Extraits de l'interview de Rob Greenhalgh

Extraits de l’interview de Rob Greenhalgh, parue dans Yachts & Yachting n°1469 datant du 23 Mai 2003 ; p50 à 54.

« We lived in Sri Lanka for 4 years, explains Rob. I think we started sailing out there . My dad had an Enterprise, a GP14 and something called a Water Wag-that’s a clinker-built boat ( ) . He used to go sailing and occasionally we’d go in the boat with him, but generally we just used to muck about with boats-you know, swim around and that sort of thing . Then when we got back here my parents had a polystyrene boat, a Puffin, which we sailed on a little lake, so me and my brother got the hang of that.”

(…)

He sailed 420 with his brother Pete with some success, before they moved on to the 470. “We had a 470 for about a year but we didn’t really enjoy it that much, it’s a lot of work for little reward .Then all of a sudden you’re getting into the era of asymmetrics and they were a lot more fun .” Starting off in an ISO, the pair moved into the laser 5000, and then the 49er, in which they proved a strong team before going their own ways .

(...)

After the 49er partnership broke up, Pete G continued with Olympic sailing, while Rob went and did other things . “It’s not that I didn’t want to do Olympic sailing-although in some ways it doesn’t suit me because it’s a lot of time in the same boat and I can get a little bored. You just go out training, training, training, day in, day out to gain that tiny bit, to go a tiny bit faster . Then I guess if you don’t qualify for the Olympics that’s it really isn’t it ? The Olympics is obviously a dream but if you don’t make it, it must be a bit heartbreaking.”

(…)

Rob’s sailing career took him into Ultra 30s next . “That was a perfect boat for me really, it suited me down to the ground-the big team and the organisation . In between times, you were just sailing other things –just jumping onto other boats and doing a lot of various sailing . I like having varied sailing, I couldn’t sail the same class all year-I love swapping different boats, mixing it up a bit. It makes it more interesting .
And those different classes must feed each other in many ways… “Absolutely. Different classes, different techniques… You can take a huge amount from dinghy sailing to keelboat sailing, introduce that to the team, and bring back the technical tactical stuff from keelboat sailing into dinghies and use it there . Yes they help each other . You can definitely learn things in different classes which will help you in your normal class. I’d advise anyone to jump into something else and have a blast.”


(1/2 )

Il y a des types qui sont impressionnants (c'est le barreur du 18 RMW, le meilleur mondial) : il passe du dériveur à l'habitable avec autant de bons résultats, il est sympa et pas con. Il ne recherche pas la gloire olympique mais le plaisir et il ne fait que naviguer... Mais qu'est-ce que j'ai fait de ma vie moi ???

It is Rob’s performance on the 18ft Skiff Circuit that has been particularly impressive, especially as he stepped straight into the front of the class.

(…)

“I got a phone call from James Storey who crewed for Richard Woof, because Colin Goodman couldn’t make the event . So I rocked up on a Saturday morning ready for this event, never having sailed an 18 . (…) We went out and won pretty much that race . Next year, Richard said : “Look, you do the 18” .”

(…)

The front end of the 18 fleet was generally dominated by people who had sailed in the class for a good while, how was Rob able to jump straight in at the front end of the fleet ? He feels part of the answer lies in the varied sailing he’s done . “I’ve sailed so many different boats, I just jumped straight in and never found it hard . Having done the Ultra before that, which is quite a tough boat to sail, the 18 wasn’t scary and from day one I found it relatively easy to sail . We had a reasonable boat and reasonable sails, so we were never slow and we could hold our own .”

(2/2)

Et en plus le 18 lui paraît assez simple... Ouaip

Ceci dit il n'arrive pas à gagner le mondial en Australie et ça tout le monde se demande pourquoi...

Peut-etre parce qu'il emploie un skiff de la league sur place et pas son skiff ... enfin je sais pas si il l'envoie la-bas ...

Mais bon, RMW a ete modifie et a mon humble avis ne peut pas courir le JJ si on le mesure

Négatif Patrick au mondial en Australie comme à San Fransisco il était avec son Bateau... le sien. Et d'après certains écho Australien, il a eu la peur de gagner et il n'est pas très à son aise sur les parcours Australiens qui ne sont pas entre trois bouées... Et la peur de gagner Hamlin lui il ne la connait pas...

... bin faudrait pas qu'il mesure le bateau ... faut effacer mon message ... pas leur mettre la puce a l'oreille des aussies ...


A part ca le mental ... tout une histoire ... comme quoi on peut etre fort et perdre ... ou l-inverse.

Celaa dit, c'est vraiment dommage que Heastbeck et Tom Ruegge n'etaient pas a Carnac ... a mon avis, ils ont un niveau tres proche de RMW, vu que la tole que met RMW a tout le monde est un peu pres la meme que ce que ces 2 teams mettaient a Exel, Flawless, ... l'annee passee

Dit t'aurai pas du sang anglais toi ? Ils gagnent tout alors ils trichent ? Tss Tss

Pas dit ca ... je dis simplement que son bateau n'est pas un 100 % pure league ... c'est etabli. C'est d'ailleurs pour ca que les anglais veulent creer encore un nouveau reglement de jauge, adapte de la league (ie. murray avec modifications :).

Bref ...