So here we are in Poland for the Euros 5-10 July. We have already had three days of racing and another 3 to go.

It's been quite an experience, 82 boats racing, teams from all over the worlds. Infact there are almost more boats outside Europe than within attending the event!

Since the start of racing we've shared a coach with our friends from Bermuda. The coach is a Polish ex-49er sailor, Marcin Czajkowski, who was at the last games in Beijing! Even though our results are not so good he has been quit impressed with our sailing considering the amount of time we've spent in the boat and the teams that we are competing against, so that's good news!

Take a look at the footage above from the event media team, look out for the boat with the Maltese Cross as the national flag on the mainsail. Probably the sexiest flag out there, if I say so myself.

teamseb&ben

Hi All,

Sorry about the lack of info over Kiel Week, it was quite a hectic regatta and we didn't have any internet connection so was unable to update with how we progressed. The regatta finished on the 23rd of June and since then we headed straight to Gdynia, Poland to get ready for our European Championships which start tomorrow.

We spent the last week doing a training camp and are now taking a few days to prep the boat before the races start on monday. Even though we the newest team to the circuit we are feeling confident and have set our targets at getting into the top 3rd of the fleet. There are about 80 teams taking part, we are competing against the best in the world, all professional athletes hungry for Gold.

This time we will keep the site updated with our progress and photos!

teamseb&ben

So here we are in nothern Germany getting ready for our next regatta, Kiel Week.

Last week we flew into milan where we picked up our brand spanking new 49er from the Nautivel factory, spent a couple of days preping the boat and then made the 1,400km drive up to north Germany. As you would expect we drove out of the sunshine and into the relentless cloud cover and drizzle of northern europe. But here we are getting ready for our first bit of racing with a decent boat. Apparently the new boat takes a lot of getting used because she is a lot more reactive a bit like going from playing fetch with a pug to a pitbull.

Anyway lets see what the results show, we are using this event as a warm up to the European championships but there are a few of our rivals who we are dying to beat such as the Bermudian team, the Chilian team and some of the USA boats. Hopefully we'll manage to get them!

Results and photos coming soon.

teamseb&ben

So here we are in Holland preping for our next ISAF World Cup event. There are 72 49ers entered and already quite a few teams have turned up to start their pre-regatta training.

We too are already into our pre-regatta training. After taking two days off from our last event in Lago di Garda, Italy, we took two days to drive up to Medemblik and have been here since the 18th. We get up at 8, go for a half our run/bike ride, then spend two hours on the water training with a bunch of foreign teams. Lunch is around 1300 and then back on the water in the afternoon for another training session.

We are still using our old training boat since the new one has been delayed and will now be here on the 30th of May. We feel a little bit slower than the good teams the boat we are using is very old! However we seem to have very good boat control compared to most teams which is pleasing to see this early into our campaign!

Anyway, for more info on the event itself have a look at the event website: http://www.deltalloydregatta.org/

We will keep you updated on our progress during training and once the races start, 26th May.

teamseb&ben

So what started off looking like a promising day turned out to be quite a painful experience. We had a good 15kts forecasted but unfortunately it never came. The keel boats headed off from the Yacht Club at 0910 but we postponed our start until 1100 in hope for some more wind to build. It never came. 

Even though it was a slow tiering sail round, 7hrs! We still enjoyed it and even spent a few minutes sailing in a pack of dolphins. Amazing. However we will be looking out for some more favourable conditions, we reckon we can sail round in half that time if we have a steady 17kts from the South West.

Anyway, Monday at 1300 we catch a ferry to Rome with our van and 49er in tow. We're heading to Hyeres in France for the, Semaine Olympique Francese, it is one of the world cup events. Follow our website for frequent updates, racing starts on the 25th!

Also pics from the Round Malta coming soon!

teamseb&ben

Hi all...so finally the sail round malta event is coming up. This Saturday we will be attempting to break the record held by Straight Dealer at 4hrs 50mins.

As you all know this challenge is in aid of the charity INSPIRE. To date we have raised €2,600 but are hoping to push this up 5,000.

The start will be at 0900 on the Royal Malta Yacht Club line. Also we won't be the only ones on the start line, the keel boats are also racing around on International Yacht Paint Double Handed Round Malta Race. We invite everyone to come down to the Yacht Club for an early morning coffee and to see us set off on our challenge.

teamseb&ben

Bahar Ic-caghaq at Dusk

Had a few txt donations come through over the weekend and the sum is slowly increasing!

Sailing in St.Paul's bay....gusting 25, flat water and doing over 18kts

As the festive season draws to an end we are getting ready for a pretty intense 2010.

The year will be kicking off with a couple of events aimed at raising money for charity. We are still in the process of organizing the event but mid February we are planning on doing a sponsored sail around Malta where all the proceeds will go to a charity of our choice. More info coming soon.

Seeing as we hadn't got much sailing in during the week due to work etc...we decided to do another early session down at marsamxett...(read more)

Up at 5.15...at the boat by 6 (still dark)...on the water by 6.30 (just getting light). It was only blowing about 17kts but the sea was massive. Leaving the Harbour we could already see big jets of white water shooting up Grand Harbour break water as the waves relentlessly pummelled the shore. 

We dared to head out. The sea was massive, easily 4 meters big and pretty steep. Most waves were breaking, white water everywhere. We flew upwind, weaving through the peaks and slamming back down so hard that the whole boat would shudder. There were a couple of wipe outs. We managed to navigate the boat pretty well through the breaking waves but every now and then we'd come face to face with a wall of water. Sharp jab on the tiller and big ease on the main, the bow just managed to miss this monster...then the whole world went white. The crashing wave falls on us out on the wire. Our world becomes a foaming, bubbling mess and all we can do is pray that our feet remain planted on the boat as our bodies are drowning in this foamy water. The boat hurtles on. We just about manage to stay with it. Take a sigh of relief. Now get ready for the next one.

At 8.30 we call it a day and head back in. Broken and battered by the sea, exhausted but smiling. What a rush. De-rigging the boat I decide to check the mast after all that slamming. I find the forestay hanging on by 3 instead of 4 wires. One had broken and started to unwind. It surely couldn't have withstood much more that pounding. 

Damn we're still lucky to have a rig...and a boat for that matter!

Last Sunday we spent the day training in and around St.Paul's Bay. This was quite a walk down memory lane for both Ben and I as it is the venue of our old club Malta Young Sailors. These where the waters where we both first learned how to race dinghies, the waves that we battled over and over again on the bath tub like optimist. 

Now we are back on a bigger and faster machine tackling the same old waves with the same old goals...winning!

Check out our media page where the pics of sunday afternoon should be already updated...there are a few good ones!

Have some interesting pictures coming soon after another dawny. Good friend and pro photographer Kurt Arrigo came down to take some pics, so if you want to see some wicked shots check out our gallery later on this week...

We headed down early, again another 5.30 start. Beautiful sunrise and a good 15kts picking up to 20. Kurt came out on the rib and managed to snap a few pics until the rib, struggling to keep up, ran out of petrol. That didn't stop us though, and we carried on playing around in a beautiful 18kt breeze from the SW...perfect for zooming over to Sicily which we reckoned would have only taken us 4hrs!