Interview: An affordable entry point with two hulls

Mr Betz, are you afraid that the Tornado class might be phased out?

If you don’t write that, yes.

Why?

Mistakes were made in the past...

Which one, then?

It was said that the Tornado class was the premier class because we were still an Olympic class. You’d never have thought that another catamaran would come along and beat us removes from the Olympic programme.

And that is exactly what happened. And as you are no doubt aware, as soon as the boat is no longer competing at Olympic level, the entire squad falls apart and support is lost.

In the end, only dinosaurs like me will be left.

How do you get involved in class?

I am the first chairman of the German class association, the second chairman of the world federation and the reigning world champion.

Please explain to me your strategy for getting young people involved in Tornado.

The idea is quite simple.

I’ve bought a Tornado with a trailer for personal use. The catalytic converter is positioned at an angle on the trailer, so you don’t have to take it apart for transport.

We want to make the boat available to young people for a fee to make it as easy as possible for them to get started with us. If they sail in four regattas a year, the boat costs €600 a year to hire; if they only sail in one, it costs €1,500.

It’s all included as well. The insurance, the trailer and new tyres. I think that’s a very fair price.

​Anyone interested can apply via the class association’s website.

How did you come up with the idea?

We’ve been thinking about what we can do for ten years now. So I’ve decided I simply have to take matters into my own hands. All this talk of ‘How can we?’ and ‘How do we do it?’ – to be honest, it was really getting on my nerves.

I think a class association needs to give young people a bit of a helping hand. A Tornado is definitely a low-budget option. With a Nacra, an Olympic campaign – including equipment, accommodation and coaches – can easily cost between 800,000 and 1,000,000 euros. And then only one team actually goes to the Olympic Games, which is quite a challenge.

It’s different here. The Tornado is considerably cheaper.

The Tornado is an absolutely brilliant sailing boat. After 20 days, I’ve got the hang of it enough to sail in the middle of the pack. From there on, the margin for improvement gets ever smaller, because the winner is the one who makes the fewest mistakes. Just like everywhere else.

Do you train the ‘newbies’ as well?

I’ll always help out wherever I can. For example, with setting up or taking down, until it becomes second nature to them. Launching a catamaran that’s three metres wide and six metres long can be quite a challenge in itself.

And when they’re at a regatta with me, I can pass on a great deal of knowledge. But I don’t want to spend all my time on the dinghy holding the young people’s hands either. I find it much more exciting to take part in the regatta myself and gather my own impressions there, so that I can then offer feedback and tips. I think that’s a brilliant opportunity.

So that means they won’t be shot down by them straight away at the start?

No one gets seriously injured in the Tornado anyway.

For example, you have to think much further ahead than you do on the J/70. Close-quarters racing is much more aggressive on the Tornado than on the J/70. When I make a tight tack on our boat, it has to be 100 per cent spot on. Otherwise, the other boat will simply sail past me because the speeds are so high. A tack in the Tornado costs more energy and speed compared to other boats.

You’re talking about young people you’d like to bring into the class. Who do you mean by that?

I reckon a good helmsman can handle the Tornado at the age of 16 or 17.

He probably won’t have the experience of sailing at that speed, as he’s coming from a 420 or a 29er. The speed he had on the 420 on a half-wind course with a spinnaker is what he’ll have with us on a close-hauled leg. On a downwind leg, the Tornado is twice as fast. As a result, everything will happen much quicker. When I think of a I reckon rounding to the nearest tonne – things can get a bit dicey there sometimes, that I feel as though I’m flying through the living room in a helicopter.

Sometimes people do sail with a knife between their teeth, but newcomers are given a bit of a break.

What happens if the beginners can’t cope with the speed and end up damaging your boat?

It can usually be repaired. Because of the round shape of the hull, they’ll probably drive straight onto the ship and shoot right over it. Or they’ll cut a triangle into it.

That sort of thing can happen, and you have to learn to cope with the tornado. I’ve seen very few cases of total write-offs over the last few years.

What are your hopes for the future of the Tornado class?

I’d like to see more people taking an interest in the Tornado again. I’d like to see the old boats lying around everywhere brought back into the regatta scene. The boat on which I became world champion dates from 2005.

What motivates you?

As world champion, I feel a shared responsibility to strengthen the community and ensure that newcomers enjoy the class. We haven’t had a German world champion in the Tornado class since 2010. I want to carry that spirit forward and say to people: ‘Hey, let’s meet up at the starting line again’, so that we can get young people into the sport of sailing.

Book recommendations

Catamaran sailing explains the specifics of sailing a twin-hulled boat – from construction and maintenance through to tacking, jibing and trapeze sailing, right through to capsizing. For newcomers to the Tornado class, it is particularly helpful that the book also covers rounding marks, sail trim and high-performance techniques. The book thus provides a practical foundation to help you better understand the technical aspects of your first days of training and racing.

The Racing Rules of Sailing 2025 to 2028 is aimed at sailors who want not only to read up on the rules, but also to apply them in races. Annotated and illustrated explanations make the most important situations easier to understand; these are supplemented by guidance on tactics, protests and visual and audible race signals. The book makes it easier, particularly for young Tornado crews and their parents, to get to grips with the procedures and decisions on the regatta course.

Would a bargain-price rental Tornado be an incentive for you to take up regatta sailing?