“Even we did not expect to lead the championship, especially after the 2nd race that the wind was so light and shifty, the coming days we co
rrected every tactical mistakes we have done and this was enough. Our performance was getting better and better every day so it was proven to be very easy for us. We managed to take very good strategical decisions and some excellent tactical moments that gave us the ability to win almost every race. A great performance, and fantastic news for those placing bets on this (like those who read this Wales 247 article, for instance).
The race course was perfect. Race Committee did a great job and the venue proved one of the best to sail!
This was my 5th Tornado World title and my 19th, including World and European ones both in Tornado and 470 class. I will try to go on sailing till I get the blackjack!! 21 trophies!!”
Dany Paschalidis mentioned:
“No, it was not easy to win. The first 6 races we rounded the mark behind, in 2nd, 3rd or 4th place and had to sail really good to win these races. In the second part of the championship we sailed more confident and put pressure to our opponents so this part was easier.
It is difficult to combine work and training for 2 reasons. First because my job is quite demanding, working 24hours per day and second because of Kostas program with the Nacra17, we did not train at all before the championship. I trained only with Maria Tsaousidou and Michalis Papadopoulos a couple of days before the championship and that was it.
This championship was organized really professionally. We expected this because Y.C.Carnac organizes many years now maybe the biggest catamaran race, the Eurocat. Mr. Paul Bastard the Race Officer is professional in his job as a one of the most talented race officers of ISAF, so we had an excellent job for the organizing and the racing committee.
After this victory, it is a challenge for us to win the cup 6 times in a row and beat the record that Darren Bundock and John Forbes have. So we have to win it one more time in order to have the most championships from all the other athletes that sailed the Tornado the previous years. But I also want to go on sailing this boat because it is fun and there is nice attitude of the people so it does not have to do with the performance only. It is a way of life.
Besides the people that are next to us these years, our families, my wife and the Nautical club of Thessaloniki I need to thank Thanos Vakalopoulos, the guy who helps us since 2004 that we started sailing Tornado. He did great work with the sails. We use OS3 for many many years now and we are proud of it and we will try to make them faster and better every time. Thank you!”