Wednesday, July 15, 2009

SOLD

Well for the first time in six years i am boatless.

Michael O'shea a 49ner sailor from Sydney brought the boat and I wish him well, I know he will enjoy every second in the class.

For me, I have not yet had the time to miss the class yet, between work and family life I would not have had the time to sail but I'm sure when the summer months come around I will regret the sale.

So the plan is to be back for the 2011 worlds at Belmont a new man/ sailor but for now exercise is on the road with two pedals.

I'll still post occasionally letting you know the progress of hip replacement and cycling achievements if you are interested.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Up 4 sale

Well for the first time in 5 years it looks like I may be boat less with my decision to put "Freaken Sweet" up for sale.

Over the last few months with a combination of work and recessions I have not had the time to get out on the water.

The sale of the boat is regrettable, It comes with a combination of frustration and finances.

over the last year I have been up grading my boats to hopefully gain an edge only to find that lack of mobility on the boat slows or inhibits any straight line gains I make. Tacking and gybing are key factors in being competitive in moth sailing. Over the years my handicap is increasing and not decreasing which is a sign that my sailing is not improving with the rest of the fleet due to my hip and for me I sail to enjoy but part of that enjoyment is being a "little" competitive which is slipping for me resulting in stress and frustration.

I am not quiting sailing all together, I have intentions to still visit St George and pick up the odd crew if needed.

I have been doing ALOT of bike riding the last three months, lost 8 kgs in the process and am currently finishing in the top 8 out of 20 riders in my class on club days into my second race.
the best part about this is the fact that this does not affect my hip in a negative fashion, there is no pain when I ride in fact the injured leg was 100mm in circumference difference to the other. Now it is only 35mm smaller which my specialist is stoked about.

So, with the increased strength due to the riding and the sale of my boat this places me in a great position for my hip resurfacing both financially and physically. I will still post hear with updated on how I am doing.
I will promise this, After the operation I will be back on a moth hopefully a new Mach 2 pirouetting across the boat.

If you are interested;
Freaken Sweet (Luka's Skywalker) excellent condition
Prowler 4 two years old
near brand new center foil (oliptical foils)
New wing tramps
MSL 12 sail
CST High mod. Mast and boom
competitive boat with great history
NO LEAKS

$14,000.00 or
$14,600.00 with registered fully enclosed, Galvanised trailer.
Call me on 0415 473 115
grant.medcorp@bigpond.com

Monday, January 5, 2009

Back on the Bike

It has been 9 years since I have ridden a bike. When I was originally diagnosed with the arthritis the doctor back then advised me to give up riding, high impact gym work outs and look for a new job and just swim for exercises.

Over the last couple of years with moth sailing my exercise regime consisted of swimming, rowing machine, weights, bad food and plenty of beer.

I enjoy the bad food and beer, but training solely at the gym on a rowing machine or swimming laps bore the shit out of me and I burn out mentally after a few weeks through the boredom.

Over the Xmas break I pulled out my old bike and went for a small ride and it did not hurt, so I have brought the bike home.

Over the last couple of days I have ridden to the gym worked out in the weights room and ridden home, not too far around 8km round trip. I did not realise how unfit I have become, legs shaking and dry reaching after small hills (embarrassing) but every day gets easier and the rides become longer.

How does this affect my hip?

It's better than pain killers, swimming hurts, riding does not ?? my right hip is 4 inches smaller in diameter than the other and I was asked by the doctor to try and build the strength back up again before the re-surfacing sometime this year.

Most of the trouble I have on the moth is due to the fact that my bad leg is so weak and I can not support my body weight on it to be able to maneuver around the boat properly. I won't be able to do this well until the operation but I have gone from walking up stairs having to use the handrail to being able to walk and sometimes run up stairs un assisted in a matter of a week on the bike.

Hopefully this helps on the water, I'll keep you posted

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Boycott

Deciding to boycott :-) Balmoral on Saturday, I went down to St George to race our point score.
Julian, Clive and I went out to race with Bruce coming down to say hello as he is on repair duty.

Clive arrived late to the club and started well behind us, he played a few laps with me and he has improved a great deal staying with me through out these laps, more tacking and Gybing practice and he will be fast.

Julian finished his first race ONLY 50 minutes behind. The queen of Sheba lying on the cockpit floor down wind and sitting on the wing bar looking like he was roasting marshmallows and holding a beer (nice combination) upwind.
The toe straps are there for a reason big fella.

Jokes aside well done.

So it was an empty win for the gybing Zoo Lander, Thanks Bruce ;-)

Bruce and Luka have released the next pod cast with Phil which is a great listen you can download it from Bruce's site or off I Tunes.

Well, gotta go, there is a hot chick on t.v.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Butter Feet

Any day but a club championship.

Perfect SE'er on Saturday for our first club/champs. nice pin end start behind Dave at the top.

Going into the second gybe I noticed my back foot was tangled into the shock chord to the control lines. Already committed to the gybe I went across and ended up in the piss with the shock chord snapped and control lines every where. With the boat upright again i was off then into the piss?????

What happened was when the ropes snapped it damaged one of the vang cleats and the cleat stopped gripping the vang, usually not a huge deal, the problem is with the smaller dia masts the camber induces won't stay on the mast without vang tension. Every tack they would pop off so i pulled out of the race.

Dave won by an enormous margin. Luka did not even get to the start with rudder pin issues. Donosan was second with Phil in third and Kylie fourth.

Out this Thursday for repair and training.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Just the two of us

It was only Bruce and I that arrived at St George choosing not to go to Sunshine. Shigemi came down as well to finish us but with only two on the water there was no point.

Bruce and I started with the skates and joined in with the race, the MG's were four minutes in front of us.

By the top mark I had over taken all the MG's and was first down hill. By the start of the third lap I was lapping the MG's and the skates. The boat was handling fantastic.

I went through the finish and de-rigged hosed down the boat had a quick shower and went into the finishers box to give John a hand as he was by himself the second boat across the finish line was a Skate 35 minutes after me.

Bruce had mad a few wand changes and it was great to see him up and foiling about. Three red boats in the club should confuse the finishes.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

lunch break

Sitting at home staying out of the wind looking up the weekends forecast.
BOM states Saturday will be NE 14 and Sea/b has it for SE 8-10 might be one of those shifty early season St George races where it is blowing light SE on the southern side of the river fighting a NE up near the river club for those of us not making the trip to Sunshine.

The rest of this week is out as I'm waiting on new wing tramps to be made.

It does not look so good anyway.