The programme its self was a whole lot of fun and a big learning experience for me. Meeting new people and learning new ways to sail a laser will really help me in the future with my goals. Having experts such as Andrew and Joe to help me really enhanced my learning experience. Although waking up at six thirty am to get ready for a seven am run wasn’t my favourite part of this experience, it opened my eyes to how unfit I am and how much better I need to be to withstand this sports conditions.

During this rollercoaster of experience, it built my confidence out on the water, especially in strong winds. Even though in the first couple of days, I capsized about twenty times towards the end of the clinic I reduced those number of capsizes :). (Also I must say I am a pro capsizer now…. ;) ) I liked how the programme was planned out accordingly and how we followed it and did not go off track. This showed that timing and planning went into this course. Which honestly, is a game changer as this isn’t normally used back in Fiji. I know there were a lot of people in the background supporting this clinic and I just want to say thank you!

During these ten days in Vanuatu, our team competed in the ENP regatta which basically showed how much we learnt. And also we competed in the South Pacific Champs. All in all I didn’t place in the top five but I didn’t come last! Which honestly doesn’t bother me, it goes to show that I’m going to have to work harder and come back stronger next year. My best two races were when I cam fourth. I was really proud of myself then, as everyone was like  “YAY SOPHIA!!!!!”. That made me so overjoyed, but what really made my day was when they said “YOU DIDN’T CAPSIZE, AYEEEEEEEEEE!”.

During these two regattas, I learnt how to strategise the races and time the starts. Timing the starts were actually easy peasy with a start watch. Although I think I need to work on my starts just a bit, I think I executed it well for a first timer. During the races I switched to a competitive mode. Well everyone did. You could sense it. Example- If some one was on a port tack, the starboard boat would scream and yell as loud as he could, even though if it was his best mate! I reckon if you were a kilometre away, you would still be able to hear them. Towards the end of the day, I was exhausted. I was like a iPhone with 2% battery left. This was all due to my capsizing streaks. At one point after capsizing like five times going down wind, I finally got the boat back up and just hauled my self into the cockpit and just lay there. Yup I did just that for like five minutes while everyone was getting further and further away from me. At that point I didn’t care at all. All I cared about was not getting bitten by a shark or get stung by a jelly fish (again)! This only happened in my first two races during the ENP regatta. After that I got advice from Pierre and my coach on how to easily go down wind and I was set!!

At first I was really scared but excited at the same time to take part in this clinic. I was scared because I didn’t know what would happen and whether I could manage strong winds or not. But with that came excitement. I couldn’t wait until we got out onto the water. Sailing lasers are probably one of my favourite boats to sail. They’re fast and always fun to work with. And thats what exactly happened. I had fun sailing them. I also learnt a lot. But before all of this even came to my mind my parents and I talked about my goals and what I could do. One of those goals were me becoming a Fiji Olympic Sailor. And because of this clinic I feel as though I’m one step closer to achieving that goal. I mean like you’ve gotta start some where right? I know I can do it because i’ve learnt and improved so much and everyone around me are always cheering on.

And one of those people cheering me on was my coach. Mervyn. He helped me so much with everything. From those little pep talks just before going out onto the water to telling me I can do it when I thought I couldn’t. Without him, I don’t think I would be at this level where I am now. I have never had a proper coach like him before. And now I know what its like to have some one there, teaching me new techniques and strategies. One day I plan to be just like that.

I’m so grateful for being able to attend this awesome event and I can’t wait for whats next to come.

Emerging Nations Program

The Youth Worlds Emerging Nations Program (ENP) aims to increase the number of sailors and member nations participating at the Youth Worlds, with the aim to narrow the performance gap and promote worldwide competition. With this in mind the ENP clinics focus on coach performance, sailor ability and national training scheme development, with the goal to enhance sailing within the home nations, allowing future generations and sailing as a sport to benefit.

The Emerging Nations Program is coordinated and run by World Sailing, the governing body for the sport of sailing.