Sailing: Injury leaves Winther coach-less

Sara Winther. Photo / Richard Robinson

It might be a solo boat but sailor Sara Winther is finding it hard to run her Laser Radial campaign in the absence of injured coach Mark Orams.

Orams fell off his bike six weeks ago and broke both arms. His return to New Zealand means he can't be with his charge for her debut Olympic Games. Winther has been trying to qualify in the single-handed class for seven years; Orams has helped her fulfil that dream over the last 18 months. She picked up her best finish at a world championships with 10th in December.

"He's since advised me not to ride bikes before the Games," Winther, 30, laughs ruefully.

"With the shattered bones he's wouldn't have had enough strength and mobility to do the coaching job. It is not an ideal situation but I just have to prepare for the Games and get on with it. We'd done all the hard stuff.

"Sometimes we still ring each other up on Skype and have a laugh. Half the reason he is my coach is because we're really good mates. We have an honest relationship where you can speak frankly - that enables me to make clear decisions out on the course.

"A lot of my job requires leg strength and endurance because you're out on the water all day. If it's windy you max out your heart rate all race; our class is quite physical.

However, most of our team have raced Lake Pupuke and off Takapuna for so many years that we're well comfortable with the breeze. Some of the Europeans hate it; I'm looking forward to it."

Yachting New Zealand talent development manager Ian Neely has taken over as Winther's temporary coach in the meantime.

"He came in to help two days after the youth world championships," Winther says. "It's tricky having two coaches at such a late stage of the campaign but the biggest job is really to keep me fed and watered on the course, help fix things that break and deliver wind forecast and tide readings."

Winther is persistent. She missed out to Jo Aleh for the Beijing spot in the Laser Radial.

She's helped by the presence of Laser sailor Andrew Murdoch. They sailed a lot of their youth regattas together. She also finds women's 470 sailors Aleh and Olivia Powrie good to bounce ideas off.