Percy's progress

The Finn Gold brings madforsailing up to date with his Star programme and his near Farr 40 victory

Britain's very own Finn Gold medallist came very close to a surprise win in the Farr 40 Europeans at the weekend aboard Wolfgang Schaefer's German yacht Struntje Light (above).

The Farr 40 class is obviously an owner-driver affair, but involves some of the world's top yachtsmen. For example Illbruck skipper John Kostecki was sailing on Michael Illbruck's brand new Nela, Robbie Haines on George Andreadis' Atlanti, Franck Cammas' normally skipper on the 60ft tri Groupama on Sarastro II, top French match racer Thierry Peponnet on Madina, and Chris Larson on Bambakou. And right up until the final day Percy and Herr Schaefer were beating them all...

madfor sailing caught up with Iain Percy after he had just jetted back into the UK from Sardinia and was getting to grips again with his Star in a drizzly Halying Island Sailing Club.

madforsailing: So how did you manage to get second place in Sardinia?

Iain Percy: We were unexpectedly leading! Because as a crew we hadn't been there before, but everyone was improving on the boat. We are getting more towards that range and we had a good week. But our slight failings caught up with us by the end. We had a bad start in the last race and we couldn't beat the strong Italian team that had been good all week and that was the slight difference. It was almost like our weaknesses came back to haunt us in the end.

mfs: This was despite the boat losing its rig the previous week?

IP: I didn't do the week before. Ray Davies, from the illbruck team was doing tactics while I was away doing a Star training camp over in America. I came in from that. Everyone had worked bloody hard to get that all together. I was very grateful just to step on board! They did well to get a borrowed rig and vaguely up to pace in the given time.

mfs: Tell us about Herr Schaefer

IP: He's been around the scene for a while. He's a doctor. He's big into the politics of sailing over there [in Germany] and worldwide. He's a member of the Offshore Racing Council. The Farr 40 sailing has been a step up for him into a higher level of sailing and he's getting to grips with it after a couple of years. He certainly sailed very well this week. He had IMS boats and things like that before...

mfs: You seem to be taking to Farr 40 racing like the proverbial duck to water...

IP: The Farr 40 sailing is probably more like the kind of sailing that I do. It is relatively small courses for a big boat. It is tight racing. You're always trying to find lanes and take the little shifts. It is very like Star or Finn sailing in that respect, it does lend itself well to the quick thinking fleet sailing that we're used to from the Olympic stuff. It's certainly different from sailing a massive Swan. I think that would not be playing to my strengths. Certainly the Farr 40 scene you see a lot of the Olympic sailors do go well in the class, but it is such quick thinking shift sailing all the time.

mfs: What the parts of the race you were particularly pleased with?

IP: There was one race where we had a bad start - again! We were almost last half way up the first beat and just seemed to get on a little roll. It was a one way track, but once you got to the left side of the course, out of the tide it was very shifty then because we were a bit underneath the cliff, but you had to get out there and then it was trying to get the tricky little shifts all the way back in and we kind of shimmied through up to second by the windward mark and I felt good about that personally.

Generally the best thing which we had, is that the guys on board the German boat are quite new to the scene and there was no egos at all and everyone, including myself who's new to the scene try our socks off, a bit naively and I think it is quite a nice atmosphere on board. Everyone's just happy to be out there giving it our all the whole time. Generally that's quite a positive thing.

mfs: How do you find racing in Sardinia?

IP: I done a fun match racing event for the medallists last year. Myself and Ben were down there. It's a bliming nice place to sail. I did the Laser Europeans on the other side of Sardinia about 10 years ago. And all my experiences are that there's not many nicer places to sail! Clear skies, 30degs and always about 15-20 knots. It seems pretty perfect.

mfs: What's next for you and the Farr 40s?

IP: I'm going to carry on doing stuff with them. They're not going the Worlds. We're doing the Sardinia Cup in the Farr 40 and I'll probably do a few weekends. From my point of view it is a pretty important way of helping fund the Star campaign. Without doing a bit of big boat sailing we're struggling - as always. To be honest with you, it's necessary for us to buy new Star sails.

mfs: How's the Star campaign going?

IP: The Star campaign is going very good. We're really trying to be as professional as we can. We spend every day trying to move the whole thing forward and as a result I think we are moving forward quite fast.

mfs: Where are you based at the moment?

IP: The base for the next week is Hayling Island. But we've been out in LA quite a lot because that's where the Worlds are going to be in a month. We're going back there on Wednesday for another 10 day stint. We're trying to get used to what are quite different conditions to what we're used to - light and sloppy.

We know that we're trying to catch up and so we're trying to get as many hours experience and knowledge in as short a time as possible. So we are putting a lot of hours in on the water. But you can catch up 10 years experience pretty quickly if you're going out most days.

mfs: What's it like racing against the old hands like Mark Reynolds?

IP: It is nice to be racing against names that you recognise. Mark Reynolds and Vince Brun and Cayard - it does add a bit of glamour. In my mind they're no difference to the guys that are younger that I've sailed against in the Finn and the Laser. It's just they've done it, they're a bit older and so they've got their name. But certainly the racing is the same. The same things are tested. And if you get it right you'll beat them and if you get it wrong you'll lose to them, just like you would against Paul Goodison or Ben Ainslie. It's just they're a bit earlier in their sailing careers.

mfs: So no regrets about the Star?

IP: On no, we're really enjoying that. It's great having a new challenge and learning stuff. And it's been really good with Steve [Mitchell]. He's brought a hell of a lot to how I address problems. He's taken a really professional view to the goal of winning another Gold and it's been very enlightening for me to look at in a different way. In the Finn, I was a bit happy-go-lucky! Steve's taught me a lot about solving the problem of achieving a goal. So I've learn a bit there from him being a bit older and having worked and solved non-sailing problems. So he comes at it with a good attitude for me.

mfs: And your coach?

IP: We've got David Howlett from the Finn. He helps us with the Star. He went to the Games in the Star. But he never did it that many years. What's quite nice is that he hasn't got a big knowledge base - well, he has got a big knowledge base, but not as much as the Finn - as a group we look at little problems and come up with solutions. Although that can be a bit of a long process, what it does do is come up with some fresh ideas. In the Star everyone has thought of everything, but it certainly means you do everything the hard way but you learn as you do that. Instead of just being told how to do something, if you have to work it out for yourself, you start to understand the big picture quite a lot more and working with David on that - there's no one better at understanding the big picture.

He'll be there at the Worlds and he's been at a few of the events this year. But most of the stuff we do with him is sitting down and talking about the technical side of it and the programme and what we think is the best next six months of effort in the way to address things and that's where he's good - at keeping you going in the right direction.

mfs: How many boats have you got at the moment?

IP: We have one in the UK. RYA are kindly lending us a boat which we have out in LA. They're from different manufacturers, but they're designed along similar lines. Sometimes it's a bit irritating swapping from a different internal layout, back and forth. But to be honest after three or four days you're back into the other boat. I think at some point we need to find out which one we are most comfortable with and go along that route. But that's in the schedule.