Puerto Rican pair on a love of board games and enjoying their new partnership

Now, she and Gian Marco Piovanetti are looking to put Puerto Rico on the map as they go head-to-head with the world’s best 420 fleets at the Youth Sailing World Championships.

Both have previous experience of this event – Rivera Fernandez has been at the last two, while Piovanetti made his debut last year – but this is their first in the same boat.

That has meant adjustment for both in different ways but they are looking forward to showcasing the results of this year’s hard work in Vilamoura.

“I went last year in Garda as a skipper in the 420, this year I am crew,” Piovanetti said.

“I was skipper for another crew and I really wanted to do it with him but in the end it didn’t work out.

“Luckily, I was able to find Isa, who was kind enough to take me in, and I don’t regret it. It was a really good choice I made and it has paid off.”

 

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Rivera Fernandez is equally pleased with the new partnership and added: “He is my first boy crew, so it is a little different to having a girl on the boat, but he transitioned well from being a skipper. He learned very quickly and it was smooth.

“My first Youth Worlds was in Brazil, I went to that one straight out of Opti. I was very young and it opened all the possibilities for everything I could do with sailing.

“I look back at it as a turning point for me. After that, I was like ‘I definitely want to keep on sailing’.

“All my Youth Worlds have been with a different crew. Last year was more of a learning in how the fleet works. This is the one I have felt most prepared for.”

Rivera Fernandez tried a variety of sports growing up alongside her brother, Julian, with gymnastics, swimming and soccer competing with sailing for attention.

It was the latter which won the battle when push came to shove and the siblings have since sailed together in Opti team regattas.

“He just finished Optis and is going on to ILCA now,” she said. “Maybe some day we will sail together.

“I always want to set a good example for him but he is only a year younger so we have done a lot together.

“We had our first international competition together and even though I’m a little older, we have gone through everything together.”

Piovanetti’s entry into the sport came when he was seven and though he is a similar sporting all-rounder, representing his high school at middle distance running, he has never had any doubt as to his preference.

“My dad knew a guy named Marco Teixidor, they are really good friends, and he said to my dad ‘why doesn’t your son give sailing a try’,” he recalled.

“I went to a summer camp and from the first day, I really liked being on the water. I felt it was a sport for me.

“I enjoy track and field, I do 800m, 1500m and the 4x400m relay, but sailing is the one I love the most. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

 

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Piovanetti credits former coach Javier ‘Foco’ Figueroa with ‘pushing him to his limit’ on the Opti and instilling him with a positive mentality, while he journals at the end of every day as well as taking a keen interest in reading non-fiction.

Rivera Fernandez, meanwhile, hailed the Puerto Rican sailing community as a ‘family’ – often in a literal sense, sharing car journeys to and from the club with her brother and another pair of siblings – and she and her teammates are enjoying their downtime in Vilamoura.

“We bought a multi-pack of board games, with seven games and a mini pool table,” said Rivera Fernandez,

“I like playing board games with my family too, we are big on having dinner together and playing board games after.

“It is hard to pick a favourite but I like battleships a lot. I am definitely a competitive person!”

Rivera Fernandez hopes college sailing is the next step and she wants to combine her sporting ambitions with exploring her passion for history.

As for Piovanetti, he is clear as to where he wants his sailing journey to take him.

“For me, definitely the Olympics,” he said. “Long-term, that is the ultimate goal and I hope one day to reach that.”