SASKIA Clark is looking ahead to a busy time of training in her ambitions to make the Olympic Games in Brazil.

The West Mersea sailor, who picked up a silver medal for Team GB at the London Games in 2012 along with helm Hannah Mills in the women’s 470 class, still has the target of another medal, preferably gold, driving her on to make the 2016 Games.

Clark and Mills took a large amount of time off from sailing after the games and in 2013 before returning to the water and this absence from racing affected their performance.

But the desire to be competitve and be on the plane to Rio is still uppermost in her mind.

The pair are now in Los Palmos, Gran Canaria, for a two-week intensive training session.

They will be joined by another boat and they will be working on their technique.

Clark said: “We will be focusing on ourselves, trying to get our speed back up.

“We really didn’t do enough sailing last year and our speed suffered because of it.”

However, there are a few new hiccups that the pair must overcome away from the water if they want to make their Olympic dreams reality.

Clark said: “We are still happy with our plan but there are a few barriers in the way.

“We have lost a couple of sponsors so we need to look for some extra funding.

“You can always get cheap accommodation in places like Spain but it is the equipment that costs the money.

“We need things like new boats, masts and sails.

“You can cut costs on some things but not on the equipment.

“You know that a new boat costs X amount and that is what you have to find.

“We will take stock at the end of January and see where we go from there.”

But despite these problems Clark and Mills know that their performance on the water is what matters at the end of the day.

Clark said: “After January we go to Palma with the British team and a few foreign ones.

“It’s a couple of degrees warmer and there is more light so we can get the hours in on the water.

“It will be a two-month block with everyone together and we will be doing a lot of work.

“After that we will get back on the racing circuit at Easter to see how we have got on.”