Training in Progress - Hannah Jenner and Katie Miller Yacht Racing Hannah Jenner and I are currently training down at the brand new Dean and Reddyhoff Portland Marina. Work is still definitely in progress at the marina, but the team have been more than hospitable.
Photo: Paul Miller//www.katiemillerracing.com - Hannah Jenner and Katie Miller
The programme has seen us dropping, hoisting, gybing, tacking and sail changing more often then you can say bluQube! This is great sailing not only for us as a team, but also for me as a single handed sailor. It’s the prime opportunity for me to experiment and fine tune the sail handling manoeuvres, and top of our list is spinnaker gybing – not that I envisage much of that during the OSTAR!
Its also a perfect opportunity to test out the sail wardrobe in a variety of conditions, and we are taking the opportunity to draw up the polars for the boat in all the conditions we face. This will leave us with a wealth of information for the coming season.
Since we started sailing together on the 3rd, Hannah and I have had a thorough tour of Dean and Reddyhoff’s marinas here on the south coast. From East Cowes we sped down to Haslar, prior to an evening on Spit Bank Fort, before making our way down to our current destination. An evening in Weymouth may sum up our tour, as we head to the Royal Dorset Yacht Club to celebrate Steve White’s achievements in the recent Vendee Globe.
A typical day so far has seen us up and at it, sailing out into Portland Bay where we have PLENTY of sea room to have a good play with all our manoeuvres. We’ve had a combination of double handed and single handed techniques, and a good old brain storm of how we can improve each and make the whole process a lot more efficient. After heading in it’s a good old one pot mean (pesto is a new favourite) before implementing any modifications to the boat set up that we think are required. Evening have generally seen us have a good old chat about avenues of sponsorship (So a few companies had better watch out) before we settle down to a good old cheesy chick flick in the warm office at Portland.
The big event this year for Hannah and I is the Rolex Fastnet Race in August. Our first race however, is the RORC Cervantes Trophy during the first Bank Holiday of May. This is a channel dash to France, and we are hoping that the sailing we get under our belt over the next week will encompass as wide a range of conditions as possible. From fog and calms during our first few days, to force eight imminently.
The first solo race of the year is on the 18th of April, organised by Racing at Petit Bateau. It will be my second outing into the RIOW SOLO (or Round Isle of Wight Solo) and I hope that this year will see a major improvement in my performance last year.
The weekend is also combined with my trip to the US Embassy on the Friday, so that when I get to Newport RI I can stay, and the
