GBR Mirrors off to South Africa
by Robert Bellfield 21 Dec 2014 07:36 GMT
4-9 January 2015
RSA Mirror squad training ahead of the 2015 Worlds in South Africa © Kuba Miszewski
"On the 11th Day of Christmas my true love sent to me..."
...not 11 Pipers Piping but 11 Mirror dinghies in a container to Cape Town, South Africa!
The GBR team are leaving UK and are on their way for Christmas and New Year in the southern hemisphere for the 2015 Mirror Worlds at Theewater SC at Villiersdorp, in the Stellenbosch wine growing in Western Cape. A great venue for the parents!
The main competition will come from Michaela and Ryan Robinson, the current World Champions, on their home waters with a really enthusiastic crop of young Mirror sailors from South Africa, as well as some very experienced Australians who will be a force to be reckoned with.
The bulk of the GBR team are from last year's RYA Mirror National Junior Squad and are looking get GBR back on the Worlds trophy for the first time since Andy and Tom Smith in 2009 at Pwllheli and Anna Mackenzie and Holly Scott in 2007 in Port Elizabeth.
Some of the GBR sailors have already stepped up to the 420. Gemma Keers, teamed up with Mirror crew Imogen Bellfield, is crewing for Isabel Davies in the RYA 420 Youth Squad and Paddy Jeffries is in the 420 Transition Squad - continuing the successful transition of Mirror sailors into the 420 class. The GBR team mainly hales from the stalwart Mirror fleets at Itchenor and Restronguet; with Torpoint Mosquito making up the Cornish contingent.
The conditions at Theewater SC can vary from the strong SE'ly 'Cape Doctor' wind, which will provide challenging conditions, to typical thermal and shifty light inland winds. Recent squad training sessions at Carsington and Northampton have helped the south coast sea sailors with their 'pond sailing' techniques but will not have prepared the sailors for the renowned dive bombing pelicans!
The pre-Worlds will be the Mirror African Championships 29 Dec - 2 Jan, and the World Championships are 4 - 9 Jan.