On board with Russell

Thedailysail caught up with Jes Gram-Hansen who's team have been racing with Russell Coutts at the Swedish Match Cup

Danish match racer Jes Gram-Hansen was supposed to be skippering a boat in his own right at the Swedish Match Cup until he got a phone call from Russell Coutts a couple of weeks ago, enquiring whether he would like to join forces...

And so in Marstrand this last week while Peter Holmberg helmed the Alinghi crew, so his former skipper was at the helm of Gram-Hansen's boat. We caught up with Gram-Hansen to enquire about this new arrangement...

TheDailySail: So what's it like racing with Russell Coutts?

Jes Gram-Hansen: It is good fun. We are having a good time and we enjoy the sailing and he is a very nice guy to sail with. We have been talking about this for a couple of weeks and it turned out to be possible for Russell to sail with us. We thought it was a great opportunity to try something new and of course trying to sail with Russell is something which most people would like to do.

TDS: What have you learned?

JG-H: He has a lot of talent and experience and he enjoys sailing and having a good time and that is a powerful combination. The way the good guys sail, there’s not a lot of difference between them. He’s pretty cool when it gets tight and he seems to be enjoying the sailing. And he’s a very good sailor maybe one of the reasons he’s doing so well.

TDS: You had a pretty exciting race against Peter Holmberg?

JG-H: It was action packed. A couple of lead changes, a big collision and coming back from two penalties down. It was very tricky conditions and we picked up a couple of good shifts on the beat and we were able to regain the lead and going down the last run and we were in a situation where you know you can almost make the penalty, but you’re not sure...should you slow down or should you try to go for it? And we decided to give it a shot. It could have gone either way. [In the end they carried out their final penalty turn on the finish line to beat Holmberg by a half boat length...]

TDS: What have you been up to apart from this?

JG-H: We have been doing a lot of practise with Russell coming up to this event, both in Marstrand and in Denmark. So we’ve been pretty busy getting the team work working. We had some good days with Jesper Bank and Magnus [Holmberg].

TDS: Are you going to join Russell's new America’s Cup team?

JG-H: [Laughs nervously] So far it is just the match racing. We are going to do Trieste, the Nations Cup, and then we’ll be back on the Swedish Match Tour in Portugal with Russell.

TDS: Are you doing any more big boat sailing?

J-GH: Yes in the Mediterranean and in north Germany and maybe some Farr 40 stuff in the US. Thee are a couple of options.

TDS: What do you think of the Swedish Match Cup?

J-GH: I like this event - it is very professional. They put a lot of work into the event, it’s just a pity that the weather is so bad in Scandinavia at the moment. It has been like this for three weeks now. But apart from that it is beautiful here both on and off the water.

TDS: They've got new masts and sails on the DS boats here, has that made much difference?

JG-H: I think they are pretty even. We haven’t raced all the boats. Normally they are pretty even.

TDS: What about the new boat [the Swedish Match 40]?

JG-H: I only had the chance to sail it here last year for about 45 minutes. In my opinion the DS boat is lighter and more powerful and that suits my sailing better. I think they have made the new boat lighter and moved the mast forward. I would have liked to see a lighter boat which turns faster - that’s good for the spectators and TV coverage and in general that is better for the match racing.