GBR aiming for first ever Nacra 17 Games berth at Santander Worlds

by Lindsey Bell, RYA 14 Sep 2014 20:52 BST 15-21 September 2014

Lucy Macgregor & Andrew Walsh set for the Santander Worlds © Paul Wyeth / RYA

Ben Saxton & Hannah Diamond set for the Santander Worlds © Richard Langdon / British Sailing Team

Pippa Wilson & John Gimson set for the Santander Worlds © Richard Langdon / British Sailing Team

Britain's Nacra 17 sailors are setting themselves high expectations when their World Championship and their first bid for Olympic country qualification in the new class get underway in Santander on Monday (15 September).

It's only the second World Championship for the new Olympic multihull, brought in for the Rio 2016 cycle, and follows on from the 2013 event in The Hague, Netherlands, where British pairing Ben Saxton and Hannah Diamond claimed the silver medal in the inaugural world event.

Ten country qualification spots for the Rio 2016 Games will be up for grabs in the Nacra 17 class this week.

Just over 12 months on from the first World Championship, Diamond says the class dynamic has changed hugely as crews have learned more about the nuances of racing the new boat.

"The fleet has changed hugely since last year – we've all been learning a huge amount," explained the Hamble-based sailor.

"Every event we've been to the fleet's really improved and become so much more sharp over that time. I think the racing style will be totally different to last year."

"Obviously we hope a few things will be the same – we managed to come away with a silver medal last year and we're hoping to do the same or one better this year. I'm looking forward to getting going!"

Saxton and Diamond, the world number two pairing, are one of three British Sailing Team Podium team expecting to put up a strong display in their 73-boat fleet, with Lucy Macgregor and Andrew Walsh hoping to make up for a disrupted summer after Walsh picked up an injury at the European Championships in July.

"We've got a brilliant support staff who we work with through the British Sailing Team and English Institute of Sport, our physios and strength and conditioning guys did me absolutely proud so I'm in really good shape now and hopefully should be absolutely fine for racing," Walsh explained.

"Going into our first Worlds together it's obviously a little bit unknown as Lucy and I are new team and it's our first World Championships, but I think we showed quite a lot of potential throughout the year, winning a couple of events and we were going well. Hopefully we can put a good series together and hopefully be in with a shout of a good result here," the Poole-based sailor added.

"I think we're going in with relatively high expectations on ourselves. It's been quite a disjointed year with my injury and a couple of breakages that were slightly unfortunate. But generally speaking we've always been in the medal races and pushing for medals. We're going in with high expectations to be fighting it out at the front."

Pippa Wilson, Beijing gold medallist in the Yngling class, says it will pay to keep a cool head at this testing venue.

"It's a really, really tricky place to sail – that's what we've experienced from the training. It can be choppy out at sea depending on the tide state. Shifty and light, or windy – we've seen everything. It's going to be important to remain calm and willing to adapt with those changes."

She and John Gimson come into this event off the back of a bronze medal at the Rio Olympic Test Event last month, hoping to continue their momentum but knowing it will be a tough challenge.

"Every event is very different in Nacra sailing and it's either great or it's a disaster. It's going to be an interesting event, especially with the conditions, so for us it's important just to try and remain consistent. Obviously the early part of the week is about qualifying and then gold fleet racing, and trying to take every race as it comes.

"Hopefully we'll put all the hard work we've done into the racing and come away with a consistent result."

British contenders in the Nacra 17 class:

Ben Saxton / Hannah Diamond
Lucy Macgregor / Andy Walsh
Pippa Wilson / John Gimson
Tom Phipps / Mary Rook
Rupert White / Nicola Boniface
Alicia Clifford / Tom Bruton
Maddy Anderson / Harry Willett

Racing in Santander sees a staggered schedule across the ten classes: