Volvo

A bronze in Palma made it two medals in two regattas this year but I was so disappointed with the result as I felt I was sailing well enough to win the event and I didn’t manage to execute the result I wanted.

I sailed really well throughout the regatta and was really pleased with my overall performance but the last two races were my undoing really, and the medal race was especially disappointing.

There was a six-point gap between me and the overnight leader Dorian Van Rijsselberge (NED) going into the medal race but I’d sailed well enough during the regatta to feel confident I could overcome that gap.

Nick Dempsey in action Richard Langdon/ Skandia Team GBR image

The biggest problem came because my two main rivals Dorian and Tom Ashley (NZL) transitioned to planing before I did. From the moment Dorian started planing he was gone and at that point you have to start recalculating and re-jiggling your priorities. If Tom wasn’t already planing I had to try to stay with him but they had both smashed the lay line and I got punished for being too conservative. Sometimes in those situations you have to just really go for it and commit and it was so disappointing I didn’t do that and see the regatta out.

I can take a lot of heart from my performance; it was the first time in a couple of years that I felt like my Olympic campaign was really on target and  I felt incredibly confident in the sorts of situations I wouldn’t have done a year ago. In many ways medium to light conditions have gone from being a weakness to a strength. It really did qualify my decision to train so much abroad over the winter, which was a bit of a relief. But at the end of the day, our sport is all about results and winning and I didn’t manage to do that, which I was gutted about.

I’m not doing Hyeres and am focussing entirely now on Skandia Sail for Gold at the start of June. I’m going to be training bloody hard down at Weymouth between now and the regatta; this next three months is the biggest training block of the year starting in earnest next Monday (18 April).

I arrived back from Palma on Saturday night (9 April) and it was lovely seeing Thomas and Sarah. He’s always great when I come home, he’s coming up two now and he’s at the stage where everything he says and does is entertaining. It’s fantastic to be back home spending time with them again having spent so much time overseas this winter.

Nick Dempsey, Thomas Dempsey, Sarah Ayton

Since getting back I’ve done a photoshoot with Ed Wright (Skandia Team GBR World champion Finn sailor) for Esquire magazine in London, to promote Musto’s forthcoming autumn/winter collection. I was also on Thomas-watching duties as Sarah presented a talk about girls’ sailing opportunities to the sailors at the 2011 RYA Volvo Youth National Championships, which are going on at Hayling Island this week. 

Nick Dempsey and Finn sailor Ed Wright at the Esquire shoot for the Musto AW colection, October issue

Check out Nick at the Youth Nationals here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJo9KVluER8

Nick Dempsey

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