On The Wire With Darren Bundock

Where do you see Multihulls going?

Fast – The good news is that Multihull sailing is becoming more popular and is increasing since the decline in numbers in the late 80's. Multihull has been the focus of the sport with the introduction of Multihull in the Americas Cup, the Ishares Cup and the outcry of the Multihull being dropped from the Olympic program. It is noticeable at catamaran European regattas that numbers are increasing again.

Where do you see the Tornado going?

The Tornado will survive no question. The ultimate strength that the Tornado has is that it is an absolute cool boat to sail. No doubt the Tornado will suffer in the next year or even two as the professional sailors take it easy as their boats will be sold by their National Federations and they will no longer receive funding support to attend regattas. The good news for the short term is that there are excellent boats on the market for very reasonable prices which the weekend sailors are taking advantage of and upgrading their equipment. A Marstrom Tornado will last the weekend sailor a life time if it is looked after reasonably. After all we used to get 8 years out of a boat on the Olympic circuit, four years as a race boat and then another 4 years as a training boat being continually sailed. I envisage that Tornado will slightly slump for the next years and then come back stronger than ever just because it's a good boat. Technically refined, excellent life span and great value for money.

Tell us about the i-Shares Cup.

The Ishares Cup is about corporate entertaining and bringing sailing to the public. I guess it is the ultimate Grand Prix of sailing and putting on a show. The event is run by Offshore Challenges (OC Group) and the boats used are Extreme 40's by Tornado Sport and produced by Marstrom. The boats are basically a scaled up double sized Tornado. Full carbon fibre and weighing in at 1250kg. Sporting sail area (Billboard) of 180m2. Currently the event is only in Europe with plans to expand into Asia. The European side has 6 events and attracts some of the biggest names in sailing from Americas Cup, French Multihull sailors, Around the World records and Olympic sailors. It caters for corporate entertainment for sponsors with the mornings allocated purely for corporate sailing and the afternoons is high action short course racing meters from the public in areas you would be scared to sail the Tornado let alone a 40. The advantage the 40 has is its ability to carry extra people for corporate sailing and the allocated VIP 5th man slot in the racing for the corporate guest.

Could a similar concept work for the Tornados?

Could this work on Tornado? Well, I think it's fair to say that the concept originated with the Volvo Champions Races in Germany which hosted the Tornados and the 49ers. OC have just taken the event to the next level. I still feel the Tornado put on as good a show for the public and was a good combination with the 49er class. There are plans again now that the Tornado is not Olympic to break back into this arena as early as 2010 with the European Grand Prix Sailing. Stay tuned.

What are your thoughts on Tornado One-design?

The whole question came about with the Multihull being dropped from the Olympic program. One of the excuses for its exclusion was that the Tornado was expensive and there was too much development happening in the class. However, when you look at our class it is very close to One Design already. Everyone using Marstrom hulls, masts, beams, rudders and centreboards so that part is easy to make one design. It is true there was development in the sails and for sure this was highlighted by having the Olympics in China being known as a no wind venue. The fleet was expecting to have the majority of the regatta raced in conditions that we would not normally leave the beach for so it was a whole new area of development in less than 6knots.

The class has now put out tenders to all the sail makers with strict criteria on one design, quality and proven performance and received back 10 valid proposals, these were short listed by the Technical Committee and decided unanimously by the ITA Committee. The one design issue now has to be balloted within the class. Of course there are pros and cons for this. Development will stop and it is the development that has formed the boat we have today and love. The advantage is everyone will have the chance to have the same equipment from the professional sailor to the weekend warrior. The cost of the sails will be guaranteed for a 4 year period.

Your partnership with Glenn

My Olympic campaigns have benefited from forming some great partnerships. Firstly sailing with John Forbes for 10 years, this turned out to be a very successful partnership. John recruited me when I was young, plenty of talent and enthusiasm but had no idea how to put together a successful Olympic campaign. John's strengths were organisation, preparation, detail and putting together the funds/sponsors to run the campaign. I learnt a lot from John and by the end of our partnership our roles had reversed and we had produced 4 World & European championships titles and an Olympic Silver medal.

When Glenn came into the campaign he was an immensely talented sailor and sail maker and like any partnership we both benefited and made up for each others weaknesses. And as a team we were very strong and learnt a lot from each other. The partnership was more widespread than just Tornado and we also raced F18 regatta circuit together quite successfully. Together we won 3 Tornado World Championships, 3 Formula 18 World Championships, the ISAF World Sailing Games in 2006 and the Olympic Silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Games.

You recently announced your retirement from the Olympic scene due to no Multihull in the OG.

Yes, I recently announced my retirement from Olympic sailing. It took quite some time but it really came down to motivation. I have been to 3 Olympic Games and campaigned for 4 and what kept me going were the motivation and the enjoyment of sailing. I tried moving to the 49er and to be fair I did not have a real go at it. I started 49er in February 2009 and basically Princess Sofia 2009 was my first regatta without much training. The results came quickly making Gold fleet and winning a heat in Hyeres as the 2nd regatta. I thought this was going to be a cool project and a completely new experience as the boats are so different but I was lacking the motivation I had in the previous campaigns and I was not enjoying it. It all became clear when I went to the Tornado Worlds after having not sailed the boat for 12 months since the Olympics. It was the enjoyment of sailing the boat that had been the motivating factor.

And what are your plans now?

It is clear – Multihull - speed and excitement. Tornado/Formula 18/Extreme 40. Nothing boring!

Can ISAF get it right? And How?

I actually have confidence that ISAF can turn things around and eventually get it right. It is sad that the sport and in particular Multihull sailing has to suffer in the next few years in order to wake up the sport and get it right for next time. I think it is evident in ISAF now that the result of the Olympic Events decision was not the best representation and for the good of the sport the process has to change.

I have attended every ISAF meeting as an observer since the November 2007 decision and despite being bewildered by the decision making processes I believe there are some very good people working for changes and for the benefit of the sport. Sitting in on the Events Committee meetings I got sometimes inspired with the discussion as they have some good people that are still really involved in the sport and are chosen as experts.

It is frustrating to see great ideas come out of the Events committee and then the following day be over turned by Council as they are representatives of areas (group of countries) and vote on what benefits their group as opposed to the benefit of the sport.

ISAF is currently a political nightmare and as I'm not a politician I don't hide the fact that I believe the current ISAF President is not the ideal person for the job and should be held responsible for the Olympic Classes mess. Now he has been nominated to the IOC, hopefully he will move on and let our sport flourish.

The IOC decision was always going to be a hard one to get the 11th medal back after ISAF surrendered it. The sport currently has 10 medals to represent the sport. The sport needs a new approach and a fresh look, the Olympics need to represent 4 disciplines of the sport - 1. Keel Boat, 2. Multihull, 3. Windsurf, 4. Dinghy (arguably 5 – Kitesurf).

So why was the IOC going to give 11 medals to represent 4 disciplines?? There is hope with ISAF creating an Olympic Commission to report to the Executive Committee to try and come up with a better process of choosing the Olympic Events so we don't see this debacle again.

America's Cup in Multihulls

Gee, I can't wait to see the first dial up!!! They have certainly created some cool boats, it's a shame it is all for the best of 3 races. I really hope the boats will be comparable and not a miss match and we get to see some really cool racing. For sure it is not going to be your traditional match racing event. I don't think they are the right boats for the job but they are waking up the world and building on the reputation of Multihulls. It will be hard for these guys to go back to going slow again. I would like to see a multi challenger event in the AC on these boats and a bit of fleet racing as well.

Photos courtesy of Andrea Francolini