Sailing for gold

The crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea are the source of much enjoyment for many Maltese however for Sebastian Ripard and Benji Borg the sea is more than just a playground. Aiming to qualify for the Olympic Games in 2012 and winning a medal in 2016, for the boys the sea is day at the office, a training ground and somewhere to relax. 

Both young men were practically born on a boat, with prominent families in the sailing world they started sailing with their parents before they could even remember. At the age of 7 they began to sail dingy boats with the sailing school and began to get into competitive sailing by the age of 10.

“We sailed with a lot of kids who were really good at the sport but when the time comes for O levels and A levels a lot of people start to give up on sailing. Both Benji and I seemed to manage to juggle sailing with our studies and we both managed to do quite well. Benji won one or two gold medals at the Small Nations Games and I won Cowes week in the Isle of Wight.

“When we finished university we no longer had studies as an excuse and decided it was time to take sailing a step further. We wanted to see how far we could go and in late 2009 we took up training on a full time basis with the aim of qualifying for the Olympics in 2012 and going for gold in 2016.”

Seb, 24, and Ben, 21, are a two-man team on a 4.9 metre dinghy boat commonly known as a 49er, which is the fastest, highest performing of the Olympic classes of dinghies. The small nature of the boat demands a full relationship with the sea, wind, boat and crew and is perfectly suited to the boys’ competitive and ambitious nature.

“Maltese athletes usually get to compete in the Olympic Games on wildcards. We are aiming to qualify for the Games becoming the first Maltese athletes to do so.”

There are 21 spots with about 30 countries fighting for a place. The first qualifier is in Perth in Australia in December where the first 15 countries will be selected, the remainder will be selected from the second qualifier held in Croatia in May.

“It is imperative that we get to Australia to compete in the first qualifying round. It is never a good idea for an athlete to rely on one competition for their chances at qualifying but with sailing dinghies, even more so due to the high impact nature of the sport. One twisted ankle could be the end of our campaign so we are focusing on getting to Australia this coming December.”

Although there is no official ranking system, during the last event Seb and Benji took part in, they placed 46th out of 75 boats and the 18th country on the list. This is encouraging the team to push harder to achieve the desired result in Perth.

Most of their year is taken up by training and competing. A typical day in the winter for Seb and Benji is to get up in the morning to a light gym session, followed by two hours of training on the water in the morning, lunch and two more hours on the boat, a pilates session in the evening and then off to bed, with their routine being repeated five times a week.

“It’s a tiring week, with every training session using somewhere in the region of 3,000 calories, but its necessary for us to build up the skills necessary to achieve our goals. The Mediterranean is an ideal training ground due to the varying conditions and mild climate. The choppy conditions we have become accustomed to are similar to those in Perth which will hopefully give us an edge.

“However training at home is not enough and during the summer months we train abroad a lot and take part in as many regattas as we can. It is important for us to be at the regattas on the World Cup Circuit for us to be able to gauge how well we are doing and where we need to focus our training.”

As one of the youngest teams on the circuit, Seb and Benji feel like they have not yet reached their peak and are quietly confident of their chances of qualifying. They have been invited to train with the German national team in Germany this September, the first time that they are to train with athletes of their calibre.

Running an Olympic campaign however is not only about the sport, financing the operation is a headache the boys could do without.

“We are running our campaign on a really tight budget. Where the top teams run with an average of €100,000 to €150,000 we have to make do with €40,000.

“We have support from our sponsors EC Language School, Cisk Excel and Creative Partners, as well as the Malta Sailing Federation and the Malta Olympic Committee and MIA who have invested in some money for training in preparation for the Perth qualifiers.

“Though we appreciate the help that we getting I must admit that I am quite jealous of other athletes we meet at international races. In Malta we don’t really have grassroots programmes and there is certainly no programme where athletes who have dedicated their lives to compete for their countries are taken care of.

“We have to rely on parents for food and shelter as all of our money is going on training, equipment and transport, which, after 5 years of living alone is quite tough.”

Despite the hardships the boys are determined to achieve their goals no matter what the cost.

“Nothing has ever been won over tea and biscuits. We have made many sacrifices along the way and we accept that throughout the campaign more of these will come along but these only serve to strengthen our determination to put Malta on the sailing map forever…. and hopefully bring home a medal in the process.”

For more information, or to help the team get to Perth in December log on to www.malta49er.com

 

Photography by Kurt Arrigo