Olympic Gold, European and World Champion

Laser guru Paul Goodison talks us through his amazing year and a complex World Championship win

Paul Goodison - what a legend. Rotherham’s finest obviously came home with the Laser Gold medal from Beijing and has followed this up in 2009 with wins at every regatta he has sailed in, including a successful defence of his European title and for the first time a win of the Laser World Championship, this year held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We think it is the first time any mortal - including Laser Gods of old, Robert Scheidt and Ben Ainslie - has held all three titles simultaneously.

It could be argued that it is about time Goodison won the World Championship having been racing at the top end of the Laser class for a decade now. “Yes, its been the one I’ve always seemed to manage to mess up for some reason,” he admits. “I’ve had a couple of opportunities where I’d have won had it not been for a yellow flag or a black flag or something else stupid, but it always seemed to elude me.”

However far from being an Ainslie-style string of bullets, the tale of Goodison’s World Championship win this year is something of an epic, including gear failure, pea-souper fog and a brush with Hurricane Bill, followed, ironically with a day of no wind (the calm after the storm).

Goodison recounts how this extraordinary regatta went: “It was seven days of sailing. The first day was pretty standard sailing in about 12-15 knots. We’d done a beat-reach-run then going around the first leeward mark in third, I jumped out from under my toe strap and my toe strap snapped. So I was in a bit of a fret. I carried on just sitting there, but I’d lost about five or six places within seconds, so I stopped, tied my mainsheet around the back of the boat and then around the mainsheet block and then hiked off the main sheet for the rest of the way. I managed to catch up to fifth but I did my ankle some damage. Fifth was fine, because I was close to retiring.

“Then I nearly missed the start of the second race, because they didn’t have a spare toestrap, so we had to drill two new holes into the strap and then try and refit it back in, so I only just made the start of that one ­ and I finished second in that.

“Then I had a redress hearing, because all the boats are supplied and you’re not allowed to change the screws or anything, even though it hadn’t been screwed in properly. So I got redress, but it was only going to be average points from the qualifying, which put the pressure on for the rest of the qualifier. It meant I couldn’t have another discard after that.

“Then the second day it was really misty - really nice sailing conditions again 12-15 knots, but there were big fogs banks rolling in, to the point where you couldn’t see the mark. So I think we did a lap and a half in the first race and I was in third when the race got abandoned. Then we had another race and half way through a fog bank rolled in and literally you couldn’t see the leeward mark: it was a bit of a guess and I ended up fifth in that race, which was a little disappointing because I was higher up at points - it was almost depending upon who could see the mark was going to win. So that as little frustrating.

“Then we did another race that day and sailed for 45 minutes and on the last run they abandoned it and I was leading that race. So after that day, I felt I wasn’t having any breaks and it was starting to frustrate me quite a lot.

“We turned up on the third day morning, and one of the other fleets, where some of the sailors who were winning were not in the top ten, got the race thrown out and resailed and of course the one that got resailed, Nick [Thompson] won and the Croatian guy did well, so they all gained another five or six points than what they should have done. So it was getting pretty frustrating but that point. I was third at that point, but because the other guys resailed the race, they jumped points. It was a little bit frustrating, because there were obviously three groups and I couldn’t wait for the finals to get started, so you could race against your main opposition.

“Then on the first day of the finals we didn’t sail because of the hurricane and then on the following day we attempted two starts, but it was obvious it was just never going to happen because it was too light. So that put a lot of pressure on the last few days of racing.”

Finally on the penultimate day the weather Gods smiled and a sunny day with winds starting at 10 knots and building through the afternoon to 16 prevailed, allowing Goodison to post a respectable 1-1-3. “That was a relief and some of the other guys had struggled in the gold fleet and had picked up some bigger results.

“So going into the last day again it was foggy, with 20-25 knots and they went into sequence and then the fog would roll in, and we would stop and it was all getting a little bit stressful, but it got to the point where it was obvious we were going to have two races that day and all I had to do was beat the Kiwi [Michael Bullot] and finish in the top 10, then I’d win with a race to spare.

“Going down the last reach of the first race, because of the hurricane there was still a lot of rubbish in the water and I went around the leeward mark in second or third and literally the guy who was 100m in front stopped and we all caught him up in seconds and then it was just a case of whether you got weed or rubbish on your foils or not, because in 20 knots it is pretty hard to get it off without risking a capsize. Then the fleet just basically turned inside out, and guys who rounded the leeward mark in the 20s, ended up going around the next mark in the top five and most of us had slipped. I slipped from third to ninth and the Kiwi just got past me. I managed to catch up a bit on the last beat, but he ended up sixth and I was seventh, which was pretty frustrating because it meant that if he won the last race and if I wasn’t in the top eight or nine, then he was the only one who could beat me.

“Going into the last race we played a bit of cat and mouse, and it just seemed we were never going to get racing, because we had five or six general recalls, and every time he got a little bit better at defending from my attacks! Then on the final start I managed to pin him out at the wrong side of the committee boat, so we started 20 seconds late which was perfect and we rounded the windward mark in the 40s. And I thought ‘wicked - it’s over and done with’, but then half way up the next beat I looked up and he must have been 15th and I was 20th. I thought ‘wow, thank goodness the leaders are so far in front, he’s never going to catch up’. But he got back to 9th in that race, which was a pretty good effort. So that was it - I crossed the line and it was a massive relief and thank goodness it was over and I can tick that box.”



So some way from it being an easy world championship win. On the day Hurricane Bill passed through all the Lasers were disassembled and moved inside the clubhouse, lined up like your CD collection. According to Goodison it was worse in Korea two years ago when a typhoon passed by and all the boats had to be packed up and returned to their containers.

Due to the nature of the Laser being the every man’s Olympic boat, their World Championships seem to take place in some unusual venues. Nova Scotia for example is renowned for its thick fog generated by the cold Labrador current and the warm Gulf Stream mixing. “They generally pick a venue that is going to be windy, so they can guarantee racing," counters Goodison. "In Halifax it was hiking every day. In training we had done a 10 day slot there in June after Kiel and it was literally Ground Hog Day: every day at 1pm it was 12 knots and by 4pm it would be 18 knots plus, every day exactly the same. And it was the same in training before we started. The first three days were pretty similar to that apart from a bit of fog.”

The toe strap breakage is something to learn from. “The boats were fine, but the problem is that because they have to put 180 together they get a little bit sloppy with screwing the fittings on properly. And in the charter agreement, we are not allowed to even polish the boats, we are only allowed to wash them. And we not allowed to take a screw driver to any of the fittings. We have to sign a piece of paper and ask for somebody to do that kind of thing. It is pretty hard to see ­that a screw is not tightened enough that it is not holding your toestrap down without taking a screwdriver to it.”

Having won Gold in Beijing, one would assume that the following year would be a quiet one and while it may sound like Goodison has had a busy season so far, he did take six months off over the winter, when he attempted to try some Star sailing, albeit unsuccessfully due to a lack of funding. He fully admits that one of the reasons he decided to spring back into the Laser with such gusto was due to the fine progress of his fellow Skandia Team GBR Laser sailor and pretender to his GBR Laser throne, Nick Thompson. “You try and ignore sailing, but you still hear that he won Miami and then Palma. He was obviously very fired up after the stuff we’d done before the Games and he has improved no end.”

His main aim for 2009 was to win the Worlds, but he felt obliged to defend his European title too and to get into shape for that he and coach Chris Gowers identified the three hardest regattas in the lead up would be Hyeres, the Delta Lloyd (SPA) regatta and Kiel.

“It is hard, because after you win the Games,­ the intensity you have in the run up to the Games is different to anyting you have experienced before. So going back into training, I didn’t want to go back into it and do it half-heartedly, I wanted to do it with the same intensity as I had done before. After my sixth months, I was pretty out of shape and not very fit, so it was pretty full on getting back into it. And after going to Hyeres where I didn’t think I’d be anywhere close and winning it, was fantastic. It was great motivation that actually what I had done in the four or five weeks before was working and that I wasn’t far off. So that insires you to train some more.”

He went into the windy Delta Lloyd Regatta in Holland and won that and followed that up with a blinding Kiel Week where he literally won every race. “That was pretty unheard of, and I felt I was unstoppable, but then I was starting to get a little bit worried that I might have peaked too early as the one I wanted to win was the Worlds. Because that was at the forefront of my mindset, it just kept the intensity up there and then after winning the Europeans for the fifth time, I had the feeling that I was pretty unbeatable and I think that all the competition thought it was going to be pretty hard to beat me after the year I was having.”

With this kind of year, yes, it may be the quiet one in the Olympic cycle, but Goodison does appear to have reached Laser sailing nirvana, alongside the greats such as Ainslie and Scheidt. So how does one achieve this heightened state of sailing?

“I think a lot is related to confidence, but it is also about doing everything professionally - from your fitness to your nutrition to your sailing and being very precise about what you want to get out of each session and being really confident in ‘why am I doing what I am doing today? And is it going to make a difference?’ And if it is not, then don’t do it, because you are wasting your time. So it is all about being very efficient. But it is not until you have tried every method that you work out the ones that work better for you. I think just from the experience I have gained over the last 10 years I have a pretty good idea about what I need to do and when. And the people I surround myself with and the people I use also under how I work - the nutritionalist, the physiologist, the strength and conditions coach, etc - they have all got a good idea of what I am capable of and when and that all helps.”

As is the case of Ben Ainslie in the Finn it also helps having a powerful training partner in Nick Thompson. “It works well how we train together. We are pretty open about stuff which has pushed both of us on and we probably wouldn’t be where we are without having been so open.”

Then there is long term coach Chris Gowers who has been with him since 2000 and handles the Laser ‘performance squad’ that comprises just him and Thompson. “He has quite an impressive record this year in terms of the number of regattas he’s won this year if he counts my five or six and Nick’s two!”

The concern obviously is that Goodison may be in danger of peaking too soon as we saw him do in the build-up to Athens. He is of course only too aware of this too. “It is literally just a case of managing that. For me now I try and pick the regattas I want to win and not worry about the others too much. I have just been pretty lucky this year, that I have managed to win all of them which is pretty unheard of. So I think that as long as I don’t get carried away trying to win everything - because then you focus on every regatta and you never up your game for the important ones - I think it is all going to be about carefully planning what I want to win and when. Obviously top of the list is the 2012 Games, which is my real focus and then working out what I need to win en route to keep the RYA happy and what I need to win to qualify for those. I think the trials process will get announced in the next couple of months, so we’ll know what we need to aim at and then make a plan from there.” Another incentive to do well at the Worlds next year is that they are taking place in Hayling Island.

Obviously a good option for Goodison would be to get involved with some other sailing, including maybe a transition into bigger boats, although he admits that his Laser sailing has got in the way from doing that this year. “I am trying to get involved in some more bigger boat sailing just for variety. You can learn so much from doing something else, I know it is not similar to Laser but it is sailing at the end of the day. There is still so much to learn, to improve your overall skills. It is refreshing, and sailing with other people is nice when you spend most of your time in a boat by yourself!”

In the meantime as a distraction he has taken up kite surfing, having bought the gear just before the Worlds, and since his return from Canada is more likely to be seen on Portland Harbour in the air than on the water.

“I could get home which was good! My first couple of times I ended up walking back from Castle Cove to the Academy or swimming back from half way down the harbour! To get home was a bit of a success and I did manage to jump over a couple of my friends windsurfing which was a bit sketchy because I wasn’t in control, but it looked pretty cool. Hopefully, I won’t hurt myself.”

While it is more or less holiday time for him at present, there is of course Skandia Sail for Gold looming next week in which he is competing. “It is going to be fun to sail in your own waters, from your house which will be a bit different.”