The penultimate day in the regatta started well but finished with the harsh reality of missing out on a Paralympic Medal. Niki and Alex were pretty clear on what was required today and a 4th in the first race with the Australian team in 8th looked to be a good start. They then rounded the windward mark in race 2 in second and for the first time since day 1, it looked like a medal was within their reach. Unfortunately that was short lived as they dropped to 4th down the run and back to 6th up the next beat.
Downwind speed has been a real issue here and I'm at a loss as to why. In all their previous regatta's its been a strength and non of the changes we've made to the equipment should have impacted on it. My gut feel is that its down to a number of factors each making a small difference. What is clear is that the 3 boats ahead have sailed and excellent regatta and if we finish 4th overall that will be a fair result.
There's lot of lessons to be learnt from the regatta and the sailors will grow from the experience. Yes it's a different type of regatta but at the end of the day the teams that did the basics well ended up in the chocolates. Unfortunately for Team GBR, we find ourselves in a unfamiliar position of leaving a Regatta event empty handed which will in turn impact on funding for the next cycle. 3 teams came here in a position to win a gold medal and that hasn't happened. Their skills are without question and yet they were unable to execute under the pressure of the Games. That is something we as coaches need to address!
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