It's been an extremely busy last couple of months; I've competed in Sail Auckland, the RS:X Nationals and the North Island Champs, all alongside school and work.
Sail Auckland this year was held at Takapuna and we experienced four days of varying South Westerlies going from 4 knots to 24. I averaged the regatta at 10th but with a 5th in the medal race I pushed it up to 9th overall, 8th in the women (7th kiwi), 2nd youth and 1st youth woman.
This was the first of my selection regattas for the ISAF Youth Worlds so I had to keep up the same level of performance or better at Nationals which were held from Manly two weeks later. Everyone was trying to predict the wind for the regatta and you would hear a different forecast everyday but as it turned it was all very light winds except for the first day where we could pump onto the plane downwind. I raced well but with a couple of horror incidents (e.g. a slalom mark wrapping around my fin twice) but I also had a couple of stunners (a first and a second around the top mark in two races) with my best race being a 4th. I finished up 10th overall, 9th woman (6th kiwi), 2nd youth and 1st youth woman. I had won the selection trials and a week later our head coach, Ian, emailed me offering the spot.
Now we've been back training, up and down New Zealand; in a month our team is heading to the Royal Youth Nationals in Hayling Island, UK and then I'm off by myself to the Hyeres event of the ISAF World Cup Tour in the South of France which should be amazing with 52 boards entered so far.
With all this on I've also been working for Starboard Stand Up Padddleboards, instructing and being a photographer at all these amazing events. Photography is great when you're on the water because it opens you up to so many more view-points of the city that most photographers don't get to see and so many more people they don't get to work with, for example we went for an early morning paddle this morning with a gym class and we got out into the harbour as the sun began to appear, and just as it rose Imagine (the super-yacht) came out of Westhaven, it was so beautiful. My photos are available for viewing on my facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/#!/georgia.scho?sk=photos
Cheers all,
Georgia
