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It used to be Burling/Tuke vs Outteridge/Jensen in 49ers. In recent years the longest-running Olympic face-off has been in the Nacra 17s between Tokyo silver medallists and 2021 world champions John Gimson and Anna Burnet (left) and their bête noire, Italians Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti (right) – who took gold in Japan and most irritatingly continue to pick up big wins, seemingly at will
of course they were immediately fantastic. They almost took the victory despite being in the ‘new’ situation. SH: Tell us a bit about keels. NP: The two boats designed by Vrolijk had new keels designed by him. Last year Quantum put on a new keel designed by Artemis, Phoenix put on a new Botín keel which they later discarded, and Alegre also put on a Botín keel which they kept. This year at least one other Botín boat has added a new keel. SH: OK, but are you satisfied with your own fin…? NP:We have noticed small differences. We were worried because the keel is a bit bigger and we were concerned that the handicap downwind wouldn’t offset the benefit sought on the upwind. But it has been a win-win, because we have improved upwind, especially keeping a lane at low speed in compromising situations, while sailing downwind we have not noticed any big losses. SH: So what is the new keel?! NP: I’m going to have to kill you, hahaha. But the surface area of the new keel is about 10 per cent larger… a lot in this class. SH: How were things on the racecourse? NP: Before this event my experience of Saint Tropez had not been particularly good. I have lost many days of racing due to excessive wind when the Mistral blows or due to calms when there is a fight of winds and the thermal does not establish itself. This week we were lucky, we did eight of the 10 scheduled races and the conditions were nicely varied with winds from 6 to 20kt. The bad part is that in all these conditions the right side was
clearly favoured; as you know well, it was like when the Garbí (SSW) blows in Barcelona and every length you sail to the left you lose. Of course, this limited the tactical options and put a big priority on the starts. Fortunately this has been our strong point in Saint Tropez, we have been very consistent making good starts, and therefore choosing the moment to go to the right side of the leg was very easy. I think in the statistics we have been the best boat at the first windward mark… which does help you! SH: Happy with the final result? NP: Of course, winning is always the best! Before we started we thought that a top-five would be good and a podium excellent. We had to see the performance of our new keel and the integration of the new trimmers, so you can imagine the joy of having collected the big trophy. Realistically, for the rest of the series to secure some top-five placings with some podiums would be a great result. It is true that this time we have won, but there are several teams that when their new pieces fit in will be on top. This is the case of Sled and Phoenix, as well as Platoon. SH: Explain why you recommended Víctor Diaz de León to Quantum for this season… And then of course they gave him the poisoned chalice, telling him that he could navigate for the team… but while also being the strategist! NP: Víctor had never ‘played with the tablet’ before and through a mutual friend he contacted me to see if I could give him a hand. I told him that in March I had to go to Miami to sail with the TP52 Fox, that we could get together and I would help him. He is extremely
30 SEAHORSE
intelligent, he immediately saw what was really important and what was secondary. At the end of the Saint Tropez regatta he told me that he felt comfortable and satisfied with the challenge of debuting with such a top team. He didn’t exactly have an easy job, but he has been an extremely effective student, hahahaha. SH: What about the return of Guillermo Parada to the circuit (with Gladiator)? NP: Spectacular, really spectacular! I have a lot of respect for Gladiator skipper Tony Langley. He is an absolute fan of sailing. He has his peculiarities, such as having decided to now be the boat’s tactician on a circuit with such brilliant talents in that position. Sport- ingly, a very courageous decision! But he delegated all the speed areas to Guille, and the combination has been surprisingly very good. With the importance of the starts in Saint Tropez, many points were won by the talent of the great Argentine helmsman. If you start well, as they generally did, and there are no tactical complications on the racecourse, then you have a good chance of being on top. The Parada effect has certainly been noticed! Carlos Pich
GREAT BRITAIN Levelling the Nacra field The medal factory that is Britain’s Olympic Sailing Team is once again in full flight, now for the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad of Paris 2024. Across multiple classes Britain has high hopes but none higher perhaps than in the highly technical foiling Nacra 17 class with all eyes on Tokyo 2020 silver medallists John Gimson and Anna Burnet. Standing in their way, though, is some mighty com- petition in the form of Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti from Italy, who over the past few seasons have been nigh on untouchable in the class, winning gold at the 2020 Games at a canter and picking up regatta wins almost as they choose. Naturally the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team came seeking the
Italian sensation for their America’s Cup campaign and while ‘Ruggi’ flew around Cagliari all winter in the Italian LEQ12, impressing, Gimson and Burnet went deep into Nacra training, calling in some very experienced Olympic campaigners to solve the puzzle that is the nervous Olympic foiling cat. Early season results have yielded big gains. Gimson and Burnet
won the opening Princess Sofia regatta in Palma in April and then doubled down at the 54th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères a week later. Speaking to Seahorsestraight after the Palma regatta, Gimson revealed much about the winter work… ‘On the whole Palma was pretty good for us. This was our first
regatta in a long time with lighter winds so we were pleased to see our speed was good in those conditions. We also gave ourselves a lot to do in the medal race so it was good to execute a plan from a difficult position. ‘The main difference in how we are sailing this season, or cycle,
is that the Nacra 17 rudder system was upgraded to allow rudder differential. This gives us a lot more righting moment which in turn has opened up upwind foiling as VMG mode starts from 11kt TWS.
ALAMY
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