SAILING:As several of Ireland's best amateur big-boat crews prepare for the highlight of the American winter season, the Key West regatta from January 15th to 19th, Irish hopefuls for Qingdao 2008 will be massing in Miami for the annual Olympic Classes Regatta (OCR) and the first Grade One proving ground of the new year.
Twenty sailors now in near-full-time training will compete in the week-long OCR competition, which begins on January 21st off Key Biscayne.
The series is of particular significance for the two Paralympic crews in contention for the single place in the Sonar class in China as it is the first nominated event in the ISA's Olympic Sailing Group (OSG).
For the remaining 14 sailors, Miami will bring mixed ambitions. Last autumn a clear-out of official squad members saw the line-up slashed from 11 boats to five and deleted several of the country's best-known sailors, including Olympic veterans. These crews will begin an attempt to regain Irish Sports Council funding by targeting world-class performances over the first half of the year. In addition, Miami will also be used to "blood" two of the country's youngest athletes in early preparation for the London 2012 Games and the Olympic regatta in Weymouth.
The New Year is also expected to deliver a fresh initiative on elite-athlete funding.
Led by OSG chairman Colm Barrington, private donors will be invited to contribute to the fund that could provide up to €200,000 annually.
Miami is only the beginning of a tough schedule of training and competition in the build-up to the ISAF World Sailing Championships in Cascais at the end of June and the first two weeks of July, where 75 per cent of nation places in each class in Qingdao will be decided.
Olympic team manager James O'Callaghan said: "Cascais is going to be a very windy venue so we want our crews to be almost bullet-proof in fitness terms."
Several of the classes have North American championships following Miami but all the sailors will regroup for a training camp in Lanzarote in February.
The overall sailing effort led by O'Callaghan is under pressure to deliver. "We've set a target of a top-eight result from one boat at Qingdao," he said. "We are behind schedule as we only have one boat with proven performance. The aim is to have three boats capable of reaching a top-eight result."
The problem arises when the most experienced sailors that had higher performance targets in 2006 failed to meet these and were dropped from the funding.
"We have a very inexperienced squad with the exception of Gerbil Owens," said O'Callaghan. "We'd like to see more depth within the squad in 2007."
The official ISO OSG squad comprises Tim Goodbody (Finn - single-handed); Ciara Peelo (Laser 4.7 - single-handed); Debbie Hanna (Laser 4.7 - single-handed); and Russell and Matt McGovern (49er skiff).
The Paralympians are John Twomey with Brian O'Mahoney and Anthony Hegarty (Sonar); and Paul McCarthy with Paul Ryan and Richard Whealy (Sonar). The 2012 prospectives are Ben Lynch (Laser - single-handed) and Ryan Seaton (Laser - single-handed).
Those aiming for inclusion in the official squad are Aaron O'Grady (Finn - single-handed); Maurice O'Connell and Ben Cooke (Star); Gerbil Owens and Phil Lawton (470); James Espey (Laser - single-handed); and Roger Craig (Laser - single-handed).
Following Miami, the various North American class championships and the training camp in the Canaries, the programme for the full line-up includes Barcelona Week (mid-March) Palma Week/Princess Sofia Regatta (late March/April) and Hyeres (late April).
The Holland Olympic Regatta in May as well as Kieler Woche in June are likely to be eschewed by many crews in favour of European class championships or, most likely, intensive training in the build-up to Cascais.
