I jumped back into the Laser to do Sail Melbourne at my home club at Sandringham Y.C. It was a mixed condition event with every tricky direction including the a massive westerly of 25knots with monster waves. I finished up with a solid lead of 22points to Singapore and Sui.

After Sail Sydney I took part in the FX 49er camp with Yachting Australia. The boat is fantastic and exciting to sail, requires a lot of balance and boat handling.

In January I sailed the Viper 16foot catamaran with Brett Goodall. We finished a creditable 7th place and was leading the last heat before getting passed just before the finish. Over the Australia day weekend I sailed with Drew Carlyse on the 18foot Formula 18. On day one I went flying through the mainsail on a big 25knot bare away which took us out of two races.
I have just finished up three days of Capricorn sailing with James Wierzbowski.

I am now jumping onboard a Viper down in Melbourne in February for a Goodall coaching clinic and Port Melbourne Regatta.

My family Frank, Gail & Sammy, My coach Laura Baldwin, Sandringham Yacht Club & its devoted members, Veolia Environmental Science for there many years of support, Yachting Australia and its team of Staff, VIS Crew.

Also to my amazing support crew back home and overseas. It has been overwhelming the support i have received.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/london-games/sailor-takes-rocky-road-to-golden-waters/story-fne3b3ke-1226419420285

That is the mantra that has driven Laser Radial sailor Krystal Weir for most of her journey to a second Olympic Games.

It is a journey that, courtesy of her first coach Lex Bertrand, has sometimes been intentionally rocky and occasionally even gone backwards.

“He was always about pushing the limits and doing things out of the box,” Weir, 27, told The Weekend Australian. “We used to do a lot of crazy things.

“The good thing about Port Phillip Bay is that it’s quite big and you can tow out to the middle of the bay and no one can really see what you’re doing.

“Lex used to put a rope around my mast and tow me as fast as he could, or he used to get the power boat wake and literally swamp me; throw different objects into the water and I had to pick them up while I was still sailing and be really fast in my decision-making, just harassing me from his coach boat.

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Krystal’s clear aim for gold

“The training sessions were super hard when I was younger and really toughened me up.

“One day we tipped over and he had my boat on tow and I had fallen out of the boat and he just kept it idling forward, so I was swimming after the boat for like 15 minute because I had let go of the rope to the boat. It was just a punishment, because when you tip over you never let go of the boat.”

The unorthodox techniques of Bertrand, the brother of America’s Cup-winning skipper John, proved successful and in 2004 Weir was crowned the world Laser Radial world champion.

“There’s not always one way to get to the top, there’s many ways you can travel to get there and Lex was always all about fast tracking me and pushing me,” Weir says.

“We even used to go out in 40 knots and everyone used to look at us like we were nuts, or he’d say sail backwards, and I’d look at him and say, what do you mean sail backwards, we sail forwards and he was like, no, learn how to sail backwards, so I learned how to sail backwards.”

Despite this early success in the class Weir missed out on selection for the Beijing Olympics to Sarah Blanck, but six months out from the 2008 Games was thrown into the three-crew Yngling team when Nicky Bethwaite broke her shoulder and wrist in a mountain bike accident.

Weir finished 10th with Karyn Gojnich and Angela Farrell, but the Beijing Games were an invaluable experience and, strangely for an athlete competing in a solo class, the most important thing Weir took away from it was the importance of communication.

“Now I kind of talk to myself rather than talking to my crew and that helps to simplify things,” she says.

“I’m just telling myself to go harder. Our races are like an hour long and leaning out the boat is quite painful on your quads and so that’s the main thing I say to myself — go harder.”

Now, training out of the Sandringham Yacht Club and the Victorian Institute of Sport, Weir has been refining Bertrand’s fundamentals with her coach of the past 18 months, Laura Baldwin.

But as is the way of the Victorian, who gave away an opportunity to play state hockey to concentrate on sailing, this new relationship is also a bit out of the ordinary.

“Laura and I used to compete against each other,” Weir says. “She’s . . . from Great Britain, so it’s good to get that little bit of sneaky British intel, and she grew up on the waters of Weymouth, so that’s quite an advantage.”

Weir has already spent time at Weymouth, the Olympic venue, ahead of the start of her Games campaign, on July 30.

“I’m feeling confident going into this Olympics, certainly a lot more confident” than last time “because we could only do so much before Beijing”, she says. “This time it’s a different story.”

Every contribution helps Krystal to get one step closer

KRYSTAL CONTACT DETAILS
k_weiroz@yahoo.com

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/london-olympics/krystal-weir-clear-on-golden-goal/story-fn9dheyx-1226416169771

MP3 INTERVIEW LINK BELOW http://tomwright.typepad.com/files/stubbs-podcast-1.mp3

http://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/programs/melbourne_afternoons/

The past three months have flown by. The goal of the trip was to develop my skills and to perform a baseline qualification for Olympic selection. Overall I finished with a 5th ISAF Grade One Palma, 7th ISAF Grade One Hyeres, 1st ISAF Grade One Holland, 8th Sail for Gold Olympic Venue.

I am happy with my progress over the past block and I am looking forward to the jumps I can make leading into London. I am now taking some time out to recharge the batteries before I head up to Sydney and Brisbane for a small camp before heading back to the UK for a three week training camp with my training partner James Burman and Laura Baldwin my coach.

Cant wait to get out on the water in 43 days time ;) follow me on twitter for daily updates @krystalsailing

Below is an Interview of Krystal comparing 2008 to 2012 Olympic preparations and what she is aiming for in London

Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgPlBscUtZc

VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xVJTt6FFdQ&feature=player_embedded

It has been a challenging week of racing in Holland. We had 5knots on day one follow by 10knots the next day. It was a tight battle amongst the small girls in the light winds on day one.I came away with a 2,4,2,4 which is nice and consistent. Day Two I was able to pull away further from the fleet and gain a 10point buffer on Tina from Croatia.

This morning we raced the final heat which helped me with a 17point gap leading into the Medal race. This  definitely took the pressure off heading into Medal.

The prize giving was an amazing stage setup with bands all night. They invited the general public of Holland to come and farewell the Dutch team to the Olympics. It was a fantastic vibe and one of the best Prize givings I have ever been to.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my coach Laura Baldwin for her tireless effort in helping me achieve my goal of Gold in 2012 in London. This is a great step in the right direction. Also to my family and friends at home, my Yacht Club Sandringham for always supporting me and my sponsors from YA Audi, Hamilton Island, Ronstan, Liros/ deck hardware & my personal sponsors Veolia, Tudor Insurance, VIS.