On the road to Athens

An update from 49er World Champions Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks

Last year at the Worlds in Cadiz there were an impressive four British teams in the top 10 in the 49er class. While this was another exceptional showing of team GBR might it was also gut wrenching for those who had made the full time commitment over the previous months and years to winning the Olympic slot but who failed to come out on top in Cadiz. Fortunately there was nothing marginal in the outcome. The Worlds were won squarely by Chris Draper and Sydney silver medallist Simon Hiscocks who scored a healthy 42 points compared to fourth placed Paul Brotherton and Mark Asquith on 72.6.

Since then Draper and Hiscocks took 5-6 weeks off, their first time off since the duo teamed up in April 2002. Come November they were back into their training regime alternating between the UK and Cadiz.

"We'd do a week in Cadiz and then we’d be sailing back in England and working on equipment," says Draper. "The majority of the training we did in the run up to the Worlds in Cadiz was with foreign teams, so we’ve been continuing to train with that training group." This elite 49er posse includes the Norwegians Christoffer Sundby/Frode Bovim who finished second at the Worlds and the Germans Marcus Baur/Max Groy who were fifth at the Worlds and won the Europeans last year. "We’ve brought into that Ben Rhodes and Stevie Morrison who were really up and coming in the 49ers, so with the four of us we’ve got a really strong team and we will try and get in as much sailing as possible with Paul [Brotherton] and Mark [Asquith]."

They have since upped sticks from Cadiz and moved to Athens where they training out of a club just down the road from the Olympic regatta centre.

The training is organised between the different coaches who arrange different exercises. "At the moment we're trying to develop our racing skills, because we are starting a period of racing," says Simon Hiscocks. "Earlier in the year we were concentrating more on boat handling and at other times we’ll concentrate on speed. At the same time we don’t forget about the other things - there’s just slightly greater emphasis on one thing than the other."

The European Olympic classes regatta season is just on the verge of opening with Barcelona Olympic Week on 26-30 March. Draper and Hiscocks will be there. The 2004 Worlds in Athens mid-April conflicts with the Princess Sofia in Palma just before Easter and Hyeres, so they plan to go on to SPA and Kiel after this, followed possibly by the Saronic Gulf regatta in Athens just prior to the Olympics.

At present the final line up in the 49er class for Athens has still to be decided although they say they have a pretty good idea of who the main contenders will be. "There are some old faces getting back into it," says Draper. "Thomas Johanssen who won Gold in Sydney where Simon got silver and Adam Beashel who was runner up to Nicholson in the trials. So there are lots of the old people and all the young people who have been doing it for a while who have to qualify their nation." Among the most interesting nation to watch will be Denmark he adds. "There are four or five very strong teams who each shine on their day. No one could pick who the strongest team will be.

So as current World Champions their form is pretty clear, but how do they stay there and prevent themselves spinning out? "You get to the point where you have to make small gains and keep making those small gains," says Draper. "Other people may be making bigger gains, but the biggest thing to do is to concentrate on what we’re doing and not what other people are doing. As long as we keep taking those little snippets of time of our races then that will all add to us moving ahead."

There is obviously the building mental challenge as the Games approach. "The whole year of working hard and keeping going and driving forwards all the time is quite mentally tough, but it is easier when there are two of you," says Hiscocks. "You can bounce off each other a bit and you can encourage the other person. And you know you can take a day off and the other guy can take some of the work on or you can share some of the jobs out, the thinking, the ideas. We also try to build in time off. We have a fairly structured program so we know when we’re resting...or trying to rest." The duo have a pretty good idea of what they will be doing every day between now and the Olympic Games on 13-29 August.

Hiscocks holds the advantage of having travelled the Olympic road before but ducks our probings about how this might help him this time round. "At the end of the day, when you get the Olympics everyone starts with no points and the aim is to have as few points as possible at the end..."