Barker and Hiscocks

madforsailing.com talked to British 49er sailors, Ian Barker and Simon Hiscocks

mfs - How has the training and the build-up to the Games been going for you both?

IB - It was fine, we spent a lot of time planning, and did everything we wanted to do and got all the equipment that we wanted in time, so it couldn’t have gone better.

SH - It’s gone really well, we did a lot of training in the UK after the trials, followed by quite an intensive period of training after the Grand Prix event in Germany, which was our last regatta before coming here. We got a new boat and came out here at the end of August and did a lot of two boat tuning with Alistair Richards and Pete Greenhalgh, our training partners, and that helped us choose which boat to use. We chose the British-built Ovington in the end. We then concentrated on boat handling before the racing started and we’re really quite happy with how it’s all gone.

mfs - This is your first Olympic Games for both of you, is it what you expected?

IB - You can never know what it’s like to go the Athletes’ Village unless you’ve been there before. It was interesting more than anything. It was a bit of a freak show with people of funny shapes and sizes! The Opening Ceremony was definitely the highlight, walking out in front of 110,000 people is pretty special. Good fun really!

SH - We were fairly well briefed about what was going to happen so in lots of ways, yes it was what we expected, but it’s still exciting. You try not to get too excited as you’ve got to concentrate on racing, but it’s good fun.

mfs - How was it, going into your first race yesterday?
SH - I was a bit worried that I wasn’t nervous! I didn’t really think that it was that big a deal, but once we were leading the first race by quite a big margin, I started to get a bit stressed and then when the wind started to change around by 180 degrees, it got really quite nerve-racking. That was frustrating, especially when the fleet sailed round us!

mfs - Was that first race disappointing or did you manage to come away with something positive?

IB - It was disappointing but not totally unexpected, Sydney is just like that. We did well in both races, sailed well and were fast which is the main thing. The nature of Sydney, with shifty winds, means that people are going to finish last but then win the next race. Although we don’t want to get results lower than 10th, it was an exceptional race. We lodged a protest for redress as did the Kiwis for the first race, but it was dismissed.

SH - Definitely, it was disappointing but it was encouraging because we were on the pace in both races. We were leading the first race for most of the course before the wind changed, and we were fifth in the second race. We made gains all throughout the second race, and came back in the first race, so that’s given us a confidence boost for the rest of the event.

mfs - How do you relax after racing?

IB - There are demands here that you don’t normally get, like the press, which you have to do, I don’t really mind that at all. But for me I like to sit down and think about the day and what improvements could be made and understand everything. I don’t like going home losing a race and not knowing why. But then when I get home I just switch off and don’t think about it all.

SH - Well for me, having dinner and just doing normal stuff, like watching TV, reading, or going out for drink. Nothing special.

mfs - What’s the situation with spinnakers on the 49ers. These were incredibly popular but now they’re going to be changed, what’s the latest?

IB - The organisers had these spinnakers made up for the Games, which looked absolutely brilliant with the country flags on them. The top three meters were white with the Olympic Rings on them and the rest was the flag. Ours especially looked very good. Somewhere in the process of doing the painting, they think that they’ve weakened the cloth in some way and from day 1 some competitors were complaining that they ripped too easily. I haven’t had a problem with mine; I thought it was great, especially for the spectators and media. But there have been enough complaints now that they’ve decided to issue everyone with new spinnakers, which will be plain and we’re all going to have to use those from now on, which is a great pity.

A bit more worrying is the fact that the new spinnakers will be from a new supplier as the class association has appointed Neil Pryde Sails as the new supplier, but we’ve all been using North Sails up until now, so nobody in the fleet has used these spinnakers. You’d hope that they’d be the same, but I’ve seen the mainsails and the jibs and they’re not the same, so there’s no reason to suggest that the spinnakers will be too.

SH - It’s very disappointing, it doesn’t really matter from the point of view of our racing but for the spectacle, it’s a really shame. It will be interesting to see what the spinnakers are like.

mfs - It’s been suggested that the Australian team might have an advantage as they have helped test these sails and so have used them before.

IB - We’re used to that, and that’s the way it’s been from day one. If they are significantly different in shape, then it will be an issue, but I don’t think that will be the case. If there is an issue, then people will certainly make a fuss about it.

mfs - Will they be able to get enough spinnakers here in time? Is there a possibility that racing may be postponed again?

IB - Yes, it’s possible but we’ll just have to wait and see. It won’t affect our preparation, but it’ll harm the organisation and that will put pressure on the race officer to race us in conditions that he may not have normally raced us - to get races in - which is not a great way to go forward, but it’s something we’re used to in 49ers. Hopefully they’ll have all the spinnakers in time.

mfs - Thanks and good luck.