Andy Rice

The foiling dominance of the italian pair of Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti in the Nacra 17 has had many conspiracy theorists scratching their heads. Yet the explanation is likely a simple one...

The Italian coach was only half joking when he asked us to switch off our drone footage of the boat that was running away with the British team who came to Canada as defending World Champions as well as Tokyo Olympic silver medallists. A year ago they were not so far from the the championship. I’m just back from Italians, with whom they’ve done commentating at the 49er, 49erFX and plenty of training camps over the

Nacra 17 World Championships in years. However, in Canada the

Nova Scotia, and coach Gabriele Bruni Brits could only finish fourth, not knows that his world-beating team, far off the second-string Italian

Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti, have team in silver or the Finnish something very special going on. crew in bronze, but light years

After racing away to a relatively off the pace of Tita and Banti. straightforward victory at last Percy, along with other high year’s Olympic Regatta in Tokyo, performance experts like Paul the Olympic gold medals around Cayard (USA) and Darren their necks have done nothing Bundock (AUS) who were in to diminish Tita and Banti’s allout bid for world domination. The latest development on the ever“This relatively inexpensive modification has made it Canada, will be scratching their heads about how to close the gap to Italy. Whenever a team is so evolving Olympic catamaran was to make it possible to adjust the angle of possible to hydrofoil upwind” head and shoulders above the rest, suspicions of ‘mechanical doping’ attack of the rudder elevators on the fly. inevitably arise. What illegal mods

Whereas for the last four-year cycle leading up to Tokyo you have been made to the boat to achieve that kind of stellar could only set your rudder angles before the start, now the speed advantage? Well Nacra 17 class measurer Chris sailors have the ability to adjust the angle while racing. This Henderson has got to the bottom of past misdemeanours, relatively inexpensive modification has made it possible notably the French boats that ‘accidentally ran aground’ to hydrofoil upwind as well as on the downwind legs. and had their boards cases repaired in such a way as to give

This small mod has been a gamechanger and no team has them a more favourable angle of attack. That was in the first understood this new world more quickly than the Italians. cycle of the Nacra 17 class, and it was to Henderson’s and

They have been dominant all season and they came to other people’s credit that the French advantage had been

Canada as clear favourites for the world title. That said, negated by the Games in Rio 2016. There have been other no one could have predicted the margin of invincibility. illegal mods exposed since then, some intentional, some

The Italians won 14 of 16 races across the week, their accidental. But despite close scrutiny, Henderson could find other two scores a 2nd and a 20th in very light and fluky nothing untoward with the Italian boat in Nova Scotia. winds, which they discarded from their overall results. No doubt the Italians have refined their equipment to

In the really light airs, when the whole fleet was be the best it can possibly be within the bounds of the low-riding in displacement mode, with one or one-design rule, but it was clear from the live coverage two hulls in the water, the Italians were as good as of the racing that there are some things they do plain anyone else in the fleet. No worse, and probably a better than any other team. Their ability to whip the bit better. As soon as there was even a sniff of being boat around through the manoeuvres is very consistent able to hop up on to the foils and get the boat out the and precise. They haven’t quite got to the full foiling water, however, they were in a class of their own. tack, but their touchdown at the mid-tack is minimal.

There is something different about the attitude of ITA If the Italians were already dominant, the worrying 26 as it flies along. In a drone shot with 15 or 20 Nacras thing for the rest of the fleet is that Tita and Banti believe in view, my co-commentators and I could start to pick out they are only just getting going. Coach Bruni is always the Italians from a crowd. Their boat is a bit more bows- looking for new ways to test his sailors, making them go down and slightly heeled to windward, not dissimilar to ANDY RICE sailing in the dark to heighten their lesser-used senses, the look of the F50s competing on the SailGP circuit. As a sailing journalist sending them out in big, nasty waves so as to make

I’m sure that the experts in Nova Scotia could pick out and TV commentator Andy has unparalleled everything else feel relatively stable and easy. The ‘train many more subtle performance differences. Three-time knowledge of the hard, fight easy’ approach is certainly working for the

Olympic medallist and former America’s Cup skipper Iain performance racing scene, from grassroots time being. But perhaps they have revealed their hand

Percy was there as coach to John Gimson and Anna Burnet, to elite level too early. Or perhaps the best is still yet to come.