News Around the World
Mat Belcher and Will Ryan at the Rio test event in 2015 which they won. Belcher won gold at London 2012 with the current racing director of US Sailing, Malcolm Page, with whom he won the previous three world titles. Will Ryan stepped in after Page retired from competition in 2013 and the new pairing took four of the next five world titles. Ominously the one they missed was 2016, just before the Rio Games… where they took silver. Historically the 470 has been cruel to world champions come the Olympics, most famously in 1984 when Kiwi three-time world champions and walkaway Olympic favourites Dave Barnes and Hamish Willcox failed to qualify
sport. That vision has to be super-focused and it is a huge part of the success in putting those ten thousand-plus hours in. What got me into and keeps me in the sport is meeting new
people, sailing on different boats and experiencing different challenges, so it is tough to say no when you get an invite to a TP52 event in the Mediterranean… Having results at an early age helps enormously here. I see it
with Nathan [Outteridge] and Pete [Burling]: they had some early success so now have that balance a bit better to combine their experiences across classes. That’s what makes them so good… they can jump on anything and it works well. The same with Glenn Ashby… you could stick him in a suit in
a desk job and he would fit in and thrive, with the adaptability to pinpoint what is important in the moment. People like that use those skills not only to enjoy what they do, but to be better than others. So for me, as I was a little later into the sport than other people, I felt a bit on the back-foot, without the result-filled resumé to try to explore outside my field. But now, having experienced a lot more, I know I can be a better person and a better crew. So I have had that delicate conversation with Victor a few times,
just to remind him of what I need and how that will benefit me – Victor is certainly open to that. Interestingly, he is now working with athletes who have done well and want to continue. In the past his teams have reached their pinnacle and then transitioned or stopped, whereas Mat has been at it for 20 years… You can see why he is so good, and he and Victor complement
26 SEAHORSE
each other so well. Sometimes I feel I am a little outside their two- man date, but I enjoy that now and what I bring from other campaigns contributes to make the chemistry and balance stronger. SH: I once sat in Ben Ainslie’s coach boat with his coach David ‘Sid’ Howlett at a breezy Finn Gold Cup and observed the complex dynamic between them – and it is a highly delicate and challenging process, particularly when the athlete is fatigued. What attributes does Victor have to be able to work with someone for 20 years, particularly when you are cold, grumpy and tired? WR:Well, I don’t know if he just pretends that we aren’t cold, grumpy or tired so we just keep at it… Some days it feels like that. Seriously, though, that broader concept is a really interesting one – in Olympic sailing only one to two per cent of the athletes are funded, with the coaches in a paid role. It is not necessarily the coach just giving instructions, but the crew are also expected to give a lot of feed- back – that’s why Mat and Victor have been so strong. Viewing his past relationships, perhaps Victor is better at absorbing that feedback from the athletes in a smarter way, then helping them unlock their potential without them realising it. It isn’t easy for me to see how Victor engages with me, but clearly
he does and does it well. Perhaps for Sid that style of coaching worked in Ben’s early Finn days, with Sid being the leader – unlocking Ben’s skills, and in the later years they adapted as they both progressed. SH: Are most of the Rio 470 teams back trying for Tokyo?
PEDRO MARTINEZ
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