470 Women Getting Ready

It might be the final event of this year’s ISAF Sailing World Cup, not to mention the last but one Olympic Class Regatta at the 2012 Olympic venue before the main event, but not everyone is necessarily here to win.

The Dutch 470 sailors, Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhort have racked up five 470 World Championship titles between them, including the most recent 2010 470 World Championships, along with an Olympic silver in Beijing for Lobke. But when Lisa was asked if they had a choice between going left on the race course to stay with their competition, and going right to learn more about the venue, she replied, “We might choose the right, but we’ll have to see,” adding with a laugh, “It’s nice to have a good result, we’re sportsmen, we like to win.”

Commenting on the team's 2010 priorities, Lisa explained, “We do set priorities during the year and our main goal this year was the World Championships. We use the World Cup to work with our processes and to develop equipment. We’ll use this week to get to know the conditions in Weymouth and to get a feel for the water and the sailing conditions. But the weather and the systems - the low pressure and high pressure weather systems - the variety in the weather is comparable to Holland, so we feel at home.”

Lisa and Lobke are out of contention for the ISAF Sailing World Cup, but Emmanuelle Rol and Hélène Defrance (FRA) are just one point behind their French team mates overall, Ingrid Petitjean and Nadège Douroux and are in with every chance. But Rol reckons they have a weakness in breezier conditions after a poor performance at the 2010 470 World Championships and is hoping to establish that they have improved after training in the windy Mistral conditions in Marseille. “For us the result is important, but also to try to have good races in strong conditions, and of course, learn about the Olympic venue. And so far, we have learned that the weather is not as good as in Marseille.”

“We are using the same equipment here as at the Worlds - developing gear will be the winter’s task, we will try some new stuff then. We are quite a new crew together, so we had to work out our team work, and our next job will be to work on the equipment.”

US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics meteorologist (and former holder of the same position for the Luna Rossa America’s Cup team), Doug Charko reckoned that Rol and Defrance will have plenty of opportunity to check their heavy weather progress, “There’s a low heading into the area, which will probably arrive for Tuesday. So ten to 15 knots for Monday, building during the day, and then Tuesday with the low passing over Scotland there’s quite a wide range in the global models, so although I’m hedging my bets a little, I’d say 15 to 20 and gusting to 25 knots from the south-west, raining and unsettled.” Things look a little better for the rest of the week, with moderate south-westerly sea breezes forecast – classic Weymouth conditions.

Another Women’s 470 contender who theoretically doesn’t need to learn much about the venue is double Olympic Yngling Gold medallist and Weymouth resident Sarah Ayton. After recently returning to sailing following the birth of her first child, Ayton and her crew Saskia Clark are not in contention for the overall ISAF Sailing World Cup. But Sarah nevertheless finds herself with a similar balancing act, “You’ve got to use the opportunity to learn, you don’t get many opportunities with a world class fleet in this venue, so it is important to learn. But obviously, it is important to perform in the Olympic venue, so it is a real balancing act of trying things when you can, but bearing in mind the end results."  When asked the left or right-side of the course question, she replied with a smile, “It would be hard not to stay with the competition.”

More Information:
Skandia Sail for Gold website

Source: Skandia Sail for Gold media (amended by 470 Class)

Image: Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhort (NED) victorious at the 2010 470 World Championships © Thom Touw