Vita and Ryan's 470 Campaign - March/April Update

6 April 2020 - from Vita and Ryan

Cecil Wright & Partners are delighted to sponsor Vita's campaign to make the 2024 Olympic Games.

Image: Vita and Ryan in Palma, Mallorca

Nooo! Home time was not welcomed. Can’t express how gutted we are that our Worlds, which we had been building up to for months, was cancelled 3 days before racing started! Massive let down, going from being so revved up and ready to fight it out on the racecourse to being quarantined at home - so hard to get our heads around what has just happened, and its consequences. 

It all escalated very quickly the morning of the 15th: we get down to the boat park, just after moving into our apartment for the Worlds period, and the Italian boats next to us are packing up - what’s going on? They, along with a few other teams, were being sent home by their sailing federations because of the risk of getting locked down in Spain. Next rumours go round that Princess Sophia (the multi-class event taking place soon after 470 Worlds) might be cancelled due to COVID-19; were thinking surely not, there are over 500 sailors here ready to go. Our coach Jonny says well let’s just go out training and all decisions will be clear by the time we get in. Our boat barely touches the water before Jonny blows his whistle for us to head in - “Worlds has been cancelled!!” Utter disbelief. WHAAATTTT???? It went from all to nothing in a matter of hours. Fairly incomprehensible at the time for all us sailors on the beach, race ready.

I can’t put into words how utterly disappointing it was; we had been out in Palma for a month training for this, and before that weeks in Vilamoura and freezing cold Weymouth! We were so ready for it, it felt like the first time in our 470 career that we were organised and really prepared for something. With the spanking new boat, crispy new sails and a chunk of quality coaching under our belt, we were feeling fast! It was such a heart-sink, after being so focused on a goal we felt lost with nothing to do. The rug had been pulled out from under our feet (not sure if that’s a saying!). Coming home was the weirdest feeling because we had been so efficient and motivated from the high intensity training period and then we couldn’t do anything with all that drive. It’s hard to find a direction and focus when there are so many unknowns. Nonetheless, we are remaining positive about the post-corona times and know we must be ready the moment we are set free again! We have been working really hard on our fitness and even built a land yacht last weekend (although we only managed to sail 20m before pitch-poleing!). We’ve also been doing loads of boat work so our boats are in tip top condition to hit the water at the first available opportunity.

Upcoming events...
• Hyeres regatta, 18-25 April CANCELLED
• European Championships, Hyeres, 4-13 May CANCELLED

We still have so many unanswered questions - what will the selection events be? What funding level will we be on? When is the next regatta?. The whole world is in a state of uncertainty at the moment though. But in the meantime, we continue to physically prepare ourselves for the boom in racing after the COVID crisis, and build a few more land yachts I guess!

We are also using this rare opportunity of free time to do things for the community, which is especially important in these mad times. So if anyone needs, or knows of someone who needs a hand with anything in/around Lymington we are delighted to help!. Collecting prescriptions and doing the shopping provides us with a nice bike ride - so you are effectively contributing to our campaign!

The funds received for accommodation and coaching in Palma were, and are still a tremendous help to our campaign. All those days training still count even though the events are cancelled. It was our most beneficial period of training so far, we got so much out of it and feel like we have come a long way in our sailing from that month alone. It wasn’t all for nothing!

If you want to help us out on our journey to Paris 2024 or want to chat, then please give us a call!
Vita – 07586349225
Ryan – 07713098136
Email – vitaryangbr11@gmail.com 

For some gnarly pics and updates on our progress, check out:
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