Newsletter August 2014
A BOOST IN CONFIDENCE AT THE OLYMPIC TEST EVENT IN RIO
 Image © Sebbe Godefroid-SST
A win in the final medal race has proven that everything is possible on the waters of the 2016 Olympic Games! This first opportunity in Rio was to gather key information and insights to the course areas inside and outside the bay; this combined with our experiences onshore paves the way to make a difference in our pursuit towards tomorrows medal. It is now time to refocus as the main goal of this years season will take place in a few weeks time in Santander, Spain, with the combination of the ISAF World Championships and National Olympic Qualification .
Rio de Janeiro, August 2014 – It has been a wonderful first 2 weeks in Rio! Sailing on the waters of the future Olympic Games for 2016 has been a unique experience, and one thing for sure is that is will be a very complex location to master. We will need to do our best to spend as much time here as possible! Contrary to what most of the competitors believed, we were met with surprisingly strong seabreezes over 10-15knots and sometimes also 3 metres waves. This certainly provided a taste of what could be to come in future years! The racing was tactically challenging inside the waters of Guanarana Bay due to oscillating winds of 40 degree shifts and big pressure differences across the course areas. We were also met with a few days of no wind like many other events this year - but this is just another aspect of our sport.
Placing 8th overall (and 7th Nation) at the end of the competition week is certainly positive; and a win in the final double-points Medal race proved that the team is well and truly capable to race at the front.
Matias summarised the week saying that "Although we can say we have made some mistakes in the racing this week. We are here to discover this complicated racing area and to begin to understand its secrets"
Nathalie adds "To win the final race was a positive conclusion to the week - and shows that we put into practice what we have learnt from our time here"
Sebbe Godefroid, the team coach with 4 olympic participations and a medal in Atlanta concluded "It certainly gave the full team a boost in confidence too as we move forwards towards our main goal of this years season which is the World Championships and Olympic Selection event in September"
The team will now return home for a short break before returning to Santander, Spain for a further training block. The World Championships and Olympic Qualification event will begin on September 15th. Hop Suisse !
 Image (c) Juerg Kaufmann
Thankyou to our team partners and sponsors and to all for your support!
Make sure to keep following along online at www.buhlerbrugger2016.ch
and on Facebook FACEBOOK BühlerBruggerRio2016
Team B&B, Mati & Nat
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