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For anyone watching the sailing at these Olympics on television, they will look like any normal regatta, but it has often been anything but normal behind the scenes.
A monumental effort has gone into it by both sailors and support staff to prepare for and adapt to a unique Olympics played out amid the spectre of a global pandemic.
But attention now switches to the water, with racing set to start tomorrow, and the New Zealand team are ready to go.
Sam Meech, who secured bronze in the Laser at the 2016 Rio Olympics, will kick things off for the New Zealand team tomorrow afternoon before the others start in staggered intervals over the next few days. Racing will conclude with the 470 medal races on August 4.
New Zealand is represented in six of the 10 Olympic classes on the programme - Laser, 49er, 49erFX, men's 470, Finn and Nacra 17 - and all have high expectations in an overall fleet of 350 sailors from 65 nations. It's an experienced team, with Nacra 17 sailors Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson the only first-timers.
"Our guys are not here to make up the numbers, all of them," Yachting New Zealand high performance director Ian Stewart said. "We have prepared as best we can and I think our guys are ready to get into it. The weather gods are going to play out now."
Light sea breezes have drifted across Sagami Bay off Enoshima all week since the sailing team arrived but are forecast to flick around to the north as a typhoon approaches before they settle back down again mid-week.
There will be plenty of evaluation and debriefing at the conclusion of these Games but already Stewart said the impact of Covid-19 will change a few aspects of Yachting New Zealand's approach to Olympic campaigning.
Meaningful training blocks were held at regular intervals at Tutukaka as crews sought conditions similar to what they might expect in Enoshima and local training partners were developed to push the NZL Sailing Team members along.
"Over the last few years, we slipped into the thinking that we have to travel, have to engage in regattas to be competitive," Stewart said. "That’s true, but I think that what we have learned from Covid is that there’s a whole lot more you can do at home before you engage and how effective that can be doing that from home. That’s been a big recalibration."
There have been a handful of international regattas and some low-key racing this year featuring New Zealand sailors and the results have been encouraging.
Andy Maloney and Josh Junior were first and third respectively at the Finn Gold Cup, Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox won the men's 470 European championships and the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 crews achieved good results at low-key events in Europe. Sam Meech based himself in Australia at various intervals to train and race with Australia's best Laser sailors.
"It’s a relief to finally be here," Stewart admitted. "You can only prepare so long. It’s almost quite unbelievable that we’re here. I never voiced it a lot but I had massive doubts that we would get here [because of Covid-19]. You always have to plan assuming that you’re going to go and that's how we approached it.
"The most important thing all along from our point of view is that medals are won and lost on the water. We’re here and we're keen to get into it."
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Pic (L-R): Blair Tuke, Peter Burling, Paul Snow-Hansen, Erica Dawson, Micah Wilkinson, Dan Willcox, Molly Meech, Sam Meech, Alex Maloney, Josh Junior. Photo: Sailing Energy.
