"Sailing 505 is the most exciting thing I know" / 1991
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"Sailing 505 is the most exciting thing I know" / 1991 |
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Krister Bergstrom has an impressive list of qualifications in 505. He has won the World Championship five times, the European Championship once, the Swedish championship 14 times, the Scandinavian Championship 3 times, the Golden Anchor once and finally he has been nominated yachtsman of the year by the Swedish Sailing Federation. Krister is a long-time member of GKSS, the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club. He is born 1956, raised in Gothenburg on the Swedish westcoast. He lives in Stockholm with his wife Helen and their two children, Oskar and Hanna. Krister lives in Stockholm since 1986. A Way of Living Krister started to sail the 505 in 1974 together with Martin, one of his three younger brothers. Before the 505 they had been sailing the Trapez, a two-man racing dinghy designed by Paul Elvstrom, as many others in Sweden and Denmark who joined the 505 class at that time did. Krister has since then remained true to the class and is today one of the legends within 505 sailing. The next Worlds in Durban 2000 will be his 19th! The motive power behind his success is great zeal in sailing, which makes him go sailing time after time. Today, sailing is not only an interest of his, but it has also become a way of living. He is not only talented and interested in sailing but he also has the physical qualities needed to become a top class yachtsman. He is strong and flexible, has good balance and he quickly apprehends and understands the different situations that occur in races. These qualifications together with a well planned and carried through training have led him and his crew to success. His training consists of three different parts – physical, mental and sailing. The physical training is mostly running to get in good conditions and weight lifting for shoulders and backside. The mental training increases his ability to concentrate which helps him to systematically and thoroughly think of the start, the first windward sailing and so on. After a race he analyzes advantages and disadvantages. Serious "Here and Now" The most important training is of course the hours spent in the boat. Krister has about 200 hours of efficient sailing practice before he participates in a championship. It is the amount of sailing that separates the top class from the less successful ones. He is of the opinion that the elite are both practicing and competing more than the rest and he emphasizes the importance of being serious "here and now" in order to achieve ones goal. But how is he able to make the boat go at such great speed? –Training, training and again training he replies. You have to manoeuvre the boat and sheet the sails right and at the same time have a good balance in the boat. The trimming is more like "the cream on the cake".
The Crew Krister has been sailing with a number of talented crews during his career. The most important, he thinks, is not to compare the different crews but to take care of the qualities of each man. The difficulty in cooperation between helmsman and crew is not, which can be assumed, the sailing itself and the technical parts but to get a well working communication. It is very important that you understand one anothers expressions. In a regatta Krister takes no unnecessary risks at the beginning and he concentrates on the "safe sailing". At the end, however, Krister does not hesitate to put everything at stake if necessary and take a course of his own in order to maximize his chances to secure a front position. It can sometimes go completely wrong, like it did in the final race at the '96 Worlds in Townsville. Current Plans Last year he bought a new 505 (his tenth) from Rondar. He is working on new smaller rudder & centerboard designs close to the very extreme type made of carbon fiber. The Bergstrom Brothers Besides Martin, whom Krister sailed 505 with for 4 years in the 70's, there is Rasmus (crew on above picture). Rasmus is sailing the 49'er (crewing with Krister). Jan, his 3rd brother, is currently sailing J24s. Jan finished 4th at the '96 Europeans in Marstrand, he has been sailing & helming 470's in many years, with Rasmus and others. Jan has spent a couple of years sailing the 505, also with great success. Jan finished third after Krister who was second at the Worlds in La Rochelle in 1986.
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— Sv.505 Förbundet — Uppdaterad 2024-05-14 |
