Eurosport - Wed, 23 Sep 19:40:00 2009
Stevie Morrison said he will not be putting his feet up anytime soon as he and partner Ben Rhodes up their preparations for next year's 49er World Championships.
The Devon duo have kept a low profile since their infamous fall from grace at last year's Olympics which saw them slump from first to ninth in one day in Beijing.
Morrison and Rhodes finished tenth at the Semaine Olympique Francaise in April - their first race for seven months - before suffering further heartache on the world stage in July.
The pair came home fourth at the 49er World Championships in Italy but with the 2010 showpiece event early in January, Morrison insisted there will be no winter relaxation as they bid to finally end their misfortune.
"For us it has been a long season, as we had World Championships in the summer, but the season has really only just started for us," said Morrison, who alongside Rhodes is ranked second in the world.
"We won't be taking too much rest because of the World Championships in the Bahamas in January and to be honest we have been gearing up for that for a while now.
"There is a lot of stiff British competition at the moment but our aim is to be the best in world so if we achieve that - then we are the best British team.
"It is a good experience for both us and the other British teams to be together and there is a lot of investment at the moment in order for there to be competition."
Both Morrison and Rhodes remain London 2012 driven but know they cannot rest on their laurels with Chris Draper and Pete Greenhalgh just one of a handful of pairs gunning for the sole British Olympic spot.
The Exmouth duo ended their season by finishing seventh at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta in Weymouth and Rhodes admitted inclement weather prevented them retaining their title.
"It was a pretty frustrating week with no sailing on the Tuesday and a lot of waiting around on the Wednesday," said Rhodes.
"We just wanted to get out on the water - it is boring waiting around. For us it was medal or nothing, but Weymouth is such a challenging venue: you can get a week where it is windy one week and not the next.
"It's great to get the opportunity to train down here and in three years time we will have a big home advantage with these conditions."
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