ANDREA CUCCHI
In our sport we have had probably twice these sorts of crashes in the last 10 years, perhaps they were not even so bad. To see in one event two crashes which brought those kinds of injuries was strange. We are not used to it. Even before those crashes, I was not feeling comfortable on the racecourse. I realized that the level of the riders has become closer and we end up at the mark with eight sailors coming out of the gybe simultaneously. It was not that close in the past. Even on the straight line, we have almost no time to turn our heads to check where the others are next to us. We need to focus to look at the mark and that is it. If you turn too much around to check the situation you lose one essential metre to conquer the first gybe mark. In Fuerteventura the conditions are super gusty. So you need to race overpowered for the light wind. You are overpowered, but when the gust hits you by surprise you are then super overpowered, on the limit of control, over heavy chop and with the others only 50cm away with their boom to your head. It’s radical, and we are all on the limit of our control.
So there is nothing to be actually surprised about with the crashes. It’s actually surprising that we don’t have more. We travel at the same speed, so if we get hit side to side, it does not hurt, but…after I saw Taty in Fuerteventura, I have changed my mind. If someone catapults on the other, the mast has tension and even if a mast might hit you, the mast breaks as it touches the body and it’s not as bad as you think. I had a person catapult on my head with his mast, it broke and I did not really feel it but it could still be dangerous. The worst are fins, they are like knives these days. I counted eight scars from fins on my legs, all from my own fin. Two are pretty bad. The same part of the body which was injured from the two crashes which happened in Fuerteventura.
Therefore even before these accidents I realized that I did not want to put myself in this position to risk injury. I saw too many riders not having respect on the course. In the first elimination, I did not advance some heats, just because there was really no respect. Some riders might think they have nothing to lose, so they try to just push their way in, to get the extra spot, damaging the rider in front. Where is the limit though? As the competition is getting tougher I feel that the limit is starting to go over what I think makes sense. After the accidents, I even backed off some situations, by opening my sail and not caring about my result. I need to test sails for my brand, need to run the business and no thank you I do not want to spend a month in bed recovering! I believe everyone is thinking the same. The ‘no rules’ worked until last year, now the level is too high. We are too fast, and we are probably the only sport on the planet at that speed, with those fins, racing in our board shorts and Lycra with no protection. As I said before, racing is too close now, and for some riders the difference to pass a round or not, is coming down to how much they lift their elbows. Can we compare our sport to motocross racing in high winds? They are pushing each other, but they have protection, they are not having sharp knives under their wheels and they are not on the water and probably not as far as we end up being from a good hospital.
If I fall and the next rider cuts my head, is this dangerous enough to give the idea for change? If it does not happen it is because we try to keep tight to our boom and use the rig as a shield and pull in our legs! Has it been only luck till now that something more serious has not happened? I think if we use 8.6 to 9.2 it’s not so dangerous, probably not at all. From 7.8 down it can become more and more dangerous. In the marks I don’t like riders who don’t bring respect and just cut in going on a 10% chance to not hit anyone. They destroy their race but also the chances of the other rider. When the collisions happen, they are not so hard and we are not soccer players, we are thirstier to get back up and go win the heat. The pain is not really there. I think it’s more about having respect, so that we can all have fairer racing. I think we need to set some examples of what dangerous sailing is. If the judge sees a rider being dangerous, out for the next round! No fines, no warning! We are not a rich sport, so no need to give fines, especially for young riders. I just think to DSQ riders. It hurts more to lose points! Of course we need to wear protection. We are the only sport racing in such a packed fleet, at those speeds, with clothing that people wear to sunbathe. Helmets, impact vests and perhaps padding in legs and arms with special plastic materials or similar…something which perhaps needs still to be developed for our sport. I would say that over 20-25 knots everyone needs to wear it and under, it should be according to the rider will. If I can add something… I would also require riders to have a medical certificate to register to the PWA events. In Italy we cannot do any sporting event or activity, unless we go to a sports doctor to get our heart and physical condition checked. At present at PWA registration we are just paying the entry fee. I am not sure it’s a safe thing!