With disappointment comes perspective

The year is 2012. London has just finished hosting a successful Olympic Games and the Road to Rio 2016 has begun.

A new challenge lay ahead in the Olympic Sailing Competition with the addition of the Nacra 17. Denmark’s Lin Ea Cenholt and Christian Peter Lübeck are up for taking on the Mixed Multihull. Fast forward four years and a lot has changed, but then some things have not.
 
Both Cenholt and Lübeck, or CP as he is better known to his teammate, were at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, but not as they had originally set out to as Lübeck explains, “I sailed in the 49er at the Games and Lin was coaching in the Nacra for the Danish National team so we didn’t actually sail together last year.”
 
The chain of events that lead to those roles included disappointment at national trials and a late spot opening in another class for Lübeck. Add to that an offer to step outside the boat for Cenholt, an opportunity she took to gain knowledge for her team’s future. “I feel that we learned a lot from the trial itself,” explains the helm, “and now CP has a lot of experience in the 49er by going to the Games and then myself coaching, we both see things from a different perspective and we have brought that together to succeed in the Nacra.”
 
The new perspectives seem to be working. Beginning with a seventh in their first competitive regatta together after Rio 2016 in Round One of Sailing’s World Cup Series in Miami, USA. The pair then moved on to the Trofeo Princesa Sofia where they took bronze.
 
They are in contention for a medal in Hyères but the pair are just getting back in to the swing of things as a team, “Last campaign we did start together,” said Lübeck, “So this is just getting back in to the rhythm of sailing together really. But we are surprised at how quickly we have got to a good level again.”
 
Getting to that ‘good level’ again all comes back to the new perspectives, especially the experience that helm Cenholt took from her coaching stint, “I saw things from outside the boat that I didn’t see in the boat,” she explains. “Also, I think we are a lot calmer in this campaign where we just go on the water, cruise a little bit, talk about what is important and keep it simple. That’s the main thing I saw.
 
“Sailing is complicated and the people who tend to keep it simple are the ones who succeed.”
 
Perspective. Simplicity. Just words to some people, but seemingly a new frame of mind for a Nacra 17 team who missed out on a goal of sailing together in an Olympic Games.
 
You can add another word to that collection as well though. Clear. “I feel when we are succeeding it is when we have a very clear idea of what is going to happen next,” explains Cenholt, “if we are struggling then we revert back to our main roles when I will make the decisions and CP will make the boat go fast.”
 
Cenholt knows the plan, but is Lübeck happy with it? It would seem so. “Lin is the boss. We discuss everything but I think it’s good that the helm is the boss and the one making the decisions.”
 
With a simple plan built on new perspectives, the team that originally targeted Rio 2016 now have their sights set on Tokyo 2020, and they feel they are in a much better place to achieve that goal, starting with a medal in Hyères as Lübeck explains, “Every regatta we sail we want to be at the top and go for the gold medal. It’s nice to be at that level where we feel we can challenge for gold every time.”
 
Sitting in third place and with a 10-point cushion back to fourth after day two of racing, Cenholt and Lübeck are at the right end of the leaderboard to challenge for a medal, and possibly that gold they target at every regatta.
 
Racing continues in the Nacra 17 on day three at the World Cup Series in Hyères, France with the LIVE Medal Race scheduled for Saturday 29 April and shown on the World Sailing YouTube channel.

By Richard Aspland – World Sailing

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