Most surprising at the recent Hempel Sailing World Championships in Aarhus was Croatia’s Sime Fantela winning not the 470, in which he was Olympic champion at Rio 2016, but in the 49er. Incredibly, this significant victory, against all of the top names in the class, came after sailing the Olympic skiff for less than 18 months and just over a year since his first 49er race.
This result came out of nowhere. In their first season Sime Fantela and his ex-RS:X sailor brother Mihovil finished 36th and 26th at the 49er Worlds and Europeans respectively, and up until Aarhus had only showed slow improvement this year: 18th at the World Cup Series Miami, 15th at Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia and 22nd in Hyères, etc. To pull a first regatta win suddenly out of the hat at this important event, marking the half-way stage to Tokyo 2020, was a giant coup.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” Fantela admits.
The brothers hadn’t even been blessed with their preferred light conditions - during the week Mother Nature had thrown everything at them: “It started in medium conditions for the first two days, then we had some medium to strong offshore winds and then some onshore, lightish breeze on the first day of the finals, when we made the biggest different,” recounts Fantela. “Then on the last day we had 20-25 knots. So in strong winds, even though they weren’t our best conditions, when we managed to score 11-2. That meant the most to us because it proved we can sail well in those conditions.”
The Croatian brothers led going into the medal race, nine points ahead of Germany’s Tim Fischer and Fabian Graf. They kept their nerve. “We tried to stay close to them - we went to the same side and tried not to have too big a separation. We even finished in front of them. It wasn’t a big job, but sailing close to the port with an offshore breeze is always risky in Aarhus.”
As always, key to their regatta was consistency which they achieved despite the varied conditions. “We had one 25th, but in that race Miho lost the sheet and we did a bad tack and we couldn’t recover. But in the rest of the results, we were top 10 and we were strongest in the Finals.” This they had started out in 12th place…
Key to success in the 49er is getting to the stage where the manoeuvres are all second nature, even in big conditions. To do manage this in 18 months the brothers have undertaken a massive sailing program, including all of the major events available to them in the build-up to Aarhus, plus significant training before each of the events and over the winter in Vilamoura and Miami.
At the World Cup Series Miami they had been leading after the first two days in the light winds, but when the breeze picked up they plummeted from the top 10. From this is became apparent that they need to spend more time training in big conditions only they then struggled to find any. They headed to 100% reliable Lake Garda but even there the normally powerful Ora was elusive. It wasn’t until Kiel Week that they got to sail for several days in winds ranging from 15 knots to too much. “Then we were ready for the Worlds,” Sime recalls.
Given both Fantela brothers’ lack of experience in the 49er, they needed specialist coaching. Initially at home, this came from their former team mates Pavle Kostov and Petar Cupać, who had represented Croatia in the 49er at Rio 2016 and since retired. They got help from the British silver and bronze 49er medallist, Simon Hiscocks while in Vilamoura, but their main coach has been Stephane Christidis, Emmanuel Dyen’s crew in the French 49er at London 2012. “We were taking knowledge from everywhere we could to reduce our learning time,” admits Sime.
Clearly 15 years in the 470, including three Olympic Games, also helped. “The 470 was not just the school, it was a university of sailing,” Fantela recalls. “The boat planes above 15 knots and in sub-15 knots you have really neck and neck sailing, Laser-style. So there is a wide spectrum of knowledge you can get, which I am now trying to transpose to the 49er.”
Quickly it became apparent that success in the 49er was less about tactics and much more about having full mastery of the boathandling in all conditions. As Sime explains: “If you get the boathandling right and you can gybe or tack where you want to, rather when or where the gusts dictate, and you can round marks or the gate in 20 knots of breeze and you can go where you want to go, instead of going where it is easiest to go, that makes a huge difference. You will be in the top 10 immediately if you can do that. That’s how important boat handling is in the 49er.”
As the World Championship was his main focus for the year, Sime is now taking a well-earned break. Having qualified his country for Tokyo 2020 and with no competition for the Croatian 49er position, his berth at the next Olympic Games is now assured. He says they don’t plan to return to the 49er until this winter, as 2019 will be a long season culminating in the next World Championship in December. They have already trained at the Olympic venue but will spend much more time there next year.
As to the Star Sailors League, Sime says he hopes to return to the Finals this year having finished 10th with Croatian former Star crew Antonio Arapovic in 2016. Then he was fresh from his Olympic gold medal and underweight. Despite that, he impressed everyone by winning three of the last five Qualifying races. Now he has put on a few kilograms to reach optimum fighting weight for the 49er, he hopes to win.
He is a big fan of the Star Sailors League: “I love it. It is a really good venue and a really good sailing club. The organisation is very high level – which for us sailors is most important. Conditions are very good - the breeze can be strong, but it is pretty consistency and it just rewards smart sailing. And you get to sail against the legends.”
He also enjoys sailing the Star boat: “Looking at it from outside and how it sails, it has always amazed me. It was a pity it went out from the Games. It is really technical - something that I like – which is how it was in the 470. It is really tactical, so you fight your opponent with your brain, not just with your muscles although you have to be strong and hike a lot. It has everything you need. If you win, for sure it was not luck.”
by James Boyd - Sailing Intelligence
SSL Press Officer since 2015