Yachting: Simplicity of solo racing drawcard for Pepper

By EUGENE BINGHAM

Hamish Pepper, by his own admission, has been ugly company.

"To tell you the truth, I've been a pain in the arse to be around," the Olympic sailor admits.

Normal everyday niggles that would not usually matter have annoyed the hell out of him this past month. Stomping around Europe, he tended to flip his lid, lose his cool, sink down.

It doesn't take a doctor to figure out he's been stressed.

Getting to the start line of the Laser class in Athens has not been dream sailing for the former Team New Zealand tactician.

In July, a sequence of bad breaks, injury, and the complicating factor of a legal fight he had to endure to seal his place in the Olympic team took its toll and sent Pepper, 33, into a funk.

He does not know if he would have made it through without his girlfriend, Annabel Jeaffreson.

"I was bloody fortunate to have her here," said Pepper. "She was here to support me and some days were good and some days were bad."

After competing in the European championships three weeks ago in Germany, where he had mixed results, the pair took a brief holiday.

"I had to get away from the environment and stop thinking about everything. Annabel helped me put things into perspective and enjoy it again."

Refreshed and with a new outlook, he's now raring to go for his second Olympic campaign.

In 1996 he had his worst regatta in two years, finishing 10th, which led to a month of drinking and skiing to drown his sorrows.

Now Pepper is back in the Olympic fray, checking into the sailing team's house near the yachting venue at Hellinkio, about 14km south of downtown Athens.

There were times when Pepper thought he'd never make it.

Eighteen months ago, he was on board Team New Zealand as it gurgled and cracked through an unsuccessful defence of the America's Cup.

He faced the ignominy of being kicked off the boat when Alinghi was ahead 3-0, replaced by a Frenchman.

Skipper Dean Barker, Pepper's friend since they went to Westlake Boys High, was given the grim job of telling him he was cut.

Not surprisingly, the whole Cup experience was a major blow.

Months later, unwanted by the new Team New Zealand, Pepper was in Europe when he had the chance to sail in the Netherlands. It had been about six years since Pepper had seriously raced a Laser, a dinghy class in which he was ranked world number one in 1995.

"I was there for a bit of fun, to catch up with the guys and see how things were," said Pepper. He raced well enough to qualify for the world championships in Cadiz, Spain.

At last, it seemed, the sailing gods were smiling on him again. He threw himself back into the dinghy, and began dreaming about Athens.

Unfortunately, the Cadiz regatta did not go well when he tore a rib cartilage and had to withdraw. The injury kept him out of serious training until November.

Despite the knock-back, he persevered. Laser sailing was just the cathartic tonic needed after the America's Cup.

"It's great to be in a team of 100 and helping each other out, but here, it's me, myself and I. I love the racing - it's physical and as demanding as a game of chess."

In January, Pepper won the Olympic nomination trials off Torbay but a legal challenge from disgruntled contender Andrew Murdoch complicated matters. Pepper was forced to head to Europe earlier than planned to prove that he was worthy of Olympic selection.

He justified the selectors' confidence in him by finishing fourth in the world championships in May, barely a year after he had stepped back into a Laser. But the whole affair still does not sit comfortably with him.

"I had to go to Europe three weeks earlier than I anticipated. All of a sudden I had to take the worlds more seriously than I was going to.

"That certainly contributed to my stressful month with the amount of racing I had to do."

Still, the racing experience has given Pepper a huge insight into the Laser scene. He knows that most of the top Olympic sailors are professionals, paid America's Cup-sized salaries to win medals for their countries, a far cry from what the New Zealanders experience. He knows that he needs to improve his starts. He knows that he is going to have to get faster downwind.

"The biggest difference I've noticed since I've been back is that the guys are all very, very fast downwind. They don't have to be the most talented sailor upwind and then they just go extremely quickly and make up 100 or 200 metres downwind."

Settled into Athens, Pepper is out on the water practising his starts and his downwind speed with renewed vigour, back alongside Barker, who's sailing a Finn.

Pepper's hoping that his bad July will be followed by a fantastic August.