I realise that I didn’t get a chance to perform a proper closing ceremony on 2010 with my usual end-of-year reflective post so now I’ve got a few spare minutes I can say goodbye properly.

The Good

The biggest thing in my moth world was the building of Ninjario which was the culmination of a good few years of pipedreaming. The build itself was relatively straightforward and in hindsight I could have done a few bits differently but overall it was a great experience. Will I build another moth? Maybe sometime in the distant future but not for the time being as the flipside of building your own boat means that you are building and not sailing. (We worked out that before the Euros I had done only 24 hours sailing in total and that included the whole of the nationals!)

The fact that boat has withstood some pretty tough conditions has made me proud. From the outset (Parkstone Open Meeting) she endured 18 – 22 knot winds, then there was the nationals in Torbay (15 – 20knots), Silvaplana 8 – 20+ knots) and the Hayling Tide Ride (18 – 20 knots). The only thing that has gone wrong has been that one of the gantry plugs has come unstuck and needed gluing back in. Otherwise, so far, she has remained intact! (touch carbon). Alot of this was down to Graham Eeles and Mike Cooke who gave constant advice during the process.

The second biggest thing was going to the Europeans which was my first ever international event (in any class). Despite a lot of negative reviews, I personally had an awsome time and Silvaplana was pretty magical. The winds were regular and strong, the sun was shining (for most of the event) and the sailing was intense so that got my five out of five stars! I hear Garda is even better so I can’t wait for that one.

Third up was joining Hayling Island Sailing club! Yes those heated floors in the changing rooms and delicious full english breakfasts are a mighty big incentive. I had a lot of fun learning to sail in a straight line at Worthing but apart from a lack of time on the water, my turning is a key weakness especially downwind as was highlighted at the euros.

Winning the “most improved” trophy was a real shock and a genuine honour even though I don’t feel I deserved it with my rubbish sailing!

The Bad

So that’s all of the good things about the year, the bad? Well for a start, I realised that I needed to learn how to sail the boat all over again because as soon as you sail against other, better sailors you realise that you’ve been learning in a bubble and not improving anywhere near as quickly as you could have done.

Motivation and time to get fit. I know this is a common problem with a lot of mothies as we all hold down regular jobs or run our own businesses which takes up a lot of time but my biggest goal this year is to balance things out more so that I have a decent shot at getting where I want to be in the uk fleet.

Final thoughts on 2010

Overall a bit of a special one in my books and probably a hard act to follow. The great thing I suppose is there is loads to build on moving forwards.

Welcome 2011

First up is the London Dinghy Exhibition and once again top result for Ninjario as she will be on the UK Moth Stand hopefully in her new outfit (Yes she is getting a new look respray for the occasion).

Mothfest is looking good and a surefire way to get the skills up to speed in time for the uk circuit. I’m looking forward to the paella!

The UK nationals at Stokes Bay is going to be an excellent one as it’s open sea sailing with the swell and chop I was used to at Worthing however, any advantage I may have had is gone thanks to selling far too many adjustable wands!

Talking of adjustable wands, I seem to be making more of them than ever! I’m refining the process and learning more and more about carbon as I go so I’ll continue to make them as long as people want them.

Current weight – 82 kilos Target weight – 77 kilos. Training starts next week as I’m doing a local 4 mile run with my wife for charity on the 29th of Jan. A bit of Yoga thrown in should finish off the extra curricular training.

That’s about it for now (phew) I look forward to seeing all of the uk fleet this year at the events….