"… I don't do anything half-baked."

Roman Hagara and Santiago Lange in a double-interview: in the second part of our conversation, the second and third placed Tornado World Championship competitors talk about their next goals, the Victory Challenge adventure – and why they first had to get used to each other’s different mentalities.

You know each other well from having trained together. Could you please characterize the other’s team in a few words?

Roman Hagara: We got to know Santiago and Carlos at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000; we got along well and started working together. At the beginning, we really exasperated each other with our different mentalities – Santi’s “tranquillo, tomorrow’s another day” attitude, for example – or the fact that, when making appointments, days and hours were only general guidelines – made us nearly go crazy at the beginning. Today we can both laugh about these things …

Santiago Lange: … because we really have become good friends. I admire Roman and Hans-Peter for how professional and how perfectly organized they are. We learn a lot from each other … at races, on the other hand, we’re tough but fair adversaries.

Actually, the Tornado World Championships were for both of you just a brief interruption of your real work on the next big goal, which you place above everything, right?

Roman Hagara: For us, the 2008 Olympic Games are definitely at the top of the list. We want to try to sail for as many days as possible in Qingdao during 2007. We’ve already won a regatta there, and the location is well suited to us: there are strong currents, there’s not much wind and the conditions are always changing – you need a lot of experience to master that.

Santiago Lange: I’m once again able to concentrate fully on my work with Victory Challenge and their goal of winning America’s Cup. I acted as a sort of go-between between the sailing team and the designers during the preparatory phase there.

Doesn’t it bother you just a little, Santiago, to switch from being a celebrated World Championship second to being just another person on a giant team?

Santiago Lange: Not in the slightest … this work is fascinating. There’s so much effort and technology behind it all, and there are so many interesting people involved – it’s great to be part of such a project.

You too, Roman, got an offer from Team Victory Challenge. But you refused. Why?