A series of mini battles rather than a regatta
Written by Elliot Willis | 26 September 2014
Luke and I had a tough task going into the World Championship medal race, with a slim outside chance of making the podium. We knew that going into the day, but we did everything we could. We finished second in the medal race but with ten points up to the Greek guy in third place overall going into the day, the realistic outcome was what we achieved - a fourth place finish. But we did all we could, we went out there and had fun.
Santander was a very tricky regatta to get your teeth and claws into – there didn’t feel like much flow to it. The race committee had a few ups and downs, and there wasn’t much wind at the beginning of the week which never helps. It was like a series of mini battles rather than a regatta. I think the right people still won based on how they were sailing at the event, which is the outcome you would like from any regatta.
From our point of view, it was tricky for us. The first day of gold fleet racing was very hard – we picked up an 18th which was the nail in the coffin really for our chances of a medal realistically.
That said, Luke and I have had a great season and a great six months in the boat together – we’ve medal raced all year, we’ve won the Europeans and won silver at the Test Event in Rio, so we’re going well. We’ve got a few fine bits to sort out boat-wise and equipment development-wise during the winter and we’re looking forward to the next year.
I get on like a house on fire with Luke. We enjoy each other’s company on and off the water and it’s a really good environment to work in. The three of us, together with our coach Steve, have a brilliant working relationship and have a lot of fun outside of sailing. We share hobbies, and we share the passion of sailing so long may that continue.
We’ll go away now and review the Worlds together with Steve and have a look where we’ve lost points – it’s usually fairly obvious! We’ll work out what we’re going to do to the boat as there are a few little things that we’re going to chance and try and improve upon. We’ll get back in the gym again, get out on the bike and back to aerobic fitness rather than sailing fitness. It’ll be a busy winter!