Photo Credit Nikola Girke
We enjoy following Canada’s Olympic Athletes in their quest to full fill their dreams and over the past while we have continued to follow Nikola and on one occasion we have had the privilage to get her into the studio for an indepth interview, which we appreciated.
The following is the most recent note that we have received from her on her quest.
Enjoy the read and please feel free to donate to her as well as follow her on her dream.
Greetings from Hyeres, France. A place that is known for it’s Mistral winds… which can get quite windy… 50 knots as seen in the picture above! It can also be calm, so who knows what kind of weather and wind we will be graced with starting Sunday, our first day of racing. My last days in Palma were great. The wind was perfect and I was able to get some good training in. On my final day I sailed 99 kms (I tried to hit 100 but I did the math wrong. I was happy with my progress as I sailed by myself and was able to break things down, step by step and try it over and over and over again. Then the pack up began for the move to Hyeres. |
The Last Chance Regatta racing starts on Sunday. There are only the countries competing in it that have not yet already qualified for the Olympics. Which, makes this actually a bigger event than the Qualified Nations regatta that will happen here too. We have 21 different countries and 35 competitors, whereas the Qualified nations regatta has 30 competitors from 16 countries. There are only 5 spots up for grabs here. |
My coach Maksim’s van, 4 IQ foil boards, 1 wing board and all of our new sails. Plus bags and there was still some room, towing the coach-boat with heaps of gear loaded in it too. This sport doesn’t travel light.
Friday was our first training session on the water here. It was also my last. Within minutes of coming home,
I was freezing – fever and tummy issues took over. Fast forward to Sunday night – I ended up taking an Uber to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning and ended up being there for 3 days on IV antibiotics and fluids to keep me hydrated.
I just got released (but I think discharged is the correct term as it’s not jail) on Wednesday afternoon with a mountain of antibiotics but they weren’t able to find out what was wrong.
While this wasn’t exactly the physical preparation I was going for leading up to the most important event, I haven’t had time to stress about the upcoming competition.
Makes me think I might be ahead of the game, I’m sure so many girls are stressed beyond belief!
When I signed myself up to do this I knew it would be an adventure, a challenge and that there would be some obstacles to overcome.
It sure has thrown in a few extras for me, just to test me… never did I think I’d be registering my gear from a hospital bed.
Just a blip, onwards and upwards… I’m back!!
They took great care of me and tried to get me out as quickly as possible. I got a room with a lovely view.
Thank goodness for google translate as I was struggling to recall my French from high school. I guess I should have paid more attention to class back then!
Today, I had my first day back on the water!
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