How the 470 Euros was won in a borrowed boat
by Andy Rice 19 May 2021 06:29 BST
2130 CET, 19 May 2021
Dan Willcox and Paul Snow-Hansen © Joao Costa Ferreira
It's hard enough to fly from the other side of the world, more than a year out of international competition, and expect to compete at the top level in an Olympic fleet. Winning is an even harder ask, especially in a chartered boat. Yet that's what the Kiwi team of Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox achieved at the 470 European Championships earlier this month.
Just two months before the Tokyo Games, it's a critical time for any team to hit top form, especially with so little racing on offer right now. To find out how the dynamic duo achieved their big win over the more favoured teams from France, Spain, Australia and Sweden, you can join a live Q&A call on Zoom coming up this 8.30pm UK time/ 9.30pm Central European Time on Wednesday evening 19 May. That will be 7.30am Thursday morning 20 May for Paul and Dan who are in the middle of their two-week quarantine holed up in an Auckland hotel.
Hosting the call and fielding the questions will be founders of the Road To Gold online course, sailing journalist Andy Rice and top coach (and Dan's dad) Hamish Willcox, currently in Spain working with Pete Burling & Blair Tuke in their build-up to their 49er campaign for Tokyo 2021.
The aim of these Road To Gold Q&A calls is not just to ask Paul and Dan about their achievements, but to ask what they know and have learned that you can apply to YOUR OWN sailing.
Whatever level you're currently at with your sailing, join Hamish and Andy for this 60-minute Q&A session to ask your specific questions. Here's how you get on the call:
- Make sure you're signed up to the Road To Gold Facebook Group to get the Zoom link to the call - www.facebook.com/groups/roadtogoldsquad
- Click on the Zoom link and register to join the call.
- Anyone who joins the call live or posts a question on the Facebook Group will be sent a link to download the recording of the session. So even if you can't make the call live, you'll still get access to all the good stuff that emerges from the 60 minutes.
Whether you race dinghies, multis, boards, foilers or keelboats, if you're keen to improve your performance, make sure you get on this call.