Dreams are normally associated with sleep, unless these are daydreams, but with less than 500 days to go for the London Olympic Games, Maltese youngsters Sebastian Ripard and Benji Borg or the Malta49er team, as they are known in the sailing circles, have to remain wide awake if they want to attain their dream.
Yes, time is ticking fast and come July 27, 2012, Malta49er have to make one of the 20 places in the 49er class in order to achieve their ultimate sailing objective – Olympic gold.
January was very busy with another week of intense training under their German coach Kolja Volkers followed by three weeks of further training on their own, so important to maintain a professional level of performance.
The Malta49er team’s next serious competitive test is in April, between 2 and 9, when they race their first regatta of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Palma. For this reason, Ripard and Borg shipped their boat and equipment to Palma de Majorca where they will be spending the whole of March training with other foreign teams with the aim of improving their sailing technique and physical fitness.
While the boat was in transit, Ripard travelled to Antigua where, on February 21, he raced the famous RORC 600, the Caribbean version of the Middle Sea Race – a 605-mile race through the Caribbean islands, passing by the active volcano on Montserrat en route. Here, Ripard crewed on a very fast, fully-pro boat called Jazz where they managed fourth place.
Over the past five years, the world of sailing has had an exciting new attraction which is looked upon as an upshot of the America’s Cup. The event is called the Extreme Sailing Series, born from the global incentive to make sailing a more popular spectator sport, attracting some of the world’s best skippers, large audiences, global media, and an ideal commercial vehicle.
For this year’s Extreme Sailing Series, the 49er world association decided to include, for the first time, eight teams on this tour.
Malta 49er has been chosen to be one of the group of eight and will be challenging teams from Great Britain, USA, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Ireland.
Malta49er team will be competing on the European circuit of the 2011 programme which will be made up of four events.
These events, each running for five days, will be held in Cowes, UK (6-13 August), Trapani, Italy (14-18 September), Nice, France (28 September-2 October), and Almeria, Spain (12-16 October).
“This has been very exciting news for us and a chance to really raise the profile of our campaign,” Ripard said.
“Even though it is not part of the Olympic circuit, it is a very high-profile sailing event which gets a lot of media coverage where the racing actually takes place among masses of spectators.”
“This is an unbelievable opportunity and we are now working hard on the fitness and planning the logistics of including the Extreme Sailing Series into our programme,” Borg, the other member of the Malta49er team, commented.
Naturally, qualification to the 2012 London Games is the Maltese youngsters’ ultimate goal and any other competition or sailing opportunity is considered as an additional experience of quality in attaining their main aim.
Supporting Ripard and Borg on this exciting and intense mission are a team of sponsors, namely, EC English Language Centres, CISK Excel Beer, RLR Yachting, Yacht Help Ltd, and Big Exhibits as well as other contributors such as The Creative Partners, Body Works and Kurt Arrigo.
Yes, 2011 is unfolding into a series of thrilling episodes of satisfying sailing opportunities and challenges.
Yet, Ripard and Borg are still keeping their fingers crossed for a big moment in their current calendar of events… the 2011 49er World Championships, being held in December in Perth, Australia, where 15 of the 20 places for the 2012 London Olympics will be decided. Their only hindrance is funds!