A time to rest, evaluate and plan

After a four-month Euro-­trotting experience, teamSeb&Ben, namely Sebastian Ripard and Benji Borg, are back home.

A trip where the two Maltese sailors drove through Italy, France, Holland, Germany and Ireland attending a number of significant training camps and competing in high-ranking events.

The European Championships at Gdynia, Poland (July 5-10), were definitely the biggest test for the duo in their demanding 2010 campaign which took them to five European racing arenas.

The success of the Poland experience went beyond the actual result achieved at the championships.

Ripard and Borg first took part in a pre-regatta training camp, organised by the 49er class and run by Richard Parslow, the legendary British coach who has to his credit two Olympic silver medals and an abundance of World Championship showings.

“The training camp was great because apart from the opportunity to practise and receive an immediate feedback from a very experienced 49er coach, it was a valuable networking occasion and moreover a great moral boost,” remarked Ripard.

“We had some positive feedback from Parslow who thought we had the potential to make it to the top but he also underlined the commitment and hard work that it would take. The way to achieve success was training, training and training,” Borg declared.

The Maltese sailors feel that the championships themselves were a bit of a let-down since they didn’t perform to their best, or as well as they had done in training.

They finished 69th out of 90 boats. This was viewed as a satisfactory result by their Polish coach Marcin Czajkowski even though they felt they could have done better.

Czajkowski, who himself was a double Olympian, was engaged by teamSeb&Ben to assist them on this important commitment – definitely another indication of the professional approach the local boys are giving to their 49er Olympic Campaign.

After their experience in Poland, Sebastian and Benji travelled to Ireland for a training camp at Dun Laoghaire where they stayed till the end of July.

“Here we had time to brush up on quite a few of our weak areas and we were consistently beating teams that only a few days before in Poland had been a lot faster than us and much higher up the ranking list,” Ripard said.

Ireland was the end to their eventful international season. It ended on a high but the Maltese sailors have a tough winter ahead of them, with a lot of training and time on the water.

Ben and Sebastian intend to take the next couple of weeks lightly in order to relax, earn some money and get back into their fitness while they wait for their gear which has been shipped from the UK to Malta.

During this period, they also plan to meet their sponsors to brief them on their future plans.

EC English Language Centre and Yacht Help Ltd are the main sponsors of teamSeb&Ben, with other major support being extended by Simonds Farsons Cisk through its beer brand, Cisk Excel.

In a period meant for resting, Ripard still could not resist joining two other members of the his family on a big boat regatta at the Cowes Week, on the Isle of Wight, in England, where sailing with his brother Thomas and uncle Jonathan Calascione, they managed an excellent second placing in the J80 class.

Sebastian and Ben will also crew on Jaru, the new J133 of Andrew Calascione in another major test – the 31st Rolex Middle Sea Race. Yet, their 49er Olympic Campaign remains the ultimate objective.