Fra IECU sine hjemmesider har vi sakset et brev skrevet av den mannlige verdensmesteren i 2008, Teemu Rantanen.

2008 WORLD CHAMPION’S IMPRESSIONS

I got my driving licence in the beginning of the year 2008 which made travelling a lot easier this year. Actually I drove our team’s boats from Madrid to Portugal.

As we had only three sailors from Finland competing in the Open Week and four in the Worlds we didn’t have a proper coach for the regattas. However we had a rib on the water since the third day of the Open Week, which in the end was quite much I needed.

As we didn’t have a coach for the regatta I wanted to get familiar with the weather and circumstances already before the Open Week. That’s why we were with Petter in Vila Real de Santo Antonio already five days before the Open Week. We were very lucky that the Italian team had arrived already on the previous day and thanks to Raffaele Ravaglia we could train and learn the conditions with them. I believe these trainings bore fruit on the last day of the Worlds when the conditions were a bit different. We also had nice conversations with Raffaele about the weather, current, racing, etc. I think it  was important that I could discuss with him and he gave me good tips about the conditions.

My plan for the Open Week was to learn more about the weather and try to sail a bit more aggressively. It didn’t seem to be good tactic as I got an OCS already on the second start. I think I was a bit confused about the wind on the first days, as it didn’t act as I had expected. On the 3rd and 4th day I started to be more certain about the sides. In the end I managed to climb to the fourth place, which was very good considering I had taken an OCS already on the first day. The best thing about the Open Week was however that I had learnt from my many mistakes and I had got better understanding about the conditions on the race course.

I managed to do the measurement things already on the same day as the Open Week ended, which was very good as we competed in the Nations Cup on the “lay day”. I think the Nations Cup was good for our team spirit and we were ready to start racing on the following day.

The Worlds started with a strong breeze from the sea. The wind was a bit different we had experienced earlier and it made me a bit confused. The first race was pretty bad due to a bad start and wrong side on the first beat. Luckily I managed to get a decent result from the second race. After all I wasn’t too worried after the first day as it was still a lot better than in the Open Week!

The second day looked like a normal” day when we headed to the race course. I decided to trust my instinct and not to stick with the plans made before the Worlds. I took good starts in both races and therefore I had all options open on the first beats. This made racing a lot easier compared to the first day. Trusting my instinct seemed to pay off and I had a brilliant day with both races in the top five.

On the third day the wind was calmer than on the previous days. Before the first start the wind was something like 50 degrees more left than on any other day before. I could predict the wind to turn to the right as it did few hundred meters before the first mark. I took all the advantage of this and I was second at the first mark. I kept my place and finished second. The wind picked up a little bit for the next start and I managed to get a nice start from the middle of the start line. I sailed long clean lines and came 6th to the first mark. I passed a couple of boats on the reach and downwind finishing 3rd in that race.

Going to the lay day I had climbed already to the second place. I had managed to get the reliability to my sailing and improved a lot from the first day. On the lay day I fixed some scratches that I had got to my boat and I checked that the bottom of the boat was clean. I also had a nap on the beach and prepared myself for the last challenging days.

The fourth day was the first day since we came that we could see clouds. Anyway the clouds didn’t have any effect on the sea breeze, which built up as usually. In both races I took very good and certain starts from the middle of the start line. I could follow what the fleet was doing and I had the race under control after the first tack to the port. In the second start I lost few places during the second downwind but anyway one brilliant day for me. At shore it was really nice to see that I had taken the lead. It looked like I had put some heat on Kristian. We two were a bit separated from the rest of the fleet in the points.

The fifth day was the same kind of day as the third and fourth. Actually my notes of the day were: “Normal day. Left side was better”. Once again I took the starts from the middle and made it to the first mark with four or six tacks. No problem on the downwind either and I extended my overall lead by three points. What’s more important than the points was that my both discards were the two races from the first day! Both of my discards were better than Kristian’s as well as my third worst. That meant he couldn’t match race against me on the last day. The land breeze had become stronger and stronger since the lay day but sea breeze had always beat the land breeze. Anyway now the forecasts were saying that there might be a great chance that the next day the land breeze would be so strong that the sea breeze couldn’t turn it over. It really looked like the weather was going to change for the last day so everything could still happen.

As the forecast had predicted the land breeze was strong in the morning. The first start for the girls was at 1 pm. There couldn’t be any warning signal after 3 pm. Therefore my plan for the first race was to stick pretty close to Kristian so that I would have good position before the possible second race. On the race course the wind was about 10 m/s from the land. I think that Kristian hadn’t sail with the land breeze as he didn’t attend the Open Week. That’s why I was very confident before the race. I was all the time aware of the wind change but it didn’t happen during the first race.

The women started first and it looked that they got a good lifter from the right hand side. I started at the Race Committee boat and turned to the right pretty quickly after the start. I tried to stay more in the middle of the race course compared to Kristian who went to the right corner. The right paid and on the first mark I was few position behind Kristian. At the gate I broke my sail as another sailor’s boom hit my sail. I decided to continue although the crack was 50 cm long. I lost a few places sailing the upwind and my troubles continued on the reach when my kicker broke! I managed to finish 19th whereas Kristian finished 8th. So I was still leading by two points.

I managed to quickly change the broken sail to another one. I didn’t have time to fix the kicker properly as the warning signal came. I lifted the sail when there was only four minutes to the start and barely made it to the start line in time. I considered the situation and I realised that I had to finish right behind kristian or better and not worse than 16th. I decided to sail my own race and pay little attention to Kristian: The wind strength had dropped dramatically and I realised that the wind was probably going to turn. Anyway I started more from the right side of the start line. It was obvious that now the left side would pay and I made my decision. I let Kristian go to the right and headed to the wind on left. It worked and I was around fifteenth on the first mark while Kristian was far back. I managed to keep my position to the gate although my kicker snapped right after the upwind mark. I gained about ten places on the second upwind and lost a few on the reach as I didn’t have the kicker.

On the downwinds I had to sail broad reach as I couldn’t let the sail go further than 45 degrees. To make it even more exciting both men and women came at the same time to the outer loop upwind mark and the last downwind was really a mess. It was really difficult to count the places and I wasn’t hundred per cent sure about my position in the finish. I soon realised that I was in the top ten which was enough as Kristian had retired the race.

In Finland I got acknowledgement for my  achievement for instance from the President of the Republic, Tarja Halonen. She invited me to the Independence Day reception at the Presidential Palace. This year I was the only sailor who had got the honour to be there.

I believe that the Europe Class is the perfect class for  younger sailors. It gives you great basis for the future Olympic classes and it’s awesome that sailors of wide range of weight can sail it even-handedly.

Best regards to all Europe sailors.
Teemu Rantanen