Bald Ambition
One of the pleasures of doing this job is getting to meet people who are seriously committed to what they are doing. People who embody that "ain't no mountain high enough" kind of spirit. Of the sailors I have interviewed over the past year, Laura Baldwin has been one of the most inspiring. If you happened to read my profile of our Olympic Europe representative when it was published a few months ago, you'll know why. For someone who finished 120th in the Europe Worlds just two years ago to believe that they could still go on to represent their country this August in Athens takes some guts and courage.
I'm delighted to see that Gill have chosen to sponsor Laura in her quest for success (I won't say Gold, but I'll happily eat my hat if she manages it) in Athens. The press release from the clothing company detailed all Laura's achievements along the way, including a 63rd at the Topper Nationals in 1999! Suffice it to say the CV gets more impressive as you read further. The way the press release is presented, it is obvious that it was the same "rags-to-riches", "never-say-die" spirit that appealed to Gill. As Nick Gill commented: "Laura epitomises so much of what we stand for as a company. We always aim for long-term partnerships as we work on development and testing programmes with all our sponsored sailors. Laura has worked incredibly hard, put any setbacks behind her and achieved a place in Team GB for Athens. Her attitude, spirit and enthusiasm for the task won us over and we'll back her all the way."
Amen to that, and Gill's support will certainly help, but as her father Colin points out, a little more help from another sponsor certainly wouldn't go amiss either. Even with selection secured and with the considerable resources of the RYA behind her, Laura faces a hefty personal bill in getting herself to the Athens start line in the best shape possible. So if any other potential sponsors out there would like to lend their weight to one of the most exciting and inspiring stories in Olympic sailing, then please get in touch with Laura. Her email is: laura_383@hotmail.com.
Rig down, but not out
There are some inspiring stories emerging from Olympic selection over in America too. As I write, the Star class trials are half way over, with Paul Cayard and Phil Trinter leading the field by a healthy margin. Qualifying for the US Star slot has always been tough. In past years it was probably tougher than the Olympic Games themselves, and it's not far short of that this time round. Reigning Olympic Champion Mark Reynolds has won three medals - two Golds and a Silver - and yet at the halfway stage of the selection trials he was in fourth place overall.
So Cayard's domination of the fleet has been impressive, not least that his mast fell down on the way out to the start of one particularly windy day's racing in Biscayne Bay, Miami. The backstay slipped out of its cleat and down crashed the rig. But unfazed, they got a high-speed tow back in by their coach and stepped a new mast in just 17 minutes. Not only that, but they headed back out into the Bay where winds were blowing consistently over 20 knots, and proceeded to win both races.
Amazing stuff. But for me, the most interesting story to emerge from the US trials is that of Kevin Hall, who recently won the Finn selections by an emphatic margin. Kevin has twice missed out on Olympic selection before. In 1996 he was pipped to the Laser slot, and in 2000 he was crewing for Morgan Larson in the 49er, but on that occasion missed out to the McKee brothers who went on to win a bronze in Sydney. He sailed with OneWorld for the America's Cup in Auckland, before jumping into the Finn.
Now, it's fair to say that Kevin is not yet showing much sign of toppling Ben Ainslie from his perch, but he has certainly climbed a long way up the Finn fleet in a short time. Kevin's story is further enhanced by the fact that he has fought and won a battle with testicular cancer. Any fans of the Tour de France will know that fellow American Lance Armstrong survived a similar battle before pedaling his way to five successive Tour victories. Armstrong has also survived many slanderous allegations of illegal drug taking, and has always vigorously refuted such rumours.
Kevin Hall, on the other hand, makes no secret of the fact that he will fail every drug test that he is asked to take. Whereas Armstrong lost one testicle to cancer, Hall lost both. This means he is unable to produce his own testosterone, and therefore has to resort to taking testosterone artificially. Seeing as testosterone is a powerful steroid and on the banned substances list, this puts his participation in the Olympics in some jeopardy. The US Olympic Sailing Committee are working hard to make sure their Finn representative gets due dispensation to compete, and I hope that red tape does not get in Kevin's way of marking the start line in Athens this August. Wherever he finishes in the Olympic regatta, his will be a remarkable story of human endeavour.
Kiwis in a pickle
The Americans have a first-past-the-post selection system which these days is quite unusual. The RYA used to run a one-week trial called Weymouth Olympic Week, of which a version is about to begin for the Laser class in early April. The difference is that these days the RYA reserve the right to make a selection based on past form as well as performance in the trials themselves. This seems eminently sensible, as we have seen some nasty mistakes made in the past.
Nigel Buckley and Pete Newlands, for example, were reigning Pre-Olympic and World Champions in the 470 when they went to Weymouth Olympic Week to compete for Olympic selection in 1988. It should have been a formality, as no other British 470 team came close to them in international terms. But hold a small domestic regatta in chilly Weymouth, and it can become quite a different story. Winning international regattas and domestic open meetings can require very different skills, and so it proved for this unfortunate duo. In fact Buckley and Newlands came nowhere close to winning the trials, finishing a distant fourth, with Jason Belben and Andy Hemmings selected in their place. Britain missed out on one of its most certain medals for the Seoul Games that year. That regatta was a nasty, wavy, windy affair, and past form suggested Buckley and Newlands would have revelled in it.
The same fate befell the three-times 470 World Champions David Barnes and Hamish Wilcox four years earlier, who could only manage fourth at the New Zealand trials for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Again, a less experienced team had a great selection regatta, only to put in a mediocre performance for the Games themselves.
The difference is, the RYA seems to have learned the lesson while Yachting New Zealand has found itself caught up in an embarrassing dispute with some of its top sailors. To be fair, Yachting New Zealand did move away from the straight, winner-takes-all selection series of old to one that now takes more account of international performances. But some sailors have successfully appealed against YNZ's initial selection decisions.
In a highly competitive Laser trial, former Team New Zealand tactician Hamish Pepper won the week. However, runner-up Andrew Murdoch successfully contested YNZ's selection of Pepper at the Sports Disputes Tribunal. Murdoch finished seventh at last year's World Championships in Cadiz, where Pepper was forced to retire through injury. So the tribunal agreed that Pepper had yet to prove himself on the international stage, and have now said that Pepper, Murdoch and third-placed Nik Burfoot must go on to compete at the Laser Worlds this May. On being handed this second chance, however, Burfoot declined the offer, saying that Pepper had done enough to be selected already. Murdoch, however, is sticking to his guns, so now they are down to a two-horse race between Pepper and Murdoch.
A similar situation has arisen in the 470 class, where 2002 World Champion Simon Cooke finished third in his trials. Shades of Barnes and Wilcox from 20 years ago? Well, not quite, because Cooke fell out with his longstanding team mate with whom he won the Worlds, Pete Nicholas. In his place Cooke raced with new crew Alistair Gair. Forming a new partnership just weeks before a selection trials hardly seems like ideal preparation, but the tribunal has also found in Cooke's favour. Cooke and his new team mate get a second chance to reassert their claim to selection in a sail-off at the 470 Worlds against the two teams that beat them on home waters, Andrew Brown and Jamie Hunt and brothers Stephen and Phillip Keen. What a mess. Whoever gets selected will have just three short months to get their breath back and begin the build-up to the Games.
Weekend Warriors
One of the other surprising things about the Kiwi Olympic scene is the absence of interest in the 49er class. Despite having Dave Mackay building 49ers right there in Auckland, and despite the long Antipodean association with skiff sailing, interest in the class is virtually non-existent. Thankfully, the same is not the case in this country, where an influx of 29er sailors has bolstered the already thriving fleet. At the first open meeting of the year at Queen Mary, almost 30 boats turned up for battle in winds that topped 25 knots. All the big guns were there, reigning World Champions Draper and Hiscocks, along with the three other squad boats that finished in the top seven of last year's Worlds.
For lesser mortals, the chance to race against sailors of this calibre is both the attraction and the disadvantage of racing the 49er. You get to hone your skills against the world's very best skiff sailors, but you also know that it's highly unlikely you're going to win too much silverware while these guys are around. So 49er website guru Charlie Muir has come up with the idea of staging a Weekend Warriors' circuit for those people that have to haul their weary, 49er-battered bodies back into the office on Monday mornings. This means that while Draper, Brotherton et al. sail off into the distance, the so-called ‘Weekend Warriors' are still battling it out for their own silverware and their own prizes - a race within a race. To some extent this system has already existed in the way that the RYA travel grants are handed out at the Holt-sponsored RYA events, but the Weekend Warriors series will formalise this amateur championship into a series that spans the entire domestic season. If you want to find out more about the Weekend Warriors' series, go to www.49er.org.uk. And come and have a go, if you think you're amateur enough.
