How did you feel about starting off your title defence with a win?

Obviously I am very pleased. On the race-course things went my way this weekend. In the early rounds I pulled off a couple of risky pin-end starts that on another day could have gone very wrong. I am finding my new equipment is spot-on and in particular my Reflex 5 9.5m and iSonic 130 combination is very easy and fast to sail. In previous years I have struggled to keep up with Simon (Colfield) in particular when we have been on big kit but this weekend I seemed to have gained an extra couple of knots top speed which meant that I could make it to the first mark in the lead. Once you’ve done that it is a question of relaxing and not making any mistakes. Simon and I went big on sail size compared to everyone else on Saturday. At times it was getting pretty lively on the 9.5 but it meant that in the run up to the start and down the first leg I always had power on tap to get out of trouble if I got into dirty air. All in all it was a great fun weekend and it was clear that everyone was enjoying themselves with duels going on throughout the fleets and smiles all round on the beach. I look forward to the next round in Weymouth on May 10/11 when we hope to see Ant Baker rejoin the fray.