Team GBR lines up with four crews at the 2013 Nacra 17 Worlds in The Hague. Among them bronze medalist at the 2007 Yngling Worlds, former World Champion Match Racing and Olympic representative Lucy Macgregor. After London 2012, she switched to two hulls and teamed up with Tom Phipps. We asked Lucy five questions:
1. From Yngling to the Elliot and now to the Nacra 17, what does it take to adjust to a new class each time and especially to the multihull this time?
“The change to the multihull has definitely been the biggest change for me in my sailing career to date, as before this year I had never sailed a cat before or done much high speed racing before. Each time I have really enjoyed the switch into the new classes because it presents such a new challenge. However I do look back at times and wish one would stay in for more than one Olympic cycle!”
2. Why did you choose for the mixed multihull and not for the skiff for example?
“To be honest I’m not really sure why I chose the multihull and not the skiff or 470! I think the style of racing suits my skills quite well, which was a big factor, plus in terms of putting a strong team together from day one, the Nacra seemed a good option.”
3. What does it take to be a strong mixed team to your opinion?
“Time will tell a bit in terms of how to create a strong mixed pairing, but the way I look at it is no different from how I have tried to put teams together in the past. I don’t see the fact that we are mixed teams as a big issue, perhaps it makes it even easier to have a successful team.”
4. How did you happen to team up with Tom Phipps?
“Tom is a very experienced multihull sailor, who was already starting the process of campaigning for 2016 before I came along. There are two big reasons why I think we work as a team, one we both want the same thing out of this campaign and two we compliment each others skills well.”
5. What do you expect from your first Nacra 17 Worlds?
I just can’t wait to get racing now! This is the big event of the year for us, so we really hope to put in our best performance of the season. Where that will lie relative to the rest of the fleet is very hard to know, but we are looking forward to finding it out!”
