Musto Performance
Skiff Class Secretary Paul Manning & Class Measurer
Chris Henderson were both "Games Makers" at
Weymouth for the Olympics
Photos and report by Paul Manning and
Chris Henderson
Forward
Most of you know Paul as the Musto Skiff
Class Secretary and UK Ovington dealer who helps make
the class run smoothly and supports the fleet at class
events. Prior to this Paul has a long history in the
sport and part of that was a phase working for the well
know Finn builder Devoti Sailing who originally built
Finns in the UK, in Burnham on Crouch. In fact Ben's
famous Finn, Rita, was built by Devoti during the time
Paul worked for Devoti. Through this background Paul
was chosen to be the National Technical Officer for
the Finn class at the 2012 Olympic Games at Weymouth;
below are his thoughts on being part of the regatta.
It is also worth a moment of reflection that without
people who administer the sport there would be no sport;
Paul was one of the 70,000 "Games makers"
that were a critical part of making the 2012 Olympics
what they were.
Also below is the report by Chris Henderson,
Chris is the Musto Skiff class measurer and was the
International technical Officer for the Elliot 6m at
the games.
Memories from Weymouth and Portland
by Paul Manning
After 4 years of taking part in the Weymouth
and Portland Sail for Gold series as an equipment inspector,
I received confirmation from the organising authority
(LOCOG) that I had been selected as the NTO (National
Technical Officer) for the Finn class. As I did, you
quickly realise that abbreviations are one of the favorite
topics for the IOC, sorry, International Olympic Committee
and in our team plenty of us LOL on numerous occasions
and even used LASERS…
The real build up to the event took place
from 30th July to 14th August last summer. This was
the Pre-Olympics’, where all the plans were put into
practice to test every detail of every area. This event
was not just for the sailors to race at the venue, in
fact they had that opportunity on numerous occasions.
It was more to test the race management both afloat
and ashore, to ensure the radio communications worked
and that the layout of the venue was functional.
A great deal was learned from this event and from my
point the most important was not to have kidney stones
at the same time and miss the whole thing… it was unbelievably
painful and apparently everyone coped just fine without
me!
On the 18th February this year I went
to Wembley Arena for an induction chat and general meeting
along with around 15000 other event helpers from all
different sports. We were given our ‘Games Maker Workbooks’
and listened to some interesting statistics and details
of what had happened to date and what the plan was in
the last few months.
For me, the event itself started well
before the opening ceremony. I arrived on the 21st July
and immediately collected by uniform and accreditation.
To give you an idea of how early we’d arrived, I was
number 50 of however many hundreds of staff ended up
on site. The whole of Weymouth and Portland Sailing
Academy was now nothing like what you may remember,
but we were given excellent location maps to help from
getting lost and the whole experience of getting started
was very easy.
I met up with Ken Kershaw and Cat Ferguson
on the bus from the hotel to the venue. Ken was in charge
of ensuring all the equipment inspection facilities
were set up as required by each class and had spent
a considerable amount of time planning and negotiating
to ensure everything was correct. Cat was the office
manager, in charge of ensuring all the bureaucracy was
correctly processed. We were joined by a small band
of SSV’s (event helpers to you and me) and this merry
band set to work under the direction of Ken setting
up all the work stations, tables, scales etc that each
fleet required in three well positioned permanent buildings
with large roller front doors.
As the classes start their racing at different
times, the plan was to process the first to race first,
and then change the layout around where necessary for
the next class. This worked really well thanks to Ken’s
planning, although I’m pretty sure he didn’t have an
hour to himself for two weeks…
I had two very helpful SSV’s working with
me, both Nigel Sign and Steve Witty were experienced
sailors and we made a great team. Juri Saraskin, the
Finn class chief measurer, was on site to oversee everything
and the four of us had a really enjoyable experience.
 Work
started on Finn measurement on the 24th July at 09:00,
but we were faced with our first minor glitch when the
first competitor didn’t show up! This might sound unbelievable,
but the pressure put upon these competitors and their
support staff is huge and it was not unusual to see
people forget the most obvious things due to this. In
fact we had been asked at out introduction to be as
polite as possible to the competitors and not to engage
in chatting with them unless they spoke to us first;
it was obvious why as different personalities cope in
different ways. I’m smiling as I write this thinking
of Usain Bolt chatting to the young lady and young man
immediately prior to the 200m start. They both looked
petrified…
Anyway, we found our lost sailor and the
2 ½ days of Finn measurement flew past with little
problem.
The image on the right shows us swing
testing a Finn.
As the first fleets to race, the Finn’s
and Star’s were out first for their practice race too.
We used this as an opportunity to test our equipment
and check out the race courses, as well as understanding
the navigation controls in place for coming in and out
of the harbour and what to do if racing is taking place
etc. This all worked really well and the details were
fed back to everyone else ashore.
The first days racing dawned bright and
sunny, with a good wind and Juri and I headed out to
the Nothe race course with the Finn’s. It was quite
a spectacle with thousands of people enjoying the weather
in expectation of the first Olympic class races lining
every rock along the shore and on the grassy bank behind.
They had a massive video screen and commentary as well
as the two fleets to watch. I had a quick count up and
there were 74 support boats, course boats and technical
boats on the race area, as well as numerous yachts and
motorboats etc stationed just outside the exclusion
zone, plus two helicopters and security boats.
The race got away on time and Juri wanted to check the
boats as they went up the course for the first time,
so we followed close behind along with the two jury
boats. We stopped at the windward mark and Juri said
I wonder how the leaders are doing as they reached the
leeward mark. There was no need to ask as the shoreside
commentator sparked up and a huge cheer erupted as Ben
Ainslie had made up a few places on the downwind leg.
Below image is the start with 1s to go
as shown on the clock ...
 There
were press boats and camera boats everywhere, but the
whole process was very carefully controlled by marshals
who did an excellent job of keeping overly keen press
boats away from the racing, but allowing them close
enough or getting them into good positions for what
was wanted.
We regularly had 2 helicopters overhead as well as a
couple of high speed catamaran motor boats all mounted
with gyro stabilised cameras. I’m sure you saw the footage
from these, which at times appeared to be taken by boats
very close to the racing. However, to give you an idea
of the power of these cameras, I don’t think these boats
ever got closer than 200-300m from the closest boat
racing, although I’m pretty sure the helicopters did.
Although the skill of the pilots was amazing as it was
as though helicopters don’t produce down draft as I
never saw any!
I’m sure some of you watched as
much of the racing as time allowed, and I’m also sure
others had little time or opportunity to do so.
I’m not going to go into the racing, as that was covered
pretty thoroughly by the press. However, for those of
you who are interested, the whole event is quite a surreal
experience. You feel completely excluded from the rest
of the world with all the daily security, but most especially
due to the total exclusion of advertising and other
experiences we have thrown at us on a daily basis. I’ve
heard people calling the event like living in a bubble
– it is…
Memories from Weymouth and Portland
by Chris Henderson
Over the last five years, Paul and
I have followed a very similar path working as assistant
measurers at SAIL FOR GOLD plus the odd Youth Nationals
to get further experience in measuring. Following the
2011 Sail for Gold, I was asked if I would take the
role of NTO for the Elliott Match Racing for the Test
event, but dropping back to an SSV for the Games. This
I accepted, as I wanted to just be part of the Games.
I arrived at the Test Event and found we had a few problems
with the boats with fittings failing and other things
not being quite right, and so set about sorting out
the problems. The Test Event then went to plan, but
due to the problems found, ISAF asked me if I would
consider taking the post of ITO ( International Technical
Officer) for the Games. I was happy to do this and the
wheels were put into motion , with the added bonus,
that if the IOC accepted me as an ITO, I would get to
go to Perth at Christmas to the ISAF Worlds.
This was not to be, as the IOC turned me down as I was
British, and all ITO’s are meant to be from other country's
to oversee that the British are doing a fair job of
running the event. At this point, I had resigned myself
to being an SSV but was still happy to help. The Worlds
came and went, and then during the first week of January,
I had a call from ISAF saying that there had been further
problems at the Worlds and the IOC had reconsidered
my position and were happy for me to take up the post
of ITO for the Elliott's if I still wanted it. Silly
Question!
I had very little other contact until about May when
emails asking about clothing sizes and arrival dates
started coming through. I filled in the forms and sent
them back and waited.
My arrival date was sent as the 24th July leaving again
on the 13th August so nearly three weeks as the Match
racing run’s for the whole of the Games. My first big
surprise was getting the invitation to the Opening ceremony
at the Olympic Park in Stratford. This was a dream come
true.
The Opening was out of this World and having caught
the coach back to Weymouth, arriving after 3am, we had
to start what was to be a very long two weeks racing
which all went well with no major issues with the boats,
only the people who own them, but that is another story.
Racing finished on the Saturday, but then the Russian
team put in a protest which if they had won, would mean
running the semi finals again on the Sunday. Luckily
this did not happen and again I was totally shocked
to be asked to the closing ceremony in Stratford which
was again out of this World.
All I can say is that it truly was a once in a lifetime
experience which I am so proud to have been a part off
along with the 70,000 other volunteers who all worked
so hard to make it all happen.
Thanks ISAF
|
