Jo and Bianca in action in Palma. Image copyright Jesus Renedo/Princesa Sofia MAPFRE.
by Jo Aleh
Just a quick update to bring you all up to date with what has been going on for Polly and I over the last month or so...
As you may know, Polly had an accident and broke her collarbone a few days before we were due to leave NZ bound for Spain, to compete in the Princess Sofia World Cup event in Palma. With an expected recovery time of 6-8 weeks, there was no way she was going overseas, so instead Jo got a stand-in crew to come with her overseas. Bianca (Barbarich-Bacher) was helpful enough to drop all her university studies at very short notice and jump on plane to head over to Europe in time to get a few days of practice before the event.
With only five days training before the event, Jo and Bianca had a surprisingly good regatta and ended up winning overall, a testament to the training and organisation that had gone on back in NZ over the summer months, and hopefully showing that Team Jolly is still on track, even with a few hick-ups along the way!
The winners at Trofeo Princesa Sofia MAPFRE. Image copyright Nico Martinez/Princesa Sofia MAPFRE.
On another winning note, our roommate (from the appropriately numbered room 101) Sara Winther also won the Radial event, so overall a rather successful regatta for us kiwi girls!
Jo and Bianca then competed in the French Spring Cup event - one of the few events where the men and women race together. They had a more up and down regatta, winning a few races (one by a nice two minutes thirty), but also having a few rather terrible ones along the way, to end up 8th overall and top women's team in the seventy five boat fleet.
As the other teams headed off to Hyeres to compete in the next World Cup event on the circuit, Jo and Bianca have come back to NZ, where Bianca goes back to university, and Jo and Polly were reunited once again. Polly's recovery has gone well so far (aside from the boredom created by hours of sitting on a stationary bike...) and she will be back on the water by the end of the week, so that we can sail for the next few weeks before we head over to Weymouth in the UK, to compete in the Sail for Gold World Cup event, where we will be a little down on sailing time, but looking to use it as a learning regatta, and some good practice before the Pre Olympic test event held in August at the same venue.
Our new website is up and running, and we will be posting updates and all that sort of info right there...
Thank you for all the support!
Jo & Polly
Team Jolly
A special note of thanks to Nathan Handley (our coach), for coming to Palma and FSC with us, and to Bianca for dropping everything at such short notice!! Greatly appreciated!!
Thank you to oursupporters and suppliers:
SPARC and the New Zealand Academy of Sport, Yachting New Zealand, Donaghys, Kaenon Sunglasses, Harken, Mackay Boats and Quantum Sails.
Team Jolly Racing
