Getting Started… Having completed my studies in Cape Town last year I decided to take the opportunity to live and work abroad, do some traveling and compete in the 49er class. MACS Shipping kindly provided reduced price transport to the UK for the boat. 49ers Being tricky to sail single-handed and notoriously expensive, the next obvious steps were to find a teammate and a day job. I started work in London with a contract position for an environmental consultancy, and have since accepted a full-time environmental engineering position with a construction company. I teamed up with Diederik Bulters, a Dutch surgeon with a year's experience in the 49er class.

Little Fish in a Big Pond… I suffered a rude awakening to European Sailing Culture at our first UK Circuit Event, with horizontal rain and freezing cold conditions but nobody batting an eyelid about sailing plenty of races back to back. The UK has the most competitive 49er fleet worldwide, with UK circuit events typically attracting 20 to 40 boat 49er fleets, the top 5 of which are full-time professionals (3 placed in the top 7 at the recent 2002 Hawaii World Championships). We started off as backfleeters in the first couple of events, progressed to midfleet by the Inland Nationals in 2001, and have recently finished in the top 10 at a UK Olympic Selection Regatta and top 5 at a UK Circuit Event.

Carrots at the International Regattas… The typical racing format for international regattas is several laps of short windward/leeward courses with a choice of 2 bottom marks. The starts are fiercely competitive with few spaces on the line within a couple of minutes. The ability to hold the boat still and high without getting squeezed out, and then accelerating quickly for the gun is essential. SPA Regatta in Medemblick, Netherlands was our first international 49er regatta. 6 Races were held in perfect conditions in the qualifying series. The finals were cancelled due to strong winds. Last week we competed in the 49er European Championships in Norway and sailed 13 races in a variety of conditions, most notably a few races in survival conditions of 25 knots. Our inexperience showed in these regattas with some poor results but watch this space next season, as we have taken away some important lessons from our introduction to top-level racing.

A bag of dog food… The hull brought over from South Africa (RSA 005, i.e. the fifth 49er built) has played a good innings as a training hull but is now earmarked for urgent replacement (none of the serious boys have boat numbers much under 700). It is now amongst the best rigged boats in the fleet (thanks to my teammate, alias Mr Gadget), but weighed in at nearly a full bag of dog food over at the Europeans (103kg, maximum limit 94kg). This has showed up in marginal conditions and off the start line, where we have had a clear speed disadvantage. We are currently on the lookout for sponsors to buy a faster boat on the back of our UK circuit results.

Raising the bar… The standard of sailing in the 49er fleet has improved amazingly since the class begun in 1995 (witnessed by previously dominant 3-time 49er world champion Chris Nicholson struggling to make the Gold Fleet at this year's European and World Championships). The top 30 teams in the World are full-time pros and the next 20 or so are semi-professional. The UK pro teams typically sail 5 days a week, 5 hours per day excluding gym work. They have the financial, logistical and coaching support of the national sailing federation, and the benefit of training with each other on a daily basis.

Comment… Unlike these full-time professionals, our team falls into the category of 'serious amateurs' holding down fairly demanding day jobs. The most sailing we can hope to do is 2 days per week but we try to take the most professional approach possible to our campaign in the time available. Previous experience has shown that without the assistance of personal benefactors or exceptional sponsorship backing, full-time olympic sailing campaigns for South Africa are unlikely to succeed.

Diederik and myself have been through a steep learning curve this year. We have overcome several of the many technical and boathandling challenges presented by the 49er. I look forward to improving our speed to the point where we can 'get our heads out of the boat' more and focus on the tactics and strategy. Our teamwork has improved considerably since last year and we have developed a good knack for 'keeping our nose clean' on the race course.

Next year… Next year holds the promise of the multiclass World Sailing Championships in Cadiz, Spain, the European 49er Championships, Grade I International Events such as Hyeres and Majorca, UK Circuit Events and Olympic Qualification Series. International Olympic campaigns will be in full swing so there will be 'no free lunch' at these regattas. The World Championships will be a pressure cooker competition as it is the final country qualifications for the 2004 Olympics.

Greg Barker