Törnqvist has been a TP52 Medcup champion, RC44 world champion and current America’s Cup challenger of record. Who better then to talk about all of that? The light conditions in Puerto Calero on Sunday morning and the postponement ashore gave us the opportunity to catch up with him and discuss these issues.
VSail.info: You have won a Medcup Championship in the TP52 class and you are the current RC44 World Champion, so to say that you are a competitive onwer-driver would be an understatement. You must also be passionate about sailing. What drives you though to be in the world’s most competitive sailing circuits?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: First of all, sailing is a team sport and I have always been fortunate to have a very good sailing crew and a group of very good people that prepare the boats. I’m just a very small part of a team effort. When I started in 2007 I had a really very good team and we made a number of steps in the class that were never done before. We created an edge and I have to admit that. I’m passionate about sailing and I have been sailing during my entire life. I started when I was just a small boy in the Swedish archipelago in wooden dinghies.
Sailing has always been a part of my life since I can remember but never really in competition. It was more about cruising with my family and friends in the summer. Racing came much, much later. If I remember well, my first ever regatta was in 2004, in Porto Cervo, for the Swan worlds. Since then things have, obviously, changed, I moved on to the TP52′s, then the RC44′s and now the America’s Cup. This has been my journey in sailing.
VSail.info: Would you rather helm an RC44 or a TP52? How do they compare from the driver’s point of view?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: The boats are clearly different. The RC44 is an extremely fun boat to drive and the moment I stepped on the boat and sailed, I said “This is great!”. It’s a light boat, it’s very fast but there are also other things around this class that I like. I think that today it’s the best class in the world where owners-drivers can participate, without any doubt. There isn’t anything better than the RC44 class out there. I, obviously, always enjoyed the TP52 and I did four seasons. At that time, when we were there, it was certainly the most competitive sailing class and truly professional. Yet, at the end, I think I couldn’t put the time necessary to stay at the absolute top. We always were there, in third or fourth place, but in order to take that step up and regain the top spot it would have taken too much of my time.
VSail.info: Do you have enough time right now? Would you like to spend more time on the boat?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: I take as much time as I can and I think I’m right at the edge when my family starts complaining. They complain that even if they come to see me in a regatta, I always leave them behind because I spend the entire day on the water! Seriously, they do come to see me for a day or two in each event. That’s what I like with the current format of the RC44. We have five events per season and I could skip one if necessary. Still, I try to be in every event. It’s not too heavy but still, it is a month of sailing each year. I plan to do all five events in 2012 but, you know, it might not be possible.
Torbjörn Törnqvist helming the Artemis Racing yacht in the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info
VSail.info: You are also one of the very few owners, at least on a high, competitive level, that bought a multihull and race it. You have recently acquired a D35. Can you tell me the reason you did that?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: I had absolutely no experience on multihulls before and I had never steered or sailed on catamarans before we did the D35 campaign. I thought it would be a good idea for me to familiarize myself with multihull sailing and the D35 was for me the perfect solution. I walk from my house down to the boat, I sail it and then go back home. I still get a lot experience, the boat is fun and the class has a very, very high level. Ernesto Bertarelli is there and he’s an extremely skillful sailor and there’s a also a number of other top-level sailors.
VSail.info: Do you enjoy it as much as a monohull?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: If I think with my heart, I would say that sailing, probably, should be more in monohulls. The finesse and tactics you have on a monohull don’t exist on a multihull. Probably for the audience they might not be fun but for you, the driver of the boat, they are great. The multihulls have that also, don’t take me wrong, and as far as the America’s Cup is concerned, different aspects come into play in the question of monohulls over multihulls. For me, personally, the D35 is a great sail boat and I’m thrilled about it and the things I can learn.
VSail.info: You say that with your heart, sailing should be more in monohulls, yet you decided to present a challenge in the first ever America’s Cup to be held on multihulls. Can you tell me the rationale of that decision?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: I think that you now raised a bigger question about the America’s Cup. It has always been outstanding, cutting-edge technology but times have changed. I think the potential audience is asking for a different thing. If we want to reach out to a non-sailing audience something had to change and the choice was for multihull sailing boats and a racing format that was never been seen before. At least on paper, the America’s Cup is trying to create the most exciting event to watch. There is no doubt about that. For the first time ever you can watch a race from the shore. They will have superior TV coverage and they are going to be able to sell it.
VSail.info: Is the reality though what you would have on paper?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: The reality is that you will have less teams that will be able to do it.
VSail.info: Why? Because it’s more expensive?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: Yes, I would say so. It’s the first generation of those boats and you will have to put an enormous effort into the design and building of something that has never been done before. So, it’s expensive and as we all know, times are not exactly right for expensive projects. Sponsorship is hard to come by but I think that sailing in general has a problem. It’s so diversified with so many events and the audience is not there! I was reading an article the other day asking why young people aren’t attracted to sailing. They have so many alternatives these days, the extreme sports is something that has developed over the years, catching the attention of younger generations. That’s why I think this is an attempt to reach out to them. We will see.
VSail.info: So far, we have had three America’s Cup events. Being the challenger of record, are you happy with what the organization has delivered? Are you satisfied?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: Yes. Obviously, the Defender, with Larry Ellison, are putting a lot of resources. I know that Larry is putting a lot of his own money for this to succeed and become the highest profile sailing project ever. From this point of view, it’s well funded and the event will be great, thanks to one individual. However, this is not a sustainable thing in the long run. We all realize that you cannot ask somebody to sponsor it forever, it has to stand on its own feet at one point. It will take a bit of time and once these boats are on the water and we see what they are capable of, what type of racing they provide, I think more and more people will be interested in it.
Artemis Racing carrying out two-boat training. Valencia, 31 January 2012. Photo copyright Sander van der Borch / Artemis Racing
VSail.info: Russell Coutts has sailed a lot with you and I suppose you must have a very good relation with him. Wouldn’t you say you have too good of a relation with him to be a real challenger to him?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: [Laughs] I don’t think so. Look around you. We are all competing here but we are all friends. Sailing is a gentleman’s sport and this is its beauty. That’s striking about this sport. You don’t have bad relations, generally speaking. We are good friends with Russell and I owe him a lot. I would even say that I took the decision to challenge because of the possibility to blend in with the guys that have been doing it and winning it, not only Russell but also Dean Barker, Paul Cayard and many other great sailors.
The answer to your question is no. Oracle is doing its campaign, we are doing our campaign and we will do whatever it takes to try and win. We are defending our position, we are defending the position of the challengers and we are fighting for the best interests of the challengers. In our point of view, what we fight for is also valid for the other challengers but as you know there are a lot of politics. It’s the America’s Cup after all.
VSail.info: Are you satisfied with the performance of your team in the America’s Cup World Series?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: In what regards the AC45 racing we haven’t won anything. We were third or second once, I don’t remember exactly. It’s true we wish we could have done a little bit better but we took the decision to mix our sailors from an early stage, to test and rotate them because only five of them actually race. We wanted to try many configurations and probably we did too much of that and we paid the price by not having a consistent performance. But it’s not so important. Our program is well on track and I’m very satisfied with how the campaign is going overall.
VSail.info: How much are you involved with the operations of the America’s Cup campaign? You previously said you wish you had more time to sail. Do you have time to get involved with the America’s Cup?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: Yes, I’m very much involved. We obviously have a very good organization, our CEO, Paul Cayard, knows all the aspects of it, I regularly visit the team in Valencia and I take part in the major decision-making aspects, the strategy to follow and so forth. I speak to Paul on a very, very regular basis and to the sailors as well. I try to be there and I think they feel that I’m there and well informed and even if I cannot be physically present they know I’m very much involved.
VSail.info: Do you also take the final decisions on the major, strategic aspects of the campaign? Is it Cayard that does that?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: Well, it has never come to a situation where we had to, let’s say, vote for something. We discuss the parameters, the strategy and, obviously, the budget. You have to do your best with the budget you have! Still, you can’t do everything even if you have a lot of money. The time is not enough and it would be a huge mistake to try to do too much. You have to get to one point and then get to the next one, otherwise you fall behind. Actually, even if right now September 2013 seems to be a long time away, it isn’t.
VSail.info: Is the construction of the AC72 boat on track?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: Yes, it’s on track. As you know, according to the rules, we can launch the AC72 on July 1st and sail for 30 days in the second half of the year, so it’s not so important that we start sailing on July 1st or September 1st. I think we want to catch the right sailing conditions but in any case we will be prepared.
VSail.info: You said you shared the vision of the current America’s Cup. Does that mean that if you win it you will keep the same boats and format?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: On the one hand, if you win it you obviously know what you are doing and you want keep your advantage. For me, it’s the first campaign and very rarely anybody has been able to win it the first time. I think Alignhi did but that probably doesn’t count because they actually bought over the winning team. You can’t say it was exactly the first campaign for the team. There will not be too many teams, for sure not many competitive teams but we will still have to beat Prada and Team New Zealand just to get to the America’s Cup match. Just that is an immense challenge. Team New Zealand is extremely well organized with a very strong budget and they have the advantage of knowing each other for so many years. They have such a great level of continuity and this is very important while we are still building our team. I’m sure it will be a very good and strong team but we still haven’t spent time together and we have to test how the chemistry will work out on the boat as well.
VSail.info: Then I will ask you what you will do if you don’t win. Will you try to challenge for a second time?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: Look, at the moment I’m just focusing on the 2013 Cup. I think we have a very good campaign, certainly very professional from the design point of view, from the building point of view and we have some of the best sailors of the world. I know we are doing a very good campaign, capable of challenging the best teams of the world. We are doing it more or less on the same level. From this point of view, my aim is to go out and see how far we go.
VSail.info: If you win would you hold the next America’s Cup in Stockholm?
Torbjörn Törnqvist: I haven’t even thought about that. I don’t know whether you could host an event like this in Stockholm and even if you could it’s still a very, very premature question. I don’t want to think so far either. I don’t know whether there would be an interest in Sweden but first we could try to host an AC45 event. Maybe we could have an AC45 event in Sweden in 2013 but we’ll have to see. We held some talks to see whether it would be possible to hold such an event in Stockholm but as you know the idea behind these events is to create an environment of stadium sailing and I’m not so sure if it’s possible there. We are checking but I don’t think there is enough space. In any case, I don’t want to speculate about what happens beyond September 2013.
