What is (are) your name(s), and where do you sail?
Gunnar Larsen. From the Netherlands, but sail worldwide.
How long have you been sailing F18s?
GL: Since 1996
Did you do anything special to prepare for the 2013 F18 Americas Championship?
GL: No, not really, just build an out of the box boat and we were competitive.
What do you think was the biggest factor in your success in Sarasota?
GL: Years of experience and working together as a team.
The Americas Championship was a 17 race event with conditions from 5-25 knots. How did you manage to have success over such a broad range of conditions?
GL: By paying attention I guess. In many conditions we changed the approach of racing. With such variable conditions you need to trigger yourself to stay on top of things happening around you.
What was the most memorable regatta moment for you?
GL: That the race committee + F18 sailors are there to fight in races ,but the social character is really important too for the US sailors. Great experience for all of us.
Every event has difficult moments. What was yours, and how did you overcome that setback?
GL: We did not really have any difficult moments at this event.
If you could get a redo for one sailing mistake during the week, what would it be? what would you do differently?
GL: In the deciding race we went back towards the fleet, although in hindsight we should of continued and believed in ourselves instead of sailing defensively too much. Good learning moment.
For new teams just getting into F18 sailing, what would be your biggest piece of advice?
GL: Sail your boat standardly and get the right settings advice from a good team. Good teams are always in to help others. Sail the boat like that and focus on boat handling, racing tactics and strategy. That’s it.
The more you can automatically sail your F18, the more you can have your “heads” out of the boat on the course.
