Tom Slingsby exclusive: Getting back into the Laser at Palma

While many people would be happy with a silver medal from an ISAF World Cup event, Tom Slingsby is not. Although he is one of the nicest people you could meet off the course, he is extremely competitive and has a firm goal in mind - Olympic Gold.

I spoke with Tom after his second place finish behind Beijing Olympic Champion Paul Goodison of Great Britain at the Palma World Cup round. Palma was Tom's first Laser competition since Sail Melbourne in December. In the interim he has raced on Marcus Blackmore's TP52 Hooligan, in the Farr 40 Worlds on Estate Master and in the Moth Worlds at Belmont. It says a lot that he could be so competitive in the Laser after such a diverse summer.

"Palma didnt really go as planned," Tom told me. "I felt I was sailing well enough to win all week and when the regatta finished I was a bit annoyed that I had lost.

"I made two mistakes which really cost me. Firstly, I got involved in a situation with Paul Goodison on the course. It was a bottom mark incident which I felt I easily had an overlap. Paul was Black Flagged but proceeded with the protest much to the surprise of my two witnesses who once they saw he was BFD left the club and went home thinking he would not protest.

"I still thought I would win the protest without witnesses but Paul had a video footage from an angle which showed there was no overlap. I was shocked the Jury accepted it as valid evidence as, if the video was from 10m another way, it would show that I had an overlap.

"Video footage is all dependent from the angle (like in AC when they do a bow-to-bow shot making the boats look side by side when in fact they are a kilometre apart). So I lost the protest, tried to re-open the next day with new video footage which showed then the collision occurred I was bow in front, which would be impossible if I was behind at three boatlengths. Unfortunately when I entered the video, it was measured to be two-and-a-half boatlengths which was not considered significant new evidence to say I had an overlap at three lengths.

"The next mistake I made was in the last race. I had a good lead and planned to stay near Paul and Nick (Thompson) from the start. They were right on the boatend in a lot of traffic. I decided to start 1/3 down the line to try to get away cleanly and tack when I could.

"Things did not go to plan as everyone wanted the right hand side. Each time I tried to get over to them I got tacked on. Halfway up the beat I made a bad mistake and decided to go left a bit as it was the only clear lane I could get. At the top they both rounded around top five and I was around 30th. I pulled back to 18th, which put me one point ahead going into the medal race.

"There is not much to be said about the medal race, a light sea breeze which was really a drag race. I was not aggressive enough on the start and didn't get away as well as some. Being a bit overweight for the first event of the year didn't do me any favours as Goody had a small speed edge and better start and comfortably beat me by two places.

"Second was a good start for the year, especially with Goody being a bit lighter and myself being a bit heavier but for me second is never good enough.

"Hyeres is the next stop, where I have had mixed results. The last time I was there two years ago, I had my worst result in about eight years, coming 57th. However, I have won the event three times, so who knows what will happen.

"I'm enjoying a week off in Rome at the moment which I must say is not doing great things for my weight. The food is amazing."

The Hyeres round of the ISAF Sailing World Cup starts on April 23 and mysailing will bring you daily reports and exclusive interviews with the Australian participants.

- Roger McMillan