Sisters, doing it for themselves

The Rawlinson sisters have started up a new Yngling campaign

There are largely two types of sibling in the sailing world; those who can sail together and those who can’t. Those who can stand sailing together often make fantastic sailing teams and over the years we have seen many of them dominating different areas of our sport. So when a British sibling partnership took the Gold Medal in the girls 420 class at the 2000 Youth World Championships and Silver the following year, the sailing world prepared itself for the Rawlinson sisters to be all over the result tables of whichever class they chose to go on and sail.

However, both Victoria and Emma Rawlinson chose to dedicate as much time as they could to their further education studies, leaving little time for competitive racing. The elder of the two sisters, Victoria, is now a fully qualified medical doctor – following her final exams earlier this year, more on this later. Emma is a trainee accountant and, as is the case with accountancy, has still to take her exams at the end of this year. Both have certainly shown a propensity to academic achievement and a quick glance at their respective accomplishments confirms they are likely to excel in their chosen career paths were they to go that way. Instead the two sisters have chosen to embark on a full time Olympic Yngling campaign.

Potentially their respective qualifications could well ease some of the burden of Olympic sailing, safe with the knowledge they have a solid fall back option, though there are still a number of pressures clearly weighing on the girls minds. Foremost of these concerns is the ever present issue of sponsorship.

True to form when we arrive to meet the girls they are chatting to someone about potential opportunities after having spent much of the day at the Southampton Boat Show on the sponsorship trail. Although they both agree they understand sponsorship is a necessary part of any Olympic campaign Victoria, in particular, seems irritated by the time they have to give to this constantly disappointing venture. “It is frustrating having to spend so much time looking for sponsorship. Sponsorship will never get us round the course any quicker but we realise we need that sponsorship to stay out on the water,” she begrudgingly admits.

For the most part our conversation with the girls is dominated by Victoria and one could easily get the impression she is the driving force behind the team but when Emma talks it is clear she is as passionate as her older sister. What also becomes clear is although this is a team very much in its infancy, in Olympic sailing terms; it is also a very professional one. Our questions were always met with a swift concise answer making it clear both of the Rawlinson’s are bright and have thought about what they want to say. Though they are currently looking hard for major sponsors the team have had some success already through local businesses. They have, so far, received sponsorship from Yammayap (a web design company), Dorset Cruises and Northpoint Accountants.

As most will know Victoria had been sailing with Sarah’s Ayton and Webb as a part of their Yngling campaign up until the recent Olympic Test Event in Qingdao. The Sarah’s are now sailing with Katherine Hopson, Christina Bassadone’s crew in the 470 at the Athens Olympics in 2004. “I really enjoyed my time sailing with the two Sarahs but I also really missed helming,” explains Victoria. “I think I missed the responsibility and the involvement in the decision making process the most,” she continues.

However, it was not just Victoria who sailed with the Sarahs over the course of the last year. Emma also sailed with them on the occasions when Victoria had to take her medical exams. Sailing with Ayton and Webb has given the sisters some premium level experience in a relatively short time. Between the two Rawlinsons, they have, with the Sarahs, taken silver medals in Hyeres, SPA and Princess Sofia Olympic regatta’s along with a bronze at the Miami OCR and fourth at the Yngling Worlds all in 2006.

In addition to this experience their middle person is Rachel Howe who has, over the course of the last year, been sailing in the Yngling with Gemma Farrell, who has now packed in her Yngling campaign. “Rachel is great, she brings a great deal of knowledge and enthusiasm for the technical side of the boat,” explains Victoria, something the team is otherwise lacking.

Their history and success to date are positive factors for the team but it is not as simple as jumping into a boat and winning the spot for the Olympics. Currently they have two teams in the UK who are posing a very real threat. Ayton and Webb are fast, have been sailing together a long time and, though they struggled recently at the Olympic Test Event, are still very much the form team in the UK. There is also Shirley Robertson who, although away from sailing for some time now having twins, is coming back to the world of Yngling sailing soon and will be keen to show she has not lost any of the form that has seen her become the only British woman ever to win two consecutive Gold medals.

The Rawlinsons and Howe are planning on running a two boat campaign, one for training at home in the UK and another, brand new one, for their more important events. Their current and oldest boat is actually the boat Howe has been sailing for the past year which has been purchased from Gemma Farrell. The girls believe this to be a very sorted boat which should help them level the playing field on the technical level. “We are not looking for a technical edge over the rest of the field, we just want to go out with the same equipment and give ourselves an even chance,” comments Victoria.

Both Victoria and Emma seem confident they will not suffer too much at the hands of their fellow country-women. One of the main reasons the girls feel they stand a reasonable chance in Qingdao 2008 is, the event is likely to be held in very light winds. Because of these conditions the girls believe it will be less about sailing the Yngling perfectly as a team and more about tactical prowess. Due to this, they argue, they should be realistically on the same level as the rest of the teams in a relatively short amount of time. The clear problem with this is the fact that the qualification for the Olympics proper is Cascais in September 2007 where winds are normally very strong - around the 20-25 knot range - particularly during this part of the year.

Whether being on the pace straight away is a realistic possibility will come to the fore at the team’s first major event, the Sail for Gold Regatta in mid-October, where they will race against their closest competition for the first time. “We have no particular performance goals for the Sail for Gold Regatta,” explains Victoria. “Our plan is to just go out on the water and see exactly how much we need to learn over this winter.”

Unlike many of the Olympic teams the Rawlinsons and Howe will not be heading abroad to some hot and sunny destination, rather they will be out in Weymouth Bay day in, day out, putting in the hard work trying to catch up on some of the many hours they are behind the other teams. This time on the water should be made easier by their bonding as a team so far. “Rachel has been really great and we all get on really, really well,” explains Emma. Both Victoria and Emma believe their on the water attitude and team work will be a deciding factor in their campaign and they will get on well together. “Rachel has fitted in with us so well. At the moment we are communicating a lot through all our manoeuvres but already you can feel the need to do this lessen as we sync up with one another,” explains Victoria.

As is the case with all Olympic sailing, time on the water will be interspersed with many hours in the gym as the girls push themselves up to Olympic fitness levels. “We could do with improving our baseline fitness, between the three of us we need to lose about 5kg to be the ideal weight,” says Victoria. Exactly how much the team need to improve their fitness levels remains to be seen as they will go for their first RYA fitness test in the near future. From there, as with all funded GBR sailors, they will be given targets they must hit and be re-tested on a regular basis.

So far as funding from the RYA goes the girls have been incredibly pleased with the amount of support they have received so far in their campaign. “The RYA have pretty much given us as much support as they can justify and we are really grateful of that from them,” explains Victoria. Currently they are a part of the Olympic Development Squad meaning the girls receive limited funding but gain access to top level coaching and, perhaps crucially, train alongside the other funded Yngling teams in the UK during set training camps.

It remains to be seen if there is time for this new team to catch up with the other Olympic Yngling contenders, both nationally and internationally. However, it is clear Victoria and Emma work well together as a team and Howe has fitted in well. They seem professional and focussed with little ego or arrogance present in their speech. Certainly they are a team who will perform well but whether they perform well enough is another matter.