MB: Then the Test event. We had only two days’ training between the events; allowing for measurements and registration. I think it was six days from racing to racing, so it wasn’t easy. Coming from a high in winning the worlds, we still retained the mentality that we would push our performance across the month, while taking a lot from the conditions and the environment – it is the Olympic venue after all. But we had to bring a lot to that event because there is clearly an element of fatigue after a big world championships. Then finally to the World Cup, which was a hard one. It was the Olympic trials for our training partners, the Japanese team, and we had spent a lot of time together and so wanted to support them through that event, tuning up together to keep the environment as enjoyable as we could. They didn’t compete in the Test event and so they were able to prepare much better for the World Cup. So we raced to support them, and again use that opportunity to race on Olympic waters with the majority of our competitors doing the same. This meant a slightly different motivation was involved there. My family came over to stay between those final two events and I don’t think Will and I did a day’s training! But it was nice to have a bit of a break as of course this is such a physical class, with the younger athletes really pushing us hard. We saw in the medal races in Miami the pumping is now full-on no-holds-barred.
Following the World Cup the tank was pretty empty for both of us after winning all three events, and so in September we decided to take a break – to have a transitional period to reset. Later we got back in the boat with the target the 2020 worlds in Palma. SH: During a break how careful do you have to be with your diet? MB: Every 470 sailor puts on weight and every 470 sailor wants to lose weight. So really it is all about balancing the intensity of training and competition with a target weight, and that is always a fine line, and so knowing yourself and your limit is obviously key there. There are light and heavy teams. Certainly Will and I are on the heavier side and we make that work the best we can in the lighter conditions, but it is not easy…
In terms of hard-working areas a lot of it is your back, keeping up with the new physical style of 470 sailing, and so trying to match the young guys and keep on top. SH: From the start of 2020 was the plan with your equipment to consolidate, experiment or both? MB: A bit of everything, but for us with all our experience in the class we have quite a narrow focus on what we are after, and so it is all about the finer details and not so much any drastic changes. We are really happy with being in the top three to the top mark across a lot of wide-ranging events, and so for us it’s about refining the small gains and being consistent. SH: Breakages? MB: So we broke a vang in the pre-Olympics… our coach Victor [Kovalenko] and Iain Murray were observing in the coach boat, but they didn’t carry our spare boom which was being worked on at the time. Not long before the five-minute gun we heard and felt a bang, breaking the fitting on the boom; so we dropped the main, discon- nected the vang and mainsheet, gave that one to Victor, then Sam Kivell came over from one of our competitors’ coach boats and gave us their spare boom, which was great sportsmanship. But it had a different gooseneck fitting!
So that didn’t work… we gave that one to Victor to return and took the broken one back just on the five-minute gun, lashing up the broken vang fitting. We spent the next four and a half minutes calmly sorting that out, while all our competitors were looking at us wondering what was going on. What was interesting was we talked calmly as we did this, positioning the boat so even if we only had 10 seconds we could get a start. SH: And you made it. MB: We were a little late, then with no vang upwind we were third last to the top mark… The race was held in transitional planing con- ditions, so downwind we tried to rig a cascade system on the vang, and Will did that while I flew the kite! Not as the instruction book says, but it worked. We had the boom completely in the air like sailing a Star, but we just kept pushing on the three-lap race, refining what we had as the thin line was stretching… With a great final run we finished eighth out of 23, which could have been a keeper of a result. SH: Then your schedule for the ‘Olympic’ year…
With the HIA Integral Backstay Adjuster you have exactly the right tool in your armoury: it’s simultaneously powerful, robust and sensitive. The hydraulicly- generated pressure reaches an unparalleled 440 bar while its output is infinitely variable and adjustable. Its components are CNC-machined and the materials for the HIA Integral Backstay Adjuster are of extremely high quality, offering long service life. Valves and lines are hidden inside the housing, so nothing affects performance and design. The HIA Integral Backstay Adjuster is available in several sizes.
WWW.RECKMANN.COM SEAHORSE 25
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118
