My heart will always be with the sailor, that after the cliché blood sweat and tears, we are left with the correct people standing on the podium at the end of the regatta. For the Olympic games this can be many years of dedication all coming down to one final medal race. So, in the past I have not always been a great fan. The importance of a good show is important but my feeling, the importance of a worthy winner more so.

The medal race in Marseille for the Radials had a bit of everything. A match race style beginning for gold and silver with up and coming star Mari Erdi HUN making the best of the start but ultimately Emma Plasschaert BEL taking the gold, her first win at the major Championships, and whilst watching this I was also following the battle for bronze between Tuula Tenkenan FIN and Viktorija Andrulyte LTU which literarily came down to a photo finish with the live commentary initially displaying the wrong result (Tuula won the bronze).

All in all, it was fantastic racing with some worthy winners and even before the medal race the final day saw Lucia Falasca ARG, the other girl I coach, getting soooo close to making the medal race. Just one more good result and she would have been there. So, the future for sailing is good, with such depth and talent in the fleet. I wouldn’t be surprised if Aarhus is a high scoring regatta.