Yachts & Yachting — February 2018

Andy Rice

DINGHIES

A

er singing the virtues of

purposeful practice last

month and how it will

always trump talent, Paul

Goodison goes and wins

the Star Sailors League in the Bahamas!

As one of the VIP guests invited to race

a Star for the rst time in his life, Paul

wasn’t meant to do that. But win it he

did, holding o his former nemesis

in the Laser class, Robert Scheidt by

less than a second in a photo-nish.

It was a winner-takes-all single race

that bagged Paul and his German

crew Frithjof Kleen a cool $40,000.

I hope you caught some of the live

coverage but if not, go and have a

look at it on YouTube. It’s fantastic

footage, not far o what you’d expect

for an Olympic Games, and arguably

the commentary is better because the

commentators aren’t constrained by any

red tape. Digby Fox, formerly of Yachts

& Yachting, was his bubbly, eusive self,

working alongside a number of others

that included Shirley Robertson on

the water and Kiwi commentator and

America’s Cup veteran Peter Lester.

Aside from the fact that Paul

Goodison won Olympic gold in the

Laser in Beijing 2008, it was Paul’s

resounding victory at the Moth Worlds

in Lake Garda in the summer that led

to him being invited to compete in the

h edition of the SSL Finals in Nassau.

Ben Saxton, reigning Nacra 17 World

Champion and an increasingly regular

winner of the Endeavour Trophy at

Burnham-on-Crouch every October,

is proving himself to be an ever more

diverse sailing talent as he teamed up

with Steve Mitchell, former Star World

Champion crew with Iain Percy. Ben

made it out of the 25-boat eet racing

and into the knockout rounds, nishing

a very impressive eighth overall.

Ben’s result would have been the

stand-out performance, especially

when you look further down the

results to see where other big names

nished – Star Olympic Champions

Freddie Loof and Torben Grael

could only manage 13th and 22nd

Having never sailed a Star before, Paul Goodison beat a number of fellow

Olympians at the Star Sailors League. Perhaps talent can oust practice after all

I did my best to remember Paul’s tips

as I was driving up the M3 to Queen

Mary to take part in a Laser Masters end

of season event. It was great to see a lot

of old faces, and my old sailing partner

Gareth Edwards had done a fantastic

job of bringing some old salts out of

the woodwork. Michael Hicks was kind

enough to lend me a well-sorted boat and

the racing was enjoyable although a little

bit too intense and shouty for my liking.

I think fast ski sailing has made me

so, because the faster the boat, the more

everyone stays out of everyone’s way.

Racing at Queen Mary SC was also

an opportunity to understand why

there is no Bloody Mary taking place in

January. Water levels are way down at

a number of reservoirs aer a dry year

but particularly low at Queen Mary.

Before I got there, I was thinking, how

bad can it be? Having experienced

it, there was little doubt that trying

to get 200 or more boats out of the

reservoir at the same time would have

been a nightmare. Extracting 50 or

so Lasers was hard enough, and only

made possible by the incredible group

of volunteers that helped us drag our

boats back up the steep incline.

So, calling o the Bloody Mary was

the right decision, and I’m sure aer a

double rollover, the 2019 Bloody Mary

will come back stronger than ever.

Musto Ski sailor

Andy Rice has

unparalleled

knowledge of

the dinghy sailing

scene, from

grassroots to

Olympic level

respectively. So Ben’s performance

was extraordinary, while Goodison’s

progress all the way to the four-boat

nal, and then to beat three veteran

Star Olympians, was truly astounding. 

Knowing the quality of who he was

up against, perhaps this drove Paul to

risk an extra special start o the line,

which he secured and took up the early

lead. However Robert Scheidt pulled

out his legendary downwind skills for

the nal run to the nish and looked

to have caught the Anglo-German

alliance right on the last wave. But

no, Goodison and Kleen clung on by

the slimmest of margins for a famous

victory, dedicated to the late Andrew

‘Bart’ Simpson, one of Paul’s best friends.

It was with Goodison as coach the last

time I sailed a Laser, about 10 years ago,

at a two-day Laser clinic in Weymouth.

Some of his tips were so obvious and

straightforward, yet it could take you a

lifetime to work them out for yourself.

Take this one for example: how oen

do you go round the windward mark

and try to bear away on to the run,

only to nd the mainsheet is caught

around your legs? Paul’s answer: as you

approach the windward mark, throw all

the sheet onto the foredeck. at way,

it’s ready to run, and you’ll gain valuable

ground to leeward in the rst couple

of boat lengths of the downwind leg.

Above

Goodison and

Kleen clinched

victory - and a

$40,000 prize

CARLO BORLENGHI

Goodison’s progress all the way to the four-boat final,

then beating three Star Olympians, was astounding

February 2018 Yachts & Yachting 17

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