A thinking man's game
Written by Nick Thompson | 27 July 2014
It’s my third time in Rio now and every time I come I start to feel more at home and find everything is becoming a lot easier.
It makes the whole atmosphere of being away more relaxed, and for me that’s the biggest change I’ve noticed across my visits here. It’s not the big, scary Rio that it was originally, it’s becoming just like another city anywhere else.
I’d been told by so many people that it was dangerous here, and it was going to be one of those places which would be exciting but would be on edge the whole time. Obviously, like any city, you’ve got to be careful and not be silly and end up going down a dark street in the middle of the night, but as a whole, the people we’ve dealt with have been very welcoming and hospitable, and I’ve enjoyed my time here so far.
If you’re comfortable off the water then it generally makes everything a bit easier on the water. If you go on to the water pretty stressed out thinking about lots of other things that are completely unrelated to sailing then it’s going to definitely impact on your performance. Generally as a team I think that’s something we’ve been very good at in all the Olympic venues and all the places we go to. The support staff do a very good job of making sure that we as athletes are very comfortable and relaxed, and I know that at the Games that’s something we’ve managed to establish already even so far out. I’ve tried out the language a little bit, but not with great success! I’ve found it so different to any other language that I’ve struggled a little bit with that. Fortunately most of the people speak English!
The Lasers came out to Rio slightly earlier than the rest of the team as there was a small regatta going on, and it’s always good to get some racing in – the more we do here the better. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t particularly great and we only managed to get two races in in two days – but it was in conditions that we haven’t seen before. While that was frustrating it was also quite good as well because you sort of expect Rio to be a certain condition a lot of the time, which is lighter winds and tricky and tidally influenced. We had fronts coming through the whole time which really mixed it up, so while it was a bit frustrating it showed things in a different light and it’s all good experience of time on the water.
The team dynamic has changed a lot over the years. We used to have the Ainslies and Percys so it has changed now they’ve moved on, with some younger faces coming through. While some of us might still feel like we’re young, we’re actually quite old within the team, but we’ve actually got a heap of experience between us – guys like Luke and Stu and Hannah, Saskia, Nick Dempsey… between us all we’ve got a lot of racing experience. The confidence is pretty high in the team and although we may have not the ‘star’ people like the Ainslies and Percys any more, we’ve got plenty of talented people coming through who have shown they are ready to take that step up and make their mark in Rio.
In terms of my own 2016 hopes, at the moment my coach Chris and I are doing a good job of really just trying to focus on the processes and just trying not to think too much about the end game of selection and 2016. In the Laser class worldwide there’s no one really shining right now, which is good and bad. It shows that there’s a huge depth within the class, which is very tricky, but it also shows that there is scope to maybe be that person. Confidence is high, but there’s still a lot of work to do!
I’ve seen a lot of different sailing conditions out in Rio. It’s going to be tricky with some very long days on the water and will be tough in terms of trying to stay focussed. The conditions will be changing all the time so that’s really going to keep it interesting. It will be difficult racing, but that will make it pretty exciting.
It would be nice to medal at the Test Event. I think that is an important thing to do. Although it is about learning the venue, I think trying to medal here is very important for building the confidence and stamping your authority.
But it will be important to learn as much as we can as well – and there is so much to learn here, more than most venues we go to. A combination of so many things makes Rio such a tricky place to sail – there’s the weather, which is so changeable, and the tidal range which is interesting and very unpredictable. The landscape also has a huge influence on the water which changes things so much, so the more sailing you do the better.
It’s definitely a thinking man’s game here!