Waiting On A Wheel......
Written by Barrie Edgington | 27 August 2010
It is never ideal when you arrive at a venue to prepare for a World Championships that start a few days later only to discover that all the sailors’ kit and your RIB are stuck in Germany courtesy of a blown wheel bearing but this was the news that greeted us on Tuesday as we headed to Denmark!
In the end everything was alright as the trailer eventually arrived in Kerteminde 24 hours later than scheduled and our preparations weren’t upset too much as it blew a gale all day Wednesday so the sailors went off to Copenhagen for the day and I waited at the venue for the kit to turn up.
Of course Nick Dempsey arrives at these Worlds as the defending champion, which is a new situation for him. Nick’s focus for the year was to do as well as he could at Skandia Sail for Gold and the fact he didn’t win that event as we hoped means he will have an added motivation to do well here.
I know Nick has found it a tremendous honour to be World Champion and there is no doubt he would like to take the title again. At Sail for Gold he was disappointed not to convert the opportunity he had to win ahead of the medal race into a gold medal but as soon as he didn’t execute the start as well as we hoped, and the opportunity for gold very quickly slipped away, it was really pleasing to see how quickly he was able to switch his focus and close out on winning a medal, which he did very, very well.
Those are the sorts of decisions only a sailor can make when they’re out on the course and as a coach watching on out on the water you can only hope the sailor reacts positively. Most of the work we did in the build-up for Sail for Gold will stand Nick in good stead here as the conditions aren’t dissimilar to Weymouth and Portland; the prevailing wind is offshore and it is pretty flat.
The most important thing between Sail for Gold and the Worlds was making sure Nick was mentally rested so he’s done a little of sailing and kept things pretty light and just enjoyed a bit of recreation time to freshen him up again.
Over the next few days all the sailors will do a bit of race practice on the course areas and just get used to the lake venue; it will be short, sharp stuff. Weatherwise we can pretty much guarantee that whatever the UK is having, we will get 12 hours later so we will be keeping a close eye on the weather back home! It’s September so you’ve got to expect everything from light breeze to gales.
One of the challenges you have when you achieve a big goal like Nick did in winning the Worlds last year is staying motivated afterwards. It’s easy to sit back, reflect and breathe it in for a bit too long when you’ve really achieved something you’ve wanted so badly.
We’re working on Nick having one big goal a year for him to really focus on and aim for and once this season is out of the way, with whatever the Worlds may or may not bring, his focus will be back on London 2012.