Fantastic year for Mat Belcher and Will Ryan

by Mat Belcher and Will Ryan on 26 Jan 2014 Aussie sailors Mat Belcher and Will Ryan had a great 2013. Check out what they had to say about last year and their thoughts on the year ahead.

We hope you have all had the chance for an enjoyable break and a great start to the New Year!

After a fantastic year for our team in 2013, our focus has turned towards September 2014 and the ISAF Worlds to be held in Santander,Spain. This event will offer competing teams the first opportunity to qualify their country for the Olympics!

However to start the year after some much needed rest over the Christmas period with our loved ones, we kicked off 2014 with some training on the Gold Coast; and we now find ourselves on Australia Day in Miami,USA on the eve of the third leg of this seasons World Cup circuit!

It has been quite a while since we have seen a number of our competitors faces as we have not raced many of them since our World Championships last August. This year will bring with it a range of new pressures as we work towards our ultimate goal, but after finding our boat safely here in once piece we have been lucky with pleasant mid range temperatures and a good mix of light and medium winds. Maggie at the Commodore Inn has looked after us well since we arrived! This has allowed us to get over our jet lag quickly, and we are fortunate having our Aussie training partners the Crawford brothers Mat and Rob, and Angus and Tim here as well to make the most of our time here.

As a team we also managed to draw a little competition inspiration from a Miami Heat and LA Lakers basketball game! The remainder of our timing has been spent preparing our boats as we look forward to racing starting on Monday through Saturday.

You can follow along on the Event website

This weekend Mat was also ranked in the top 20 athletes in Australia amongst the likes of Adam Scott and Mark Webber as part of Richard Hinds' countdown of the Top 100 current sportspeople!

Always hot for debate; but great to see the profile of sailing lifting dramatically in Australia! Read More

We are also pleased to announce that Mat today was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his achievement at the London 2012 Olympics. Which was announced on the Australia Day Honours List. An amazing recognition for services to the sport of sailing. OAM Honours List.

As always - thank you to all our friends and supporters! Your support of our campaign has given us the opportunity to follow our dreams and do you proud. Check out our website for our amazing sponsors and suppliers.

During the week we will do our best as always to keep you up to date so please follow along:

Follow us on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/belcherryan2016
Follow us on twitter - #aus11 @BelcherMathew @WillRyanAUS
Follow us on Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/BelcherRyan2016/

Australian Sailing Team