Whilst waiting for the ferry to leave Palma we had time to reflect on our first regatta of the season. Mainly because the queue for the ferry was about 3 hours long. Yes, believe it or not this is actually a queue (see if you can spot Jonny).

It’s easy to have a disappointing result and reflect negatively on the week as a whole. But all the symptoms pointed to the same thing - we lacked boatspeed. Sailing is a simple sport really - all you have to do is start well, hold your lane and wait to tack on the first shift. Do that and 95% of the time you’ll round the top mark in the chocolates.

However, in a fleet as good as the 470, you have big big problems if you lack speed. No matter how good your start, it is only a matter of time before you lose your lane, and then the first beat becomes a fight to find a clear lane. Your strategy is sunk, and you get spat out the back 9 times out of 10. Game over.

It’s an important lesson learned, and not one we plan to sit in on again. Fact: speed makes you a tactical genius. Our priority for the next 4 weeks is to break down the components of boatspeed and begin working on them in bitesize chunks.

Our next port of call is 10 days training in Sanary Sur Mer before the French Spring Cup.