From 19 September, the Formula Kite European Championships descend on the waters off Eastney Beach, with qualifying rounds taking place during the week before finals over the weekend.
Aldridge is one of 12 athletes - six male, six female - set to compete on home waters for the British team, with Olympic quota places up for grabs for nations who have not yet secured one. GB's women's fleet, featuring Aldridge, bagged their spot at August's World Championships but the men are yet to guarantee a place on the Paris start line.
For a sport in which Mother Nature has a lot to say, the weather on the south coast is looking "fruity" over the coming days, but that is doing little to dampen the excitement around the regatta.
"It's almost four years to the day that I was competing in my first ever European Championships, so it's really nice, a year out from the Games, being in the UK, being at home," Aldridge says.
"Tuesday and Wednesday could be quite tricky. It looks very windy. We can go out in quite a lot of wind, but if it becomes dangerous then it's not a great idea to send everyone out on the water, but the rest of the week actually looks really good.
"We qualified at the Worlds, so there's less pressure than if we hadn't, but we still want to perform.
"This whole year, there has been a lot of pressure on every event. You want to prove that you're the best and should be picked for the Olympics."
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