Overall I felt extremely conformable in Japan and the Japanese are so kind and polite. Rules are rules and it did make me laugh when back in Gamagori I saw the fuel truck at 14:55 and asked if I could have my fuel (which was meant to be available at 15:00 by the palm tree). The driver said very sorry but we had to wait until 15:00 and he would be by the Palma tree. So Tuula and I slowly walked to the Palm tree with driver, driving next to us at exactly walking pace. When we got there, the 3 of us waited the remaining 2 minutes and bang on 15:00 we could take our fuel.

Well the weather is never normally like this is what they say! And in my time in Japan we had 2 typhoons in 2 weeks, so I just hope this doesn’t happen next year or indeed the summer of 2020. Tuula seemed far more comfortable in the Olympic Venue and we did a couple of days training with Alison Young from the UK before the event. Next year we will also be joined by Josefin Olsson from Sweden and Daphne Van der Vaar, so we will have a really good international training group.

Another wet regatta and a total of 6 races saw Tuula come 5th, a good boost to her confidence before the long rest from racing prior to Miami World Cup. Only the final day we didn’t manage to race (Tuula was lying 3rd in the race which was abandoned half way through due to poor visibility). Much like Gamagori it seemed to rain pretty much 24/7 and especially for the container packing, but the difference this time was my hotel had a drying machine.

After the regatta and when most of the foreign sailors had gone home the weather suddenly changed for the better. Lucky for me, as I stayed and did a few days coaching for the Japanese sailors including the lady who translated my book: Coach Yourself to Win into Japanese and their representative for the 2017 Youth Worlds. so, they were all very happy to get their books signed.

We also went out for the typical Japanese dinner, including fish and Saki. Takao reliably informed me that having eating fish eyes (which were surprisingly hard) I would be able to read the Enoshima currents better, I guess we will have to wait to next year to find out. Of course, there are many other differences: Japan has the nicest toilets you can imagine, and I will certainly miss the heated seat when in the cold Farmhouse. Although having a bed on the floor takes a little time to get used to.

The only downside for me was perhaps when they asked me my age and I invited them to guess... the 1st guess being 50! I decided perhaps I needed to get a bit more sleep and to do some exercise myself, so the next stop for me is the Radial Inlands at Grafham water and the chance to do some racing myself.