http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/robhodgetts/2008/08/ainslie_and_ayton_live_up_to_h.html en-gb 30 Sat 19 Dec 2009 07:54:30 GMT+1 A feed of user comments from the page found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/robhodgetts/2008/08/ainslie_and_ayton_live_up_to_h.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/robhodgetts/2008/08/ainslie_and_ayton_live_up_to_h.html?page=16#comment4 Well Said Calidor.I had the privilege of sailing with Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy and his equally brilliant sister during the nineties at club level and the gruelling “circuit” during weekends. There was not one man at any level of fitness, age, knowledge or experience that could take away the pure brilliance of these two men. They can be directly linked to a rower in my opinion or indeed a sprinter. Both of these aforementioned disciplines require enormous bursts of energy over a relatively short period of time. A sailor must endure over an hour a sheer stamina and brut force in any of the heavier wind conditions whilst also maintaining a strong mind. Don’t forget that part of the training for these sailing athletes is rowing, running and weight lifting!Well done to all our athletes, but a huge congratulations to our sailors who have once again proved our dominance in a very demanding and difficult event. Sailing should be firmly placed on the Map for good media coverage in the future and as much as possible over the next 4 years to promote new youngsters to a sport we excel in. Wed 20 Aug 2008 09:13:14 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/robhodgetts/2008/08/ainslie_and_ayton_live_up_to_h.html?page=12#comment3 Great to see a local Bloke doing England proud! infact there's a couple of locals doing England proud.Lymington boys keep up the amazing work! Tue 19 Aug 2008 14:26:05 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/robhodgetts/2008/08/ainslie_and_ayton_live_up_to_h.html?page=8#comment2 It is always difficult to compare sporting achieving in very different sports. The physical effort required to sail a high perfomance dinghy in a championship race in Windy conditions, such as the medal race in the Finn yesterday, should not be underestimated. Ainslie is a superb athlete and was clearly untouchable by the rest of the Finn class as the conditions got more demanding. Its probably true that its easier to sustain a dinghy racing career over 20 years than a rowing career, but if Ainslie can win in Weymouth it will still be a huge achievement and no mistake. Mon 18 Aug 2008 16:20:05 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/robhodgetts/2008/08/ainslie_and_ayton_live_up_to_h.html?page=4#comment1 Any comments that compare these guys to Redgrave et. al. are farcical, look at the rowers as they cross the line, there is nothing left in them, they are totally shot. Then compare that to Ainslie crossing the line. There are some things that get better with age, knowledge and experience and even skills, and in a sport such as sailing they will cancel out a loss of strength and endurance, which is exactly what you need in rowing and Redgrave fought against that, not just age, but diabeties and colitus too. To be the best in your sport is great, to maintain it is great, but Redgrave was superhuman and Pincent wasn't far back. Mon 18 Aug 2008 03:46:50 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/robhodgetts/2008/08/ainslie_and_ayton_live_up_to_h.html?page=0#comment0 I think Shirley's comments just underline how good Ben is. Unlike many Olympic athletes he doesn't sail the Star full time. He's probably spent more time sailing keelboats than dinghies over the last 4 years but he has the ability to put together a short campaign and still be head and shoulders above the rest.We've never seen anything like this before. Watch out Steve Redgrave! Sun 17 Aug 2008 22:03:20 GMT+1