Elise and I have just returned from a three week tour of New Zealand, racing and training with the Kiwi teams. The women's team of Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie finished third at the Worlds in Perth and it was great to race them twice in Sail Auckland and also in the New Zealand Nationals.

Charter boats were at a premium with the 470 Junior Worlds finishing the day before Sail Auckland, making our preparation pretty rushed which showed on the results, finding our form only on the third day. With no racing on the last day due to light winds, we finished sixth and with a good list of things to work on leading into the New Zealand Nationals.

The Nationals were in Tauranga which is an amazing place to race and train with a variety of conditions and a spectacular part of the country. The training proved to be showing through with some gains on the race course and we finished third, again losing to the kiwi girls and a young men’s team. We stayed on for a few days of great training off shore and continue to develop our team performance.

Our departure from New Zealand was a huge let down after a good three weeks of training when our car was broken into in a secure car park at a hotel in Auckland and all our sailing gear was stolen! We have lost all our wetsuits, sailing gear along with two spinnakers, trapeze harness and importantly, our wires and ropes which are all specific measurements and critical for our boat to work!

We felt even worse having to return a loan car from Audi which we were so privileged to have, with two smashed windows. A lesson learnt, but we were lured by the secure car park with a swipe card entry and exit and the $20 fee for the favour!

We have been trying to write lists which get longer as we remember all that has been stolen and replacing the pieces but it is hard to replace some items. Putting the boat together has been a lengthy process and Elise and I have been digging deep into bags looking for some sailing gear!

We have also just been to our first Australian Sailing Team camp for the 2012 year in Canberra at the AIS and it was great to get back into the team with the support of the staff to help us achieve our goals for 2012.

We are now in Perth with our coach Daniel Smith here too for an intense training camp before heading over to Europe on our quest for Olympic Selection and our ultimate goals in London in August.

Regards and fair sailing,

Belinda