Plastic bag could cost a medal
New Zealand’s Olympic sailors have been training techniques to clear their boats of garbage, fearing a plastic bag in Rio’s polluted waters could cost a medal.
The threat is very real – the Kiwis have already experienced problems in their extensive training blocks on the seven courses that will be used inside and outside the city’s controversial Guanabara Bay.
Debris around a centre board or rudder slows boats down considerably, leaving sailors weighing up stopping to clear the problem or pushing on at a reduced speed.
Circumstances will dictate the actions but the New Zealand sailors, who compete across seven of the 10 classes and have genuine medal hopes, have been working hard to deal with the threat.
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, red hot favourites in the 49er class, don’t like the element of luck that comes with the problem.
‘‘You hope that a few things like that can go against you and you’ll still be alright. But definitely there’s a lot more risk of that in Rio than there is in normal venues,’’ Burling said, looking to turn London silver into Rio gold.
‘‘It’s something that happens to everyone and you just hope that the luck balances out during the week.’’
Tuke said they had worked hard at ways to reduce the problem and those techniques varied on upwind or downwind situations and were dependent on wind speeds, giving the quick nature of their flying skiff.
‘‘We have a couple of quick ways to get it off. Trying to minimise the impact on the race is a toss up between slowing down and losing a few boat lengths for a short time and then going full speed again, or going slow for the whole race. We’ll weigh that up and make the right decision.’’
Tuke said their Rio experiences showed pollution levels were related to the amount of rainfall washing rubbish into the bay.