The "madness" of SailGP, the sailing revolution: "It's like piloting a plane on water"

• Tokyo Games The story of Xammar and Rodríguez, sailing bronze: "My parents didn't want me to compete"

• Sierra Nevada Jordi Xammar, the Olympian who rescued a young man who "had four hours to live"

• Indonesia A tragedy in Indonesia, Japanese discipline... Jordi Xammar's path to the medal in Tokyo

• Copa America junior Barracks and hitchhiking to compete in the Copa America "just enough"

• Team The 'golden juniors' of sailing: "They tell me I'm crazy, but I think we'll come back with five medals"

• Crew member 'Cardonita', the boy who did not want to leave his ship

"Driving this boat is the most extreme thing I've done in my life," says

, and on anyone's lips the statement would not be a big deal, but Xammar, in addition to winning a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, has experienced everything: he helped the victims of the Indonesian tsunami in 2018, last year he rescued a semi-conscious hiker in Sierra Nevada... "Really, as a SailGP I have not experienced anything," he repeats.

And don't exaggerate.

SailGP is outrageous.

It is a sailing competition for countries that, with the money of billionaire

, co-founder of Oracle, has brought the show of Formula 1 to the water. There are no little boats sailing several kilometers from the coast here.

Here there are planes practically skidding over the beach.

In just two seasons and with a pandemic in between, the competition has managed to bring together the best sailors in the world and an extensive calendar: this year it will visit Bermuda -where the season began on Sunday-, Chicago, Plymouth, Copenhagen, Saint-Tropez, Cádiz -in September-, Dubai, Christchurch and San Francisco.

The boat that wins will win a million dollars: in the first two editions Australia dominated.

But... Is a boat so different from SailGP? We say it's sailing because we go by boat, but... It's incredible.

We fly in a creature that weighs two and a half tons, that measures 50 feet [about 15 meters] and that almost reaches 100 kilometers per hour over the sea.

It's like flying over water.

The most difficult thing is to do the distances because in an Olympic boat you go about 10 km/h and here, imagine.

Without realizing it you reach the buoy and you can't stop.

At just 28 years old, Jordi Xammar is the boss of Spain after two irregular seasons.

The first team leader, New Zealander

, did not have a good relationship with the crew, made up of young Spanish Olympians, and everything ended in the worst of ways.

"They're a bunch of kids," Robertson said on camera before leaving, and the natural move was to promote Xammar, a longtime leader of the pack since almost all of them competed in the junior Copa America.

In their first test, at the end of last year, the group celebrated a second and a third place.

Now the goal is to challenge world, Olympic and America's Cup champions like Australia's

or Britain's

.

"When we competed in the Copa América junior in 2017 we asked for autographs from those who are now our rivals, fighting with them was something unimaginable for us and that is why we are so eager", explains Xammar who leads a very young group, the youngest in the competition.

, Olympic medalist in Tokyo, and four diplomas at the time,

, accompany him.

Or something like that.

Because, in reality, in SailGP the captain does not rule at all.

"The competition system is very simple, so that the public understands it, but the boat is very complex. The functions are very divided. To make a comparison with a car, I'm at the wheel, but someone else is at the accelerator, another the clutch, another decides the direction in which we are going... a lot, a lot of coordination is needed", analyzes Xammar who assures that the recent Olympic medal has barely changed his life and that the designation of his city, Barcelona, ​​as the venue of the 2024 Copa América, has caught him off guard.

If a Spanish boat was being planned for the competition, it would be the first one they would call.

Has anyone done it? Obviously I am very happy that the America's Cup is being held in Barcelona, ​​it is good for Spanish sailing and it is good for Spain, but realistically it is utopian to think that a Spanish boat will compete.

It is very expensive, it is very difficult.

Also I am very focused on Sail GP and the Olympic campaign.

Because, in addition to competing in SailGP, Xammar continues with the 470, the boat that gave him a bronze last year at the Olympic Games.

When his modality became mixed, he has had to separate from

, his partner in Tokyo, and join

, but he continues to win: this April they already won the Princess Sofia Trophy.

At the Paris 2024 Games, the couple will be one of the best Spanish options for a medal.

Before, yes, he must continue flying and flying with the SailGP.

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