January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Broken mast ends Olympic dream for sailors
The veteran sailor was looking to seal one of the final four qualifying spots for the Beijing Olympics.
But he failed to finish for the second time in four races yesterday after he was hit by a 'microburst', which snapped his mast.
And he slipped down the standings to 71st position overall.
More crucial though is the 'race within the race' for the final four Olympic spots.
Eleven countries have already qualified and the one boat per country rule means that 55 of the boats ahead of Bromby are not competing for those places in Beijing.
But with 15 boats ahead of him and only two days remaining in the event, he admits he has no chance.
"Even if we were to win the rest of the races we wouldn't make it now," said a disappointed Bromby last night.
"At this point, it's basically game over for us to go to Beijing. It's disappointing but that's sail boat racing and that's what happens.
"I'm getting supplies right now, we've got a new mast and we're patching up a hole in the boat.
"We're going to put it back together, finish the regatta and do as well as we can, but any hope we had of going to the Games is over.
"We know everyone was rooting for us and we really appreciate that but that's how it goes sometimes."
Bromby was left to lament a run of bad luck that saw him and his crew, Lee White, plummet from 4th position on day one.
They were black flagged in the second race, then clawed their way back from a bad start to get 63rd in race three.
Things looked precarious at that point, but a good race yesterday would have put them right back in the hunt.
"Today we were struck by a guy at the start of the race who had gone on port tack and we had a hole in the boat. But even with that we managed to have a good race. We were in the top ten going downwind when this little microburst hit us.
"The end result was that the mast broke and we couldn't finish the race. Today there were probably 10 broken masts in a field of 104 and we were one of them. It's just incredible, the run of bad luck we have had."
[[In-content Ad]]
Comments:
You must login to comment.