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Broken Dreams-Richard Glover

Posted 4 months, 17 days ago

Broken Dreams-Richard Glover
onEdition Broken Dreams Richard Glover has been sailing catamarans since he was a child and has a phenomenal youth record, winning Gold at the last two Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships. Richard has almost exclusively been sailing catamarans and when it comes to bringing on the speed in two hulls, he has abilities far beyond his young age.Louay Habib caught up with Richard Glover at his home in Weymouth. The Glover family immigrated to Weymouth from South Africa when he was fourteen years old and he soon settled in, as he explains; “It was a bit of a culture shock coming to Weymouth from Johannesburg but the sailing here is fantastic. I live just two minutes from the water which is just fine by me. I am studying for my A-Levels at Thomas Hardye where there is a sailing club and the school has been very understanding of my sailing commitments and have encouraged me a lot.” Glover’s talents were recognised by the RYA, as last year he was chosen for the Skandia Team GBR, Olympic training squad at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, in the Tornado; “The youth sailing catamaran is the Hobie 16 and I had only actually been out sailing in a Tornado at the end of 2007. The top British Tornado teams have been really helpful, especially Leigh (McMillan) and Will (Howden), ask a question on the dock and they would normally come over and give us a hand.” It seemed that a bright future lay ahead for Richard, he had no chance of making the 2008 Games but if he continued to impress, he would most certainly be in the running for the top spot at the 2012 Games and in his own back yard but unfortunately for him that all changed on November 11th 2007. ISAF were under pressure to reduce the number of sailing classes at the Olympics and decided to drop the Tornado class for the 2012 Games. “I was pretty gutted really.” Commented Richard after the announcement; “There was talk about it going out but most people though that the biggest and most exciting boats would not be dropped. When it was, I was pretty shocked to be honest. The hard bit for me, is that all of my sailing has been in catamarans and now I have to transfer my skills into a different boat. It is hard when you have been sailing multi-hulls for so many years and just stop that and try and start again almost. I am trying out in the 470 squad which has been going well, I’m the right size and weight as a helmsman for the boat but I will have a go in a few other boats as well and see how that goes.” Virtually all of Richard’s sailing programme has been funded by the RYA that has now evaporated with the announcement, so he is now having to deal with the double-whammy of no catamaran Olympic prospects and his funding withdrawn at the same time; “At the moment I am not funded by the RYA, as such but I have been invited to all the camps and other sorts of things which is very generous of them and more than I could ask for, as have no class or a boat to sail. In a way it is no one’s fault really but I don’t really know what to do and the RYA have a load of sailors that they don’t know what to do with at the moment, everything is up in the air.” Glover’s training and racing schedule for 2008 has literally been blown away and unless the RYA decide he is capable of making the grade, in another class, it looks as if Richard may well have to put aside his dream of competing at the Olympics for now. “The fact is that, realistically, there is no Tornado, so we are all going to have to change classes or get out of Olympic sailing. Normally what happens is that Olympic squad sailors might get into big boat sailing after an Olympic campaign but it has crossed my mind to get into big catamaran sailing at a young age. I am going to be doing a bit on the Hobie Tiger which will keep me in the water, luckily I have been provided by Hobie Cat which is really good for me as it keeps me racing and my sharpness going. I am racing at Carnac in the Eurocat at the end of April and possibly the F18 Worlds in Spain in June.” Richard Glover is only one of the many Tornado sailors who have an undecided future, most of the top sailors are in Australia competing on that circuit and they too will have to make some tough decisions about where they will go to once their programmes have run their course. Many will look to big boat sailing; perhaps the best will end up on the Extreme 40 circuit or offshore multi-hulls. Some will leave catamaran sailing all together. Richard Glover is currently trying out in the 470 but he is looking at other potential boats to keep his Olympic ambitions alive; “I will also have a look at the 49er as an option, the problem there is that there are a lot of people who want to sail the 49er at the moment, so there are less opportunities open to me there. The number of people trying to get into the GBR 49er squad is huge. Sure, the 49er is fairly similar sailing to the Tornado but competition is fierce.” The loss of the Tornado class has been particularly hard on people like Richard and whilst the loss of any class was bound to cause complaints from those losing out, it seems an odd decision to totally eradicate multi-hull sailing from Olympic competition. Richard Glover was amazed by the decision but has a few ideas on how the ISAF Council came to that decision; “It is difficult to think of the reasoning behind the decision but probably politics at the top, too be honest that and because the Tornado Class is expensive to run. Traditional Olympic Classes seem to get different treatment to the high performance boats. A lot of people expected the Finn to go but perhaps the ISAF Council members are more in favour of traditional sailing and as such the vote was in their hands and that’s the way it went.” It is not surprising that an out and out multi-hull sailor like Richard is in favour of the Tornado as an Olympic Class and yes the boat is fast and very eye-catching but some would argue that it is not the most tactical racing, Richard begs to differ; “ Okay, the argument is that because you tend to commit to a side of the race course in a Tornado, there are no tactics involved but I think that is totally wrong. You have to be very careful about which side you pick, as once you do there is no turning back. In a mono-hull, you can flick a tack here, flick a tack there and change your decisions. Racing a Tornado is just as tactical, for example, you need to read the wind and wind shifts just as much, if not more. You are putting all your eggs in one basket, in many ways you need to think ahead more than in a mono-hull, as you are committed from the start.” Richard also sights cost as a potential reason why the Tornado is not in favour. A basic Tornado costs about £30,000 and it doesn’t stop there. The Tornado is a development Class; research and development of hull shapes, foils, sails and rig mean even more expenditure, those people against the Tornado, would argue that the bigger budget can produce a much faster boat. In essence cheque book sailing, Richard doesn’t agree with that notion; “You can’t buy experience; time on the water. Look at Darren Bundock and Mitch Booth who have been at the top of the game for a long time. Everybody these days is sailing with nearly exactly the same equipment, they just use the equipment better than anyone else! It is their experience that has got them to the top and that is what is keeping them there. I don’t believe that just because it is a development class, you can just throw a load of money at it and get to the top, to do a ‘Chelsea’, if you like!” There is talk of an ISAF re-vote to see if they will re-instate the Tornado as an Olympic Class for 2012 or the Tornado could get in as the high performance double-hander but that would be at the expense of the 49er which seems highly unlikely. Richard Glover would love to represent Britain in his home town for the 2012 Olympics but he is realistic about the prospect; “It would take a lot of hard work and a massive improvement for me to be at the Games in Weymouth, of course it would be really special for me to compete at the Olympics in my own backyard but by then I will still only be 22 years old, the 2016 Games is more likely, but now, just staying in any Olympic Class will be tough, as the competition is very strong indeed, if it doesn’t work out for me in the Olympic Squad then I will try my hand elsewhere. I am only eighteen and at the beginning of my sailing career. Who knows, I would love to do a Volvo Ocean Race or an America’s Cup one day.” I must say that it seems a bizarre decision to totally eradicate multi-hull sailing from the Olympic Games but then these are strange times indeed; as for only the second time in America’s Cup history, the Auld Mug may well be won by a catamaran, perhaps the America’s Cup is the destiny of some of the best Tornado sailors, who will surely be scratching their heads after they compete in Qingdao for a multi-hull Olympic Gold. Sadly, it looks very unlikely that Richard Glover will be able to win an Olympic medal with two hulls, in the near future. Full Story »

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