Menai Bridge

Watched a bit of Ben Ainslie Olympic dinghy racing today which was pretty exciting and impressive. He just played with the Dane Jonas Hogh-Christensen and Dutchman Pieter-Jan Postma like a cat with a mouse. All down to last race Sunday which he needs to win. Not sure he comes across as an altogether good sport after yesterdays tantrums though, but then again maybe victory is all important when stakes are this high?

If I am honest, I suspect the GB cycle team technically cheated in the first round of the men's team sprint yesterday, because Philip Hindes deliberately fell from his bike in the first round, and so caused a restart. He was simply too slow off the mark, and had no mechanical failure - and he admitted as much in his post-race interview. So how does that compare to the South Korean and Chinese Badminton players earlier this week getting booed and then disqualified just for trying to lose and so manipulate their QF placings? Mmm tricky.

Today's blip view from me is in anticipation of my own Ben Ainsley moment, as tomorrow I take part in the Olympic (for me at least) Round Anglesey Yacht Race . The race starts at Menai Bridge at 11:30 with a racing start under The Telford Suspension Bridge of my previous Blip, and then past the treacherous Swellies at slack water, and over the even more dangerous Caernarfon Bar.

It is a handicap race for different boat types and sizes, and should take my boat around 12-15 hours. I am crew on Skipper Dave Clough's Sigma 33 called Sarico. A very fast boat the Sigma, but I have warned Dave I might be considered a bit of a Jonah as I have started twice in the last 3 years, but retired both times. My problem then was that at 22 feet, my old yacht Scheherazade (a Hurly 22), was the smallest in the fleet, and hence also the slowest. Tomorrow we are 33 feet long, so no such excuses.

Forecast is falling wind, with wind direction right on the nose at the start and end legs, and thundery showers forecast all day and night! Oh well, at least I don't have an excuse for not having a blip foto opportunity!

Happy weekend all. Wish me luck.