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in astronomy and meteorology in Barcelona. The bug came back to me when years ago I did a sailing coaching course. I was hesitating about a plan to go on to study engineering because I did not see myself always working locked in an office. So instead I opted for meteorology. I think it was a wise decision. I am satisfied, I am happy in this work, now I have a good track record and international recognition. But I re-engaged with sailing as a 470 coach for Sydney 2000 – that was a three-year programme in which I learned a lot. At the end the manager of the Spanish Olympic team, Txema
Benavides, suggested that I become team meteorologist for the Athens Games in 2004. Now I started to take the new role very seriously; it occurred to me to mount a full suite of electronic wind equipment on a mast connected to a computer, install it on a motor- boat and take data from the course area. That is why, before Athens 2004, I spent three months at a time floating around on my own in the Saronic Gulf! ‘In 2001 I was the only one who had a meteo mast. Of course
later my idea was copied by all of the others, today the race courses are full of meteo masts! ‘After Athens I continued as a meteorologist for the Spanish
team in Beijing, London and Rio. In the meantime, I started my own
metwind.com consultancy working for other teams and events. SH: Does high-level sailing help for your work? MSL: I think so, because I am not just offering sanitised meteo forecasts. I suggest strategies and alternative possibilities in detail. When I am racing myself this is what I want, not simply sheets of computer printout. I suppose that is why my information is more appreciated. SH: Was your work at the Cup in 2007 with Mascalzone Latino different from your role in 2021 with Luna Rossa? MSL: Yes, there was almost nothing in common… except that both are Italian teams! Valencia 2007 was my first AC, entering a world of maximum technology and pressure. In addition, Mascalzone was a smaller team, more familiar, with fewer resources and we all col- laborated on other jobs besides our own. At Luna Rossa I have been able to live the experience of being in a great team, better organised and with more resources that allow maximum specialisation. SH: Was Vasco Vascotto the other link between the teams? MSL: Yes. I came to Mascalzone through Nacho Postigo, who was the navigator, and we immediately had a good feeling with Vasco who was skipper. For this Luna Rossa campaign Vasco told me that if he was the strategist he was counting on me. When Vasco was confirmed as strategist he fought for me to be team meteorologist. SH: Did you like to watch the races from ‘the hill’ like some other team meteorologists? MSL: Only the first weeks of training, because it was a bit uncom- fortable to work from there. They disembarked me from a tender and I climbed to the top of the hill with my laptop, tablet and more equip- ment in a backpack. When I found that from there I had no better information we dismissed the hill location. We tried working in a chase boat, but it was very difficult to work there. Travelling at a speed of 40kt you cannot see and use the computer, tablet or phone correctly. For me, working from the base office with large screens and a good wi-fi connection was the best option. In fact, the only course area where you had a good view from the hill was Course C. SH:Did the methodology vary from the Christmas Race to the Match? MSL:Other than confirming my position in a stationary office, there were no changes to the method. What changed a lot was the knowl- edge of the conditions on the courses, accumulating data, analysing the daily information and adding the experience of each day sailed. SH: What influence does a weather man have on the final result? MSL: There are days when it is more important due to the choice of sails. In our first race against Ineos I guessed the predicted wind range – that was accomplished very well, despite the fact that 20 minutes before departure there was still no wind. The sailors were a bit uneasy and thought the light-wind mainsail would be better. I was very insistent and the wind blew enough for the medium- wind mainsail that I advised. There are other days when you have little influence, because the
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wind range is very clear and the race course does not conceal any traps. We must not forget that the decisions onboard are what is always important, interpreting the gusts and the wind shifts. Playing them correctly is what decides the result of the race. SH:Was your information more important to choosing the mainsail than the jibs? MSL:Yes, because preparing and hoisting the mainsail takes more time than the jibs. We had three mainsails and the tricky point was to decide between a very light mainsail, to use it with the certainty that the wind would not blow more than 10kt during the entire race or the medium mainsail. The third for strong wind we had no doubts when to use it… one less responsibility! (Laughing) The tricky crossover for the jibs was at 13kt. There was one race
when the TV commentators said that Luna Rossa had made a mistake with the jib choice. But we had not been wrong, because in that race we reached 13.2kt… and at the start there was 11kt. Our choice was to choose the optimal jib for the start, as that was our strategy, to try to lead the race and then ‘get our elbows out’ to prevent TNZ from passing. Ironically it was in the second race that day when we were a little caught out – a wind drop of 3kt was predicted but in fact it dropped by twice that much. SH: Do you suffer a lot watching a race as complicated as that without being able to pass them information? MSL: For everyone it was really stressful. That day the conditions were very difficult, unpredictable. Not only because the wind dropped more than expected, but also because of the uneven distribution of the wind on the course. Our problem was that when we ‘landed’ we were in an area where foiling again was impossible, while the Kiwis had taken off and were foiling again without problems. I have always thought that across a series luck divides equally
for all, but in one specific race you can have good or bad luck. And that was one of them! I don’t think that many long series regattas are lost due to bad luck, or that they are won by chance… but one race in particular can be. SH: What have you learnt in this America’s Cup? MSL: I learned a lot about Auckland, it was a race course that I was totally unaware of and now I know it quite well, although I could still know it better. As for my work, I have learnt about the experience of being in a larger and more professional team than in 2007. Sharing a big room working with 35 or more people, engineers, sailmakers, designers and so on, it is very interesting. But regarding the methodology of my specific work I have not
discovered anything new, there has been no great news. In Valencia I did learn a lot, because I was younger and also I worked with the many buoys that collected the data –which is not allowed any more. SH: What was a typical working day in Auckland? MSL: It started with a first daily forecast at 5am sent from the hotel, then at the base from 7am to 8am a second longer-term strategic forecast for the week, then preparing the 11am briefing. At the meeting there were the skippers, coaches and trimmers. At first we were few but then steadily more and more people attended until we had at least 30 people in the room each time! After the briefing I was updating the information to confirm the
forecasts and help make some decisions. The most delicate was the decision about the mainsail, since for the jibs there was not so much pressure, the anticipation was only for how to stack them in the tender and that the preferred jibs were placed higher. The mainsail was sometimes not decided until the boat was in the course area. If conditions were very unstable I talked for a long time with Vasco. Once the last race was over I was ready to give a preliminary update for the next day. SH: Ready for Tokyo? MSL: Yes, I have managed to spend the last three Augusts sitting out on the race courses again, this time with the Italian team! Collecting and studying data. There are basically two wind patterns at Enoshima, and either of them creates a very difficult race course, especially when compared to my recent experience in Auckland which is simple by comparison. SH: OK, Capi, I must ask the question. Why did you switch from
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