Sailing star changes tack

by KEVIN REDSULL

HUGH STYLES has returned to competing in a Laser, the class in which he first made his mark in international sailing, in a late bid to win selection for this year's Olympic Games.

Hugh Styles demonstrates the skills that have made him a leading exponent of Laser class sailing

After missing out on GB selection for Athens in the Tornado class, the category in which Styles and his crew Adam May finished sixth in the 2000 Sydney Games, the 29 year-old Downs Sailing Club member is now training hard in preparation for the Laser Olympic trials at Weymouth in early April.

Styles lives in Weymouth with his girlfriend, top British windsurfer Bryany Shaw, but he made a fleeting visit back to his family home in Bellars Bush, Dover Road, Sandwich, last month and while there explained the reasons behind his change of tack.

He said: "Adam and I didn't do as well as we had expected in the world championships in Cadiz in September, and straight after the championships the selectors decided to pick Leigh McMillan and Mark Bulkeley, who had finished second in Cadiz, for the Olympics.

"The selectors told us that it had been a really hard decision, but we were both gutted and felt that, in view of our past record, they could have delayed making the selection for a bit longer.

"But, with the decision made, it was a case of 'what now?', and so in October I decided to have a go at gaining selection in the Laser class." Styles won the Laser European title in 1997 before switching to the Tornado, and in 1995 he narrowly missed out on Laser selection for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The man who edged him out, Ben Ainslie, went on to win Laser gold in Sydney four years ago, but Ainslie has now switched to the Finn class.

However, Britain still has great depth in the Laser class, and the trials are likely to be a real dogfight. The favourite will be former world No 1 Paul Goodison who, after performing poorly at the world championships, returned to form by winning the major Sail Melbourne event in Australia last month.

Two other leading GB Laser competitors, Mark Wright and Ed Wright, finished fifth and sixth respectively in Melbourne, while Styles finished 15th after being laid low a couple of days before the regatta. But a week earlier he had finished third in the Laser Australia national championships, a result which lifted Styles' confidence that be can still pull off late charge to win selection.

"Because I will have only been sailing in the Laser again for six months by the time we get to the trials, I w1l1 be a bit of an outsider," he said.

"But I have got international pedigree in the Laser, and I think another factor in my favour is that I will be the only one of the current Laser guys who has already competed in an Olympic trials. There is always loads of pressure and media coverage."

Styles is planning to compete in two or three more international regattas before the trials as he attempts to rediscover the skills which made him one of Europe's leading competitors In the single-handed Laser dinghy before his switch to the two-man Tornado catamaran.

"The skills required to sail a Tornado and a Laser are totally different," he said.

"It's like going from a Formula 1 racing car back to a go-kart in terms of speed and power. Laser sailing is a lot slower and it all depends on tactics and manoeuvring.

"In the Tornado 1 was the skipper and steering the boat. It was mentally draining but not very tough physically. But sailing the Laser is very physically demanding because you have to hike out (hang out) of the boat for a one-and-a-half hour race twice a day."

Styles is a full-time yachtsman, thanks to his UK Sport lottery-funded grant, and he is also grateful for the support of his sponsors: clothing suppliers Fat Face, Gill clothing company, Marlowe Ropes, Holt who provide all the fittings for his boat, and boat insurers CraftInsure.com.

He said: "You have got to compete full-time to be successful in sailing nowadays. I am hoping that I will be on fire by the time I get to the trials. Then I will need to produce the race of my life."