The Iain Percy Column

Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell are getting ready to take on the biggest names in Star sailing at the Bacardi Cup

I've just arrived back in Miami in preparation for one of the biggest Star regattas of the year, the Bacardi Cup. It's the third three week trip to Miami of the winter and I'm starting to feel quite at home here. The reason we've been spending so much time in Miami, apart from the need for a suntan, is that over the years it has become the home of Star sailing. We're about to go down the club for our first day's training and you can guarantee there will be a handful of the world's best to go out with.

The other good thing about training abroad is that you get so much more done, you are divorced from distractions; but it is still important to go home because those distractions are necessary. The weather is also a huge bonus. At this time in the UK you would be missing one day in two because of strong winds, and the days you don't miss you couldn't be out on the water for that long because of the temperature.

A typical day starts at about 8 in the morning when we head downstairs for breakfast. It's a good deal because it's an eat as much as you can set-up, so we get our money's worth!

We then go on to do a couple of hours of admin (it's 9.15 now!) before going down the club at about 11. We are sailing out of Coral Reef Yacht Club (see pictures) on Biscayne Bay very much the home of the Star boat. We try to get out on the water by 12 to do about a four-hour session. At the moment we are working mainly on speed, getting to know the rig. We get to the gym by 5.30ish, where we do an aerobic session followed by a weights session and get out about 8.30. All we (generally) have time for now is to grab dinner in town and head back, knackered!

At that intensity you can move on so fast and it's a pace that you just couldn't do in the UK at this time of year. For all the benefits that foreign training offers it is an expensive game. With anything you do it's necessary to weigh up the costs in terms of money and time against the benefits. Day to day is it better to spend longer in the boat park, on the water or with the sailmaker? And on a grander scale is it better to be in Miami at great cost and great benefit or to have more sails.

I refuse to make that choice and ironically if you find yourself making a choice over the second question then it is probably because you have made mistakes over the first, because fundraising is a legitimate use of time. Time is money, money is time, and - potential sponsors take note - your rewards for supporting us are about to be increased.