Update from Academy Director, John Thorn:

All of the five Academy Figaro boats have now arrived at the Centre D’Entrainment (CEM) in La Grande Motte, along with the two Pogo 2’s of Associate Sailor Pip Hare and the Academy Mini sailed last year by Ollie Bond. Snow conditions made the transportation challenging but the German truckers did an outstanding job. The Academy Development Squad sailors, having arrived safely last Wednesday, were on hand to receive the boats and are excited to be getting back to training in the warmer Mediterranean waters.

The Centre D’Entrainment (CEM), the winter home for the Artemis Offshore Academy, is a fantastic venue and has provided a very welcoming arrival for us. Everyone we have met so far, from the Port Captain to the marina staff, has been very helpful. The days have been mostly sunny except for our day of arrival and the team have been flat out putting the boats back together and making sure all is sorted for next week’s training. We should have all four training boats and, perhaps, the Mini ready to go. The squad’s French is coming along, but there have still been a few blank moments with polite requests for “parle plus lentement, s’il vous plait!”

The good news from North Sails is that we can expect the new racing sails in mid December. This will allow the squad to get used to racing with the new sails before the 2011 racing season starts.

Because most of the french sailors from La Grande Motte are in Paris at the Boat Show, the Squad has had the opportunity to settle in and complete some basic boat tuning and orientation sailing on their own. Making sure all the systems are working correctly will be critical to ensure everyone has confidence in their boats if they are to get the most out of the pre-Christmas training. Along with this we are intending to undertake some Yachtmaster-type training including navigation, safety and collision regulations in preparation for completing the squad’s first overnight training event next week, weather permitting.

This will really be our first opportunity to undertake the sort of training that will be at the heart of the Artemis Offshore Academy Figaro programme. Everyone is really looking forward to the next phase of training and coming face to face with the ‘competition’!