> Im back in Melbourne now after spending seven and a half months in the U.K. on a working holiday visa, living with my fiance Suzie (we got engaged in July after meeting at the Perth Worlds).

I did hardly any sailing, mainly windsurfing, except for the Italian Nationals on Lake Como. I came 7th out of 48, so it wasnt to bad for a completely borrowed boat!

We are now getting ready for our Nationals Championships to be held at Black Rock Yacht Club, from the 27th to the 31st of December. Hopefully we will get around 16 -20 boats for the regatta, with two boats making the journey from Perth.

My next regatta after our Nationals will be th 2007 World Championships, to be held in Holland, July next year.

>We arrived back in Melbourne this afternoon, after a 3 day return trip in the car. Congratulations to Andrea Bonezzi, who won the the 2006 International Contender World Championships (His 6th world title!!). I finished up in fifth, scoring a 3, 3, 11, 13, 2, 2, 7, 9, DNF.

I was third overall going into the last race, and had to finish in the top 10 to stay in third, but Simon Mussell who was one point behind me had different ideas, and we rounded the first mark in about 45 and 46!! We were still well back in the 40's at the bottom mark, so there was no point finishing the last race!!

Unfortunately, that pushed me back to 5th overall, Simon got fourth and Tim Hill came third. Marcus Hamilton finished second overall.

Results link and a photos link is from www.contenderclass.org

>We packed mine and Marcus' boats on to my trailer today, ready for the trip across to Perth. We are going to end up with a very full car, because the place we are staying in, is a mates unit who's lease is finished. So we have the unit, but nothing inside it! We are taking bedding, chairs, fold up table, small fridge and the rest!

Not to mention all the spares we will be taking across. Spare mast each, spare booms, three sails each and a heap of fittings, rope and tools. You have to be prepared for anything that could happen to your boat!!

Our National Championships start on the 2nd of Jan untill the 7th of Jan, and the World Championships go from the 7th to the 14th of Jan.

Results will be available each day at www.contenderclass.org

>Only two weeks now untill we leave to go to Perth. We are leaving on Boxing Day at about 4 in the morning, so we can make the drive over there in three days.

Last Sunday morning I made the mistake of going for a sail! It was about 30 knots (gusting 35 I found out later) and I thought it would be good training for Perth. As I was heading out of the marina at Sandringham, I somehow broke my mainsheet crane, which, I still have no idea how I did it!

But It was good in a way, because at least braking it here I have had time to get a new one made (thanks to my sponsor), and will hopefully be back on the water tomorrow.

>We have completed five races so far in the State Championships on this weekend, at Westerport Yacht Club. Marcus Hamilton is leading, winning all five races so far.

I think Im in second at the minute, with a 2, 4, 2, 3, 4.

Forecast tomorrow is looking good, 20 - 25 knots southerly, hopefully the breeze will fill in. We have the final three races tomorrow afternoon, back to back.

>This week I'm heading up to Uluru and then onto to Darwin for a few weeks, which will be a good break from this colder weather down here! The Tasar World Championships are being held up in Darwin, but I'll just be watching.

I've also started doing a bit of windsufing lately on a Formula windsurfer. I am pretty crap at the minute but it is awesome fun!! Its got a 9 meter sail on it, and the contender has 10 square meters of sail area, so the formula baord goes pretty quick in the right hands!!

Congratulations to Marcus Hamilton aswell, he's currently over in Italy preparing for the next Worlds to be held in Travamunde, Germany. During the week he won the Italian Championships, beating 5 time world champion Andrea Bonezzi.

>We had the final heat of our State Championships yesterday, sailed in 3-5 knots, very trying conditions! We were supposed to get 3 races in, but with hardly any breeze, we could only manage to get one in.

Tim Hill won the race, putting him on 8 points. I came third in the race, giving me two firsts, a second and a third, a total of 7 points and the championship win. Tim finished second overall and Marcus came in third.

Racing against two past National and State Champions ensures great racing!

> We had the first three heats for our Victorian Championships last weekend at Mordialloc Sailing Club. We had 33 degrees and 20 - 25 knot northerly, almost perfect conditions!! I am leading the regatta so far, with two first's and a second. Marcus and Tim are equal second with seven points each, and Tex is in fourth spot with twelve points.

The regatta finishs this weekend with another three heats. The forcast is looking like lighter conditions and only 23 degrees.

> I'm hoping to make my 'come back' to sailing this weekend. After injuring my ankle during our Nationals in January, I have only competed in the Dinghy Classic (which I won my division and overall!!). I havent been able to sail since unfortunately. I have only been able to walk basically, no running, lifting or sailing.

I had X-rays this week and they came back all clear, next week Im having an MRI scan to check the ligaments to see what the actuall problem is! So I'm sick of waiting for it to get better, and have bought a special ankle brace, and hopefully all will be ok and the ankle will hold, so I can get back into training for the Perth Worlds.

I've also finally fitted off my new boom which I got last year with my boat!! Its only taken about 9 months, but hey, at least its done now. My new number for new boat is AUS 2296, since we have changed to world wide plaque numbers and not national numbers now.

>We are half way through our Australian Championships at the minute, being held at Sandringham Yacht Club. Tim Hill, current Australian champion is leading the regatta after 4 races by one point, from myself in second spot, with another two points back to Paul Green in third place.

We managed to get one race in today, before three squalls of 40 + knots hit once we were on shore. Yesterday was spent on shore, with consistent winds of 25 - 30 knots.