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Beasho the Flag Bearer
Colin Beashel, typically, sees his appointment as flag bearer in the Olympic opening ceremony as an honour for the sport of sailing, as well as for himself.
Beashel, 45, is sailing in his sixth Olympics in a row. With David Giles, who has been his crew in the Star class at the past three Games, Beashel has been consistently among the top ten in the talent-crammed international Star class fleet. They won the world championship in 1998 and the bronze medal at the Savannah Olympic regatta in 1996.
Modest and unassuming, Beashel is not lining up for his sixth Olympics to carry the flag or create a participation record. He just enjoys racing and racing in the Star class.
'I am very honoured to be given the flag bearer's role,' he said on returning from a training sail on the Saronic Gulf. 'And it's good for the sport.'
Over the past few days Beashel and Giles have been speed testing and racing informally against some of the medal favourites including Torben Grael (Brazil), Iain Percy (Great Britain) and Freddy Loof (Netherlands).
The Star and the Tornado classes are the two last to start in the Games, on August 22.
'We have been going well in training, ' said Beashel. 'All our new sails are here and our straight-line speed is very good. We have been two-boat testing with Percy in the light stuff and going well. We are also good in a breeze with a new main.'
Chris Nicholson, returning to shore with his 49er crew Gary Boyd, said he was convinced there was very little difference in speed in their fleet. 'We lined up alongside the Japanese today and they gave us a bit of a shock until we changed a few things,' Nicholson said.
'We are going to have 15 boats hitting the top mark at the same time,' he said. 'It will be really hard to hold a lane.'
'We are as good as most speed wise.'
'The 5-8 knot sea breeze we had today was still quite shifty and it is very hard to see where the shifts are coming from. This has all the makings of a tough regatta - and that is the way it always is at the Olympics.'
Racing starts on Saturday with the Europe, Laser, Mistral, 470 men and women, Finn and Yngling classes. The Tornado and Star classes begin on August 22.
