Road Tripping with David Liebenberg! Palma > Genoa > Weymouth
After Sarah being responsible for the first logistical leg of our trip I was responsible for both the trip from Palma to Genoa and Genoa to Weymouth.
The pack up in Palma was a bit of a game of tetris. We had to fit both our training partners and our equipment into our shared van and double stack trailer. This took us nearly an entire day but once we figured it out it was easy to repeat the second time in Genoa. Leaving Palma every team takes the ferry to Barcelona. The night after the event, nearly all the sailors are on the same ferry out! It is a bit like a circus being packed up and being moved from one venue to the next.
After racing in Genoa we had to do the pack up and move out drill again. From Genoa to Weymouth we decided to take the Mont Blanc tunnel as our way through the alps. We learned that a Nacra on a trailer is too wide and not allowed to go through the tunnel during the day time... whoops!
Our alternative route ended up being extremely scenic taking a high altitude pass from Italy into Switzerland and then driving around the east side of lake Geneva and then through the french countryside. This is definitely not a route we would have chosen but it ended up working out great and we were pretty lucky to experience the scenery we did!
Crossing the channel we took the classic ferry route from Calais to the white cliffs of Dover and from there we had a short drive on the wrong side of the road to Weymouth.
European logistics are a necessity in any campaign but are always trying to be minimized. This year we have managed to do the logistics pretty quickly and with only a few small hiccups along the way. We are excited to have a few weeks in Weymouth to get into a good routine, log some good hours in the gym and on the water in preparation to have our best performance this summer at Europeans.
- David
