We have had lots of training the past few months. Every other week we choose our focus points and try to improve ourselves, step by step. This has helped us to make our training quality even better. It definetly makes learning easier, and in sailing there is always something to learn.

We had also two competitions here in Finland. First one was EMK ranking in Espoo. The first day started with a long waiting period, since there was no wind. Race committee managed to make us one start in light and shifty conditions. Later that day we had few starts more in strong breeze. Anyway the course was strongly biased which made the strategy part pretty easy (meaning: not that fun). The following day we had a really nice sea breeze AND foremost the course was straight (can't say the same about the starting line though). We felt our speed was good which made us confident. Taking three bullets the last day we thought we had won the regatta. But on the shore we heard we got bfd from one of the starts, which made us second overall. Can't say we were happy about the result, but at least we had fun.

Just last week we participated in Down Town Sailing Week here in Helsinki. We had a clinic for four days and a three day competition. The clinic was okay but the lunch was weirdly scheduled at 3 pm. Anyway we had mostly nice strong wind conditions, which was nice. The racing started on Friday. The race committee was super slow putting the course and marks on time, so the steady breeze was already gone when we had our warning signal. The first start was bazard to say at least. Others had 20 knots and the others 0 knots of wind. Wind shifted back and forth, biggest shift was 180 degrees. We capsized and being really fed up we took DNF from the race. Still can't believe the race committee didn't abandone that race. The following days were also super hazard. You actually had to be very careful because there just might come a shift without any warning that capsizes you. Anyway these conditions were just what we wanted to train (though a bit extreme) and we improved a lot during that weekend. We somehow managed to pull out some pretty good tactics and we also adapted to the weather changes quicker than usually. We ended up in 2nd position, AGAIN..

Now we have packed our boats and they are on their way to Kiel, Germany. Can't wait!

pictures from the clinc (HSS), photographer Pia Grönblom

We have had problems with our @blondesontheway instagram, so we've been busy with that. Anyway we decided to write about the last eurocup we competed a month or few back.

On our flight  we heard that there wouldn't be anyone to pick us up from the Nice airport, which clearly wasn't our original plan. So after all the complicated calls, we ended up in a airport hotel. Next morning we had to take few trains, busses and finally from Saint Maxime one of the Danish sailor's father picked us up. In contrast, we saw a bunch of cool places while travelling across the Riviera.

Before the eurocup started we had a camp with Danish sailors. We had quite light winds through out the week, but we got the most out of it. Having such good coaches and really nice (big) group of sailors really helped us to get right back into sailing, since we had a pretty long rest period. Everybody were nice and very helpful, we had so much fun.

When we started racing our mindset couldn't have been any better. The first two days we made great strategies, which were clear, simple and accurate. We had just light winds then, so we were very pleased with ourselves. Though light winds haven't been as good for us as strong winds. But now we feel like we are able to manage also lighter winds. Also our downwinds were better than usually, making us even happier. We were coming 4th overall to the 3rd day, but than the downfall began. It was just impossible for us to predict neither, shifts nor gusts. Wind came from the land and really put our heads tangled. But now looking back, how we screwed things up that bad, we clearly didn't make simple strategies. It was a disappointment after having such a good two days, but  now we know what to strengthen.

picture from the Danish

After one month, we can finally say that everything is changing back to normal. First weeks after ISAF youth worlds we're quite hectic with lots of congratulations and flowers. We had a little celebration party few weeks back at EMK in Haukilahden Palviljonki. We want to say thanks to all who managed to come there, your support means so much to us. We also want to thank SPV (finnish sailing association) for their support.

Pictures from the celebration party @ Haukilahden paviljonki. Thankyou for the photographs Kari Kolari!

We haven't sailed since Malaysia so both of us are feeling some serious withdrawal symptoms. Being in highschool means that we have to save some time for studying, so now it's the time to focus on that, even though we're in sports high school. As our school work continues so does our physical training. First weeks after youth worlds we have had some recovery time, but now starts the preparation for the next season, which we're really looking forward to.

Here is some pictures from the airport, also taken by Kari Kolari.