The most important Regatta of the next 20 months is now only 48 hours away and the tension is building. Preparations have gone really well for Skandia Team GBR and all of the teams are sailing well in Free port, Bahamas.
The new year brought some fresh winds from the North which is unusual and not something we've seen in training. As usual, its a case of expect the unexpected and the line "its not normally like this" is ringing true in the boat park.
For this Championships we have 7 teams: Draper-Greenhalgh, Pink-Peacock, Morrison-Rhodes, Brotherton-Asquith, Evans-Powys, Fletcher-Sign and Mason-Peel. That's a big team and all being well we can expect to see a good number of those teams in the mix for a medal.
On the Plus side....
I've been joined at this event by 2008 470 Silver Medallist, Joe Glanfied who will be the second Team GBR Coach.
On the Down side...
This is a beach Venue and we're sailing inside a reef 0.8km off shore. That means that if the breeze is from the North or South we can expect very short courses and with fleets of 30 boats it will make the racing different.
Who to watch...
Any of the 4 British Performance teams are in with a shot at the title. Nathan Outridge from Australia is the current World Champion and he's mustard. He'll be in the mix along with Iker Martinez from Spain. I'd also be looking at Rodian Luca from Ukraine. He's been retired since the Games but is a canny sailor who might just suprise a few people with his Giant of a crew George.
Gossip..
2009 Bronze Medallist Piedro Sebellio broke his foot in training and has been in plaster for 4 days but still hopes to compete. I'd say he's got 2 hopes and one plays golf!
So that's the chat pre-regatta. Check out the website for up to date results and I'll try to post an update after qualification for Gold Fleet.
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