British Sonar sailors John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Stephen Thomas secured their second consecutive world title for Skandia Team GBR at the 2006 Alcoa IFDS World Disabled Sailing Championships in Perth, Australia, last month.
The Sonar trio mastered the tricky conditions on the Swan River to successfully defend the world crown they won in Denmark back in September, making Robertson the first skipper in the history of disabled Sonar sailing to defend the World Championship title.
By finishing amongst the top seven ranked nations at the Perth event, Skandia Team GBR has already guaranteed its berth for the Sonar fleet at the Paralympic regatta in 2008.
We caught up with Stephen Thomas and John Robertson of the double gold-medal winning team on their return to the UK.
How did you prepare for the IFDS Worlds?
ST - After winning our first title in Denmark we decided that we needed more fleet racing experience, so the team loaned an SB3 from Laser and decided to race in the Hamble Winter Series. The series went well we came top half of the fleet after never sailing in the boat before.
The team also focused on starting practice throughout the winter training camps at Weymouth, and once the boat had been loaded into the container in early November we concentrated on physical fitness and weight gain (as Perth was going to be windy) as we thought these would be key elements in success.
What were your goals and expectations for the regatta?
ST - The team s overall goal was to finish in the top seven at this event so that we could qualify GBR for Beijing 2008. However, we hoped that we would be around the medal zone at the end of the regatta considering we only won it five months previously.
The team didn t really have any preconceived notions about where we would finish up guessing where you re going to come only adds unwanted pressure. For Athens we placed a lot of pressure on ourselves to get a medal and we ended up coming sixth we heavily focused on the outcome.
Since then the team has had a different philosophy to sailing. We now go out and think about the processes and have some fun and see where we come at the end of the regatta it seems to be working!
Describe the venue and race conditions out in Perth
JR - The course was on Melville Water in the Swan River, with varying conditions throughout the regatta. The Fremantle doctor that was supposed come in at 2.30pm everyday didn t appear until after the closing ceremony!
ST - The week started off with a fairly predicted wind pattern with a wind bend affecting the left hand side of the course. The tactical approach we favoured was to start midline and go left giving us leverage on the rest of the fleet. Though as the week went on the predictable wind patterns disappeared and left a very shifty S-SE wind due to the cyclone that was up in Northern Australia. This changed our tactics and we went for the more conservative option of staying in the middle of the course and trying to work with the shifty conditions
Who were your biggest rivals heading into the event?
ST - We knew there would be strong opposition from the Norwegians and Germans who won silver and bronze respectively at the Worlds in 2005. Also we knew the Israeli team would be pretty strong as they won the gold in Athens and the Aussies were on their home water so that gave them an advantage over the rest of the fleet.
During the regatta the German crew stuck with us at the top of the leader board right up until the last day. The Norwegians had a pretty lacklustre first couple of days, but were only a few points off us running into the last day. The Israeli team never seemed to get going but showed their class when they were neck and neck with us finishing the last race of the regatta
You were in equal first place on the penultimate day of the regatta what went through your minds heading out on the final day?
ST - Obviously I think there were nerves there, it s a last day of World Championship and we were leading so inevitably there are going to be jitters. However the team was very relaxed on the morning of the last day we were laughing and joking as usual. Sending us out and then bringing us back into the dock for 10 minutes (no wind) helped greatly because it didn t give us any real time to think about the racing ahead. Our coach told us to just go out and enjoy it
How does it feel to have won two consecutive World titles?
JR This win means a whole lot more to us because we are the first team to successfully defend our title!
ST - It seems a dream at the moment, if someone had told us we would be undefeated (as a Paralympic crew) and hold 2 world titles within 18 months of finishing Athens I would have said they were crazy. No one has ever retained the title back to back. Paralympic sailing is reaching new heights in terms of skill levels, fitness, and technical aspects so to be reigning champions is an even bigger boost to us and shows that the team is world class!
When you put the hard work in over the winter and then it pays off in winning, it s very satisfying. This victory is not only for us as a team but also for the people who have showed their continued support for us since Athens - RYA, UK Sport, Oyster Yachts, our friends, families and our coach Mark Rushall.
What s next for you as a team?
ST - The team has taken the decision to take a month or so off, as we haven t had any down time since the Worlds last September. Hannah and I are still at university so we need to fulfil those commitments.
Also, I am heading out to the Winter Paralympic Games in March to represent Team GB in Sledge Hockey (seated Ice Hockey), while John Is planning to do some sailing in Sunderland to keep the brain ticking over. We plan to head out to Marblehead, NY, in August for some big fleet racing which should be fun and tick a few of the improvement boxes that we need to work on!