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Two America’s Cup campaigns with Luna
Rossa, three Olympic Games (in Laser, 49er and Star class), Farr 40 Worlds and
the list continues. The Italian tactician has an impressive curriculum,
recently arrived from winning the Melges 24 World Championships to join the
team of Matador as they face round 3 of the Audi MedCup Circuit.
As tactician I’m not doing much
mechanically on the boat mainly because I’m not very strong (!) – and the job
is more of a mind game for me, but everyone is working on board, and the
results depend on my choices. Matador has always been a top team and so I do feel
a little bit of pressure!
I’m going to do pretty much all the Medcup
Circuit except for Cartagena.
The tactician before me was Vince Brun, who had some work issues in his sail
loft and couldn’t do every regatta, so the team asked me to do the others. I am
really honoured to do step into the shoes of Vince Brun as he is a legend in
sailing, and I hope to do as a good a job as he did.
I am usually involved with work as tactician
but mostly on other kinds of boats. This year I have been sailing a lot in
Melges 24 and we have just won the World championships here in Sardinia alongside
Lorenzo Bressani as helmsman, which was a great result for us as well as in
Farr 40 where we finished 2nd in the Worlds this year. This is not
my first experience on the TP52; I sailed alongside Lorenzo about three years
ago on a boat called ‘Orlanda’ for the whole circuit as tactician, so the role
is not new but I am quite new to the class.
My main goal now is to work on the
communication within my team as I have to meet 16 new guys, build up a
relationship with them, and then understand the differences now to what I
sailed three years ago - the angles, boat speed, which boat is faster up and
down wind, and to have a general feeling about the fleet I am competing
against. A major priority is really to meet the guys - and just remembering the
names is a challenge on its own!
Cagliari is basically a sea breeze kind of place at this time of year. It is
a nice sea breeze as it isn’t always the same kind of wind; it has a fifty
degree range and medium-strong, although it seems that lately it has been a
little lighter than what we expected. I have heard that the forecast this week
is for a south easterly stronger gradient, so racing should be quite nice.
Cagliari can give a big range of wind possibilities in strength and direction
and pretty much every time I have been here I have never lost one day of racing
either which is great!
I love racing in general and in Sardinia even more! It is a lovely place – and you can really
feel an ‘island’ atmosphere. The scenery is beautiful, the water is fantastically
clear, and the wind is steady. After racing we are not far from the beaches for
a swim either, and that is also a nice way to finish the day!
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