NZL 49er in South of France preparing for Semaine Olympique Francaise

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke - 2012 NZ Olympic Representatives - 49er Richard Gladwell www.photosport.co.nz

Our new Olympic gennaker looks great © Peter Burling and Blair Tuke

We are in Hyeres, South of France, preparing for the Semaine Olympique Francaise which starts on Sunday. This is the fourth stop on the Sailing World Cup circuit and is our first time racing against all the other top boats since the 2011 World Championship back in December so we are pretty excited to get racing.

Our new Olympic gennaker looks great. We’re proud to be flying such a big NZ flag.

Our summer in NZ has been very productive. We managed plenty of quality time on the water, prepared/tested our boats and equipment for the year and kept ourselves healthy and fit. We’ve enjoyed sailing with visiting world class 49er crews from Ireland, Spain and Australia – helping our training at home.

A big thanks to The Royal Akarana Yacht Club, it has been awesome having such a good spot to base ourselves and our international friends for our sailing in Auckland.

All our equipment has arrived in Europe … a nervous moment happened when the guys unloading the container off the truck tried to use a forklift because they didn’t have a crane, after 30 minutes their common sense prevailed and they organised for a crane to be brought in!

We have had a few good days training here, the Mistral breeze has been blowing since we arrived and it looks like it will be around for the first couple of days of the regatta at least, so we should get some nice high speed action. The white caps of the Mistral breeze can be seen behind the flags in the photo below.

The regatta website is http://sof.ffvoile.com/

You can also follow us on Facebook at 'Pete and Blair Sailing'

A beautiful view from our apartment looking out over the race course in Hyeres. © Peter Burling and Blair Tuke

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke are supported by ... © Peter Burling and Blair Tuke