Perfect Start

Matteo Iachino (Starboard / Severne Sails) has been one of the top racers in the world for the last decade, but it’s been a while since we saw him dominate an event in the manner that he did in Guadeloupe. The Italian not only won all three eliminations - to claim a clinical victory - but he also won every single heat that he sailed to send out a clear warning to his rivals for the remainder of the season. After producing such a dominant performance, we caught up with Matteo for a short interview, which you can read below:

Hey Matteo, you absolutely dominated the event - not only did you win every elimination, but you won every single heat - that's going back to Dunkerbeck and Albeau levels of domination - how does that feel?

It feels amazing, especially after those two names you mentioned, it feels great to be able to do the same. I worked a lot to have this result in the past years and the last winter. I tried to adapt and work in a different way and it worked out, so it feels amazing to win every single heat.

When you're training in Tenerife do you keep a bit on the back burner to not let his rivals know how much got extra you have in the tank?

Yeah, when I train internally, for sure I don’t put all the best gear, but it’s not only to not show the whole potential, it’s mostly to save the gear, because we do test a lot of gear. Masts for example should be the same, but in the end there are little differences between them, so you have to test to try and find the best one. 

And it depends on the way you save your style, maybe it’s softer, stiffer, whatever, and then I kind of mark them so that I know which one is the best, and then I do one by one, so I never sail with the best combination of gear, because if I hit someone, or if someone hits me, or I break something, at least I don’t damage all of the best gear.

So that’s the focus — not only to not show the full potential, but also to kind of save the good gear.

It's been a while since we saw you dominate an event like this - how satisfying does it feel to be back on top - especially having been one of the best racers of your generation... But having got to the top of the sport you had to relearn the foiling aspect.. that must make it even more satisfying?

Yeah, it feels amazing. In foiling the gear matters the most, and I really had to change the approach to this discipline and kind of reinvent myself a little bit. Obviously, the fin racing and all the racing I had in the past 15 years on the PWA helped, definitely.

But yeah, you have new opponents, the discipline is changing, the whole world changed. So in the end, it has been a hell of a run, and it’s amazing to be back where I feel I deserve to be, because I really worked a lot, I put a lot of passion and a lot of dedication into what I do.

And that’s my main focus — my main goal has been the same for at least the last 10 years. It feels amazing to be back at that level. I’ve been there — I was there two years ago, I won, and last year I was there fighting, and on the fin I almost won, but yeah, it’s been a while since I dominated an event like this, and it feels amazing to start the season like that.

Thanks, Matteo and congrats again on such a great start to the season.