Blog Roxy

11 city tour mission completed

My 11city tour mission completed! I did it!! Who hooooo ;)
I am very stoked to tell you that I paddled the 220 km in about 38 hours; split up in 5 days. Here a little overview of the tour;
The amount of kilometers are not quite perfect on this map, but gives a good indication.

Day 1: Leeuwarden-Sloten; wind was south west (head wind) 12-16 knots
Day 2: Sloten-Workum; wind was south west, west (head wind) 8-10 knots
Day 3: Workum- Franeker. (hump day); wind was north wind (head winds) 8 knots
Day 4; Franeker-Dokkum. South east winds; head winds; from glassy morning till 12-15 knots.
Day 5; Dokkum-Leeuwarden; south east winds; tale wind!!! And little head wind, but in the end tale wind again! Who hooo.

Yeah, the winds were kind of teasing me. Even though there were a lot of head wind days; the wind could have been a lot stronger, and thus the challenge could have been tougher. (tale wind would have been nice also ;) The good thing is, that I really got challenged and got a good indication of what this tour could be all about. I hit the wall a few times; mentally mainly because of that wind direction and open waters without protection from the shores. A little physically as well at day 2, for I took a Dan’s long paddle (too long) and that did not help my shoulders. Realizing that my paddle mission was happening because of my own free choice in doing so; that my body is in such good condition to do anything I like to try; that there are so much more people that are suffering (desease, parts of the world they live in) and have no choice at stepping out of their situation, gave me strength and made me feel like a very lucky person. On top of that, I had my parents and Dan to be there for me every day; far away family and friends came out to be part of my 11city tour or sent me emails and text messages.
‘Heed’ power-endurance drinks, gu-gels, snicker bars, raison bread with cheese, banana’s, mum’s pancakes, foot massages, sport massages, a lot of cheers ‘from land’ and Dan’s cooking at night got me going.
 It had always been a dream to do this 11city tour, for it has a lot of history and emotion value for me and now I did it on an SUP. I also wanted to test drive this route on a SUP, to see if more people can do it, and… It is possible! SUP as a sport got promoted in Holland (a lot!!!! Of people had no idea what it is and know by now) plus through a great amount of press, next years event (SUP, and myself) got a lot of attention and publicity already.
Besides this all, there were so many people that would re-think their own memories of their own 11city tour; mostly by ice skates and some by windsurfer…and recognized their memories in what I was doing. The hard moments, the beautiful moments, the fact of not giving up… Their stories, their memories and their sparkles in their eyes as they would go back in time; or feeling their sportive heart beating by seeing me paddling. That to me was an experience in itself, very special; an extra gift on top of a very successful mission.

Anne Marie Reichman

It is SO nice to have ROXY back in the water again!

I have been out sailing to tune up the rig and sails, and also we have been checking everything in these first few outings. There has been a host of “guests” on board with us, including: Francis from Hydroem, Philippe Roussel from nke, Tanguy (my coach), Titi (who is our faithful refit Mr fixit!), as well as the Roxy boys and myself.
 
The most important guest of the week though, was Roxy’s Dad: Michel Desjoyeaux, who came out kindly one evening to answer a few of our questions! <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Mich offered to come to Lorient, but instead we sailed over to Port La Foret one evening, and back again, arriving in Lorient at 1am. That gave me a nice opportunity to do a little night sail and test things like nav lights, etc! It was a beautiful evening, with full moon, 15 knots of wind and flat water so we hooned along happily!
 
We have also done some photos with our cool new spinnaker, so hopefully they will look nice. We put the Vendee Globe flags and logos on Roxy for the photos, and when I saw them that made my heart beat a little faster, as it was the first time that it really hit home that we are getting so near to the start of this big adventure!
 
Tomorrow (Sunday) I am off to my home – Portsmouth !! We will be moored in Haslar marina in Gosport for the week (when we’re not out sailing.) I’m even going to go back to my old school (yikes) on Tuesday morning for assembly (Portsmouth High).
 
Sam x

Sewing lessons

It's been a busy week for me and the Roxy team. We have been setting up the rig tune, and other adjustments necessary after our refit. Erwan, Couscous, Corentin and Titi have been working hard on the boat all week.

I have had two and a half days in the classroom this week - two days weather training with Jean Yves Bernot at Port La Foret (alongside Mich Desjoyeaux, Armel Le Cleach, Jeremie Beyou and Seb Josse).

The half a day was actually in Casualty in Quimper hospital! Armel and I were having our "sewing lessons", with Dr Patrick Crom and some of his team. We didn't get any "live" patients, but we got to sew up pigs feet! NICE!!! Seriously though, this was something I really wasn't looking forward to, but it was surprisingly easy, and EXTREMELY reassuring that I know I can treat myself if I ever need to. I sincerely hope that I won't need my first aid kit, but I now no longer worry about dealing with that problem if it arises. Patrick had seen my face during our last theoretical course, so the first thing he taught us was how to administer a local anasthetic by syringe, so the sewing should be painless (well, that's what he told me anyway!) We also learnt how to use the stapler (OUCH!), and a kind of super glue, that can actually glue a cut closed! The next stage is real life practise, shadowing a volunteer doctor in casualty so we can see what real life situations are like.

Today (Saturday) we have been out sailing, with Erwan, Titi and Xavier. The objective of the day was to validate my rig tune, which looks great and I'm really happy with my mast now. We had a lovely sail, upwind past Ile de Groix, then back under spinnaker. It was a beautiful day, sunny, 10-15kt wind and loads of boats out sailing.

On Monday I'm off to Paris for a Meteo France formation (for the weather software we have been provided with for the Vendee, which is absolutely brilliant, but needs some work to master!) Tuesday is the official race press conference, in Paris. Then (at last!) Wednesday I will be back out training on the water with my coach Tanguy Leglatin on board!

Expats-Andrea Binning – Chamonix is now home….

Skiing has definitely taken me on a journey in life that I could never have imagined growing up in the city in Melbourne. It has been through skiing that I have a full time job as a professional skier, am able to travel to so many amazing mountains around the globe and have set myself up to be based out of chamonix france living with my fiancé Stian Hagen who is also a professional skier.

 

When I was at school I never dreamt of being a professional skier and as a list of career choices being a professional freeskier did not even exist.  To do what I do I have to be based out of

Australia

as the ski industy over in

Europe

allows me to live from my sport.  Freeskiing is a large growing industry in Europe.

 

Basing myself in chamonix France has allowed me to really follow my dreams to be a professional skier, I met my fiancé, I found a home and all the daily ski challenges that I can dream of lie in the most amazing mountains that are situated at my door step. 

 

When I first arrived at this town I new there was something very special about the place.  It carried an energy of excitement, stories and history that I had not felt so strongly before in the other mountain towns that I had traveled to.  The town lies in heart of the French alps with mont blanc rising up at 4810 metres and the aiguille du midi lift station at 3842 metres taking you to some of the most incredible lift access terrain that you could ever dream of.  This place is filled with challenges and when I first arrived I was about as inexperienced as they come, but full of dreams, energy and determination to become a professional skier. 

 

I was fortunate enough to cross paths with Stian Hagen in my first month of arriving  in chamonix and he who took me under his guidance in the mountains.  Before I first met him I had heard lots of crazy stories about him from the days when he skied a lot of serious steep descents.  I really did not know what I got myself signed up for when I started going out with him.  He took me on so many runs in my first winter that were definitely way above my ability and had me terrified.  After overcoming my fears and gaining more experience following him around I started to get my confidence on the steep exposed terrain and found myself eager to get out there and gain as much experience as possible.    In chamonix was able to immerse myself a high level of freeskiing.  The mountains offer so many challenges and there is so much vertical to ski.  I finally found a place where people just thrived on skiing and lived for it.

 

The freeskiing industry was just at its beginning in 99’ when I did my first season in chamonix and at this time they didn’t have skis specifically designed for freeride as they do today. Freeski teams were just starting up and when I signed with Volkl I was part of their first freeski team, a start of something new that we all didn’t really know where it was heading.  It was great feeling to be involved from the very beginning in this new industry of skis.  When you look at where freeskiing is today it has really shown a lot of progression in their designs both graphics and ski shapes and Volkl is very much leading this progression.

 

When I won the World Extremes in Alaska in 2000 I officially began my career as a professional skier.  It had been a dream of mine to live from a sport that I love and when it all happened after winning a big event it all seemed to come about so quickly and before I knew it I was living my dream.  

 

As a full time sponsored athlete I have an obligation to my sponsors to get as much film and photo coverage as I can and this comes from doing well in contests and getting internationally recognized and following this up with getting good ski action on film.  I have been spending most of my seasons traveling to free-skiing contests on the world tour and now I am more involved in filming and photo shoots that have taken place in Norway, Switzerland, France, US, Alaska, Canada, Nepal and Russia.  I find I am living out of my bag for most of the winter –enjoying the time I do get to spend in my home in chamonix. Being based in France has allowed me to realize the dream as it is very central in Europe and I am able to travel easily around to chase the storms.

 

The days that I enjoy the most are when I am at home on a good powder day and can ski around on my favorite runs with a group of good friends. These are my best days of the winter as I know where to go and what are the best runs to ski and don’t have to travel far to get to the lift station.  Our house is just 1 km from the Grand Montet ski station, which is my favorite place to ski in the vallley.

 

Living here has been a good challenge, I find the chamoniards don’t have the same outgoing friendly nature as the aussies, there also seems to be less rules, as far as what and where you can go in the mountains.  Everything is allowed and you can ski where you want, you have a very real sense of freedom when you are out skiing.  As for the domestic side of things, you also have to be more prepared when it comes to cooking as most shops shut at mid day and from 7pm onwards. So there is no chance for last minute shopping.  The french seem to be very liberated in their freedom and fine lifestyle that has them on a 35 hour working week, long lunches and what seems many public holidays.  Also their land has it all from the Alps, to surf coast, to the mediterainean.

 

 

As a foreigner living in

france

I find that most of my friends are also expats. We seem to all have a similar understanding and are able to relate to similar problems that we face by choosing to live there. This common bond of being foreign brings us all quite close. In saying this I do have some French friends but the majority are expats from

Sweden

,

Norway

,

England

and a few aussies.   

 

There is a lot of foreign investment in chamonix both in property and also in businesses especially by the English and Swedish. In winter the town finds itself inundated many young Swedish skiers that come for the season and the night life is thriving and in summer the town is filled with a different crowd of day tourists and families that don’t get out much at night and the town although is busier it feels like a ghost town after hours.

Stian and I have a good set up here and have all the equipment we need to tap into the mountains both in winter and summer.  In summer we love mountain biking and go rock climbing.  There are lots of trails to mountain bike and endless challenges in the mountains for climbing.   We also have a golf course just 5 minutes from the house so there are plenty of opportunities to practise our swing.  We also find ourselves traveling to the surf coast during summer to do our best attempt of surfing.  When I tell people that I come from Australia everyone assumes I am naturally a good surfer, which is not the case, but I do love the sport. 

 

Leaving

Australia

to live in

France

was never officially a decision that I made, it was something that just happened and before I knew it was based out of

france

with a house and a partner. It was the only way I found that I could live from my sport, as in australia the industry is not big enough to support me.  I find that I am in a unique situation as there are not that many freeskiers living from their sport that come from Australia but I hope that I am paving the way for the future generation of freeskiers from australia.

 

What has made it easier for me to live in Europe is that I do have aswell as my Australian passport, a European passport as my mother is from

germany

.  I speak German fluently which has made my dealings with sponsors very easy as Volkl and Red Bull are both based out of Germany/Austria.  I also have family close to Munich so when I am feeling homesick I try to visit my cousins and aunt as much as possible, it gives me a sense of belonging and feeling that I have a family close by.  As getting home to Australia for a weekend is next to impossible if you find yourself homesick.  So I try to make Europe now my home and come to Australia each year to get up to my local mountain - Mount Hotham.

 

It is strange that now when I come back to australia I find that I really do feel more at home in Europe, that is where a lot of my friends are who have a good understanding of what goes on with my life now.  In Australia all my friends have gotten on with their lives and there is often so much change in their lives it is hard to pick up where I last left off, so in the end I find myself naturally drifting apart.

 

So it has been through skiing I have found a life that has taken me by default away from Australia.  I have not lost my Australian accent and am still proud to call myself Australian.  But it has not been possible to base myself here and be a professional skier. I feel very lucky to have found this path in life as I never know what is around the corner and each day in the mountains is full of new adventures that I live for.