Sorry for being quiet the last few days. I'm sure many of you have been on the same rollercoaster that Christina and I have been on as our team mates win more medals and others of us don't quite make it.
Going into the medal race, mathmatically it was possible to win the bronze. We had to win with the Brazilians in 9th or 10th and the Israelis in 7th or worse. Racing close into the wall in an offshore breeze it was more than possible and catching glimpses of Nick and Joe's race as we were preparing we knew it was going to be a fight to the end.
We set up for a port end flyer but in the closing minute decided that the wind was holding well out to the right so made the choice to duck the fleet and get to the best wind immediately. So for the first quarter of the beat we were looking glamour especially as the Brazilians and Isrealis were wide on the left and pretty much becalmed. Well unfortunately we all know the ending! The breeze came in from the left and the Brazilians and Isrealis crossed in 1st and 2nd. For the 2nd beat the wind had gone left so there was a long port, giving little opportunity for place changing.
A 4th in the race was good enough to leap frog some of our closer rivals and so we have finished the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in 6th place.
How does it feel...? Honestly gutting. We came here feeling confident that we had made enough inroads into our speed that we were fast enough to win, which was something that was definitely not true this time last year. The Australians thorougly deserve their gold medal, they were consistently in the right place at the right time to capitalise on the opportunities in what is a tricky and difficult place to sail. And I guess if they were in the right place it means that we weren't!
What for the future? Being part of Team Bassadone Clark has been an amazing journey and one that I'm sure for both of us is not complete...!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Sorry for being quiet the last few days. I'm sure many of you have been on the same rollercoaster that Christina and I have been on as our team mates win more medals and others of us don't quite make it.
Going into the medal race, mathmatically it was possible to win the bronze. We had to win with the Brazilians in 9th or 10th and the Israelis in 7th or worse. Racing close into the wall in an offshore breeze it was more than possible and catching glimpses of Nick and Joe's race as we were preparing we knew it was going to be a fight to the end.
We set up for a port end flyer but in the closing minute decided that the wind was holding well out to the right so made the choice to duck the fleet and get to the best wind immediately. So for the first quarter of the beat we were looking glamour especially as the Brazilians and Isrealis were wide on the left and pretty much becalmed. Well unfortunately we all know the ending! The breeze came in from the left and the Brazilians and Isrealis crossed in 1st and 2nd. For the 2nd beat the wind had gone left so there was a long port, giving little opportunity for place changing.
A 4th in the race was good enough to leap frog some of our closer rivals and so we have finished the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in 6th place.
How does it feel...? Honestly gutting. We came here feeling confident that we had made enough inroads into our speed that we were fast enough to win, which was something that was definitely not true this time last year. The Australians thorougly deserve their gold medal, they were consistently in the right place at the right time to capitalise on the opportunities in what is a tricky and difficult place to sail. And I guess if they were in the right place it means that we weren't!
What for the future? Being part of Team Bassadone Clark has been an amazing journey and one that I'm sure for both of us is not complete...!
Posted in
Going into the medal race, mathmatically it was possible to win the bronze. We had to win with the Brazilians in 9th or 10th and the Israelis in 7th or worse. Racing close into the wall in an offshore breeze it was more than possible and catching glimpses of Nick and Joe's race as we were preparing we knew it was going to be a fight to the end.
We set up for a port end flyer but in the closing minute decided that the wind was holding well out to the right so made the choice to duck the fleet and get to the best wind immediately. So for the first quarter of the beat we were looking glamour especially as the Brazilians and Isrealis were wide on the left and pretty much becalmed. Well unfortunately we all know the ending! The breeze came in from the left and the Brazilians and Isrealis crossed in 1st and 2nd. For the 2nd beat the wind had gone left so there was a long port, giving little opportunity for place changing.
A 4th in the race was good enough to leap frog some of our closer rivals and so we have finished the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in 6th place.
How does it feel...? Honestly gutting. We came here feeling confident that we had made enough inroads into our speed that we were fast enough to win, which was something that was definitely not true this time last year. The Australians thorougly deserve their gold medal, they were consistently in the right place at the right time to capitalise on the opportunities in what is a tricky and difficult place to sail. And I guess if they were in the right place it means that we weren't!
What for the future? Being part of Team Bassadone Clark has been an amazing journey and one that I'm sure for both of us is not complete...!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
After being postponed yesterday the Ynglings and Finns got their medal races in today. In both classes Team GB were in GOLD positions going into the race. It was a windy easterly and absolutely bucketing it down with rain.
The Yngling girls were up first, with the silver secure they just had to beat the Dutch team in the 10 boat, double pointer medal race for Gold to be theirs. The girls pretty much lead from the start with the Dutch back in the melee of the fleet, so first Gold won.
It was then the turn of the mighty Ben Ainslie, whose medal race got canceled yesterday due to no wind, when he was in a commanding position. Just as impressive as the girls, Ben went out and won the race - winning his 3rd Olympic Gold.
It was then the turn of the 49ers. Our boys, Stevie and Ben (fellow Lenovo bloggers), unfortunately where out of a shot of a medal. The breeze and waves were pretty marginal at this point for 49er racing but quite possibly it was the most exciting half an hour of sailing I have ever seen. The Danish who were winning snapped their mast in the warm up. They reappeared in the Croatians boat and managed to squeeze through the startline just before it closed at the 4 minute time limit. Boats where capsizing everywhere and the lead was constantly changing. On the last lap the Aussies had the Gold medal to then capsize on the gybe to the finish. Spain went on to win the race and then had to wait to see what resulted from the carnage behind them. The Danes finished the race and on the scoreboard have done enough to win the gold, it waits to be seen though if their result will be allowed to count as they were not in their boat. Danes = GOLD, Spainish = SILVER, Germans = BRONZE. Me = WOW what a race!! I can't wait until ours tomorrow!!
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The Yngling girls were up first, with the silver secure they just had to beat the Dutch team in the 10 boat, double pointer medal race for Gold to be theirs. The girls pretty much lead from the start with the Dutch back in the melee of the fleet, so first Gold won.
It was then the turn of the mighty Ben Ainslie, whose medal race got canceled yesterday due to no wind, when he was in a commanding position. Just as impressive as the girls, Ben went out and won the race - winning his 3rd Olympic Gold.
It was then the turn of the 49ers. Our boys, Stevie and Ben (fellow Lenovo bloggers), unfortunately where out of a shot of a medal. The breeze and waves were pretty marginal at this point for 49er racing but quite possibly it was the most exciting half an hour of sailing I have ever seen. The Danish who were winning snapped their mast in the warm up. They reappeared in the Croatians boat and managed to squeeze through the startline just before it closed at the 4 minute time limit. Boats where capsizing everywhere and the lead was constantly changing. On the last lap the Aussies had the Gold medal to then capsize on the gybe to the finish. Spain went on to win the race and then had to wait to see what resulted from the carnage behind them. The Danes finished the race and on the scoreboard have done enough to win the gold, it waits to be seen though if their result will be allowed to count as they were not in their boat. Danes = GOLD, Spainish = SILVER, Germans = BRONZE. Me = WOW what a race!! I can't wait until ours tomorrow!!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Day 4 dawned with a northerly gradient and the promise of some wind. As the day heated, a battle started between this and a sea breeze, with us becalmed for several hours. We launched at our normal time of 11:15 a.m. and didn't get a sniff of a start until 3:45 p.m. Eventually it was the original gradient that won out, however still with some big holes and swings to watch out for. This kind of racing is a real game of snakes and ladders, it's hero to zero stuff as one side of the course looks good only to fall into a hole and the other side take their turn at leading. The first race should have been better than the 8th we got, and race 2 was a good hard fought 3rd. Again the leading Austrailians had a great day, but otherwise the fleet had an up and down day so the boats chasing for the bronze are all reasonably close with 2 fleet races left.
Day 5 sees us 15 points off 3rd place, 2 races to close the gap and then finishing off with the double point medal race for the top 10, so still plenty of potential. The first race was very frustrating and it felt like we couldn't trust our eyes; the wind Gods weren't smiling down on us. We had all the signs for a classic sea breeze day with a light northerly gradient, that had turned into a building solid sea breeze, slightly tracking right. Well, this was the case for the boys race who started 30 minutes before us in a decent 7 knots of wind. However, throughout the course of our race the breeze shifted 50 degrees left and dropped to sub 3 knots. We were on good compass numbers heading out to where there was breeze on the right of the race track, with the rest of the fleet sat in a hole to our left. The sea breeze we were seeing retracted slowly and the left (more northerly wind) filled in at the very top of the windward leg. We finished the race race in almost dis-belief at what had happened.
We had to change our strategy for these wacky conditions that we're seeing, just to qualify for the the medal race. We decided to stay exactly in the middle of the fleet, not trusting what we saw with the wind, thus minimising risk, we had a good start and were 3rd around the 1st mark. We saw a similar situation to the previous race but this time we stuck to our very conservative plan in the middle of the fleet, and only lost to 2 boats that had gone hard right - which is what we had done the previous race when it hadn't paid! As we crossed the finish line of our final fleet race in 5th place, we were apprehensive as to whether we had done enough to make the top 10 medal race.
The Austrailians had a blistering day in really tough conditions and the Gold medal is all but theirs. The Dutch in second had a slightly less steady day, dropping some points but are still relatively comfortable in silver. The Brazilians rose to the scrap for bronze going into the medal race. We have stayed pretty much the same in 9th place overall, and unfortunately didn't close the gap on a day that was full of possibilities that frustratingly didn't go our way. However, with the double points of the medal race it is still mathematically possible to win bronze - "So, you're saying there's a chance.." ;-) Although not a high probability due to relying on the other boats to finish in a certain order. Nevertheless, we're going to go out there tomorrow, still giving it everything we've got, to finish what has been a very testing regatta on a high.
Posted in
Day 5 sees us 15 points off 3rd place, 2 races to close the gap and then finishing off with the double point medal race for the top 10, so still plenty of potential. The first race was very frustrating and it felt like we couldn't trust our eyes; the wind Gods weren't smiling down on us. We had all the signs for a classic sea breeze day with a light northerly gradient, that had turned into a building solid sea breeze, slightly tracking right. Well, this was the case for the boys race who started 30 minutes before us in a decent 7 knots of wind. However, throughout the course of our race the breeze shifted 50 degrees left and dropped to sub 3 knots. We were on good compass numbers heading out to where there was breeze on the right of the race track, with the rest of the fleet sat in a hole to our left. The sea breeze we were seeing retracted slowly and the left (more northerly wind) filled in at the very top of the windward leg. We finished the race race in almost dis-belief at what had happened.
We had to change our strategy for these wacky conditions that we're seeing, just to qualify for the the medal race. We decided to stay exactly in the middle of the fleet, not trusting what we saw with the wind, thus minimising risk, we had a good start and were 3rd around the 1st mark. We saw a similar situation to the previous race but this time we stuck to our very conservative plan in the middle of the fleet, and only lost to 2 boats that had gone hard right - which is what we had done the previous race when it hadn't paid! As we crossed the finish line of our final fleet race in 5th place, we were apprehensive as to whether we had done enough to make the top 10 medal race.
The Austrailians had a blistering day in really tough conditions and the Gold medal is all but theirs. The Dutch in second had a slightly less steady day, dropping some points but are still relatively comfortable in silver. The Brazilians rose to the scrap for bronze going into the medal race. We have stayed pretty much the same in 9th place overall, and unfortunately didn't close the gap on a day that was full of possibilities that frustratingly didn't go our way. However, with the double points of the medal race it is still mathematically possible to win bronze - "So, you're saying there's a chance.." ;-) Although not a high probability due to relying on the other boats to finish in a certain order. Nevertheless, we're going to go out there tomorrow, still giving it everything we've got, to finish what has been a very testing regatta on a high.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Day 3
Yesterday was a very disappointing day for us.
It was the lightest day so far and we were on the tricky course A, the most inshore area. We failed to capitalise on our great starts and great speed. In race 1 we had a persistent 30 degree right shift from start time. We had a great start already on good starboard numbers so carried on waiting for the oscillation to go left which never came. The fleet was hugely spread out after the first beat so their was little opportunity to get anything back.
Race 2
Again a great start and we over thought everything rather than just keeping it simple.
As we are on schedule with our races, today we can spend our reserve day in the air conditioning and getting ready for tomorrow.
We are half way through the regatta and as many of you know that have followed our progress over the last few years we have come back from worse than this! Yesterday has happened and we can only look forward. We are 15 points from 3rd and have 4 fleet races and the medal race to turn things around. From personal experience we know we can do it and watching others at this venue over the past few years we know it is possible.
Posted in
Yesterday was a very disappointing day for us.
It was the lightest day so far and we were on the tricky course A, the most inshore area. We failed to capitalise on our great starts and great speed. In race 1 we had a persistent 30 degree right shift from start time. We had a great start already on good starboard numbers so carried on waiting for the oscillation to go left which never came. The fleet was hugely spread out after the first beat so their was little opportunity to get anything back.
Race 2
Again a great start and we over thought everything rather than just keeping it simple.
As we are on schedule with our races, today we can spend our reserve day in the air conditioning and getting ready for tomorrow.
We are half way through the regatta and as many of you know that have followed our progress over the last few years we have come back from worse than this! Yesterday has happened and we can only look forward. We are 15 points from 3rd and have 4 fleet races and the medal race to turn things around. From personal experience we know we can do it and watching others at this venue over the past few years we know it is possible.
Day 2
So you may have noticed after looking at the results that we were disqualified from the first race yesterday. At the time of writing our blog the noticeboard had been checked and there was nothing up. It was over dinner that a phone call came through that we would be in the protest room at 9pm.
We had an incident at the final mark before the finish with the Slovenian team, we believed we had water on them, they believed we didn't so shut the door on us. To avoid a collision we headed up to go around the back of them but in the light and sloppy conditions just nudged them on the way past. We thought we were in the right and they thought they were in the right. They finished the race in the position that they had rounded the mark and we lost 2 places as going around the back of them opened up a gap for others to overtake.
Going into the protest room in any situation is risky, even if it is a clear cut port and starboard there is still a risk that the jury will see it differently and make the call against you. So for this reason we decided not to protest, however the Slovenian was in another totally unrelated protest for which she got DSQ'd from the race so had nothing to lose by protesting us.
So it didn't go our way and a frustrating day got even more disappointing.
Anyway, today was another day and the comments we made in yesterday's blog were still true. It's going to be a long regatta and everyone is going to have their ups and downs.
So with a point to prove today we went out there firing on all cylinders. Awareness high we made good decisions off the startline, were patient with the shifts and got the basics right- sounds very simple when its put like that!
Posted in
So you may have noticed after looking at the results that we were disqualified from the first race yesterday. At the time of writing our blog the noticeboard had been checked and there was nothing up. It was over dinner that a phone call came through that we would be in the protest room at 9pm.
We had an incident at the final mark before the finish with the Slovenian team, we believed we had water on them, they believed we didn't so shut the door on us. To avoid a collision we headed up to go around the back of them but in the light and sloppy conditions just nudged them on the way past. We thought we were in the right and they thought they were in the right. They finished the race in the position that they had rounded the mark and we lost 2 places as going around the back of them opened up a gap for others to overtake.
Going into the protest room in any situation is risky, even if it is a clear cut port and starboard there is still a risk that the jury will see it differently and make the call against you. So for this reason we decided not to protest, however the Slovenian was in another totally unrelated protest for which she got DSQ'd from the race so had nothing to lose by protesting us.
So it didn't go our way and a frustrating day got even more disappointing.
Anyway, today was another day and the comments we made in yesterday's blog were still true. It's going to be a long regatta and everyone is going to have their ups and downs.
So with a point to prove today we went out there firing on all cylinders. Awareness high we made good decisions off the startline, were patient with the shifts and got the basics right- sounds very simple when its put like that!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Luckily we know that this event was never going to be won on the first day, so with 2 races done and 9 remaining, we have a long way to go. That said today's start was not the blazing out of the blocks that we had hoped for. It was a tricky day on course D, with unstable winds both in velocity and direction.
We launched in a fresh 12 knots easterly and didn't get our hopes up as we were expecting it to drop by start time. It duly did, leaving behind the usual awkward Qingdao chop and marginal wiring conditions, that we are well prepared for.
In both races our fleet was extremely close. A few of the girls got off to a great start with 2 good races, but for the most part everyone was up and down, a trait of our fleet. In race one we got rather swallowed up in the middle of the course and never really broke free on a winning edge. While in race 2 we had a fantastic start, port tacking the fleet and rounding mark 1 in second. It all went bad on the run, with some bad decision making and an unfavourable wind shift. We finally scrambled together a mediocre 8th.
I wouldn't say that nerves got the better of us today; we slept well last night, held down our breakfast, and felt focused and ready going into the racing today. It was just a tough day in the office. This is going to be a long regatta with plenty of opportunities, especially as people let the pressure and nerves get the better of them. What is important is that we remain positive, focused and alert, ready to pounce on the opportunities of a new day tomorrow.
We were the only Team GB sailors that made the trip up to Beijing for the opening ceremony, it was AWESOME!! We arrived Friday in time for lunch so it was straight into the food hall to eat and people watch. This has got to be one of the best places in the world to do that! Tall people, short people, people with huge biceps and skinny legs... it is a great game of guess the sport. Hilariously there is a McDonalds in their too with a surprisingly big queue!
In the afternoon we had been asked to do some press stuff and were expecting an informal chat with the main Team GB media lady. Oh no! We were driven to the main Olympic media building for a full scale press conference!
Then it was time for the main event. All the athletes waited in the gymnastics arena which is a short walk from the Bird's Nest. Unfortunately there weren't any big screens in there so we missed all the amazing action but it was cool to mingle with other members of Team GB and walk around people spotting. Yao Ming's arrival caused a stir.
We eventually marched into the stadium after about 4 hours of waiting and it was truly an amazing experience. The sheer size and noise of it all was quite breathtaking. Our march round didn't nearly take long enough and we were then in the middle with time to chat and cheer on the other sailors that had made the trip up.
The rest of Team GB are down in Macau at a Holding Camp, our sailing managers decided though that this was a bit too far to go and so we did the short flight to Shanghai to have time away from the boats, time to relax and focus on the coming weeks.
We had the added bonus of being in Shanghai, while our measurement was taking place. Olympic Games measurement is notorious for being very picky and meticulous and particularly stressful, so our team's technical man and Morgan our coach opted to stay behind and get our boat through and keep us well out of the way. All was well though and she went through without any difficulties.
In Shanghai we stayed in a blinging hotel and alongside some team meetings about Games operations we had time to train, relax and general messing about, with a bit of beach volleyball thrown in and despite having all the gear none of the other hotel guests would believe that we were infact Team GB's beach volleyball team- quite insulting!!
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We had the added bonus of being in Shanghai, while our measurement was taking place. Olympic Games measurement is notorious for being very picky and meticulous and particularly stressful, so our team's technical man and Morgan our coach opted to stay behind and get our boat through and keep us well out of the way. All was well though and she went through without any difficulties.
In Shanghai we stayed in a blinging hotel and alongside some team meetings about Games operations we had time to train, relax and general messing about, with a bit of beach volleyball thrown in and despite having all the gear none of the other hotel guests would believe that we were infact Team GB's beach volleyball team- quite insulting!!
Out to Qingdao and expecting a light wind Olympic Games..... needless to say our first Qingdao sail was in 20 knots and 3 metre waves! We launched from our training base at Yin Hai wih waves crashing over the breakwater and the 49er boys thinking we would never make it! Needless to say they didn't know what they were talking about and we had an awesome sail and surf down to the Olympic marina.
We joined in with the planned racing in a much depleted fleet as many thought better of having a sail in the big waves and wind.
The Olympic marina isn't much different to last year as the Chinese have been so well prepared. The boat park and container set up is all the same. Now the athlete village is all finished but we are not staying there as a British squad, opting instead to stay where we have been based for the last 2 years.
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We joined in with the planned racing in a much depleted fleet as many thought better of having a sail in the big waves and wind.
The Olympic marina isn't much different to last year as the Chinese have been so well prepared. The boat park and container set up is all the same. Now the athlete village is all finished but we are not staying there as a British squad, opting instead to stay where we have been based for the last 2 years.
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