Rod Davis talks to madforsailing

Bob Fisher caught up with the "Italian" in Auckland

Rod Davis had just finished the double round robin of the Steinlager/Line 7 Cup, one of the Swedish Match Grand Prix events, and had gone down in the final race to Gavin Brady by a hairsbreadth at the finish, thereby failing to make the semi-finals.
Bob Fisher suggested to him that this had been a mixed regatta for the American skipper who had made his home in Auckland and who, after winning a gold medal in the Solings at the 1984 Olympics for the US, had won a silver medal in the Stars representing New Zealand. Might he be feeling a bit rusty in this game?
It's my first Grade 1 event for more than two years, so I would think I was a little bit rusty, and the competition was very, very good. But I think we sailed a pretty decent regatta, we were in at the deep end and we know that. Hopefully in the next two years we'll get our act together a little sharper, bit it's not all bad news.

It looked as though you were very near it most of the time.
We were one race off being in the semi-finals, and we had four races that were very close which slipped through our fingers. We didn't execute when we should have, but if we'd had half of them we'd be laughing. So we'll get better.

In the big picture, you have quite a lot on right now with Prada, haven't you?
Part of that is a bit of match racing and I still want to play with my Star boat and my Soling. There's a little mixture of everything - it keeps me young.

This time with Prada, you are going to become an Italian, taking up residency.
I've already become an Italian. The residency started on March 1st, so I'll be eligible to sail on the boat. In what position or if that actually happens, remains to be seen.

That's a bit better than last time when you were hung out as a coach and not able to get your hands on the boat.
I enjoyed my coaching role. It was a big challenge and a lot of fun, but I didn't want to do just the coaching again.

It's a new challenge being both the coach and a player. That should make it interesting. After all, player/coaches are found in most other sports.
Yes, but they are not all that successful. How I handle that I don't know, but I will have to get my head around that problem shortly. I was thinking about the last race today.

That was very close (one metre between the boats at the finish).
About as close as it could get. I misjudged the first run and let him [Brady] gybe inside me. I thought that would be OK but I didn't have enough pressure. It was a silly mistake and I shouldn't have let him do that. (Brady passed Davis on this leg).

What are your plans for the next few months?
We are going to Punta Ala at the beginning of April with the whole family and we start sailing there at the beginning of May, but in the meantime I will do the Congressional Cup. That's where I can yell at Gavin because he's crewing for me. Or he could yell at me - that could happen too.

You'll be in Punta Ala until September?
Yes. We have a lot of work to do.

When do you get your new boats?
I honestly don't know. I think about a year from now. I've had my head out of it for the past month, I concentrated on the Bacardi Cup.

In which you had a good result.
Yes, but this was a good result too, something we can build on.

And the Congressional Cup? You would dearly like to win that again?
Yes, I would like to win it for the fifth time, that would be something special. We have a good team and Gavin should keep me out of too much trouble.

We wish you luck with that.