My European spring campaign began in Palma, Mallorca. This year I arrived early to put in a solid training block and immerse myself in big-fleet racing ahead of the opening regattas of the season. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t quite cooperate, with several cold, light and shifty days making for difficult racing and inconsistent results. While the training block was challenging, it provided valuable lessons heading into the Princess Sofia Regatta the following week.
The Princess Sofia Regatta once again delivered an incredibly competitive fleet, with 220 entries and nearly every top sailor returning from the European winter ready to race. Last year, the offshore northerly conditions exposed some weaknesses in my sailing, and with similar forecasts early in the regatta I was determined to handle those conditions better this time around. Although there was definite improvement, it still wasn’t enough in such a deep and competitive three-fleet format.
I qualified for Gold Fleet in 35th place, which under the new format meant carrying 35 non-discardable points into finals — leaving me with a significant uphill battle. Despite the deficit, I stayed committed to fighting all the way through the regatta and managed to finish strongly, including a race win on the final day. In the end, I narrowly missed the Medal Race by just four points, finishing 13th overall and one place short of racing on the final day.
Two weeks later, I was back on the start line for the second Grand Slam event of the season in French Olympic Week in Hyères, France. With redemption in mind, I was determined to put myself in a stronger position through qualifying. Light and unstable conditions across both qualifying days created plenty of opportunities for mistakes, and a number of regular Gold Fleet sailors missed the cut. This time, my qualifying series was much cleaner and I advanced to Gold Fleet in 25th place.
Finals brought a new challenge after receiving a BFD in the opening race of Gold Fleet. With only one discard available, the pressure was on to remain consistent for the remainder of the regatta. Fortunately, I was able to regroup and sail steadily across the series, putting myself into the Medal Race in 6th place. Under the new scoring format, however, the points between 5th and 10th were compressed, with all sailors only 18 points from 3rd place heading into the final day. I wasn’t able to put together my strongest Medal Race performance and slipped back one place to finish 7th overall at French Olympic Week.
The final regatta of the trip was the ILCA European Championships in Split, Croatia. As preparation for the championship, I competed in the Croatian National Championships, which provided valuable race-course experience, particularly in the local sea breeze conditions. Finishing 4th overall also qualified me for the Monar Grand Prix — a unique night-time sailing event held inside the marina and a fantastic experience for everyone involved.
A week later, the European Championships were held out of Kaštela Marina near Split. Throughout the regatta I struggled to find speed and power in the lighter conditions, never quite feeling fully comfortable in the boat. That discomfort put extra pressure on my starts and