Taking the learnings of International Regattas in pursuit of chasing his dreams

I arrived in Mallorca on the 22nd of March and settled in quickly with the 8 other Australian competitors in the IQ Foil. We did 5 days training with the squad and our coach Tom Squires to get familiar with the local conditions and prepare for the regatta itself.

Beach launching with high surf and lots of seaweed proved to be challenging and took us a good bit of getting used to but conditions were good and I learnt a lot going into the comp.

The regatta kicked off on the 2nd of April with 108 competitors in the Men’s Open IQ. We were divided into 2 fleets (yellow and blue) with 54 competitors in each.

Day 1 was very windy, and racing was unfortunately cancelled for the IQ Fleet – some of the other classes did manage to compete.

Day 2 saw much lighter conditions. We got all 4 races away and I was happy to end up mid fleet (53) and on track for Gold Fleet at the end of the day.

Day 3 the conditions were very light again, which required us to launch multiple occasions before getting all 4 scheduled races in after a long day of waiting. This proved to be the last day of racing for me as light conditions on day 4 and 5 meant that only those who had qualified for the gold fleet could have a final 2 races before the medal race.

Whilst I didn’t achieve one of my goals of qualifying for the gold fleet, I am delighted with how I handled the regatta and the learnings I obtained. I still managed a mid-fleet result of 61st and the second Australian.

Because the Princess Sofia is an annual regatta that marks the beginning of the European sailing season the leanings I’ve attained will be invaluable for subsequent years and my drive towards qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Many thanks again for all the support from RQYS, my family, the team, and all coaches.
My focus now switches to my next regatta which is the European Youths in Embrun, France in June.

Many thanks,
Rory Meehan