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What started as a lockdown project for Megan Thomson has now seen her team up with a three-time Olympian for this week's 470 world championships in Israel.
Paul Snow-Hansen will compete at his first major event since finishing fourth with long-time partner Dan Willcox at last year’s Tokyo Olympics.
He took time off after the Games to contemplate his next step, which included being the recipient of a new Prime Minister's athlete scholarship internship pilot programme and also did a raft of coaching across various classes.
“Megan has been chipping away at the 470 for the last year and approached me to give it a go,” Snow-Hansen said. “I thought it was a good chance to test the waters and see if I wanted to do another [Olympic] campaign or not.
“It’s been pretty cool. There are lots of friendly faces in the boat park and people coming up to say hi wondering what I am up to.”
The 470 has switched to a mixed class for the Paris Olympics and many of those who Snow-Hansen and Willcox sailed against, like Sweden’s Anton Dahlberg and Spain’s Jordi Xammar, have formed new combinations.
Those two will be among the favourites in Sdot Yam this week, and a handful of teams who started sailing together before the end of the last cycle are also showing some good form.
Snow-Hansen and Thomson are realistic about their chances in the 60-boat fleet, given their lack of time together.
“I think what will be important is seeing potential in the racing,” Snow-Hansen said. “Ideally it would be nice to have a bit of speed and get to the front of the fleet and enjoy ourselves. We will see.
“We have only been sailing for a month and, looking around, the competition is very slick and everyone has been sailing a lot. The conditions here are amazing but they’re not easy - big waves and mid-range conditions we don’t get in New Zealand a whole lot - so it’s been challenging so far.”
Thomson, who will skipper a New Zealand team at next month’s women’s match racing world championships in Auckland, took advantage of jumping into both a 470 and 49erFX during lockdown last year and found she enjoyed the more technical aspect of the 470.
Once she had mastered the basics, that’s when her search for a suitable helm came into sharp focus.
It’s been a big learning curve for Thomson and that doesn’t look like slowing down any time soon.
“It’s pretty exciting to be in a spot where each day you’re walking away having learned a lot,” Thomson said. “In any situation, more time is great but we are pretty excited about the week ahead.”
Snow-Hansen and Thomson will be joined on the start line tonight (NZ time) by two other Kiwi teams – Derek Scott and Rebecca Hume and Brittany Wornall and Sam Street – as the mixed fleet takes shape.
For now, Snow-Hansen is enjoying being back in familiar territory, albeit with a fresh tinge to it.
“It’s a huge change in the fleet,” he said. “There are a lot of familiar faces but also a lot of news ones. There’s a new energy in the fleet. No one knows exactly how it’s going to pan out with the [best combination of] skippers and crews but so far it seems really even so any good team will do well.”
