Peter Cope end of season update

The last week before Christmas, I travelled out to Cagliari, Sardinia for the invitational Sardinia sailing cup at Luna Rossa’s team base (an America's cup team). There were 28 youth sailors from 12 nations, with male and female teams representing each nation and I was representing the Isle of Man for this event. I arrived a day early and had the time to have a look around the city and chat to some of the other sailors.

It was a slow start to the week with no wind to go sailing. Then, on Wednesday, we finally had enough wind to go racing. I had a bad start in the first race but fought through to finish at 4th place out of 10 sailors. After that I had two good races finishing 2nd and 3rd to leave me at 8th place overall after the first day of racing. 

The second day started with three races for each fleet in the qualifying series. I placed 4th in the first race, which put a bit of pressure on me because if I didn’t have a good final qualifying race, I wouldn’t make the gold fleet. Fortunately, I nailed the start of the final qualifying race and was leading all the way to the finish line and came in at 7th place out of the 28 competitors which guaranteed me a spot in the gold fleet (top 10). 

Onto the gold fleet racing now, the wind had really picked up and I had two good races and led the first half of both races. Unfortunately, I was overtaken on the upwind legs of the race and finished second both times but it was a good start to the final series nonetheless. 

Before the final race of the day the wind picked up to 30 knots and gusting and I capsized just before the start and was delayed by 20 seconds and finished 7th, costing me the second place in the overall standings. There was no racing on the final day due to a heavy gale storm. In the end I finished at 3rd place overall which I’m very happy with, and I am confident that I can do better next time.

I am really happy with how this season has gone - starting a new class, being the first junior at the nationals, finishing 3rd at the Sardinia sailing cup and being a part of the U25 Athena WASZP training team. I am really looking forward to next season with my first event at the start of seasons in Datchet in March and then building up to the WASZP games World Championships in Sandefjord, Norway early August and the UK nationals and Eurocup at the end of August in Weymouth before I leave to continue racing down in the south of England while at University. 

Exciting year ahead!