Spanish duo Costa and Santurde have designs on the Class40 title

Santurde is delighted to be back in the Le Havre line up, “I like it just as much as I did the first time.
And being with Pep is great. It is gong to be a great race for us I feel sure. I have great memories.
We have a great project, we have done some great work over the year, we have everything we need
and the boat is ready. And of course the boat is the course champion, it won the last race in Class 40.
We have everything we need. We have no excuses and no complaints.”

With 42 boats racing Pablo agrees that any one of five or six could win and there are at least ten
capable of being on the podium, “ I think the level is higher than ever with more and more good
sailors having joined the class. Pep is great to work with we see things similarly and work the same
way. We have a very similar background having started in dinghies, so we approach trimming and
setting up the boat in a similar way, and the same in terms of weather and so on. I like his approach.
He is very committed to work and knowing he has a good project for the next few years I like how he
approaches it”

And whilst it is often the final miles of the course, the approach to the finish, which can be key,
Santurde cautions, “It is a long race and so you have to make sure you don’t break the boat at the
beginning. But in the past editions we see that you cannot ever be relaxed, you have to be pushing
from the start at 100%. You never know when the break will come at the front of the fleet and so
you need to always be pushing and start at the highest level.”

Two years ago in Le Havre Pep had his dreams but fresh from his final, low budget Figaro
programme he was looking to his next steps but at no stage did he even dream of lining up with the
perfect choice of proven boat, proven, successful co-skipper and a committed, excited sponsor who
have ambitions,

He recalls, “I always wanted to do this race, sometime. But I never thought two years ago I would be
here, lined up at this dock with the boat which won the race last time, with Pablo and such a great
sponsor. It is a dream come true, yes, but it could be a once in lifetime chance. And so I want to grab
this with both hands, you have to be as professional as possible and as prepared as possible.”

“This is first time do this race but I am just so happy to be here with this project. We have been
getting ready well and so we are ready. We know the level is very high but we happy to be here. I
think at the moment we enjoy these times here. Right now I feel no pressure, maybe at a day before
but even so we have such a great project there is nothing to feel pressure about.”

And VSF Sports are happy with their participation, “The sponsors are so cool, honestly of course they
are my sponsors and I am biased, but they are so professional, they have put together a great team
behind us. I feel like in a family and that is a very healthy environment. There is no pressure, when
they chose me they told me they wanted to give me the chance to develop, to grow, to learn. They
know they have chosen someone who is very competitive, who is not happy unless he is at the front
of the fleet. I am learning and they give me the chance to learn. This is, after all, just my first season
in Class 40.”

The partnership with Pablo has already yielded multiple podium places this season not least on the
Rolex Fastnet Race, “Sailing with Pablo, it is not about the fact that he is super talented but the way
he is as a human being is he most important thing for me. I enjoy sailing with him a lot, I enjoy
preparing the programme a lot he is very invested. He is so good and so talented and has this great
record but he is still hungry for success and is super humble. He does not take things for granted.

But despite them both being Spanish, albeit from Barcelona and Santander, Spanish is not
necessarily their first language on board VSF Sports. “Yes, the funny thing is very often we speak
French together, it is natural because we learned so many sailing terms and things in French. We eat
Jamon together very occasionally, yes we do. But it is funny how we cross over languages. Trimming,
setting the rig and so on we do in French! The Adrena (navigation software) is in French, I feel we
have both learned so much of what we do in French it is normal.”