Yngling Focus at Qingdao - Day Seven Report

by Andi Robertson 15 Aug 2008 16:39 BST 9-21 August 2008

It took a long, long wait, from 1200hrs until five minutes before the time limit was due to expire, before the Yngling race got away, but the long time sitting around waiting for a breeze to arrive was worth it, for Britain’s Yngling girls Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson returned to the Olympic Sailing Centre assured of a silver medal, and destined to match race the Dutch team of Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bies and Merel Witteveen for gold in tomorrow Medal Race.

While the British girls made a good start, one third up from the pin end of the line with good space, while their Dutch rivals were caught bow down and speed building just seconds before the gun went and were initially buried, so too the Americans who were in third, tacked in the last thirty seconds and were down speed and second rank off the line.

But it was evident the British girls lacked some pace in the eight knots of breeze. And on the second beat when the wind was even lighter they dropped three places. Fifth means they go into the medal race tomorrow needing only to beat the Dutch girls, the team which was formed late from a nine way selection process where each spot on the Olympic boat was selected.

The British team have a great record. Ayton and Webb already have gold from Athens, but they have also proven good at converting Medal Races to titles. They won here in last year’s medal race at the 2007 Olympic Test Event when the American girls had a self-inflicted OCS, and won their world title in 2007 in Cascais when they had one boat to beat.

Pippa Wilson reinforced what it will be down to:

"It is basically who beats who. We will have to see what the conditions are in the morning and take the race from there, and see how best to approach. We have done as much preparation in that environment was we can do."

"I think tomorrow we have one thing to try and do and we all know that we can do it and we had just hold together as a team. We will hold together as a team. We are very, very close as a team and so we will just continue to focus on the job and do everything we can and we have learned everything we can in the year leading up to this. We have been in this situation a couple of medal races before so I think we just get our heads down and seeing what we can do tomorrow."

And when asked if she feels nervous today and how will they cope tomorrow:

"I have a few butterflies, but that is healthy that just makes you realise you are still alive, just try to remain focussed."

"We are in gold or silver going in to the medal race and that is great position to be going in to the medal race the day before. It is just between us and the Dutch for gold and silver."

Is the pressure off now that a medal is secured:

"I think that we put enough pressure on ourselves to win gold. every day that we sail, obviously it is great to be in that position, but we want gold so we will do everything that we can to make that happen. It is what is been about for us, for Great Britain, for everyone that has supported us, that is always what our focus has been about, we will see what tomorrow brings."

On their fifth place today, behind the Dutch winners, Pippa said:

"We made a slight error with our sail selection and so were a bit compromised on speed, we overestimated the wind speed a bit. Because the race officer was in a hurry to get the race off we did not have much time to make that decision, we were evidently pretty slow but we hung in there and ground out a result. So it was a tough race to be down speed but we hung in there and are really, really pleased with the way that we are sailing and racing."

"I am very lucky to be with them for the last year and a half, and have learned a lot from their attitude and being in this environment but we all just see the same things on the water. And just want to win whether it is Olympic medals or whatever race. As soon as we are out there we will just be completely focussed on that. We are pretty on an even keel when it comes to wanting to win. We all just really want gold. I think we have yet to have a chat, I don’t know what the tactical plays will be. We have to sit down and decide."

Yngling coach Paul Brotherton explains their thoughts and possible strategies for the medal race, and looks at what happened in Race 8:

"It would have been lovely if today would have been golden and to have gone into tomorrow with a nice gap behind us, but it is all good. If we had been offered a position with an assured medal on the last race I’d have bitten your arm off, and today was just one in that series of races that got us in that position, another counter."

"We just made the wrong sail choice. You either go for the medium or the light. We had to look at the situation and we made the call and got it wrong. We get more right than wrong but you just have to take that one on the chin. Strangely enough the Dutch only ever use their medium whether it is light or not. I think that moreover the Dutch got there out the start, got the first cross while the girls had the French nipping at their heels going around the windward mark, the French took them up, they lost five or six lengths, suddenly it was easy for the Dutch and difficult for us."

"Obviously we have to go out there and see how the situation develops. Clearly. I think we have to put in plan which ensures we beat the Dutch. That is what it boils down to. It will be just down to the four of us. That is the way that it has worked. We have worked on a number of different options and scenarios, them coming at us, or us going at them."

On the possible conditions off the breakwater where the medal race is sailed he explained:

"I would imagine it will be light. You take that as read. It will be very busy at the back of the line. Then it is the usual stuff: start well, handle the boat well, make reasonable decisions, and go fast and you will do well. And those are the four things that we have worked bloody hard on. We have a sufficient training for the medal race, the girls are happy with their boat on boat skills, with the rule situations they might find themselves in. They had a tie in Cascais and they converted that one, and they converted here last year, and they converted at the Europeans."