Laser legend

Robert Scheidt talks about his eighth Laser World Championship win and his class change to the Star

Robert Scheidt needs little introduction as one of the most well known and successful dinghy sailors today. With two Olympic gold medals in the Laser, and what might have been a third in Sydney had it not been for the memorable showdown with Ben Ainslie, the 32 year old Brazilian recently won his eighth Laser World Championship in his own home waters, at a time when he is finally moving away from the singlehander on which he has built his reputation.

Scheidt comes across as surprisingly relaxed for a full time sailor, and clearly believes that the most important thing for him is to enjoy his sailing. He regularly points out that he tries not to sail too much and prefers to get his physical training done from either tennis or swimming - not a skill that he often needs on the race course. Schiedt says that he has to “wait for somebody available to sail against, which does not happen very often” so this also prevents him from spending huge amounts of time on the water.

It is this focus on enjoyment that Scheidt emphasises in terms of training for the up-and-coming sailor. He freely admits that if he were to spend more time out on the water sailing a Laser he could be a much better sailor but adds that sailing just by itself all day every day gets boring for him. Scheidt is not alone in this view, but he is probably at an extreme sometimes sailing as little as four hours a week off season. The key, he says, is to do a lot of physical training and stay as fit as possible.



The start of the Laser World Championship this year did not see Scheidt in his usual dominant position, starting the championship with a 17th place. This was, however a small hiccup in what would turn out to be a tremendous week where he only scored one other race outside of the top three. In the two discard series this meant he finished the regatta counting only first and second places. Scheidt said that this World Championship win in his own native Brazil made him particularly happy as representing the crowning of his efforts.

Looking back on his highly successful career, Scheidt says World Championship wins Worlds are always hard, but hardest was the first in Spain. “I didn’t know it was possible to win and I was trying on my own - without national authorities, coaches, sponsoring, etc It was an individual deed.”

Scheidt is unusual in the modern ambitious Olympic sailors in having stayed sailing one class for such a long time. “Sailing the Laser kept me competitive,” he explains. “Living in Brazil it is extremely difficult (and expensive) to sail in any other class. The Laser is simple and you can rent it anywhere. For a reasonable amount you can race against sailors being financed by Federations.” He finds it a great challenge constantly sailing against new sailing talent from all over the world, especially when he realises he still has the ability to beat the new guys.

There have been rumours that this World Championship was to be Scheidt’s last major Laser sailing event as he is going to concentrate on his next Olympic campaign in the Star. In truth although Scheidt's main focus has switched to the Star he is not planning on giving up Laser sailing completely any time soon. “I will continue sailing the Laser as I pick up Star sailing," he says. Scheidt is embarking on his Star campaign with crew Bruno Prada (below). The duo have been friends since they were sailing Optimists against one another in the early 1980s.



Scheidt - as one would imagine – makes his living from sailing but also finds other ways to support himself. “As I have a Business degree, I often give lectures to big enterprises about managing my objectives, team work, decision making, focusing, creating an analogy between the business world and sailing.” The reason that he works in other areas to support his sailing is simple - there is not as much funding for sailing in Brazil as there is in other countries. “The Brazilian Federation usually pays for transportation, entry fees and some coverage for daily expenses during competitions, this is paid for by the Brazilian Olympic Team. I am only able to sail full time because I am supported by my own sponsors - Banco do Brasil, Brasil Telecom, Medley, Varig and Volvo Ocean Racing.”

Despite his collosal stature within the sport, funding - it seems - remains consistently a problem for Scheidt and it looks like things are about to get much harder as he makes the transition from the relatively cheap Laser sailing to the financial opposite end of the Olympic sailing spectrum. “To sail the Star I will need to invest approximately US$250.000 for three years of Olympic campaigning, which I will have to pay from my own pocket,” he says.

Funding is not his only worry. Moving from the singlehanded one design Laser to the very technical Star represents a massive change in sailing techniques and skills. For this reason Scheidt has tried to sail the Star as often as possible recently while campaigning his Laser. He says that he has been sailing the boat on and off for about three years.



As one might imagine Scheidt is by no means out of his depth in two man boats. “I have a large experience in double handed sailing having sailed the Snipe before I changed to Laser sailing,” he says.

It is clear that Scheidt and Prada are not too far off the pace in the massively competitive Star class. Their best result to date is a sixth at the most recent Star World Championship in Argentina. It could be argued that this year's Worlds were the first in the new Olympic cycle and in a fleet that is so competitive you even Scheidt and Prada will have a long way to go with their training and development. They will be competing in as many American and European events as they can, trying to get as much time racing the boat as possible.

As well as the obvious change from Laser sailing it provides, Scheidt says that he wanted to get into the Star partly because it would open the door to big boat events. “In the future I would like to join the European Circuit in big boat sailing like TP52s and if I have the chance, the America’s Cup,” he says. Although it is a future aim Scheidt already has experience keelboat racing, having done some ocean racing and a bit of match racing, but has always been drawn back to the lure of Olympic dinghy sailing.

It will be interesting to see how Scheidt fares in the Star class, a class that consistantly attracts the cream of world sailing talent. One thing is for sure, the Brazilian ranks as one of the greatest ever Olympic sailors and with this kind of experience and talent it is unlikely he will just disappear into any class that he sails. His is a name that you can expect to see a lot more of in the future.