A change of tack

Well the last few weeks have been very very busy for Peter and I. Following the Sail for Gold we travelled to Sivota in Greece for a holiday courtesy of our long term sponsor Neilson. It was a great trip and a very good time for Peter and I to reflect on things.

As I am sure most of you know the Sail for Gold was dissapointing, we finished 7th overall. We very much dragged ourselves to that position, nearly always having to catch up in races. We have spent a lot of time thinking about where we made mistakes in our winter program and our campaign as a whole. We felt everything had gone so well as I am sure you all picked up from our blogs but we sailed our worst three regattas as a team at the start of this years season and the timing could not have been worse. There are many reasons why this was the case but either way it has left us in a tricky situation.

Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes, our long term friends and rivals finished 3rd which has put them very firmly in the driving seat for selection for the Olympics. They will compete at the Olympic test event next month where they stand a very good chance of qualifying for the Olympics.

While we are sure we can put together a medal winning performance at the World Championships in Perth in December if the trials continue we are also aware that there are some great opportunities out there for Peter and I. We have both been approached by Americas cup teams and in the short term we plan to go and follow those chances and see what happens with Stevie and Ben's performance. If the trials continues and the situation is right we will get back in the boat and give Perth our all.

We are hugely grateful to all our sponsors and supporters. Everyone has been fantastic over the two years that we have worked as a team and we couldn't have achieved the things we have without that help. For a few more days we will remain European champions until the new one is crowned and that is a result we will be very proud of always.

We are very keen to honour all the commitments we have to people and will contact all of our sponsors individually over the coming weeks. Ideally we would like to maintain all our relationships in the hope we will go to Perth.

Between now and mid November Peter and I will be competing on the Americas cup World Series in the New AC45's. It is a very exciting time but at the same time we are very sad to leave our Olympic dream behind for now. Fingers crossed the opportunity will still be there later in the year.

Thanks once again for everyones incredible support.

All the best Chris and Peter

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