Quotes from the Boats - Volvo Worlds Day One

Telling it like it was - here are some quotes from the guys themselves here at day one of the Volvo Melges 24 World Championship in Porto Cervo:

Bill Hardesty - Team Sevenstar SLAM, GBR-592
"It was a very tricky day with the wind coming from all directions.
Despite that we had some good starts and nice speed."

Jamie Lea - Team Barbarians, GBR-691
"We had a good start in the first race. We managed to tack onto port early, as it was the thing to do because the wind went right. Really good speed up the first beat. Crossed on the little shift at the top, which put us in front. Very shifty at the top. Big ups and downs, so we were changing gears a lot. We had to be shifting gears the entire time.
It was really about shifting gears all day. It was a good solid day.

"Personally, in the past I've made the mistake of setting expectations so, we've came here with an open mind. We're just focusing on doing our best.

"The level of competition is exactly where we expected it to be and more. More so, than originally anticipated. There are about 20-30 boats out there that are really. We are just going keep plugging away at it."

Stephen Alex Shafer - Sweaty Betty, USA677
"There were moments of brilliance," said a sarcastic Shafer. "We really got hung out to dry on the last race. First race was lucky. We kept the boat moving. Second race we were doing ok, and then the wind shifted. We had people rolling over on us above and below and we just simply got shut out."

Federico Michetti - Uka Uka, ITA-715
"Very shifty day. We had so many nerves on the boat today, which was not very fun. Too many nerves, because this is the worlds and we were fighting with a shifty wind. This was not a typical day for Sardinia, but UkaUka we had a great recovery today. On the first race, we rounded first upwind mark in 43th — we were all like 'wow', but we managed to finish around ninth so it was a very lucky day. In the second race, on the last leg we lost four positions but still managed the top ten. We have ten more races to go. This championship is still young, it will be a crazy Worlds, this I am sure. The level of talent in this fleet is unbelievable. I really think this is the most difficult Worlds ever."

Alberto Bolzan - Pilot Italia, ITA-727
"It was a difficult day. We were very lucky. We made good choices today. We finished second place in the first race and won the second race. It was a very good day. Because there was a lot of wind shifts, and sometimes the wind was strong and at other times it was light. It was very difficult as one second you could gain a lot and the next moment
you could lose a lot so we were very lucky. The crew was perfect as was the boat."

Nico Celon - Marchingenio, ITA-638
"It was a shifty day for everybody. For me and my crew, I just simply went the wrong way, but for the championship it was the perfect start!"

Gunter Tzschelock, IMCA Chairman
"This was a great start to the 2008 Worlds."