Inaugural Fast Women's Switch Training Camp in Thailand
by Mark Jardine 4 Mar 17:59 AEDT
Inaugural Fast Women's Switch Training Camp in Thailand © Trevor Tunnington
The first ever Fast Women's Switch Training Camp took place at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club in Thailand, attracting some of the best sailors in the world, fresh from competing in the Australia Sail Grand Prix.
The hugely talented group taking part were Denmark's three-time Olympic medallist Anne-Marie Rindom, the USA's Paris 2024 Olympian and Women's America's Cup sailor Erica Reineke, Switzerland's Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympian Maud Jayet, Australia's 2016 29er Youth World Champion and 2017 Australian Sailor of the Year Tash Bryant, who was also part of the British Athena Women's America's Cup team, and finally Liv Mackay of the New Zealand Women's America's Cup team.
The aim of the event was getting to know the Switch in beautiful surroundings and warm waters, combined with a chilled atmosphere. Max Godfroy and Pom Green from Element 6 provided on and off the water support and advice about the boat and different foiling techniques.
For all the sailors the Switch One Design foiler was a new experience, but they picked up the foiling techniques quickly in conditions varying between 5 and 11 knots.
Their enthusiasm was incredible, with Anne-Marie, Maud and Liv already having boats on order and Erica declaring she's definitely getting one as well. With so much experience on hand, a plethora of great ideas were suggested for more women's training camps and events.
Anne-Marie Rindom said after the event, "We've been here for a week at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club in Thailand and it's been absolutely amazing sailing the Switch from Element 6. Learning the environment has been great, getting on the water here is super easy and learning as a group is one of my favourite things about sailing. This is a new world to us as we haven't foiled that much, but this class is actually pretty easy to sail. I can't wait to see what's next in the future!"
Erica Reineke added, "I think the best part of the week sailing with all the girls was doing the lineups today, we got really close with five of us side-by-side ripping, going so fast, and that was really cool to see. We're all just so pumped to be out there, trying different modes and learning from each other. It was really beautiful sailing across the bay here in Thailand, towards the islands and the mountains. I just hope in the future we can do more camps like this, especially in the Switch."
Liv Mackay said, "It's been an awesome week out in Thailand with five of us from different countries coming together there. We're all really interested in getting into the Switch class and getting more foiling experience. It's a really good boat and we've all been up and down with different strengths and weaknesses, and I think we all want to see in particular more females coming into the class, pushing the limits of it."
Maud Jayet enthused, "I've had a really fun week sailing the Switch, I think it's one of the most fun sailing weeks I've had in my life! I think we're all just learning to sail the boat and the level is pretty close. I feel like we've made new friends and have a lot in common and some of us have already ordered boats. I look forward to seeing how this class evolves and I hope we can grow a really big fleet of girls in the Switch."
Tash Bryant concluded, "Thanks so much to Element 6 Evolution for getting us all out here and getting us onto the Switch for the first time, it's been an awesome experience and it's been amazing getting to sail out past the island and getting to know everyone around here. All of us have spent a lot of time on the circuit or on SailGP together, but none of us have spent time learning and figuring out how to sail a boat together, so it's been a really, really fun experience. I hope we keep doing this as getting the sport out there for women is amazing. I'm super grateful just to have this opportunity!"
The next camp is scheduled for May at legendary Lake Garda for those who have already purchased a Switch, and the seeds were sown for events in Denmark and Australia.
The Royal Varuna Yacht Club proved to be the perfect venue for this first camp, being so close to the Element 6 headquarters and en-route for European-based SailGP sailors on their way back from Australia.
Find out more at www.switchonedesign.com