We are half-way through the Open Week and World Championship event. What are your key take aways so far?
The racing format of Europe Class Worlds is pretty long, which in practice probably means that every single sailor will have their ups and downs during these couple of weeks we are racing here.
And I think that one of the important things is to stay calm and stay focused on your next priority at the race course, independently of what has happened before.
The second thing, also related to the long format of the regatta is that we will be sailing here in different conditions. Our race course is four miles South from the harbour in a pretty open area and there will be windy and waves there during the coming week. During the open week, there were some light days. Therefore, it is important that the sailors have trained in different conditions and they can maintain the right mindset even though they would be sailing in the conditions which are not according to their personal preference.
You are experienced sailor and also a dinghy sailor yourself. In your opinion, what creates a winning spirit?
I think that creating a winning spirit is a process. You need to be passionate on that what you are doing. You need to set challenging but realistic goals. You need to be committed to work against your goals. You need to celebrate and build the self-confidence, when you start to reach your goals. So a lot of things, but I think that through these steps, the winning spirit starts to develop.
And in sailing, I think that the important thing also is that that the sailors can train together and build the winning spirit together.
Good luck for all the sailors. Enjoy Hanko and the great sailing conditions here.
