Hamish & Jim have just finished the 2012 Star World Championships.
The team is proud to communicate that they finished 7th overall and qualify NZL for the Olympic Games.
At the 2012 Olympics, there will be just 16 Star teams in total. GBR as host nation, 11 teams who qualified at the 2011 World Championships, plus the final 4 qualifying this week in Hyeres, France.
As Hamish & I only started in December last year, we only had this one event to qualify the Country so the pressure was on.
To make things more stressful, instead of being raced on short World Cup & Olympic courses, we just had one long (up to 3 hours) race per day on 2.5 mile legs.
The World Championships were sailed in mostly light, shifty winds with a lot of teams collecting big scores. One race could be a top 5, the next a 50th.
As we had Country qualification at stake, we made the plan to sail low risk, not trying to win the event but to ensure a top 10 finish & Country qualification.
All of our races were in the top 20 with the highlight coming in the penultimate race when we lead at every mark to record a win by over a minute. This was an important win as it ensured Country qualification with one race left to sail.
On the final day it came down to the wire for a lot of Countries with Denmark, Croatia & the surprise Greeks joining us in qualification, with the former Olympic teams from Italy, Spain & Austria all missing out. There were many different emotions ashore after the event, depending whether goals had or hadn’t been reached.
For us Olympic Country qualification is just another important milestone on our way to the main goal, to medal at the 2012 Olympic Games.
We’re now heading back to NZ to spend some family time before heading to the Olympic venue in Weymouth for training and the Sail for Gold event at the end of May.
In the coming days we hope to be formally selected to the New Zealand Olympic Team. I will of course keep you updated.
Many thanks for your continued support. We wouldn’t be able to do it without you.
Best wishes, Jim & Hamish.
Credits: fivestudio.it