OliJ.co.uk

Think we have a winner:

And its with 0% interest too :-)

...this last week or so! I had to do a repeat theory test (the hazard perception test is complete cack but I will refrain from a rant and just say that I got 85% second time round!!) on saturday morning in Bath at 8.30 (it was the only place I could do it before my practical).

Then up to Bug Jam for Saturday night - which was awesome, as usual and.. well, I can't actually write about some of the hilarity but it will keep me laughing until next year!

Then down to Bournemouth to drop Jon and Neil off (cheers Pete!) - got to bed at about midnight, totally knackered!! Next I was up at 7 on the Monday to start 3 days of 8 hours a day motorcycle tuition, which was dam hard work and I got to see A LOT of Cornwall - I took my Motorcycle Test on Thursday morning and passed with just 2 minors (Yes, I am fucking amazing).

Oh yeah - and I did a Motorcycle First Aid course yesterday which was very informative and much needed - I haven't done any first aid training lately and I feel quite strongly about it - it's something that everyone should be taught: almost one third of the 18,000 fatalities on our roads could be prevented with appropriate, first response care after an accident. That's a lot of lives wasted in my opinion and those are just the ones that could be saved on the roads through basic First Aid.

Oh yeah - and then I went to the Beach :) (see below)

Can't beat cycling to the beach!

Been busy with the camera again; quite chuffed with a couple of these though:

Just some of the best bits that I'm really excited about!!! Somehow I'm gonna have to choose which ones to go to:

Thursday 28th August 2008
Cream @ Amnesia: Eddie Halliwell, Steve Angello, Axwell
The Klaxons (DJ Set), Annie Mac
F*** Me I’m Famous @ Pacha: David Guetta, Special Guest TBC
Fiesta Del Agua (Water Party) @ Es Paradise: DJ MDK

Friday 29th August 2008
Wonderland and The Looking Glass @ Eden: Pete Tong, Guests TBC, Groove Armada, Guests TBC
Manumission @ Amnesia: Zane Lowe, 2 many Djs, Glimmers, Fatboy Slim

Saturday 30th August 2008
Hed kandy @ El Divino
Fiesta Del Agua (Water Party) @ Es Paradise: DJ MDK

Sunday 31st August 2008
Judgement Sundays @ Eden: Judge Jules, Lisa Lashes
We Love Space @ Space: Paul Oakenfold, Steve Lawler, Tiefschwarz, Paul Woolford, Nic Fanciulli Alex Wolfen...

Monday 1st September 2008
Tiesto, In Search Of Sunrise @ Privilege: Er, Tiesto!
Clubland @ Es Paradis: Flip & Fill, Alex K, N-Force, N-Trance, MC Domino

Tuesday 2nd September 2008
Advanced vs Tidy @ Eden: Dave Pearce, Anne Savage, Tidy Amo. Back Room: Polysexual
Carl Cox & Friends @ Space: Carl Cox, Fedde Le Grand, Roni Size,

We did it, and we came 5th in a class of 65; Sunsail 37's - which I think was a pretty respectable result! It was my first time on the Isle, my first time racing, my first collision, and later my first time on a boat that had run aground (but thankfully this happened the day after the race)!



It was an early start | BBC Coverage on Saturday (4 a.m!) as we still had some spinnaker work to practice before the start - the wind had been too strong on our practice session on Friday to try this, although everything went well at first! The race started at 6 for the fast racing yachts; we were part of the 3rd staggered start at 6.20 and I have never seen anything quite like it! So many boats together at once made for some very, very close encounters - one boat collided with us and we were lucky - another boat which came close to sinking after a large racing yacht rammed them from behind, was forced to retire, whilst the Hugo Boss racing yacht (the one Lewis Hamilton was on) was later disqualified for a collision that snapped the oh-so-expensive carbon fiber mast of another fast racing yacht (can you see a pattern here?)!!

Regardless, we made good ground until we rounded the needles, where we looked to be in 2nd or 3rd position but we lost some time here when we managed to get the spinnaker totally wrong on the first hoist (it went so well in practice). Once we got it back up we then snapped a spinnaker sheet, lowered it again, got a new sheet attached and then raised it once more only to snap a halyard. Got the spinnaker back on board and hoisted it a 4th time once we replaced said halyard - ah!

We finally finished with a time of 8 hours 11 minutes, only 20 minutes after the winning boat! We had a great crew, from novices to pro's and were lucky to get away with minimal injuries (a few cracked ribs for my dad after a bad fall, but he's ok). I think it was the most awesome, tiring and exhilarating event I've ever taken part in... roll on next year!

You can see a summary of the event here.
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