Coaching Sir Ben Ainslie, one of the best sailors in history, must be a similar experience to teaching Michael Jordan to take free kicks or Leo Messi to take free kicks. But Xabi Fernández (Ibarra, Guipúzcoa, 48 years old), a two-time Olympic medallist and member of the technical team at Ineos Britannia (United Kingdom), takes it naturally and maintains that sometimes growth does not come from making the best technical proposal, but from understanding what each person needs at each moment. “In these competitions, people are better than you and are in better shape than you,” he analyses, “it is difficult, obviously, but in the end you always need a bit of direction, perspective and a vision that allows you not to get upset with small details,” adds someone whose human management and serenity are valued in the team.
His team faces Alinghi Red Bull Racing (Switzerland) this Saturday in the start of the semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup, the competition from which the finalist will emerge, who will face Team New Zealand, the Defender of the America’s Cup, in the final match in October, which is being held in Barcelona. As winners of the first phase, the British team had the privilege of choosing an opponent and was left with the team with the worst score in the Round Robin, the initial phase. “Now people say why we didn’t choose Luna Rossa (the Italians, finalists in 2021 and favourites to challenge the New Zealanders) after beating them in the two previous races, but in the end, if you reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League you don’t want to face Real Madrid.” And so as not to offend anyone, he says, they have chosen “Real Sociedad, my team.”
The problem is that this Royal Society of the water arrives with wounded pride. “We would have chosen to face Ineos if we had been first,” responded Arnaud Psarofaghis, helmsman of Alinghi Red Bull during the press conference prior to the semi-finals. With less to lose, Fernández understands that the Swiss team will perhaps be “more aggressive at the start.” The former Spanish sailor assures that in this phase of the competition, the most important thing is not to see how the rival can compete, but how one can improve one’s own performance. “The truth is that we have not focused especially on Alinghi,” he shares. “We watch their videos and analyze them, but these days we have dedicated ourselves to trying some things that you do not dare to try during the regatta,” he adds.
What has happened for a team that had accumulated too many errors in the first races like Ineos Britannia to finally win the initial phase? “Well, many things,” answers the Basque. “The key has really been to fine-tune many small details, and above all to sail better. When you analyse the races in competition, you have more information than when you train and the improvement is greater. We knew that the AC75 had potential, but to be honest, we did not expect to win the Round Robin.”
Fernández lives in his native Basque Country, but for months he has been living in the Poblenou district of Barcelona, one of the favourite areas for the teams. He gets up early and arrives at the team base by bike or motorbike shortly after seven in the morning. “I have a scooter”. When he has time, he escapes on his motorbike to a beach in Sitges or takes his road bike north to reminisce about his youth. Despite sailing all his life, Fernández competed for three years on a team amateur cycling in his homeland. “It was a impasse“There were a lot of fans in the area and I competed, but sailing was my thing.” He did not do badly: in addition to an Olympic gold and silver, he won three world championships in 49er (named after the length of the hull, 4.99 metres).
He joined Ineos as a navigator for the 2017 America’s Cup held in Bermuda, a role he maintained in the following competition cycle until the 2021 edition. He was not part of the final team that participated in the regattas and in Barcelona he finally put on the coaching hat. “I think I have been lucky to be able to make a good transition,” he says. “I am not a kid. The truth is that I would like to be younger and be like everyone else, but that is not possible. You have to accept things as they come, and I am happy with my role in the team.”
His role as coach is not unlike that of the technicians who accompanied him during a race. The team has two other managers: Rob Wilson and Ian Williams. The latter is dedicated to analyzing the starts (the most important phase of the race because it is very difficult to overtake), while the former and Fernández focus on sailing technique. “Our thing is boat handling and optimizing navigation,” he says. And in the era of Big Data, and even more so in the America’s Cup, everything that happens at sea is translated into a computer. “Now you can’t reason based on sensations and without data to support you,” he says. “With the sailors we share ideas and discussions about improvements. And sometimes you need to check the data to corroborate your perception. It has changed a lot.”
