vendredi 4 juillet 2014


On the learning curve


Photo Copyright Antoine Beysens

Pippa Wilson MBE took the best part of three years off from Olympic sailing after winning gold in Qingdao. She returned to the 470 briefly but during the 2012 Olympic games in Weymouth and Portland she worked as the BBC’s colour commentator. The contrast to the ‘nodding donkey’ Yngling keelboat in which she Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb appeal of the Nacra 17 could not really be greater, and so the learning curve has been steep for the 2002 ISAF Youth Worlds gold medallist. On the ISAF rankings she is the top ranked female helm in the class but admits that she and crew John Gimson are taking things day by day here in La Grande Motte.

She and Gimson made their debut in the Nacra 17 at last year’s Princess Sofia Olympic regatta and last year finished 13th at the Nacra 17 European Championship. Speaking during the first day of measurement in La Grande Motte where the official practice race takes place on Sunday before racing opens Monday, Wilson said:

“ We have had a good season so far, generally finishing in the top 10, but if anything we are struggling to move up. But it is very new to us, catamaran sailing, especially for me it is a big step from the Yngling which was very slow. We have had a really good  year learning, with a mixture of learning and then having had time to train. So we are in good shape all in all. We have had some good training and are excited. We have done the racing season and trained in the UK and in Santander and in Portugal and so have had  a variety of conditions. There is a strong British group and it is great to have such a depth of talent including some of the young sailors coming through and so it is great that so many have managed to get involved with the Nacra. It is nice to have your friends around you.

I think we are still learning day by day the class and this style of racing. And so here we want to just capitalise on what we have been doing in training and just take everything as it comes as much as we can.
We like the wind which is probably our strong point but we have a lot of learning to do, so really here anything is good for us. We are just trying to get better every day and the more we can do, the better.”

A.R


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