Semaine Olympique Francaise - Giles Scott to make comeback

by Matt Carter on 9 Oct 2013 The 2013 Semaine Olympique Francaise (French Olympic Sailing Week) is set to take place from 9-13 October in La Rochelle. This fifth and final leg of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup will see Giles Scott make his Olympic classes comeback.

The 2011 Finn World and European Champion will be marking his return to action after a six month spell out of the heavyweight dinghy due to his America’s Cup commitments with Italian team Luna Rossa.

The last time the 25-year-old competed on the Olympic classes circuit was back in April when he clinched gold and silver at the Palma and Hyeres World Cup events, and prior to that was his Sail for Gold Regatta victory over Ben Ainslie in June 2012.

'I’ve done seven days training in the Finn in the past two weeks since I’ve been back which has been good. The hardest thing has been working my legs, I haven’t done anything on them for almost a year so they are in agony,' said Scott.

'I’ll be using La Rochelle to find out where I am at, what needs to be focused on and what doesn’t need to be focused on if there is anything. Then it’s just a case of putting together a decent plan for next year which has been started but it’s difficult to say what exactly needs to be done when I haven’t been in the boat for six months and the time I was in the boat it was only for four weeks, so I sort of need to let myself settle back in a bit.'

Scott will line up alongside British Sailing Team Podium squad members Andrew Mills and Mark Andrews as he bids to re-launch his Rio 2016 campaign.

'I’ve missed Finn sailing. It’s nice to be back and looking after myself a bit I suppose. I’m having to steer a boat, call the tactics, provide the grunt and do it all on my own but it’s nice to be back in the Finn for sure - although I’m sure I’ll soon start missing the other side of things as well.'

In the Nacra 17 class Ben Saxton and Hannah Diamond will be eager to build on their momentum from their recent silver medal at the Santander City Trophy in September while London 2012 Olympian Lucy Macgregor will be in action with Andrew Walsh in the mixed multihull event.

Nick Thompson will lead the line-up for the British Sailing Team in the single handed Laser event, Izzy Hamilton will look to challenge in the RS:X women’s event while British Sailing Team Podium Potential squad members across the RS:X men, RS:X women, Laser and 470 Women will all be looking to make their mark in this fifth and final leg of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup. Event British Sailing Team