20 months to go until the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and 2014 was another busy year preparing for it for Team Mac.

With Kate and I both having moved into new classes this Olympic cycle there has been plenty to learn about our new boats and to develop within our new teams.

For Walshy and I this has been our first year sailing together and Walshy’s first taste of crewing. All in all it has been a successful year, it started really well with a bronze medal at the North American Championships and although we had to cut the Olympic Classes Regatta short due to family illness, our form looked very promising. We have been very lucky to have been training with a strong squad of British boats this past year and our coach Maurice Paardenkooper has continued to do a fantastic job working with us. February and March was a chance to train hard and make some great gains in speed. The Nacra is a one design boat so there isn’t much we can change on the boat in terms of developing equipment however the boat is quite tweaky so slight changes in technique and setup can make a big difference on the race course.

The European season proved to be quite a frustrating one when we look back at it. At all three of Palma, Hyeres and Holland regattas we were right in the hunt for top three positions until one poor race let us down. We were however still doing a good job finishing easily inside the top 10 (except for Holland where we broke our rig half way through…oops!). The good news after these events was that we qualified to represent GB at the Rio Test Event, only to be hit by some bad news at the European Championships where Walshy unfortunately hit his arm so hard during a race that he managed to rupture one of the muscles in his forearm and we had to pull out of the competing at the Test Event. Huge thanks to the support staff from the RYA who did a fantastic job helping Walshy’s recovery and despite us being worried he wouldn’t be able to race the World Championships, two weeks before the event we were fully up and running again.

Made the best of a bad job is how I would describe our performance at the Worlds! We finished 7^th overall and first British boat which considering the time out for the injury was good however we really felt we had more to give. We had prepared very well for the event in the ‘normal’ conditions you get in Santander however in true sailing event fashion, the conditions we had for the event was completely different and we had the wrong kit and technique for that! Big lessons learnt!

Kate’s year despite the odds being against her at times has been really impressive in the 49erFX. This time last year Kate was on her way to her first event with Kat who had been out for the last year with a bad knee injury and Kate had only just started sailing full time again having gone back to University after London 2012. They had a great time in Miami showing great promise for a new team and went on to have a strong season winning more races than any other FX team and winning more race days than any other British team. With more hours under their belt the end of their season could and should have been good however another injury to Kat prevented them finishing the European Championships (they still managed to finish in the top ten however) and seriously hampered their run up to the Worlds with Kat barely stepping in the boat for a month. The bonus of these very unfortunate injuries to Walshy and Kat was that Kate and most of the FX fleet got the chance to laugh at me attempting to crew the FX for Kate. I have a feeling we looked even shorter than usual stood on the side of the 49erFX together but we had a wicked time sailing together again, learnt a bit and laughed a lot!

Since the Worlds there have been quite a lot of changes in the squads we both train in, with the RYA wanting to change some teams around. Unfortunately for Kate this has messed her around a lot however she is now up and running again sailing with Kirstie Urwin, a really exciting new talent entering the Olympic scene for the first time. They will have plenty of areas to train up with over the next few months but the sessions they have done the last couple of months have been great and by going to Abu Dhabi for the ISAF Grand Final Kirstie was able to get a really good feel for the challenge ahead and how exciting it can be to be a part of. I’m looking forward to watching and helping them develop together.

Walshy and I have also had some good training since the Worlds. After profiling our strengths, weaknesses and by debriefing 2014 we have put together I believe a really strong programme for the year ahead and are excited by what we believe we can achieve.

Plenty was learnt in 2014 and I’m well aware the second year can be a hard time in the Olympic cycle, especially in a new class but for me, in the past, the most important thing has been you use it to set everything up right for the final run into the Games. We have had our difficulties with injuries last year but we had some great times too winning races in fantastic boats and awesome venues. The Christmas break just gone was definitely needed to recharge the batteries for us all but now we are all super charged to go, and I believe in a great position looking ahead to the next 20 months.

Next up Team MacWalsh and Team MacUrwin head to Miami where we will start 2015 with a mixture of training and racing in Biscayne Bay. I enjoy being at home in Poole over Christmas but I really can’t wait to get going again on the race course! From there we have a training period over February and March before racing in Europe starts again in April.

I’d like to take the opportunity on behalf of Kate, Walshy, Kirstie and myself to thank everyone for your continued support. We love what we do and are 100% committed to winning shiny gold medals in Rio 2016 but as we saw at times in 2014 it doesn’t all go smoothly. The support we get from friends, family, sponsors and UK Sport is truly fantastic and we really hope you enjoy the journey with us.

Have an enjoyable and successful 2015!

Lucy and the Gang