The biggest year

With the Olympics looming there are two British 470 teams in the running for selection

This year Skandia Team GBR took first place in the men’s 470 class at the Olympic Test Event in Qingdao and followed this with a first place at the World Championship a small way further down the coast in Rizhao. This was a fantastic result but it does represent a rather significant problem for Olympic selection: the two events were won by different teams.

Newly crowned 470 World Champions, Nic Asher and Elliot Willis, have been sailing together since they were youths in the 420. From this background they have been slowly building up experience in the 470 together and have, in the last year and a bit, gone from being a team who were regularly close to the top to a team capable of winning any of the events they attend.

This year particularly has seen the team going from strength to strength, culminating in their World championship win in Rizhao, China. “Our aims for the year were top three finishes at both the Olympic Test Event and the World championships. We achieved those goals [they came third at the Test Event] - and after our performance at the Test Event we went into the Worlds knowing that we stood a very good chance of winning,” explains Asher.

And the World Championship victory was not a one-off. 2006 has seen then Asher and Willis win at both the Miami OCR and the 470 North American Championships. Although in previous years the team has had some impressive results, they have lacked consistency with many results inside the top five at big international events but also many outside the top 20.

This increase in form over the last year or so has come largely from an increased commitment to training and a slightly more adult approach says Asher. “We highlighted the areas we thought would make the difference between being consistently top ten and consistently top three positions. Part of what we realised was that we needed to make sure that in training every single thing that we did was perfect and we did not stop until we had done it. We were trying to be very self disciplined within ourselves.” He adds that they realised they were not making the most of the time they had put aside for training.



In terms of their training groups, Asher and Willis spend most of their time with the Skandia Team GBR Performance Squad. This squad consists of themselves, Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield – the Olympic Test Event winners -, Christina Bassadone and, up until recently, Pippa Wilson and Sheena Craig. “Normally we all train together as a squad. If we are not training with them for whatever reason then we try to get some of the [Olympic Development Squad] people out in Weymouth or somewhere,” says Asher.

Since Asher and Willis both sailed together in the 420 when they were in the RYA Youth Squad prior to their moving into the 470, they hold the natural advantage of having sailed together for a long time and know each other very well. As well as knowledge of one another some of their previous strengths also transferred with them into the 470 when they changed boats. “All our youth sailing in the 420 was in lighter weather and we concentrated quite hard on that Mediterranean chop, light air stuff where the Brits were not traditionally that great,” explains Asher “So we did a lot of work on that. All of our Worlds were in those sorts of conditions, so we stepped into the 470 and all of those skills just transferred really well. From quite early on we were already quick in that sort of stuff.”

This initial speed perhaps explains their inconsistent form toward the start of their 470 sailing careers, where they would win at events where the weather was more suited to them, but on the flipside in other conditions they tended to struggle. “When we first started sailing the 470, the main areas we were weak in were in the heavier end of the wind strength range, so we tried to do quite a lot of work on that during our training sessions. Basically in the planning conditions we were a little bit behind the guys that had already been in the 470 for a while, but it was not too much of a big deal,” comments Asher.

Currently both Asher and Willis are at a skiing training/fitness camp in Austria with a number of the other members of the Skandia Team GBR Squad. However, in the next week they will be back from this and be back to full swing on the Olympic circuit. They head to Miami on 10 January and from there to the 470 North American Championships. After that is over they will stay in Miami for the Rolex Miami OCR. Then they come back to Europe for a while for some training before going out to Palma with the rest of the squad for the February-March period prior to the Princess Sofia and the rest of the European summer circuit.

However, this year is not just about performing well on the European circuit as the Olympics begin to loom ever closer. “We will be in Cascais in May with the rest of the squad again, preparing for the 2007 ISAF World Sailing Championships,” explains Asher. This event is particularly important for them as it represents one of the first opportunities of Olympic qualification.



As we have mentioned Asher and Willis are not the only British 470 team on form at the moment and they will definitely have their work cut out if they are to be the team who qualify for the British Olympic spot in China. Their main competition is of course Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield who have so far racked up a fourth place and a silver medal at consecutive Olympic Games in addition to numerous top three finishes in international competition over a number of years. “I think we just need to beat Nick and Joe at the Worlds next year and medal as well, I think,” says Asher “We are not worrying too much about it and are trying to take the attitude that the more events we medal at and beat them next year the better. However, to put it bluntly next year is a really important big, big year for us.” Of course one of the great strengths about the British team over the last two Olympics has been the strength in numbers they have exhibited. The problem of having to beat team-mates who are top of the World in the same class as you is a natural and unavoidable one from a squad of this calibre.

Though qualification for, and a medal at, the 2008 Olympic Games is the biggest thing on Asher and Willis’ minds at the moment, the duo are also focussed on more long term goals. Asher is quite categoric: “Our current aim is obviously the 2008 Beijing Olympics at the moment. We will definitely be campaigning for the 2012 Olympic Games though, I can say that without any hesitation.”

Of course with the recent announcement that ISAF are to remove one medal from the Olympic sailing competition it may prove to be the Men’s 470. While Asher can tell us he will be campaigning for the 2012 Olympic Games, he is uncertain at this stage in which boat.. Certainly there are a number of people out there who believe the 470 is in a dubious position and is one of the main contenders to be dropped. “There have been some people talking about it in the class but as far as I am concerned I can’t say I have really given it much thought to be honest. My view is that you can’t really do anything about it so it is just not worth thinking about,” Asher concludes.

It must be odd for Asher and Willis to be simultaneously World Champions in an Olympic class and be considered as the second best in that class in Britain. However, this is the case and the team seem to be coping with this in a mature manner. In fact it seems their maturity in their sailing is one of the major factors in their success this year. As Asher has commented this is a hugely important year for the pair, but to some extent there is a little less pressure on them, being the younger of the two teams. If they do not make it to this Olympic Games there is always 2012.