Introducing Link
Link Oil and Gas Professionals - News
Team Link 49er Update - March 2010
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The reality of today’s situation is that both of us live 100 meters of a World Class gym specifically developed for (and exclusively used by) the British Olympic Sailing Team. A further 100 meters away is our boat rigged and ready to sail in the waters of this years key event (the Sail For Gold Regatta in August) and obviously the same waters of the Olympics in 2012.
Both Mark and I have upped sticks from our previous homes and moved lock stock and barrel to Portland. We have resourced our campaign with a large box trailer to store all our sailing equipment and tools. The first week of training with this exciting new set up has been completed, cold early spring temperatures aside, it is just brilliant to be here and fully focussed on the work we need to do in the gym and on-the-water.
The last six months has been a whirlwind for me, having been coaching for 6 years, (6 years that produced, 2 World Championship wins, 1 European Championship win and and my three girls winning the Olympic Gold Medal at the Beijing Olympics – they were very good!) getting back into racing myself was exciting and pretty scary.
In spite of only four days training before our first race back in September 2009, we managed to win a Silver Medal. This however, hid the fact that we were very ring rusty and particularly our handling skills were below par.
The normal 49er race consists of two laps over 30 minutes, there are normally 3 or 4 tacks per windward leg, one spinnaker hoist, 2 or 3 gybes and a spinnaker drop per lap, so something like 9 or 10 different handling manoeuvres per lap, times 2 laps, 20 in 30 mins, one every 90 seconds.
We finished 10th at the Worlds in the Bahamas, which were sailed on a restricted area (the course was laid on a reef, outside the reef was so deep they could not lay marks) it was a very small area and we were forced into completing 4 laps in 25 minutes! Same 10 manoeuvres per lap, so 40 in 25 minutes, or a manoeuvre every 37.5 seconds. Our handling was sufficient but no way World Class. Our racing skill is higher than our handling skills by some margin, and the results from the two regattas prove that.
This lead us to the point we are at now, living at the sailing venue for the 2012 Olympic Games, quick and easy access to our team gym, the strength and conditioning team and the physios. We can sail everyday, receive world class input and coaching support – which at this stage is focussed entirely on our handling, using video analysis of our footwork, boat balance and trim through manoeuvres.
Its rewarding to have created the opportunity to get back to the basics and remind ourselves of the ground work that a good sailing team- like any other World Class team or athlete) has to put in, to enable effective racing at the highest level – there are no shortcuts!
We will continue with a fitness and handling focus until our first event on the 10th and 11th of April, which will be a UK event at the National sailing academy here on Portland. The British fleet is extremely competitive – there were 5 British boats in the top 10 at the World Championships. It will be a good chance for us to measure how much our handling has improved and how this effects our ability to race.
Thanks must go to everybody at Link for their support and encouragement; we will fly the Link branding with pride and aim to equal your professional attitude and commitment to excellence.
Paul Brotherton and Mark Asquith
Read more about Link Oil and Gas Professionals 49er sailing Olympic sponsorship
