Hitting the ground running with a new crew
Written by Saskia Clark | 23 February 2011
Well, I think it’s fair to say that I haven’t had quite the start to 2011 that I was expecting!
Sarah Ayton and I were planning to be full on and fired up for the start of our trials right about now, but after our time in Miami in January Sarah took the difficult decision to end her sailing career and our 2012 campaign together so that she could spend more time with her son Thomas. In a year when we needed to be stepping up a gear heading into the selection trials, she simply felt with trying to balance sailing with her responsibilities as a mum to a toddler, that there wasn’t another gear to be found.
I know how tough that decision was for Sarah – I 100 percent respect her and her decision is definitely the right one. For me though, that Olympic flame is burning just as brightly and I’m more determined than ever to be on the startline in 2012. So, the challenge was on to find a new helm who matched my passion and skills – and to find one quickly!
I spent most of the week after Sarah told me of her decision gathering information, and talking with various people as to who might be the best person to match my skills and decided that Hannah Mills was definitely the person I wanted to campaign with.
Hannah is a great young talent – a fair bit younger than me (although you’d never believe it!) but she’s been sailing the 470 for a few years now and is already one of the fastest in the fleet in certain conditions. She already knows how to sail a 470 and sail one well, so it won’t be a case of having to teach her the ropes – for us it will be a case of gelling as a team, honing the racing skills and the communication in the boat so it’s definitely not a case of back to square one on that front.
Most importantly, Hannah has that passion and drive to succeed and win a gold medal for Team GB at the Olympic Games which really was the factor I was looking for in a new teammate.
I’m really excited about our new partnership. We’ve done a few days’ sailing now out in Palma and so far so good. We’ve got a lot to do to get up to speed for this year, there’s no denying that, but I wouldn’t have carried on sailing if I didn’t think we could make it, and I really feel that we’ve got a huge amount of potential as a team.
For me, competing in Beijing was an amazing experience but not many athletes get the chance to be at a home Games, so as long as Hannah and I have got that chance then we’ll get our heads down and do the hard work.
We’re hitting the ground running, and we’re both mad for it so watch this space!