Laura Baldwin - Racing for Australia in a bid to win Gold at London 2012
Highlights;
Olympian, Athens 2004
Australian Champion 2010
ISAF Athletes Commission Rep 2007-2013
Australian Class Association Secretary 2010
Sailing Clubs;
* Spinnaker Lake SC (Honorary member) www.spinnakerclub.co.uk
* South West Lake Macquarie Amatuer Sailing Club www.slmasc.ourclub.info
Supported Charity:
* Marie Curie Cancer Care: www.mariecurie.org.uk
* Sail 4 Cancer: http://www.sail4cancer.org/news_detail.php?newsid=209
Greatest Achievement;
Representing Great Britain at the Athens Olympic Games 2004 sailing the Women’s one-person boat, The Europe http://www.britisholympians.com/athlete.aspx?at=5627
ISAF World Rankings;
2nd - Laser Radial Class - 2006
Previous Sponsors;
www.jeep.co.uk
www.adidas.com/Eyewear
www.scienceinsport.com
www.gillmarine.com
www.heartys.co.uk
www.silva.ltd.uk
www.marlowropes.com
www.concept2.com
www.harken.co.uk
www.portlandfitnessclub.com
www.neilprydesailing.com
Achievements;
Sporting:
- Member of the British Olympians Club - Athens 2004
- Ambassador to the London 2012 Olympic Bid.
- Southampton University Ladies Sailing Team Captain 00-01
- UK Team Racing Development Squad 00-01
- Skandia Team GBR World Class Performance Squad 03-06
- Top ISAF World Ranking - 2nd Laser Radial (Feb - April 06)
Community:
- Member of AthletesDIRECT, giving motivational talks to schools.
- Motivational Talks; businesses, clubs, after dinner speaker. www.britisholympians.com
Charity:
- Marie Curie Cancer Care Supporter; www.mariecurie.org.uk
- Sail for Cancer Ambassador; http://www.sail4cancer.org/partners.htm
Organizations:
- Yachting Australia Media & Marketing coordinator - 2008-2009
- UK Laser Class Association Laser Radial Rep - 2005 & 2006
- British Athletes Commission Laser Radial Rep - 2005 & 2006
- ISAF Athletes Commission Laser Radial Rep - 2007-2013
- Australian Laser Class Secretary - 2010-
Honors:
- Honorary member of Spinnaker Lake Sailing Club
- Honorary member of the Topper Youth Squad 2005
Other:
- Budding journalist with numerous published articles in Yachting Press
- TV Sports Presenter, experience with BBC
Future Goals;
- To Win an Olympic Gold Medal
- To own and run a sailing holiday company
- Have happy, healthy children (ideally 2)
- Write several books
- Explore Africa & South America
- Swim with dolphins
Laura’s Story:
A roller coaster ride of emotion followed the decision to drop everything to sail full time...
Campainging for Athens 2004 ~
2001 was tough; finishing constantly last of 12 British Ladies competing full time and lucky to not be last overall! An intensive introduction with her Polish Coach forcing an army style program, pushing to breaking point. Sharing the experiences with training partner Marta Rudzki (CAN) made for some fun times too; plenty of shopping, exploring new places & meeting new people.
2001 World Championships ~ 120th!
2002 was tougher!.. Marta quit sailing leaving Laura to travel alone, sponsorless and broke. Unable to afford a coach or even accommodation, Laura lived in the back of the Ford Transit van and rented out the coach boat to the Australian Federation to afford to carry on campaigning, on a shoe string. Results were up, now consistently finishing at the top of the Silver Fleet (mid fleet). UK National Ranking moved from 12th to 8th by the end of the year.
2002 World Championships ~ 60th (4th Silver Fleet)
2003 finally the hard work paid off!.. Traveling and training with Jo Dikkendurg (AUS) and Krysia Pohl (USA). Results now consistently in the Gold Fleet. 9th at the European Championships (7th European), Silver medal at the Scandinavian Championships, qualified Great Britain for a place at the Olympic Games & won selection to represent Team GB at the Olympics.. What a year!
2003 World Championships ~ 26th (Gold Fleet)
2004 was beyond a dream come true! Representing Great Britain at the Olympic Games in Athens. Meeting the Queen, Toni Blair & Princess Anne. Visiting Buckingham Palace, The Houses of Parliament and much more.. read the full story in the articles section of this site.
2004 World Championships ~ 17th (Gold Fleet)
Huge “Thank you’s” for support and input into my 2004 campaign go to: Gerdjan Poortman, Soren Jonhsen, Mark Littlejohn, Steve Cockerill, Chris Gowers, Peter Bentley, David Howlett, Pete Conway, Jon Emmett, Trevor Miller, Keith Wilkins, Pete Cunningahm, Steve Gent, Paul Hobson, David Herritage, Ian Lovering, Thomas Wilkes.
In November 2004 ISAF voted to change the type of boat for single-handed women to be sailed in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing to the Laser Radial.
Campaigning for Beijing 2008 ~
The Laser Radial requires a larger, stronger, more powerful sailor than the Europe so I set about gaining the extra kilos of muscle from hours of hard gym work and ate my way through enough Science in Sport products to gain 8kgs in 4 months. I was as prepared physically as I could be for the first European Racing Season.
It was a tough introduction to racing the Radial for me. I was not enjoying sailing the boat, not enjoying being unable to fit into my clothes, and felt pressure to perform which made my results go backwards.
I loved my 2005 training group of; Karin Soderstrom (SWE), Elin Samdal (NOR) & Sari Multala (FIN) sharing Olympic Gold Medalist, Siren Sundby’s Coach, Thomas Guttormsen (NOR). Great girls. The problem was that we were all Europe sailors with no idea about how to sail a Laser properly so I broke away just before the World Championships where I worked with the 2005 Laser World Championship Silver Medalist, Diego Romero (ARG) and gained my best result at a Worlds finishing 11th.
One year on, I was ranked 2nd in the World to my American training partner Paige Railey. Winter 05/06 I raced 4 Grade One regattas and was on the podium twice. I had Diego Romero and British Olympian Hugh Styles set up to coach me for the 2006 season. With this kind of team I felt my chances of realizing my dreams were growing ever closer.
That was the plan until the end February 2006 when I was asked to drop all my best plans to follow the 'Squad Core Program' which consisted of far more sailing and traveling than I had planned and inevitably lead to me getting sick and burning out!.. My results plummeted and I didn’t make the grades to keep my Lottery funding so I was back to having to find and fund my own way to the top.
After a 4 month break I flew out to Ft Laurderdale with my Belgium training partner, Evi Van Acker to join; Anna Tunnecliff (USA), Lisa Ross (CAN), Charlotte Dobson (GBR), Tania (MEX), Tori (CAN) and Ciara Peelo (IRL) for three weeks intensive sailing. Followed by three weeks at home for intensive physical training before the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta in January, Sail Auckland & NZL Nationals in February. My overall game improved rapidly and I finished off with a Bronze at the NZL National Championships.
2007 was looking good; I had Hugh Styles coaching me. ISAF World Ranked Number 1, Evi Van Acker from Belgium as my training partner as well as British Laser Standard Sailor, Daniel Ward. I was the fitest and strongest that I had ever been. I was winning the World Cup event in Holland until the final race, a black flag meant I had to count a 34th so I dropped to 6th. I had a glammour day at Kiel in Germany scoring a 3, 2, 1 one day but had a shocking World Championships in Cascais. I was DEVISTATED!! All the hard work and money was for nothing, just massive dissappointment. It was a shit event with crazy wind shifts, gusts & lulls, especially bad for the Laser Radial fleet as we were raced on the courses closest to the land for the majority of the event. We had beats turn into runs, boats capsizing when the breeze went from 30knots to 0 in a second. I went onto win the ISAF Grade 1 regatta in Canada but just afterwards I recieved a phone call that my dreams were over.
~ ~ ~
Q ~ What gave you the courage to give up all you knew to embark upon what seemed at the time to be such a far fetch dream?..
A ~ “I went through a difficult couple of years at College when a few of my friends died. One from Meningitis; fine one day, dead the next! Two from Cancer and one in a car crash. I struggled for a while with, ‘the meaning of life’ but came through the down time with an outlook that I intend to carrie with me through life; that is to live it to the full and to live for NOW!..”
And another one to add to the list.. Malcolm Reed who had a heart attack hoisting a spinnaker in a Dragon Boat in St Tropez! He was 28! - October 2006.
