Team Black Tidey 49er FX

Staying In the Loop – May-June 2022

Time at home!

Since we got back from Hyeres, we have based ourselves in the UK. 8 weeks has flown by with some pretty long days of hard work for us, getting two race boats ready, fitness block and sailing on the new kit.

Two new race boats- welcome to the team Ginny and Kate!

With our hard hats and high vis jackets, we unloaded our new boat from New Zealand! The boat went straight to ZEST Racing Boatyard to have the GRP logo sprayed on which turned out incredible! We then had to get it ready to sail… sounds a lot easier than it is! Many hours were spent ticking off multiple to do lists. It was vital we sent her to Europe already knowing the systems and fittings worked before racing.

We were also presented the opportunity to buy the 49er Gold medal winning boat from Tokyo Olympics (Kate) which was a no brainer. The boat felt electric under our feet on our first sail on it.

Not only did we have to get these two boats ready to race but we also had to pack and load Kate into a container to Canada and then pack Ginny to go to Europe for our European circuit.

We just about kept to schedule with getting these boats ready and we are finally set for the summer!

Sailing on the new kit

We have tried to get out on the water for around 4 days a week. The process of working out the new style sails and masts has been pretty slick and we have learnt a lot. Having another British team to bounce off and try ideas has made the last month really productive. We now have to see if the hard work has payed off when we line up against the international fleet.

We have also made sure not to let our boat handling practice slip in this tuning phase.

Sponsorship -GRP, Mainbrace Rum and Craftinsure

We had the most glorious weather for our photoshoot with Mainbrace Rum, 10knts and full sunshine. We officially announced our partnership on social media with some amazing photos. Please use our discount codes “FREYA” and “SASKIA” for 10% off some yummy rum and gin, we can definitely recommend!

Last Friday we had our boat launch with GRP for Ginny. We had a great turnout and our boat was christened with Mainbrace Gin (hence the name Ginny!). It was an amazing day and we are so grateful for the support from GRP, without them this boat wouldn’t have been possible.

We would also pleased to announce that Craftinsure has come onboard to sponsor the insurance of our two boats! Hopefully we don’t crash them just yet, touch wood!

Resetting goals for summer events

Our plan is to go to Kieler Woche, Germany (22^nd-26^th June) as a warm up regatta for the 2022 Europeans which will be in Aarhus Denmark. For us these two events offer a strong fleet to check in on our speed and to practice our accuracy around the course.

Marseille France Olympic Venue

At the End of July we plan to be in Marseille for a British Sailing Team Camp which will be our first time practicing and absorbing the venue for the Games in 2024. During this camp we will be trying to race as much as possible with other nations to get to know the racecourses better.

It has been a busy two months of multitasking and we are really looking forward to a few weeks of getting to purely focus on sailing and racing.

Yours in sailing,

Freya Black & Saskia Tidey