Nikola On The Move

What a roller coaster ride this event has been.

Yesterday we had our final two races before the top 10 was finalized and move onto the Medal Race today.

Going into the day, I had no chance of making the top 10, so I just had to go out there and do what I could to move up the rankings.

We had a different race course – making me a pretty happy girl for the chance to sail on a decent race course rather than being tucked into Bathers Bay as we had been for the previous days.

In the first race I had a terrible start, thinking that the entire fleet was over the line early and that we would have a general recall and be restarted.

However, that didn’t happen and so I had to just deal with the start I had. I was going fast, tacked near the port layline of the mark…only to realize that I was heading towards the wrong top mark…it was the reach mark I was going to.

I wasn’t alone in making this mistake, I was in plenty good company at that.

What could have and should have been a top 5 or better mark rounding ended up being a bottom 5 top mark rounding.

I salvaged what I could from that race, now knowing exactly where the reach mark for the next leg was…and managed to claw my way to 15th.
Race 2
I was pretty damn determined to get it right – for once!!! I didn’t get a stellar start, but at least I got off the line and was able to make my own decisions rather than have my decisions be dictated to me by the others.

I had a private battle with Zofia from Poland, us duking it out for the entirety of the race.

I was closing in on her ever so surely and as we headed through the final slalom I had to try what I could to get around her. On the last mark I tried to make a move, but ended up having a good wipeout instead. Another scar 🙂

Attached is a picture of me pulling up the sail, while the whole fleet was still miles behind and I still finished 2nd by quite a bit. Smacking the fleet was a great way to finish the regatta.

While my regatta goal of coming top 10 got tougher to achieve each day, I think the toughest part of the regatta was dealing with the mental component of all the ups and downs, the weeds, the crazy course area, our terrible launch area etc.

From being ranked 52nd on Day 1, to 18th, back down to 22nd and then up to 15th. It was a Canadian Olympic Qualifier so it made the emotions run a bit stronger too, and thus by not making my goal, it extends my qualifying period to next World Championships at the end of March.

The good news is that I qualified Canada for a spot at the Olympics. I placed 15th (10th country) which has been my best Worlds result yet – despite having had only one good race – one race that I felt like I was actually switched on.

I am disappointed in my result despite all this – which really begs the question – what would’ve been my result had I actually been switched on for all 10 races…?

Congratulations to my training partners who came in 1st , 2nd and 3rd at this regatta…I have come away from the regatta with a renewed list of what needs to be worked on – one that’ll make my next months quite interesting and fulfilling.

I absolutely know I have it in me to be a medal contender in London, it’s all just fine tuning now.

I can’t wait to jump onto the plane tomorrow!

Only one day at home for me before jumping on yet another flight with my mom to visit my sister in Germany for Christmas.

Really looking forward to this downtime!
Thank you for all your support.
Nikola