After winning Hyeres, it was off to the Europeans. A lack of maintenance with my core and a very heavy anchor mixed with deep water and strong currents led to an extremely painful “bad back”. Tuula said I looked like a Grandpa when I moved. I got on with it, doing Pilates at the local gym whenever I could and getting the free regatta massages after racing everyday (I couldn’t help notice my D.O.B was in the 70s when everyone else was in the 90s or later) This is a good case of where prevention rather than cure of injury would have been a very good thing, and I shouldn’t have allowed myself to get so busy that I neglected my very important Pilates training.

Thankfully I struggled through. Tuula sailed really well, finishing top 6 overall with great speed in the moderate wind days, and I made it home. I am so grateful to JM Bodycare in East Grinstead for helping put me back together before my holiday.