Guest Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Ok we now have the test event at Weymouth showing our true colours Its time to face the facts. In reality we have perhaps 2 or 3 medal hopes. Lets cull the team to Andrew Murdoch and the 49 boys. The rest are and have been also rans for way too long. Its time for Yachting NZ to stop wasting our money and start looking back home to build our sport which is now starting to lag at the grass roots level. Tell me I am wrong but I only can see next year a repeat of the last 5 Olympics. The last time NZ won a medal in dinghies or keel boats at the Olympics was 1992- since then it has been the board sailors. What the hell has been happening and where is the progress? I hope Jez has the guts to do the right thing and take only 2 or 3 crews to the games! Funny our team has the All Black ring about it- lots of chest beating and money but always failing at the top event! Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Rocket Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Anyone who makes top ten has a realistic shot. Olympics are funny regattas and it isn't as simple as current rankings. If it was Dave Barnes andHamish Wilcox would have a Olympic medal - but they never got past the trials. I think rather than trying to cull the team that we should step back and applaud the program that has produced so many top ten or close athletes from NZ - big ups these are fantastic results a year out! Oh and if we selected on the basis you suggest - Coutts wouldn't have gone to LA and a bunch of other silver and bronze medallers would never have got those medals. So in summmary - big ups to the NZ Olympic yachting team - keep doing what you are doing it is working fabulously well. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Tell me I am wrong Okay, you're wrong. Jon-Paul Tobin won the medal race in the Mens board over night, and was a close 4th overall... he'd HAVE to go. Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk in the Star are carrying 15th (having dropped a DNS) and are in 7th. They've been in good form in a number fo Star regattas. You'd be nuts not to send them, they are a genuine medal chance. They might not be raging favourites like Ben Ainslie in the Finn, but they are definitely in the hunt for a medal. Dan Slater is 8th in the Finn, similarly you'd be nuts if you didn't send him. Sara Winter has had a regatta to forget at Weymouth, but she has been in great form. If you didn't send her because of this one result I think you'd be wrong. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Rocket Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Jo Alley and Pollie Powrie have won several ISAF 470 events this year - you would be very wrong to leave them at home. So the only one with a question mark is the mens 470.... Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 And the 470 crew have barely reached 20 years old. They've have 1 top 10 this year. So they have to go so they can medal next time. I always thought that NZ should allow all teams to go that qualify but only fund those with a realistic top 10 shot. That way we have full teams, with lots of moral support, and those who are there to "make up the numbers" aren't costing YNZ/SPARC as much and it adds to the depth back in NZ when they get home. I've been to more than a few World Champs and World Cup regattas knowing I wouldn't win but knowing I was sailing against the best in the business. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Well reasoned post Jono. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Rocket Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Agree with that no-funding option - and add the rider that you would reimburse their costs if they make the top 10 in the Olympics itself. Like you say gets more experience into the fleets and prepares people for the day they can medal. I think we are in a great place with our Olympic team I would love to know why we have stepped so far forward. It is a great bunch that has come through the junior fleets in the last decade - I presume the depth is due to the carded athlete approach spreading the funding a bit wider than just to the annointed one. Look at the lasers - Andrew Murdoch is right there in the world event yet there is at least 4 other Kiwis that are chasing him hard. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 So in summmary - big ups to the NZ Olympic yachting team - keep doing what you are doing it is working fabulously well. and 2012 is just a step in the road towards 2016. YNZ/Sparc are taking a longer term view. Link to post Share on other sites
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