Team Fletcher-Sign’s winning strategy: stay on your game and never let up
Written by Alain Sign | 23 July 2014
I had a great time doing my first Volvo Sailing Academy at the Mumbles Yacht Club in Swansea this past weekend.
It’s sometimes easy to take our Olympic sailing for granted, but I really enjoy doing stuff like that and feeling like you’re giving back to the sport.
When I was learning I always had people coaching me I looked up to. A guy called Mick Lee, who’s a bit of a mad professor, was the first one to really take me under his wing after seeing me doing things wrong at Hill Head Dinghy Week. He had some random coaching ideas at times! But we’re still good friends and I owe him a lot.
When I was growing up the Howard brothers, Matt and Mark, both sailed at my club and were doing Olympic campaigns and the brilliant Nick Harrison, who coached Iain Percy and Bart Simpson in the Star at London 2012, was also at the club. Having them around spurred me on in my Topper, and gave me something to aspire to.
I remember being out in Stokes Bay when the Athens 2004 bronze medalists, Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks, were flying about in their 49er and using us Toppers as windward marks! It was weird racing against them in 49ers a few years later.
But it just shows stuff like that leaves an impression on young kids and I do enjoy the teaching side of the sport too. I did some RS Feva coaching in the spring and seeing them grow and get better as the season’s gone on has been really rewarding.
We’re off to Rio next Friday (25 August) for around two-and-a-half weeks of training and the first Olympic Test Event regatta.
Read the full blog from Alain here.