All blown out

Well, Sunday saw the annual Christmas regatta at Strathclyde Loch Sailing Club- Katie had spent the previous week off school ill with the flu bug but nothing would stop her taking part in the regatta. It was blowing a hooley and the trip down used tonnes of diesel but the brave (daft?) few decided to go out anyway. Katie set sail and headed off towards the start line. Swimming seemed a better option that day, though, so after numerous capsizes came back in. The wind was blowing force 6 so the event was abandoned after the first race. It meant a good chance to catch up with her topper friends and arrange to meet at the Tay Boxing Day regatta for prezzie swapping.

She's now hoping Santa has lots of room in his sack for all her sailing presents!

Now we're into December and the freezing temperatures, but the sailing still goes on. Katie's on her winter training programme. Early November was the first weekend at East of Scotland squad training at Port Edgar (under the Forth road bridge). She is using her 4.7 (small) rig for training and when she asked for her correct handicap to be applied to the racing her coach refused, saying she'd beat everyone anyway without the benefit of the handicap!

The next outing was to Laser class training in North Berwick for the last weekend in November. It was extremely cold with light winds but lovely and clear (see picture) and made a good break from the school exams. Best tip of the weekend from the coaches - put hot water in your wetsuit boots to keep your feet warm! Lots of boat handling work was done with a big improvement by the end of Sunday. Downside of the weekend - Dad has decided to do the coaching too (see yellow boat) rather than sit on the shore for yet another weekend!

This weekend saw Katie back at Port Edgar. She left home with thick snow on the ground and black ice on the roads. The boats were even frozen to the trailer on arrival at Port Edgar. Saturday was another day with really light winds so the morning was spent on-shore carrying out boat prep and tuning. The winds picked up on Saturday afternoon so roll tacks were much in evidence including competitions to see how far over you could roll the boat - and a swimming lesson for Katie! Sunday was another cold start with winds building to gusts of 35 knots by late afternoon. There was a mini regatta and Katie came 2nd even though she had a blond moment and started a wee bit late with the bigger rigs!

Carsington



Katie's best results on the circuit last weekend at Carsington. She and Sammi Foster both did really well. Katie finished 51/134. Poor Sammi's injured foot finally gave way in the penultimate race meaning she dropped right back in the results. Jo Foster also had a good weekend finishing well up from the bottom and completing all races - well done Team Tummel!



Katie now moves into the Laser for winter training with the first session taking place in a couple of weeks at Port Edgar.



She would like to thank all the people who have supported her this year in the Topper including the Parents, staff and friends of Blairgowrie High School, Perth and Kinross Council and the RYA as well as Milford Vintage Engineering Ltd and EMC Ltd.