Speculation and boat park rumour were ripe this week with the absence of Outteridge and Jensen at the 35th annual Princess Sofia Trophy regatta on currently in Spain. 75 of the worlds best 49er teams are racing including Outteridge’s main rivals from New Zealand, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.
The buzz got started after the last Sailing World Cup event in Miami when young gun Joe Turner sailed with Iain (Goobs) Jensen to a Silver medal at the first major event in 2015. The Australian Sailing Team downplayed the appearance of Turner and Jensen saying that Outteridge had an undisclosed injury. Meanwhile, behind the scenes the AST brass were madly negotiating with AC35 helmsman of Artemis Racing who was contemplating his Olympic future.
Outteridge confirmed today that he will bow out of 49er sailing and instead race Nacra’s with his sister Hayley (pictured above). He had hoped the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra events would be at different times during Rio to try and compete in both events but when that didn’t happen he had to choose one. With the 49er fleet ever improving and Outteridge not getting any younger, and now engaged, he decide he could not keep up any more and instead has opted for a boat with training wheels as the easier option.
“Pete’s really got my number now, it’s almost impossible to see how I could beat him to keep the gold. Worse, younger members of the AST are just better than me now at skiff sailing, and I don’t have the time with my America’s Cup position to out work them. It’s just easier to sail with my sis, something I’ve always wanted to do and go beach cat sailing for a Rio vacation.”
With America’s Cup boats getting smaller every day, veteran Olympic scene coaches see this as a head start for Outteridge at AC36. Rumours are that most of the challengers are willing to race a 45 foot boat this time and then will move to beach cats for the next cup. “We’re tired or relying on billionaires for our incomes and livelyhoods when all we want to do laze around each day and do a nice triangle course on a stable platform,” said and anonymous longtime AC grinder.
Meanwhile, the nacra fleet is happy to have some star power injected to their racing along with a sailor who can keep a boat upright. Enjoy your April Fools Day everyone;)
