YACHTING - Finding balance to keep Olympic dreams within sight

Olympic Laser sailor Andrew Murdoch is trying out the theory that less is more.
After a hectic 24 months building up to this year's Beijing Olympics Murdoch has, relatively speaking, been taking it easy ever since. But that doesn't mean he has taken his eye off the ball - rather the opposite - he has already made the decision to set his sights on London in four years but is determined right now, to have some balance in his life.
"I don't want to burn myself out. On one hand, the Olympics will come around in a hurry but, on the other, more [training] isn't always the best thing and a good build-up toward the Olympics doesn't necessarily mean going all-out this year," he said.
"It's about being smart about the training I do. The last couple of years has really been intense and I'd like to make sure I've still got a spark of enthusiasm left in 2012 when I really need to put the work in ... that's the important thing to remember when I put a programme together."
Murdoch is looking at completing a few more papers toward his engineering degree at Auckland University in 2009. The 26-year-old is also trying his hand at a few new forms of sailing. He will take part in the New Zealand Keelboat nationals this week on the Waitemata Harbour, filling a not altogether unfamiliar role as the team tactician.
"In the Laser I do everything. I look for the wind shifts, control the boat and make sure it goes fast. But this is an opportunity to be in an environment when I'm just calling the tactics ... potentially that will give me some insights into tactics that I haven't been exposed to before because I've been busy dealing with everything else."
The plan is to improve his racing skills and build up his overall ability but also to have some fun as part of the five-man crew.
"If I don't try a few different things I might be missing out on something," Murdoch explains.
His first competitive event in a Laser, since finishing fifth at the Olympic competition at Qingdao, will be the national Laser championships at end of January, followed by the Sail Auckland competition in early February.
If he wants to maintain his current ranking of number three in the world he will face a winter trip to Europe, and a trip to the 2009 Laser World Championships in August in Canada is also planned.
The plan is to continue in the Laser - it suits his body shape and size - and he's shown himself to be pretty good at sailing in the class in the past. He was third at the world championships in 2005, sixth in 2006 and second last year and London 2012 - if he qualifies - will be his second Olympics.
Murdoch learned plenty from his first Olympics and expects the experience to count at the next Olympic regatta in Weymouth.
"When everything goes peachy it does you good but when you have to battle a bit you do learn and gain a lot of confidence from the experience," he said.
Murdoch began the Olympic regatta well but three poor results in the middle of the 11-race series almost put paid to his chances. To his credit he finished strongly, ending the series with a win and then went on to win the medal race too.
"I ended up with a pretty big mountain to climb and I didn't quite make it, mathematically I had a shot at wining a medal going into the final race but the other results didn't go my way," he said.
The gold was won by Britain's Paul Goodison and Murdoch finished a creditable fifth.
Murdoch has been nominated for a merit award at the YNZ Excellence Awards 2008 and is also a nominee for the Singapore Airlines Sailor of the Year award.