A Proud Coach

The test event in Fremantle finished on Sunday with 5 GBR Teams in the top 10 and the young guns of Fletcher and Sign once again leading the British charge. Having finished 5th at the Worlds in January, Dylan and Alain's goals for the year was to consistently finish in the top 10 at grade 1 regattas and Medal in 1. Well, this week they nailed it and put the memories of Kiele (where they had lead going into the medal race only to finish 4th) to bed.

There is no doubt that this team has talent but its their work ethic that sets them apart from other Development teams within our program. Their relentless search for improvement has been recognised by Draper and Greenhalgh who have them as their training partners for that reason. Even Olympic Manager, Stephen Park, had to recognise their achievement above all others in Fremantle with the team talking home 5 medals but worryingly 'No Golds'.

Having worked with these two guys since they were 15, it's brilliant to see them consistently delivering at this level. They both came through the 29'er Youth Program although in separate teams. Now, their sights are firmly set on 2012 although they have stiff competition for that single spot. For our two boat squad of Fletcher-Sign and Draper-Greenhalgh this even marked a step forward in speed compared to the benchmark teams of Australia's Outridge and Jenson. Next step for us is a winter in Cadiz working hard on closing the gap further in the run in for 2012 qualification.

Fremantle put on a good even in difficult conditions. However, their hype surrounding spectators turned out to be just that, Hype. The talk is for 500,000 spectators for next years event but this week has reinforced the fact that sailing is not a live spectator sport. Having moved the racing close into shore, the organising committee chose to marginalise the quality of the racing in search of an impossible goal. Sailing needs to realise that it will never be a 'Live' sport and need to focus their attention on better TV production and improved Internet casting of racing. Our sport is all about data and the Net Nerds love that stuff. Lets embrace this and put rich data onto race footage so people can follow the decisions and make their own calls buy using speed and wind information.

So, thats it from Aus; Well done Dylan and Alain.