By Jade Webster

Its crunch time for Cayman Islands Olympic sailor Florence Allan, as she and her coach, Raphael Harvey returned from training in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro.

With less than 30 days to go before the official Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, Allan trained for two weeks learning the climate patterns, tides and currents to aid her triumph in her first Summer Games.

Roughly 31 kilometres in length and 28 kilometres wide, Guanabara Bay may present some challenges to the new Olympian.

“Knowing what we know, I would have loved to start training a year in advance”, Coach Harvey says. “Guanabara Bay is massive! It is a big bay with a large volume of water that comes in and out every day, which means that the tidal current can sometimes be strong, combined with the choppy sea condition; let’s just say sailing becomes more interesting.”

Close to being the youngest athlete, Allan says attending the camp has helped her gear up for one of the biggest sporting challenges she has faced.

“Training was good but also quite tough,” Allan says. “The conditions in Rio are different to anything I’ve ever sailed in before, so racing is going to be very challenging!”

Harvey and Allan were able to familiarize themselves with the sailing courses – three in Guanabara Bay and two out in the Atlantic Ocean. Olympic competitors say the diversity of racing areas means best all-round sailors will top the podium.

“We were able to sail on all of the courses which was good,” Allan says. “I learnt a lot about my boat handling, my technique and what I need to work on for the next couple weeks.”

Allan trained alongside some of the world’s leading sailors, including a 2012 Olympic silver and bronze medallist and three world champions, admitting it was quite challenging to keep up with the top competitors.

“Having the chance to sail and train with the others radials sailors was an eye opener,” Coach Harvey says, “The standard of sailing is really high. I guess that’s why they call it the Olympics!”.

Allan and her coach will continue to work on fitness and strength at the Cayman Islands Sailing Club before returning to Rio on July 23rd.

“We have several sessions planned for outside the North Sound to work on open sea sailing. If Flo can improve on her fitness level, this should improve her overall boat speed which is 50% of the battle.”

Allan admits she still has a lot of work to put in over the next couple of weeks, but she knows when its race day she will be more than ready and prepared to sail for her country.