A short talk with Zarif after his first win at the SSL Finals 2014

What are your initial feelings?

It’s fantastic. We are sailing against the best sailors in history. To be in front of all of them, just in one race, is really nice. I feel proud of us.

When did you feel you were in the right position and you would really be able to win?

In the first downwind, the guys gybed a little bit earlier than us and we got a little bit more pressure in the right side of the area. We started to surf a lot of waves and when we gybed we saw that we were in the fight. I wasn’t sure but I thought we could fight for a win.

Have your expectations for the week changed? Did you surprise yourself?

No, I think we have a good speed upwind and downwind but we are too inexperienced. It’s just one race and our target is to finish in the top 11 to go the quarters. And anything can happen in one race so we can finish in the seven best in the quarter finals…. So it’s just one race. Our target is to go to the quarters. If we go to the quarters, I think anything can happen in one race.