WELL the main topic of conversation this week has been the choices of Olympic classes for 2012.

While there have in the main been no surprises with the Laser, Laser Radial, Finn, Star, Men’s 470, 49er, RSX (Men and Women) keeping their places, with the previous Women’s keelboat the Yngling being replaced by the modified Elliott 6m (a far more high performance keelboat) for Women’s match racing.

However I am extremely disappointed that they did not take into account the recommendations of their Equipment, Events and Women’s committee which has to make you wonder what the point is of having these committees if they are simply ignored. Replacing the Women’s 470 with the 29er XX would have been a great opportunity to allow women to race high performance boats at the Olympics like the men.

Unfortunately I am not surprised, as last year the Equipment committee was once again ignored when the Tornado was removed by the ISAF council, not only removing a class, but a whole discipline from the Games. However there is still a chance that the IOC may reinstate the 11th sailing medal, but we could have to wait as long as February for this decision to be made.

In the meantime I am continuing to work hard on my fitness and improve the nerve function on my left hand side. At the moment the muscles in my arm and upper back tend to get extremely tight and the massage to remove this is extremely painful, causing extremely strong electrical sensations to travel down my arm and into my hand.

I am doing absolutely everything I can to improve my spine health, and one of the most useful trips is to the International College of Oriental Medicine in East Grinstead to have acupuncture (again not very comfortable, but it is all about the end result!) I have also invested in a stand and portable keyboard for my laptop (I seem to spend lots of time in front of a computer these days) and a super office chair to help improve my posture whilst planning my campaign. Finally, as the piece de resistance I bought a mobiliser as used by Stephen Redgrave amongst others to mobilise my back.

Now I am at home much more I also have a better opportunity to look at nutrition, and I am delighted to be sponsored by Bulk supplements direct (http://www.bulksupplementsdirect.co.uk) meaning I have the nutrition to support my training. I am now looking at my sailing apparel for my 2012 campaign.