Training is over, ready to race!
Written by Giles Scott | 03 August 2014
Rio seems to be defying people’s expectations so far.
When we came here we thought that the wind conditions would be very light, and actually over the past week that we’ve been here for training we’ve had some pretty solid wind of around 10 knots most days. It’s been quite nice!
I came out here in January for some training and a small event, and it’s not quite as hot as it was then, which is pleasant, but other than that, the training we did in the [UK] winter seems quite similar and relevant to what we’ve experienced so far on the water here.
I find I’m getting more comfortable here – the city doesn’t feel quite so out of the ordinary the second time around. We know the lay of the land a bit better and you don’t feel quite so sketched out as we did when we first arrived, although like with any big city, there’s always the thought that it might go pear shaped if you don’t keep your wits about you! I think we’re all settling in to it pretty well.
It does feel a bit strange not having all my normal British Finn squad buddies around, but they’ve been replaced with friends from other classes, so it’s a slightly different environment for me. But it was the same set up with the British Sailing Team when I was part of a previous Test Event during Sail for Gold Regatta in 2010 so it’s not completely unusual.
I’m ready to get out there and start racing now. I think it’s 18 boats we have here in the Finn class, so that fleet is not big by any stretch. We’ll see what it’s like – it’s been a while since I’ve done competitive Finn racing in such a small fleet – a little bit like the Games fleet size will be with only 24 boats – so I’m keen to get out there and sus it out. With so few boats it does mean a different tactical approach to the racing. The last major event I did was the European Championships with around 100 boats on a single start line. To go from that to a small start line is very different and requires a different tactical approach. I’ve got my ideas on what that needs to be, but we’ll see at the end of the regatta whether that was right or wrong!
I’d like to leave Rio at the end of this event feeling comfortable that we know what it’s likely to bring come Games-time, get comfortable on the race courses, know the lay of the land and learn as much as I can while I’m here. That said, in spite of it being a learning experience, it’s also a regatta and I’m a competitive person. I don’t come to regattas to not try and win so I’ll be trying my best to try and do that.
We’ll see how it goes!