Pre-Olympics
What another blistering performance from Team GBR in the place where it matters most, Athens. Four medals of bright, shiny colours and not all of them from the most expected of places. It was great to see Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield come good in the 470 after a long spell in the wilderness, and for Shirley Robertson and her crew to prove that they are a potent force across the full range of wind conditions, and not just the breezy stuff.
Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell's mast breakage put them out of podium contention but two bullets on the final day shows there is nothing to worry about here, except to show how fickle Olympic sport can be. Percy admitted the breakage was down to operator error and no doubt he has learned the necessary lessons here, but it's a scary reminder of just how easily a four-year plan can fall apart in the blink of an eye.
Paul Goodison's early withdrawal from the event was more concerning, and highlights one of the pitfalls of professional, full-time sailing - the danger of burn-out. It's something we associate with football or tennis players, but tend not to think of as a sailor's problem. Thankfully, for most of us who don't get to sail as much as we'd like to, this will never be an issue. But as top-level sailing becomes increasingly a full-time occupation, professional sailors have to learn to pace themselves for the major events in the season.
No doubt Paul was wise to get out of Athens early, and maximise recuperation time before the forthcoming World Championships in Cadiz. Other sailors claim to have been quite happy not to have qualified for the Pre-Olympic event at all, as it has given them more training and technical development time in the build-up to Spain. I doubt whether any of the competing sailors will regret their time in Athens, but it has left them with limited recovery time before the big showdown in Cadiz.
Athens conditions
Sydney Harbour was notoriously difficult to master, and fortunately there were enough races to take the luck out of the scores. The same should be true of Athens, which Ben Ainslie suggested was even more fluky than Sydney. It seems, however, that the Brits just get better the trickier it gets. It is perhaps a legacy of our pond-sailing background that our Olympic performers show such mastery of seemingly unreadable conditions. No one loves a shifty, unpredictable breeze more than Paul Brotherton who, during his silver-medal winning performance, commented that you shouldn't take any of the racing too seriously, whether you're doing well or badly. You have to ride your luck and roll with the punches, and over 16 races the cream should rise to the top.
The bad old days
It seems like a dim and distant memory now, but it was only 10 years ago when Olympic racing was still taking place on huge 'triangle-sausage' courses, with just one race a day. If you black-flagged on the start, that was the end of your day, and a seventh of your series ruined. To my mind, the short and sharp racing with two, three or even four races a day is much more sensible and far more likely to find a deserving champion than the seven-race series of old.
And heaven forbid if there was more than a 20-degree shift up the first beat. Far better to sit around for hours on end while the race committee fought a losing battle to set a 'true' beat. The last two Olympic sailing events would never have happened if the organisers had waited for conditions to settle down. The same is clearly true of Athens, where the wind was all over the place, both in strength and direction. But it seems that whatever you throw at the sailors, the same people tend to come out on top, provided the series is long enough to level out the luck factor.
Some classes still hang doggedly on to the old format, however. Surely if this short-course racing is good enough for the Olympic sailors it is good enough for the rest of us? Most of the exciting stuff happens in the first 30 to 45 minutes of a race, after which the fleet tends to start stretching out and place changing becomes less likely. Once a race has reached this status quo, there seems little point in continuing it further, so why not stop it there and have another short race instead? To many classes I am preaching to the converted, but if you haven't tried it yet then you should do.
Holt Tide Ride
Anyone who has done the Red Bull Tide Ride at Hayling Island doesn't need any lectures in short-course racing. Now sponsored by Holt, the Tide Ride takes place on spring tides, with short, sharp 15-minute races right in front of the sailing club. Open to RS800s and 700s, International 14s, B14s and Laser 4000s, it takes place on 27/28 September and is well worth watching even if you're not competing. Last year I did it in the 49er with Harvey Hillary, but we made a bit of a mess of it, with two OCSs. With four knots of tide underneath you, once you've set out on your final starting approach, that's it, your committed. Unfortunately, my timing was a little off and we were swept over the line as the gun fired. So I didn't especially enjoy the event last year, but I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time if you go.
Symmetric Grand Prix
Not to be outdone by those asymmetric upstarts at Hayling, plans are moving on apace for the inaugural Symmetric Grand Prix at Datchet Water on the first weekend of October. Jointly organised by the class committees of the 470, 505, Fireball, Flying Dutchman, Hornet, Javelin, National 18 and Osprey, this event really seems to be gathering some momentum.
The event is limited to 120 boats, and organisers are advising anyone interested to pre-register their place before 20 September. After that date the fee goes up from £20 to £30. You can find out more about the event, and pre-register at www.fastsail.org, the joint class website. There is a forum at the site where you can post your ideas for future events or chat about all things symmetric.
Symmetric Coaching
In a change to the usual open meeting format, the Symmetric Grand Prix is offering all competitors the opportunity of free coaching by international coach Peter Conway. Peter will be holding a tuning session before the event begins and will be watching and filming Saturday's racing. This will be followed by an informal de-briefing session in the evening, when Peter will talk through the events of the day using the video footage to illustrate his talk.
As well as promising to be entertaining and informative, joint class chairman Mike Pickles says he wants the event to offer something for everyone, those at the top end of their fleets as well as those who are working their way up. "The Symmetric Grand Prix is a celebration of powerful, classic dinghy sailing. If we're to encourage new members to our fleets, then we must support junior sailors and novices. However, the coaching does not just seem to be attracting novices and juniors. Many more experienced members of the fleets have signed up for coaching, which suggests that this may be something that we will offer at future joint events."
Event organiser Cath Barrett says she has been overwhelmed by the generosity of sponsors who have contributed to the event. Sponsors include Musto, Waterford Wedgwood, Harken, Pinnell & Bax, Yachts & Yachting, Tacktick and Datchet's own chandlery The Dinghy Store.
So if you're interested but not yet entered, go to www.fastsail.org or call Mike Pickles (07887 883844) or your class association and register through them.
