In assisting Ben Ainslie to present his plans for post-London 2012 racing earlier this week, New Zealand's four-times America's Cup winner Russell Coutts made it clear that Britain are regarded as massively strong in international sailing terms.

The Kiwi veteran added that he expected a generation of British Olympic sailors to start reaching out beyond the Games to larger and wider ambitions such as America's Cup racing.

Sport is always about the next challenge. But as those within British sailing know only too well after the events of last month's World Championships in Perth, no matter how good you are, you can never master every circumstance.

Ainslie (pictured below), who was seeking a sixth Finn title, is still awaiting the possibility of further disciplinary action by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) following the "gut-wrenching" disqualification which followed his spectacular objection to the way in which the television crew covering the event had plotted their course.


Another of Britain's Olympic champions, Iain Percy, contesting the Star class with Andrew Simpson, had to withdraw with victory virtually assured after he suffered a back injury. And Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes also saw their hopes in the 49er class prematurely ended when Rhodes suffered a rib injury.

Given that turn of fortune, Stephen Park, the British team's Olympic manager, professed himself well satisfied earlier this week with the ultimate total of six medals from those championships.

"The reality is that something is going to happen in competition to your top performers," he said, speaking at the RYA stand within the London Boat Show at the ExCeL centre. "If you put all your eggs in one basket and look to one or two of your top performers and something adverse happens then you are left exposed.

"World sailing is more competitive than it has ever been. Lots of medals are being won and lost on the final races. That's why it is so good to see such a high level of performance throughout the British team."


Among those who rose to the challenge in Perth were Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell (pictured), who got the nod this week as Britain's representatives in the 470 class ahead of two other massively experienced and accomplished crews.

They were selected ahead of a double Olympic silver medallist in Nick Rogers, who was sailing with Chris Grube, and double world champions Nic Asher and Elliot Willis.

As for the combo who came through to earn the coveted spot, who were now posing with requisite grins for photographers on the restored Flying Dutchman class boat in which Rodney Pattisson and Julian Houghton had won silver at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Park reflected on those who had lost out in the race to get to the London 2012 starting line.

"For those who don't get selected, it is shattering," Park told insidethegames. "They have made all the sacrifices over the previous four years just to get to this stage, they have been physically and emotionally tested and drained, and now their Olympic dreams are over, at least for this time."

Park acknowledged that Patience and Bithell, who won a world silver in 2009 just weeks after being put together as a crew, had been very close to not getting selected when they lost in the trials for the Olympic test event earlier this year.


Defeat in the Sail for Gold event by their close rivals Rogers and Grube (pictured) meant that, two years after they had made such an inspired start to their international career together, they faced frustration.

"We thought we had blown it," Bithell admitted. "Once we failed to get to the test event, it was out of our control. It was horrible."

Shortly before that Olympic test event took place, Patience and Bithell competed in the Europeans, winning silver. It was a significant marker – but still no guarantee of selection.

In the event, Rogers and Grube could only manage fourth place in the test event, which left enough doubt for the internal competition to remain open. And the matter was effectively concluded in Perth, when Patience and Bithell beat the double Olympic medallists to take a second world silver.

Had they not risen to the challenge in Perth, however, it would have been another pair of smiling faces sitting on the laminated wood of Pattisson's craft for the snappers.

"We were so angry with ourselves after the Sail for Gold event," Patience recalled. "With all the little details which had let us down. But failure is when good things happen."

It was a failure of a different kind which led to the curious coincidence whereby Patience and Bithell, at that time close rivals in youth sailing, ended up watching television in the same room as London were awarded the 2012 Games in 2005.

Both had been due to compete in Europe, but Bithell had crashed the team van 10 miles short of the ferry crossing, and the competitive plans were scratched. Instead, several team members went up to stay up in Scotland with Patience in his home at Helensburgh, where they were able to keep up with their sailing.

Thus it was in the Patience family kitchen that these two young talents witnessed what would turn out to be the first important part of their mutual Olympic journey.

According to Park, the two young sailors – Patience will turn 26 on August 4, just two days before the men's 470 medal race, and Bithell, who is from Rochdale, will reach the same age on August 28 – have "wildly different skills" in the boat. Clearly the two skill-sets match to good advantage.

"These are our first Olympics, and the goal is to come away with the gold medal," Bithell said.


Asked how they planned to deal with the Australian pair who won gold in Perth, Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page (pictured) – the latter having won in Beijing with partner Nathan Wilmot – Patience was, if not gung-ho, then certainly buoyantly confident.

"They are just one of the 29 contenders," he said. "They are just another bit of cannon fodder on the course to beat. Whether the sign on the sail says Australia, or Italy, or China, will be completely irrelevant to us."

Strong words – but then Patience and Bithell have already come through a stern test which is in itself a testament to the growing strength of British sailing.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the past five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames. Rowbottom's Twitter feed can be accessed here.