Right after the Delta Lloyd regatta, we packed up the rig and headed to Weymouth, England for a training camp at the future Olympic venue. It was a great camp, we got every condition and were also able to train with some very high quality teams. The top Swedish and Austrian teams joined our three USA boat contingent, making for some awesome racing.
After our 6 days of sailing, we again packed up the rig and set off on the 14-hour journey to Kiel, Germany. Well, I guess that in the end 14 hours was actually an optimistic estimation. We had trouble with the police when we got to Germany, because our running lights on the trailer went out. Our turn signals and break lights were all fine, however das Germans would not let us hit the road again until we fixed our running lights.
I am sure that I do not need to remind you that we are sailors, not electricians. Between the four of us in the car, our abilities do not extend beyond checking fuses and completing a circuit to light a bulb (courtesy of 4th grade science class). Our skills lie more along the lines of fixing things without electrical current running through them, such as torn spinnakers and frayed control lines. It was a struggle to figure out what was actually going wrong, which after 2 hours of test and checking wires, remained an unsolved mystery. In the end, the solution was two bike lights covered with red cellophane from Babybel cheeses.
After that fiasco, we were back on the road again, only to find that the one we wanted to take was closed. German road signs, unless they are numbers mean nothing to us, so finding our way around this obstacle took hours. In the end, we arrived 7 hours after we planned to, completely exhausted and thankful our coach had scheduled the day after off anyway!
Up next, Kiel Week in Germany- the largest regatta in the world, at least they claim. Also, this is the 6th ISAF Sailing World cup of the season. Check out the event website here!
Bests,
Adam and Nick
After our 6 days of sailing, we again packed up the rig and set off on the 14-hour journey to Kiel, Germany. Well, I guess that in the end 14 hours was actually an optimistic estimation. We had trouble with the police when we got to Germany, because our running lights on the trailer went out. Our turn signals and break lights were all fine, however das Germans would not let us hit the road again until we fixed our running lights.
I am sure that I do not need to remind you that we are sailors, not electricians. Between the four of us in the car, our abilities do not extend beyond checking fuses and completing a circuit to light a bulb (courtesy of 4th grade science class). Our skills lie more along the lines of fixing things without electrical current running through them, such as torn spinnakers and frayed control lines. It was a struggle to figure out what was actually going wrong, which after 2 hours of test and checking wires, remained an unsolved mystery. In the end, the solution was two bike lights covered with red cellophane from Babybel cheeses.
After that fiasco, we were back on the road again, only to find that the one we wanted to take was closed. German road signs, unless they are numbers mean nothing to us, so finding our way around this obstacle took hours. In the end, we arrived 7 hours after we planned to, completely exhausted and thankful our coach had scheduled the day after off anyway!
Up next, Kiel Week in Germany- the largest regatta in the world, at least they claim. Also, this is the 6th ISAF Sailing World cup of the season. Check out the event website here!
Bests,
Adam and Nick