Ian Walker's Olympic Diary - 7th September

Things still aren't going according to plan for the British Olympic Star team - Ian Walker writes about his experiences in Sydney

After getting blown away by gale force winds in the first day of racing organised by our coach, Bill Edgerton, to give us some much needed race practice, the second day proved no better. The forecast was for a light westerly, then possibly a north-easterly sea breeze later.
In order to test it out we put up our light weather mainsail that we hope to use at the Games. Well, in the first race we were on the wrong side of a 40 degree windshift half-way up the first beat that left us and two other boats (including the current Gold Medallist, Torben Grael) right out of contention. With little chance of catching the leaders we fought it out for last place in that one.

Then, after an hours delay due to no wind, the breeze freshened from the north-west. It built so much as the race started (over 20 knots), that we decided to drop our new mainsail, rather than race and wear it out. We then had to put up with the sight of everyone else practicing in a race organised by us - that we couldn’t now be part of. That was the last race of the day and we returned to base in a foul mood.

Our only race practice had been ruined by the weather and we have made no progress towards proving our speed or honing our race skills. At times like this your self-belief and mental strength are tested to the full. We are about to sail in arguably the most important regatta of our lives, which we have worked so hard towards and yet we feel so under-prepared.

It is not through lack of effort or even a structured approach, just the lack of suitable conditions to achieve what we had hoped to achieve. We must however console ourselves with the thought that others must be in the same boat and that this regatta will not be won by speed alone. If conditions remain as they are, the results will be all over the place, and the team that makes the best use of what they are dealt will come out on top.

We are pleased with our new boat that we bought in May. Since then we have changed the keel in a search for a tiny advantage. Lots of time and money and effort went into this and we pinned high hopes on it. At this stage it is hard to see if we will see any benefit. There are so many hundreds of variables (boat, mast, sails, technique), that it is proving impossible to find out what is important and what isn’t at this venue. We are having to rely on our judgement and having to revert back to conservative things that we know have worked in the past. We have done well in this class because we have kept it simple and not been intimidated by the boat. That is what we must now do.

We must work as a team and look to our strengths to get us through this difficult period and stay positive. I desperately hope to get some unofficial training races in, show a bit of speed and boost confidence before race one. I keep reminding Mark that very often you sail your best regatta when things have gone badly in training!

The rest of Sailing Team GBR are fairly happy. Most have done the hard work and they are all now going up to the BOA holding camp in Brisbane for three days rest and to collect their team kit. Mark and I did this when Mark was injured and it is great fun. You receive a suitcase full to the brim with free team kit from Adidas and Marks and Spencers. They even have on-site tailors to adjust any clothes that don’t fit perfectly!

The BOA holding camp is where most of the team fly into from England to recover from the flight, before heading down to Sydney for their events. It has every training facility imaginable and all the luxuries of a 4 star hotel, including a great golf course. How I wish I had time for a round of golf right now!