Left to right: Jean Marie Lauris, Olivier Herledant, Greg Evrad, and Mathieu Richard hold the St Moritz Match Race trophy high. Image copyright Loris von Siebenthal/www.myimage.ch
Mathieu Richard, from La Baule, Brittany, is currently top of the ISAF Open Match Race Rankings. He has a glittering career in match racing, most recently being crowned King of the Mountain at the World Tour event in St Moritz, Switzerland. Last year he won both the Bermuda Gold Cup and the Brasil Sailing Cup.
Mathieu is currently challenging Britain's Ian Williams and compatriot Sébastien Col for the World Tour championship, for which the next event is the Bermuda Gold Cup, before the season finishes, and the winner is decided, in Malaysia in December.
Mathieu Richard celebrating his victory in Brasil in 2007. Image copyright Wander Roberto.
The patriotic Breton, Mathieu Richard, answers some questions, put to him by Anne Hinton, about his match racing, the secrets of the success of L'Equipe de France de Match Racing, and reveals his determination to win the America's Cup, as well as be World Tour Champion and ISAF #1 (in translation).
AH: Are you a professional sailor, or do you do something else too?
MR: I am not 100% professional. I am also a teacher of sport, in colleges and grammar schools (I am a substitute teacher). But I have a job that permits me to sail a lot.
AH: What sailing did you do before match racing? And at what age did you start sailing?
MR: I started in an Optimist at the age of 12... 20 years ago! as I am 32 now. after the Optimist, I sailed 420s and then did match racing.
AH: Why did you start match racing?
MR: After the 420, I had the choice between Olympic sailing and match racing. I chose match racing because my club had all the infrastructure for developing match racing: high level teams (Luc Pillot), trainers (Marc Bouët), umpires (Gérard Bossé) and the boats for training (the First Class 8), at La Baule. And the club wanted to help the youth teams.
AH: What is it that you like about match racing?
MR: I like the "intensive" side of the sport. It is very exciting and full of play from start to finish. I also like the fact that it is very complete: it is necessary to be good at tactics, at speed, at manoeuvering, physically and mentally,...
AH: Your team - where are they from? And how, and since when, have you known each member of the team?
Mathieu Richard (left) and team with the Bermuda Gold Cup 2007. Image copyright Charles Anderson/World Match Racing Tour
MR: They are all Bretons! They are between 28 and 35 years old.
I started sailing with Greg (Evrard) my tactician, in 1997, with two others. Then Yannick Simon (bowman) and Olivier Herledant (pit and trimmer) came in 2000. Lastly, Thierry Briend (jib trimmer) joined us in 2006.
AH: You want to do the America's Cup (with French Spirit)?
MR: Yes, I certainly want to take part in the America's Cup!
AH: When did you become a member of l'Equipe de France?
MR: L'Equipe de France de Match Racing was created in 2006. [I joined then.]
Team French Spirit at Les Voiles de Saint Tropez. Image copyright Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi.
AH: Do you find that it is a big advantage to have l'Equipe de France de Match Racing? Why?
MR: It is very good because it creates a true ambition in France. It is the reason why we have very good teams on the circuit, but also very good youth sailors who are coming along behind.
AH: What do you do with the other sailors of l'Equipe de France? What type of training? And do you do train together often?
MR: We do two types of training:
1. Preparation for an event.
2. Work on the basics.
1. Preparation for an event lasts only 2 days, just before leaving for an event, often with only 2 teams (we often change training partner). We try to sail on boats that resemble those that we will have at the event to come. We work 'globally' - i.e. without a particular theme.
2. For the work on the basics (2 or 3 times in a year only, due to lack of time...), we sail for longer (4 or 5 days) and we try to work on particular themes (starts, etc). We are often 4 or 5 teams. We train at Quiberon (ENV), or Marseille, or equally in Sweden this year (Gothenburg, on the DS37s, in June), or Valencia in SM40s last year.
MR: We often change the type of boat. We train in Quiberon, Marseille, La Baule and Pornic.
AH: With which teams do you train most often? Do you try to train with different people to obtain an assortment of styles of match racing to consider and sail against?
MR: Yes, we change training partner quite often, but for reasons of availability of other people! Morvan / Presti / Col / Iehl.
Mathieu Richard heads to victory in St Moritz 2008. Image copyright Loris von Siebenthal/www.myimage.ch
AH: You have money from the Federation Français de la Voile and from Areva for training and travelling to many match racing championships? Do you need a sponsor too?
MR: We have sufficient budget to cover all our expenses, but not enough to be match race professionals.
AH: It seems that the French are beating each other at the end of the big match racing events at the moment... Is that good for l'Equipe de France? You can't all be World Champions at the same time!
MR: It is true that Iehl, Col and Richard have each won World Tour events this year! It is a sign that l'Equipe de France is strong, but I would prefer that it is Richard who had won all of the events!!!
AH: Do you discuss (in l'Equipe de France), with each other, and with the trainer, Marc Bouët, what has happened at each championship?
MR: Yes, certainly. Marc gives us detailed reports after each event.
AH: What are your match racing goals this year, apart from being ISAF #1 and World Champion (of the World Tour)?
MR: It would satisfy me to be ISAF #1 and World Champion in December!
AH: And what would you like to achieve after that, in future years?
MR: I would like to win the America's Cup, in the future.
AH: What do you think is the secret of the success of l'Equipe de France de Match Racing?
MR: I think that it is the hard work over the last 10 years of the 3 'young' teams (Richard/Col/Iehl) and the older ones (Presti/Pacé/Pillot). The 3 young teams are now reaching maturity. There is excellent ambition/competition between us and the creation of l'Equipe de France has reinforced that. It is also necessary to emphasise the work of Marc Bouët, and also the other quality trainers in France.
AH: What do you think of the match racing level and progress of the Kiwi BlackMatch Racing Team (Adam Minoprio)?
MR: I like this team a lot; its style and its spirit. They are good and are progressing well. They are perhaps a little beneath Mirsky, but I know that there is good ambition and competition between these new teams, and that will help both to progress quickly.
MR: Perhaps they will be worthy successors to Dean Barker and co?
AH: Thank you very much indeed for your time.
Federation Français de la Voile - l'Equipe de France de Match Racing
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