In the distance, green hills swept down towards Padstow.

In the foreground, a pint of Cornish best sat on a table in front of me, outside the Mariners' Arms. All seemed very well with the world.

We had just walked along the coastal path and were enjoying well-earned refreshment. In the background, the pub's television was fired up and people seemed to be getting rather excited.

"What's going on?" I asked an elderly Breton-red-trousered gent at an adjoining table.

"I think someone's deciding where the Olympics are going."

Of course; I had completely forgotten.

Shortly after, a bearded chap at another table leapt to his feet, punched the air, shouted "Yessss!", and broke into tears.

"Oh no, " groaned the Breton red trousers, "that'll make London even more chaotic.

Still, I'll probably be dead by 2012, so who cares?"

The next day, another television set announced that a band of murderous maniacs had massacred large numbers of innocent Londoners and incapacitated the two major transport arteries running through London - the Underground and the buses.

Two days - two television news announcements - and elation turned to sorrow, anger and long-term concern. Before a spadeful of East End had been turned and a brick laid, dark forces had shown how they could bring the city to a horrendous halt.

But, within another day, the City's capital markets showed their ability to discount emotion and spotlight likely winners and losers. Shares in major construction companies set to profit from the multi billion pound regeneration plans for London's East End and transport systems soared. Hotel groups began to take advance provisional block bookings for seven years hence.

And property values in areas adjacent to stadiums and other Olympic venues - including Weymouth and Portland - began to climb.

So, how does the "countdown" to 2012 look?

We'll see design teams appointed this year and a contractor to bury new power lines. The blighted Wembley Stadium and Jubilee Line upgrades will be completed in 2006 and contracts will be announced for the Olympic Park. The Channel Tunnel Rail Link is completed in 2007, and the construction of the Olympic Village begins.

While the Bejing Olympics take centre stage in 2008, the Aquatics, Velopark (bikes to you and me) and Broxbourne canoe slalom centres will be completed.

We'll see continuing construction works through 2009/10 and the East London Line extension will be completed.

Finally, in 2011, the Olympic Park, Stadium and Village will be ready to receive competitors and spectators in time for July 2012.

The costs

And what about the costs? Of course the history of successful Olympic bids is littered with cases where initial estimates went severely awry, turning expected surplus into catastrophic loss. But even the longest journey, says Confucius, starts with but a single step.

It's early days, but the initial London Olympics step anticipates an overall set up spend of around £2.375 billion. This will be paid for with £1.5 billion from a special Olympic Lottery (ie, the public pays), £625 million from London Council Tax payers (an average of a 38p Walnut Whip a weekaccording to Mayor Ken's quaint calculations - from now until 2012), and £250 million from the London Development Agency.

Then the operating costs of the games will come in at around £1.5 billion. To offset this, £800 million will come from the IOC (a proportion of its TV income and sponsorship), £450 million from local sponsors and suppliers, £300 million from ticket sales and £60 million from licensing.

And the result? An overall surplus of around £100 million, a stunning portfolio of new sporting venues, a regenerated East End of London, an improved transport system and a new generation of inspired and aspiring athletes to lift the UK onto the long term podium of international sport.

Sounds great? Yes, but even the most deluded dreamer will be aware of past problems.

Canadians are still paying for their 1976 Olympic adventure, which lost them around $1.5 billion. The Sydney Olympics - widely acclaimed as one of the finest events in Olympic history - needed to be bailed out to the tune of around £60 million by the Australian government before the opening ceremony (although resulting exposure and increased tourist activity have since turned the bottom line black).

In recent times, only the Los Angeles Games (1984) and the Seoul Games (1988) are thought to have come out ahead financially. But these figures do not account for subsequent spin-offs in the form of increased global profile in the business world and increased numbers of tourists.

And what if the London sums fail to work out as anticipated? No worries.

Chancellor Gordon Brown has put the neck of whoever happens to be sitting in his Treasury chair in 2012 firmly on the block. Amazingly, for such an allegedly prudent Scot, Brown guaranteed that the UK taxpayer (represented by the Treasury) would cough up if things go financially pear shaped.

So that sorts that one out.

But don't forget the small matter of another £7 billion for infrastructure and transport.

This is not costed into the overall sums, because it would have had to be spent sometime anyway - Olympics or no Olympics.

The bright side To look on the bright side, the Olympics will force urgency and finite target dates onto numerous much needed projects that might otherwise have drifted aimlessly into the distant future and unpredictable overspend.

So if one assumes that the moneymen get their sums right and the massive building projects are completed on time, what are the long-term benefits to UK Plc?

In a word - colossal.

If Euroland continues to flounder - with Chirac casting aspersions on British cuisine and Polish plumbers and German unemployment scaling new heights - the UK's position can only be further strengthened by the kudos imparted by Olympic endorsement.

London is of course already a magnet to financial institutions and camera toting tourists. And this can only increase - murderous bombers permitting.

At the same time, contractors and caterers will be showered with new business opportunities and aspiring athletes will have new and exciting targets.

And how will the marine trade and the sport of sailing benefit from this potential golden age?

Rod Carr of the RYA was the muscle and the brains behind the success of Britain's sailors in the Sydney and Athens Olympics.

Our sailing team's medal tally - as a proportion of the total amount of lottery money spent on its training and preparation - was leagues ahead of that of any other UK sport. So Carr's influence in the planning of the Olympic regatta as part of the 2012 London bid was considerable and his enthusiasm for the future is understandable - even if he is due for retirement in 2010.

"The new lottery funded Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) is already up and running and provides the core facilities for the Olympic Regatta, " said Carr. "Additional facilities will be erected on the flood plain adjacent to the Portland helicopter base. This temporary 'tented village' will accommodate such things as the press corps, security operations, communications systems, back office administration and sail measuring hall.

A cruise ship moored alongside in Portland will house the 400 athletes and 'Olympic family', so security will be relatively straightforward."

"Who pays?" I asked.

LOCOG pays "The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), that now takes over the baton from Lord Coe's Bid Committee, pays for and runs the regatta. The RYA played a big part in the preliminaries and initial plans."

And what is left once the Olympic circus has left town?

Carr's reply was enthusiastic.

"We don't want to end up with a Kiel, " he said, "which lies unused for most of the year. We want and are getting a legacy that will last and work.

An extra permanent slipway will be built (costing around £1 million), adding to the existing facilities. We will end up with a sustainable and usable infrastructure at the WPNSA which will become a valuable asset to promote and grow sailing as a national sport in the future."

Carr was also quick to point out that, because the WPNSA was already up and running, there will be huge spin-offs in the run up years before 2012.

"Overseas sailors will want to compete, at every opportunity, in regattas being held at or near the future Olympic venue. To cite just one example, the 2006 World Youth Championships are coming to Weymouth. This will whet the appetite of young potential 2012 Olympic sailors to experience sailing at Weymouth. To further this, the RYA has recently appointed Rob Andrews as competitions manager. His brief is to liaise with class organisations around the world, encouraging them to hold future major events in the UK."

And because the WPNSA is unlikely to be able to accommodate every championship that wants to come to sample the UK's tidal and weather conditions before 2012, Carr says there's a great opportunity for other clubs at areas such as Hayling Island, Torquay and Poole, to cash in and attract new major events.

Another huge benefit of holding the games in Weymouth is what Carr calls "the home advantage". "The Spaniards and Greeks proved this at their home Olympics, winning more medals than before or since."

And what of the commercial opportunities for the British marine trade?

While construction engineers and contractors will cash in big time on the run up to 2012, and hoteliers and landladies are already filling their reservation books to the brim, it is less easy to see how our marine trade will benefit.

Final decision The final decision on which classes will compete in 2012 will not be made until autumn 2008, but even so the resulting business is not great.

A total of 400 sailors (with two per crew in many classes) don't buy that many boats, spars, sails, etc. Classes such as the Finn and 49er are already dominated by British builders. There will perhaps be local sponsorship opportunities for larger players in the clothing and footwear industries but, by and large, the infrastructure of the Olympic regatta is already well on the way to being sorted and it is difficult to see major new openings for British marine companies.

Indeed, it is probable that the contractors chosen to build the new dual carriageway relief road around the back of Weymouth, to construct the new slipway and to erect the tent village at Portland will be the major financial winners.

And none of them are likely to be BMF members.

But if the marine trade is unlikely to grow fat on LOCOG hand-outs, it should definitely benefit from the Olympic aura.

"The games will increase awareness of sailing, and this could turn into increased participation if organisations provide new opportunities for people to have a go, " explained Carr. "This is what the RYA's 'On Board' initiative is all about. Even now, there will be 16-year-olds out there thinking that they will be 23 in 2012 and could aim for the Olympics if they can get afloat now."

Encouraging youth to take up sailing is the key. At the last Olympics held in the UK at Torquay in 1948, just five classes took part. Of these, four were expensive keelboats (6 Metres, Dragons, Stars and Swallows) and just one was a dinghy - the Firefly, which was sailed as the single handed class.

The UK took one medal - a gold won by Stewart Morris in the Swallows. The sailing Olympics reflected the contemporary image of the sport - well off chaps yachting in expensive boats.

Over the years, the emphasis has - thankfully - swung towards youth competing in challenging small boats that demand total physical fitness as well as honed skills. And Windsurfers and Lasers don't break the bank: anyone can have a go.

And herein lies the future - with the Olympic Games attracting ever increasing numbers of fit and determined youngsters from all backgrounds to take up sailing.

And perhaps there's even a hidden bonus for the BMF.

With swathes of the East End being redeveloped and ExCeL being used for Olympic boxing, weightlifting, judo, wrestling, taekwondo and table tennis, maybe - just maybe - ExCeL might become more accessible and less of an expensive blot in the wilderness.

And that might attract more visitors to come to the London Boat Show and learn more about the UK's top Olympic medal winning sport - sailing.