Staying positive

I am naturally quite a competitive soul, but people don't always realise it as I also work very hard at enjoying my sailing. Sometimes that means accepting you're not going to do very well before an event, and other times it means accepting that things go wrong on some occasions when a result slips away from you. I had plenty of tests on my 'smile and laugh through it' this summer, most recently at Federation Week. Work commitments meant we could only do the final three days, so no discards for us. In the final race, which we had to win, we were leading by a country mile, but sailed past the correct mark and gave ourselves an extra, impossibly long beat, to catch the fleet. I took solace in our performance - we sailed very well and I could take satisfaction from, winning the start, going fast and getting the tactics right. The silverware might not have been ours, but I'd prefer the satisfaction of sailing well and losing to a silly mistake, than sailing badly and winning. Sailing in an RS200 at the RS Games with Ian Jubb [aka Jubby] was another matter. We were definitely too heavy for the boat (Jubby's two-year-old son might have been a better option!). Jubby had therefore decided that the 200 would provide a nice holiday for him at the conclusion of his nine-nationals challenge. I thought I could handle this idea no problem - after all I am 'miss positive'! Day one was okay, despite banging every corner in an effort to minimise tacks and gybes, a starting tactic that had one aim: to be first out of the gate, and a no-hiking policy, I quite enjoyed the novelty of cruising round the course. But day two taught me that I'm nowhere near as good at 'crusing round' as I'd like to be... we had a laugh - you can't do anything other with Jubby - but I spent the whole day wishing that we were in an RS400. Hats off to Jubby for his achievement, and for keeping a cheery face throughout! See page 48. Talking of achievements, it was a great coup for sailing to be the first sport to name some of its Olympic team (see page 6 and page 24). Congratulations to all 11 athletes named, although one must spare a thought for the 'oh so nearlys'. How gutting to be Penny Clark, Giles Scott or Nick Thompson... Still, just as there can only be one winner, there can only be one Olympic representative in each class, and sad as I was to see Penny miss out in the 470, I was delighted for Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark - so too was Snoop Dogg who gave Hannah his own shout of support - another nice little lift for sailing, maybe we could persuade him to be one of the round-the-island race celebrities next year! Gael Pawson, Editor Why is it such a good thing? Sailing suffers more than many sports from its reputation as an activity for the elite. But for every rich owner, there are 10-20 crew, and then there are those sailing Mirror dinghies, like the one Hannah Mills first tried sailing in. The Olympics is an opportunity to break those preconceptions down a little, and we need to grab every chance we can to keep our sport vibrant and healthy.