RITUALS
Matteo Iachino: When I am at an event I try to stay relaxed and do the same as I do at home. I eat eggs, bread with jam and then brush my teeth and then head to the beach. I try to listen to music to help relax and feel confident. If the skippers meeting is at ten and we start at eleven I try to be there by nine, so I can check the conditions. I like to be able to see if racing is going to happen or not. I like to know what I have to rig and what items I need to prepare. If I will be racing on something I did not try then I have time to go on the water and test it.
Pierre Mortefon: Most of the time at an event I eat a big breakfast. I have eggs, ham and basically as much as I can eat. Most race days I don’t have time to eat anything substantial during the day, just some energy bars and drinks. In Costa Brava where the wind arrives later we can eat a lunch around 11 because we are going to race in the afternoon. In Sylt you can go in the water at ten and race right through until five without time for any decent meals. You need to be full at the beginning of the day.
Ross Williams: I like to arrive at the beach nice and early so I know what the day is going to dictate. I like to be one of the first ready. I eat cereal, fruit, whatever I can. I try to stay healthy. I check my footstraps are tight and my inhaul and downhaul ropes are ok. I check the course and the start line. If it looks like offshore racing I might come to the beach earlier so I can be ready and out there checking the course.
John Skye: I just try to eat a lot more for breakfast than usual. That is about it. Make sure the gear is ready on the beach in time and that I don’t miss the heat faffing around. In the waves you can really calculate exactly when your heat is. You know the heat duration and how many heats until you go, so you can really say – “my heat will be at 15:18” or whatever. In the slalom it’s not so precise, so for me it’s really easy to be cruising around all relaxed and suddenly realise that you need to be not only on the water, but actually at the start boat 1 km out to sea…. it’s definitely a slightly different mentality.
Finian Maynard: I like to arrive two hours before the first possible start time. My breakfast will be a green shake, fruits and food that is not too heavy. I like to take my time and not be rushed when rigging up. My check downs are to make sure the downhaul ropes are not fraying, the inhaul ropes on the boom are solid and that nothing has happened to the battens overnight. All these small things are important. You just have to make sure you don’t lose a race over something silly.
Steve Allen: I make sure I have a decent night’s sleep. I wake up early and do a few stretches to warm up my body. When I arrive at the beach I make sure all the equipment is prepared. Whatever the conditions and forecast I have minimum two, usually three sails fully rigged and ready to go. You need to have a backup and be prepared on every angle. I analyse the course and where I need to start and what I need to do. After a day’s racing I like to have a proper meal and chill out in front of a movie. I eat cereal and yogurt for breakfast and then have plenty of snacks on standby for between races. I also have energy bars and gels to keep my sugar levels up on a race day.