A brief interlude
Written by Paul Goodison | 04 June 2011
There are only a few days before Skandia Sail for Gold so this week has been about just winding down a little bit, getting some time to catch up with a few things off the water and giving my body and my boat the attention it needs to be ready for when racing starts.
It’s been pretty intense for the past two weeks and we’ve had some really windy conditions so when I’ve come in from sailing, I’ve been pretty tired and there has not really been any time to do any paperwork or any of the other stuff that just needs doing.
I joined a golf club a couple of weeks ago because I thought golf would be a brilliant way to take my mind off sailing, but while it was a really nice idea, by the time I’ve been cycling or been to the gym too, the last thing I want to do is walk around a golf course for three hours! I did get to play a round on Thursday though; there was no wind and it was a beautiful day so we put a bit of time in on the golf course. I ended up with bright red forearms because they never see the sun when I’m out on the water!
Me and Saskia also spent the day in Bristol on Sunday just to get out of Weymouth and be somewhere completely away from sailing. It was lovely to spend time chatting in the pub talking about everything but sailing; sometimes you need to do that so you can really keep your mind fresh because the last thing you want is for sailing to feel like a chore.
I’m really looking forward to Skandia Sail for Gold starting. This is the busiest I’ve ever known Weymouth before an event. It seems like a lot of the international teams have taken a leaf out of the Brits’ book from China, and are spending as much time in the venue as possible. There have been 40-50 Lasers out training some days this week, and while that is great in terms of always having someone new to train against, it inevitably ends up having a knock on as everything takes a bit longer to do or to get anywhere. I’m really pleased I put all the work in early so I don’t get wound up by not being able to do certain things now. The whole atmosphere around the venue is certainly more stressful than normal.
I may spend some time on the water before the event starts if we get a couple of lighter days, as we’ve not had much of that recently but aside from that I just need to give the boat a good polish and we’re ready to go.
I am going in to win and I’m reasonably confident I can be there or thereabouts at the end of the week. My thing before China was to be unbeaten on the Olympic racetrack going into the Games. That hasn’t happened with Weymouth because Tom Slingsby beat me here last year so I definitely want to win here again. But as important as this regatta is, I’ve not lost sight of the fact it’s still another step on the path to the most important thing; London 2012. Until that event everything is about learning more and inching out even the smallest gains.
Paul