Catalunya PWA World Cup
The opening day of the 2015 Catalunya PWA World Cup saw a quiet start to proceedings as the usual sunny weather associated with the clockwork like sea breezes, was replaced by heavy cloud cover and for a short time thunder and lighting.
The registration process was completed between 9:30am and 11am as the elite of the slalom world signed up ready for their second battle of the year, but they will have to wait until tomorrow for the chance to resume the fight on the race course.
With plenty of downtime today we caught up with a few of the sailors to find out what music they like to listen too before sailing and how they get into the zone before the green flag goes up:
Andrea Rosati (RRD / NeilPryde): “Actually I personally don’t like to listen to music before racing. I just try and stay as relaxed as possible and make sure I have all the little bits prepared, so I don’t have to be rushing around at the last minute if I need something.”
Andrea Ferin: “In the morning and evening I like to listen to something relaxed, but before racing I prefer to listen to something a bit stronger and more upbeat.”
The Bonaire and Curacao Crew: Taty Frans (Starboard / GA Sails / Mystic), Amado Vrieswijk (JP / Severne), Ethan Westera (Starboard / GA Sails), Aron Etmon (Starboard / Severne / Dunkerbeck Eyewear): “Eat rice with chicken! Listen to some music like Drake or something similar.”
Kurosh Kiani (Starboard / Point-7): “Music wise it would be all sorts of weird stuff haha. I used to always listen to music before going out to race because I thought that would get me pumped up, but eventually I realised that wasn’t what really gets me going, what really gets me going is to be prepared before I go out on the water. Prepared can be just small things like having all of my gear on the beach ready to go, having tools ready if I need to change a fin or something, or just having a simply thing like an energy drink. I’ve found that that gives me a calmness to go out and race - also I’ll often think about the different scenarios which might happen in the race and that sometimes gets me pumped up, particularly if it’s fighting someone at a mark or something similar.”
Sebastien Kördel (Starboard / GA Sails): “I personally don’t usually listen to music before racing, the thing that I like to do before the start in an important race - if it’s not too cold - is to one minute before the start drop into the water for a waterstart so I can feel the pressure of the water and cool me down. I also find that that helps me with nerves so I don’t feel so nervous before the race. Also dropping into the water before the start makes you a little bit heavier so you can go a bit quicker haha.”
Nico Prien (Fanatic / North): “I like to get away from it all for a short time just to give myself sometime to concentrate on what I need to do in the race ahead.”
Marco Lang (Fanatic / North): “Pfft that’s pretty hard, to be honest I just try to go out on the water and have fun and try and stay relaxed.”
The forecast for tomorrow looks as though it holds some promise for racing, so with a bit of luck the first elimination will get underway. The skippers’ meeting for tomorrow has been called for 10am with the action commencing from 10:30am - if conditions allow. Make sure you tune into www.pwaworldtour.com to stay up to date with all the latest action from Costa Brava.