at the event because there was not enough wind to be able to sail a race.