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Team Link 49er Update - February 2011
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Fighting the winter weather in the UK is never the easiest thing to do, but that was just what Mark and I needed to do in order to get our Team Link 49er 2012 campaign back on track. Having lost July to September through injury we had some catching up to do.
The first few sails were very edgy as any further knee problems for me would have probably meant the end of our plans for Olympic Team selection and with it any chance of reaching the ultimate goal of an Olympic Gold Medal. So it was with great satisfaction and relief that we came through in one piece and were able to step up the intensity on-the-water and in the gym.
As our team mates headed to the warmer waters of the southern hemisphere for training and a contest in Perth, we remained in the increasingly cold and threatening wind and weather conditions of Weymouth (the site of the 2012 Olympic sailing regatta and our home until then). We had to decline our place in the container to Perth as at the time of loading I was still on my crutches!
We were fortunate that key members of the support team stayed in Weymouth with us. Steve Gent the RYA strength and conditioning coach and Sarah Tidey the team sports masseur and Pilates trainer. This allowed Mark and I to fill in any time lost to the weather with some highly focussed and demanding gym work. Our aim was to add a few kilos in the right places and begin to pile up the sailing hours to get us back to a level that would allow us to compete for podium places at the events in 2011.
Other than losing a couple of weeks just before Christmas because of the freezing temperatures we enjoyed a tremendous training period and went into our short Christmas break satisfied and excited about our January plans.
Flying long haul is rarely pleasant but the prospect of mild weather and perfect sailing conditions helped the 9 hour flight to Miami pass relatively easily. Arriving there on the 3 January gave us ample time to get into some speed tuning with our British team mates and still plan a couple of days of down time to gather our breath before the ISAF Grade 1 event that spread over the last week of the month.
Ending the regatta with a silver medal and being part of a British Team clean sweep of the podium was a fantastic reward and helps generate a little more buzz and motivation for the coming months.
Now back in England we are organising our lives so we can get our heads fully into our spring training that begins in Palma on 10 February.
Our on-the-water training will be supplemented with two separate week long cycling camps, these murderous sessions are a vital part of our fitness regime and doing the work with our team mates across all the Olympic classes adds something different and may help deflect some of the pain - well that is my hope anyway!
The Sail for Gold event in Weymouth in June 2011 is a major milestone for any British Olympic sailor this year. However, it being so close to the time when Olympic selection is made, all of us will be looking to make every event count and accurately reflect where we are at. Sailing is a fantastic sport and is rarely one that runs "to the book". No doubt there will be some twists and turns in the coming months and should provide plenty of excitement and interest for sailing fans. Being part of a hugely successful British team is an honour and a privilege and Mark and I intend to enjoy every experience and do our best to show what we can do.
None of this would be possible without the incredible support we receive from Link Oil and Gas Professionals, their commitment, dedication and technical input into the strategy and execution of our campaign is one of our key assets and a major reason why we feel so positive about this Pre-Olympic year.
Key dates for TEAM LINK 49er:
April 2 - 9 Princess Sofia Trophy (Palma)
April 23 - 29 Semaine Olympique (Hyeres)
June 5 - 11 Sail For Gold (Weymouth)
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
