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!