INTERVIEW WITH SEBASTIEN COL:

Currently tied for third of the World Match Racing Tour’s ranking, and also leader of the RC44 Championship with Team Hiroshi after four events, Sebastien Col is the only French sailor who is now at the top on all the high level sailing circuits, where the experience and the control of match racing in particular are essential assets to succeed.

Sebastien Col looks at the three key points that came out of the six first months of his 2008 season:

Intensive sailing on several international circuits with many different crew members
“On the match racing side, we have sailed with four different configurations. This allowed me to go deep into the details regarding crew members tests for the America’s Cup, without making the sacrifice of performance, (we are for now tied for 3rd in the 2008 World Match Racing Tour ranking), which is a good compromise.

Regarding the RC44, I learn a lot with the sails designer and the trimmers, who have America’s Cup experience, and our position ahead comes a lot from all the work that has been done with the sails and which gave us a significant advantage. We also have a stable team, which allows working well.

The other projects like TP52 and GP42 that I have tested made me open up to other boat rules; moreover this was refreshing because I also met other new sailors.
And last but not least, my job with K-Challenge allows me to get extensive experience thanks to my work with the Design Team in particular, as we work hard on the details of our strategy and on our tools for the next America’s Cup.
The conclusion is that everything has been very enriching since the beginning of the year, because I sailed with many different sailors, of which some are very talented.”

The « magic » of a group
Sebastien continues: “there has been no rest so far, and each race has been a small challenge itself.
The competitions that I will remember though are: the first event of the RC44 Championship that we won, then the training that followed in Dubai, then the very first match racing event of the year in Marseille (MIMR), the RC44 victory in Cagliari which allowed us to confirm our lead with Team Hiroshi, and finally the Korea Match Cup that we won in South Korea.
Actually, this Korea event definitely convinced me that when it works on the sailing side and on the human side in a team, we can reach performance.

It is a solid team that feels good together and with a common goal that makes reach performance. There lies the magic of the group. And it is exactly what I want to do with K-Challenge and a broader group.”

Experience to reach performance“The fact that I sail on various type of boats gives me a privileged access to various experiences and to highly qualified specialists in each field. I have a broader view on my sport, and on what needs to be gathered to reach performance. I can get lots of knowledge, and I can step back more to think about what is performance in sailing.
I even think that this will pay back after the “summer break”, thanks to some rest and a kind of “digestion”. (I will join the COYCH team of Hyères for four days this week on the “Tour de France à la Voile” in the Mediterranean for in-shore regattas, before taking a few weeks of rest).”

Sebastien Col’s programme for the end of summer:
World Match Racing Tour:
-Danish Open 27-31 August (Frederikshavn, Denmark)
-St. Moritz Match Race 2-7 September (St. Moritz, Switzerland)

RC44 :
Trieste Cup, 7-11 octobre (Trieste, Italy)