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Sailor - Stephen Milne
Living in Bangor, having a father who sailed and spending much of his youth around Ballyholme Yacht Club it comes as no surprise that Stephen Milne would take up sailing and now he’ll compete at the very highest level the sport has to offer. Stephen is funded by Sport Northern Ireland through the Athlete Support Programme.
“When I was younger, a teenager I had a lot of friends who actually sailed and so did my dad, he’d sailed for many years and I would spend time with him at the yacht club and that’s how it all began. I would go out with him and other friends at the time and just loved it. I’d keep borrowing friends’ boats and eventually I would get my own laser,” he explained.
Now Milne is off to Qingdao, around an hour’s flying time from Beijing, the venue for the Olympic regatta. He’ll sail in the Star class along with Peter O’Leary from Cork.
“Peter and I are great friends and have been for years and this plays a big part in our sailing relationship. We weren’t paired up by people who thought we should sail together, we came together naturally. You’re doing everything together from eating breakfast to going to the gym to sailing and spending that much time together, sure you do tend to get annoyed with each other at times. A lot of sailing is making decisions quickly that may be detrimental to your race result. Sometimes these decisions prove to be the wrong one by either of us. Good sailors and sportsman will realise that this is part of the sport and our partnership does not suffer from any sailing situations,” says Milne.
Milne explains “When I was selected for the Games it took a while to sink in. A few days passed and it eventually hit home that I was selected to compete in the Olympics..”
Milne and O’Leary left for Qingdao where they took part in a training camp with the highly successful Great Britain team. In fact the Irish duo had been sailing in a boat that was used by Britain’s Iain Percy at the Athens Games four years ago. Percy won gold in the Sydney Olympics in 2000 in the Finn class and was sixth in the Star in 2004 and along with Andrew Simpson are regular sparring partners with Milne and O’Leary. While they were in China they encountered the algae problem, an infestation that forced the authorities to call in the Chinese army to help clear the green slime away.
“The venue is very different to most other places I have sailed before. China itself is so different to home. The complete change in culture is quite overwhelming at first but, after a few days you start to get used to things being done differently. The training has been going well. A lot of time spent on the water is definitely paying off. Sail development has been a big part of our training as well as boat handling and personal fitness and conditioning. One of the biggest struggles has been the constant effort to try and stop losing weight. Trying to keep to the 107 kilograms that I need to be hasn’t been made easy with the Chinese food on offer. The conditions we found were light winds and poor visibility, much different to places we’d sailed earlier in the year such as Miami and Croatia were the weather was lovely. At first the algae was a big problem sitting as it was on top of the water but with 10,000 people out on the water every day it didn’t take long to have the problem cleared,” explained Milne.
His initial goal is to finish in the top eight but the conditions are likely to be variable with mostly light winds. This can cause delays, postponements and racing becomes more of a lottery. Milne and O’Leary have already proved they can beat the best in the world so why not in China?
“There are only fifteen boats at an Olympics so it becomes a little more like match racing and you have to alter your tactics because of that. You have a different game plan, keeping an eye of those around you in the standings,” says Milne.
“When there is a regatta held in variable and changeable conditions, people are always very fast to say that it is a lottery and that it is unfair, but the good guys are always at the top. I think that it is very easy to say it’s a lottery if you’re doing badly. There is always an element of luck in any sport that weather and the elements control your racing. Yes conditions are very different, but they are the same for everyone. Tactics will have to change for everyone and I think it was of great benefit to us to spend a long time in China during June and July.”
Unlike many of his team mates Milne will make it to the Opening Ceremony, something he admits he is looking forward to, as racing in the Star class doesn’t begin until Friday 15th August. Milne intends to soak up the atmosphere of his first Olympics, like many others he’s already set London 2012 as his next target.
“It has been a goal of mine for many years and I cannot think of any other competition that I would like to compete in more. I am very honoured to be representing Ireland at the most prestigious event competing against the best athletes in the world.”
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