Nick Craig

Originally posted by iGRF Originally posted by Dougal I thought for a moment you were going to celebrate British success then.  But no, pulled it out the bag at the last minute.  The planets are back in alignment and the spiritual world is happy again... ps just how did the Dane win when BA was given the gold medal? Never heard the term moral victory Dougal? Frankly I was ashamed that he lost, it may have been another win that sailing types love to think is acceptable, but that guy was absolutely storming and deserved the medal having it match and team raced away in one race that counts as double is not a fair result in my book. Any more than big money putting in advanced control systems mid event to win is either, so no the Ben Ainslie brand name doesn't cut it with me.

If we are talking about moral victories on the water then I would have a huge cabinet full of trophies GRF!

BA can hardly be blamed for the points system in place at the olympics, and of course he will use it to win - wouldn't you? I can't say I like his ultra aggressive sailing style, but maybe that is why I'm a club pond sailor and he is the champ.

As for the crack about putting new control systems in place half way through the AC, I think you may have been listening to too many internet rumours.

Agreed the mock mark hitting thing was wrong (It was part of the reason we dumped it from windsurfing, everyone pulled that stunt now and again at the top if only to wind up whoever was in front and very often the mark would move as if being hit purely by the board/boat wake) and yes it derived the don't make me mad comment, lucky they did, up until then he'd lost, so I fully take your point.

But, at that level folk get really tight, I'm not going to say races get fixed, but the competitors themselves have a view as to what the outcome should be and if some authoritarian intervention should not go the way it should a sense of fair play can be brought to bear even by the deepest of rivals, at least it did back in the day and I've no reason to believe these guys are any less honourable than we were. Hence my view that the friendly nudge toward the end by someone with no chance of the medals was what it was and could have been the result of that incident, but whatever, we all view these things from different perspectives based on our own experiences, I'm not asking anyone else to hold my view, but without different views we don't get discussion do we and what a boring place the world would be..

Edited by iGRF - 15 Oct 13 at 12:00pm

Originally posted by iGRF  but without different views we don't get discussion do we and what a boring place the world would be..

A British Olympian team went to the Wilson Trophy this year - they did not do well. They did admit to being blown away by the standard of boat-handling, close quarter tactics and rules knowledge.