Hillary has new mountain to climb

Harvey Hillary tells Andy Rice about 49er life after Barker

After notching up a second place behind Brotherton and Hiscocks at Kiel Week, Barker and Hillary looked eminently capable of a top 10 at the World Championships in Lake Garda, if not a top 5. In the end, they finished 19th, one of a series of disappointment for the British squad after such a promising early season. What went wrong?
Hillary says it came down to choice of sails, as the class goes through a transitional period from North Sails to Pryde Sails, which are considerably flatter. Next year, using Prydes at the top level of competition will be compulsory, so the Brits took the long view and decided to learn about the new sails this year, while the majority of the top foreign teams elected to sail with the tried and tested Norths.

"In hindsight it might appear to be the wrong decision, but with five knots more wind it would have been a different story. What it means is that we’re a year ahead of the Spanish and other teams in terms of rig development. To be honest, I was surprised at how many people were still on the Norths. It gives them a lot to do next year."

Hillary admits he’s got a lot to do next year too. "The original plan was to get a job after university, but I’d always hoped to have a chance to do a full campaign, and now I’ve got that. I’ve had reasonable results in the past crewing for Geoff Carveth and Rob Greenhalgh, but now I have a chance to do things properly. The thing about these boats is that if you take two weeks off, it takes you three days to pick up to the level where you were before, so you’ve got to keep at it.

"That’s what amazes me about the standard of 49er racing in the UK. There are some very good weekend sailors who can give you a good run for your money, but you’ve got to be full time to have a crack at an Olympic campaign. I’ve set myself a six-month period to get to a good level with Piers where we have got into RYA funding. If we don’t get a good result at the Worlds or Europeans next year then that is the end of full-time sailing for me.

With the Worlds in Hawaii and the Europeans in Norway, it will not be a cheap year’s sailing. It will be crucial for Hillary to get a good early result to secure ‘D’ level funding from the RYA. That would help cover most of his campaign expenses, if not the equipment costs. The pressure is on to perform.

"I’ve had a year of very little pressure, and now I’ve got a year of high pressure sailing to get on with. If we don’t make the grade, that’s the end of it. But sailing is all about coping with pressure, so it will be a good test."