Old love never dies
W
hen two former Belgian Olympians arrived in Ostend with two Finns on a trailer and a huge smile on their faces, it did not go unnoticed. Paul Goossens grabbed them for an interview. He writes, “We were very curious what was driving them and we are very happy by this double comeback in Belgium. Not only is the class growing constantly, but the return of both these gentlemen will boost the level and the reputation locally. Their stories are very inspiring to us all.”
Filip Willems Q: When did you start sailing and what was the trigger? My dad was a sailing fanatic. He built boats and yachts himself and we went sailing with the family every single weekend in Wolphaartsdijk, Holland. As a kid, I enjoyed
every minute of it. When I was a teenager, we started racing in a Schakel, a nice wooden two-man boat, that my dad had built as well. Unfortunately, he prioritized strength over weight, so it was not the fastest boat on earth. But we learned a lot as there was a massive and highly competitive fleet of Schakel boats racing at that time. One time, I was in Antwerp for a sailing event, and was invited to try out a yellow Roga Finn. It felt like coming home: the Finn was THE boat for me. As it was also for sale, I bought it without bargaining. And it turned out to be an excellent boat and mast. We started training and racing with a couple of good sailors at that time. Jacques Rogge (ex-IOC president) was my mentor, and he was highly supportive. Q: What do you perceive as the biggest success in your sailing career? Frankly speaking, I was a bit disappointed with my results at the games in Los Angeles 1984. In order to qualify for the Games, I sailed to a 10th position in the 1981 Gold Cup in Grömitz, Germany, a 14th position at the 1983 Europeans in Wladyslawowo, Poland, and 10th in the 1983 Kieler Woche. As these were decent results my target was a top 10. After the first races at the games, I was in seventh position but started dropping to the 17th place
Filip Willems (15) sailing Esko Rechardt (FIN) and Terry Neilson (CAN)
with
16
FINNFARE JULY 2021
Two former Belgian Finn Olympians are in training. Paul Goossens investigates in the following races. Anyhow it was a fantastic experience to be able to participate in the Games, something I will never forget. What I learned from this, is that good support is a must to compete at that level. I was very much on my own while sailors from other countries had professional teams surrounding them, even at that time. After Los Angeles I quit high-level sailing and did a lot of professional coaching and mentoring. In that capacity I trained and coached sailors at the Games in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens which was also very satisfying. I also participated in the creation of the Belgium Sailing Team, an effort to bring young talents together and grow them through competition. Q: Why did you buy a Finn again and what are your ambitions? The World Masters 2020 were planned in Port Zelande and my ambition was to train again and get a reasonable result compared to my old buddies (the generation of Peter Vollebregt, Mark Neeleman, Chris Frijdal, …). Because of Corona this did not happen unfortunately. I am now looking forward to the Masters in Mar Menor, Spain, and hope to see a lot of old friends again. Q: What do you view as the differences between now and then? From my perspective the rig is so much different now. We sailed with aluminium masts and dacron sails and the boat was hard to handle in a blow. The switch to carbon masts and less flexible plastic sails makes the boat more manageable in hard wind. The boat itself seems to have evolved less. Sailors with a smaller budget can still perform very well with a well maintained Vanguard on lakes.
