Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast: Recent Episodes
Shirley Robertson
In depth and personal interviews from the leading characters of Sailing's diverse competitive arena, hosted by the sport's leading media personality, double Olympic gold medallist, Shirley Robertson. From inside the closed doors of the America's Cup, to the pressures and excitement of the Olympic race course, the danger and jeopardy of racing non-stop around the planet to the ultimate quest for the world's fastest sailing boat, Shirley Robertson sits down and talks all things sailing with the brightest lights in the sport.
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This month, podcast host and Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson talks to the first American woman to have sailed non-stop, alone, around the planet, as the remarkable Cole Brauer takes time out from an Admiral's Cup campaign to sit down and talk about her remarkable career to date.
It was in March 2024, aged just 29, that American sailor Cole Brauer crossed the finish line of the Global Solo Challenge in her Class40 First Light. After 130 days at sea, she'd set a new Class40 record, and scored a second place in the first edition of the race. Remarkably, she also became the first ever woman from the United States to sail non-stop solo around the planet. Her story is a tale of grit, determination and perseverance, and it's a story she tells well.
In a candid interview with Robertson, Brauer discusses the drive and motivations behind her success, which are varied and complex, but also admits to drawing on inspiration from famed British solo legend, Dame Ellen MacArthur...:
"This woman is my size, she is...against all these very very skilled experienced men and in the the early 2000s, especially to do it at such a young age and...she killed it, she completely rocked it and I remember just crying and thinking 'That's it, I've got to do that, whatever it takes, that's my way in to this offshore world'. And of course that's pretty far fetched for anyone from the United States, man or woman, because there isn't that many people that are American that have even thought about the Vendee...or even know what it is. But I knew at that moment after reading her book that that was what I really wanted to do."
Brauer's interview reveals a comparatively late discovery of the sport, early days spent living in a van, working through a long list of boatyard jobs, before significant success in the Bermuda One-Two led to bigger opportunities. Brauer backed herself, seized the opportunities and soon found herself on the start line of the solo non stop Global Solo Challenge. It's an inspiring tale, that over the race, Brauer would share with a growing number of fans. Throughout the 130 days, her following grew by the thousands, so much so that she currently boasts more Instagram followers than almost any other sailing based account on the photo sharing platform...:
"After the first month we went from ten thousand followers and I finished the first month with one hundred thousand followers, and then it just accelerated from there, where we were just getting seven thousand followers a day, and these people were real, they were real like your Mom and Pop just watching this, who had no idea, anything about sailing."
By Part 2 of this two-part episode, the social media aspect to Cole's story leads to an interesting discussion as she reveals to Robertson the good and the bad sides of daily posts to hundreds of thousands of followers. The duo also then discuss Brauer's feeling of responsibility as a role model, a position she takes very seriously, and her feelings on the lack of opportunity for women in the sport.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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This is Part 2 of podcast host and Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson's chat with the first American woman to have sailed non-stop, alone, around the planet - the remarkable Cole Brauer, who took time out from an Admiral's Cup campaign to sit down and talk about her remarkable career to date.
In Part 1 we hear how, aged just 29, American Brauer crossed the finish line of the Global Solo Challenge in her Class40 First Light. Throughout the first episode Brauer discusses her late discovery of the sport, a passion for sailing offshore and how she found herself taking up the opportunity of a solo round the world race.
Brauer had backed herself, seized the opportunities and soon found herself on the start line of the solo non stop Global Solo Challenge. It's an inspiring tale, that over the race, Brauer would share with a growing number of fans. Throughout the 130 days, her following grew by the thousands, so much so that she currently boasts more Instagram followers than almost any other sailing based account on the photo sharing platform...:
"After the first month we went from ten thousand followers and I finished the first month with one hundred thousand followers, and then it just accelerated from there, where we were just getting seven thousand followers a day, and these people were real, they were real like your Mom and Pop just watching this, who had no idea, anything about sailing."
The social media aspect to Cole's story leads to an interesting discussion as she reveals to Robertson the good and the bad sides of daily posts to hundreds of thousands of followers. The duo also then discuss Brauer's feeling of responsibility as a role model, a position she takes very seriously, and her feelings on the lack of opportunity for women in the sport...:
"I'm living in a van in the parking lot. And the guy next to me is making ridiculously more money than me. Why...? It's because he asked for more. Because he walked into the room and he realised with what he was worth."
It's a topic Brauer is passionate about, but she also discusses this in an eloquent and powerful manner.
Shortly after the interview, Brauer went on to win the Admiral's Cup as part of Monaco Yacht Club's two boat Jolt team. She is currently co-skipper onboard IMOCA Malizia, competing on the Ocean Race Europe.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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This is Part 2 of Double Olympic gold medallist and podcast host Shirley Robertson's chat with eight-time World Match Racing Champion Ian Williams, as the duo get together to discuss Williams' career at the sharp end of the most combative discipline in the sport of competitive sailing.
Williams discusses his early route to the top of the World Match Racing Tour rankings, a climb that involved turning his back on a full job as a lawyer, to make the most of his very obvious talent in the tough one-on-one world of match racing. It is however clear that the analytical and exacting approach required from a legal professional did not escape him, having made the switch to full time match racing...:
"One day I thought 'hang on, we're pretty good at this, we're pretty fast, we can read the shifts well, we've got the start under control, how's is he going to beat us', and suddenly that was like a light bulb going off, and suddenly we were able to beat him and from that day on I haven't focused on other boats, I've always gone with the approach that if we just go with our plays we should be good."
For any sailor interested in the complexities of the match racing world, this is a fascinating listen. Williams has won the tour an unprecedented eight times, and has a unique approach to taking on the world's best and winning.
"I think the most useful is a frame work for what is a winning start, and how do you get there. The most useful thing is being able to analyse after the start how you won or lost and why, and that often gets lost if you don't have that framework. Sometimes you win by luck, by default, by a mistake by the other boat and if you haven't understood why you've won, then you're not learning."
But from a discipline that was once a well trodden path to America's Cup involvement Williams also discusses how the Cup's move to multi hulls and then foiling left the multiple Match Racing World Tour winner without an America's Cup pathway...:
"The America's Cup was the dream that made me quit the law and go sailing, that was in 2005, in 2007 the last displacement monohull Cup was the same year that I made number one in the match racing world rankings and then the game moved away from me and if I look at it critically I didn't have the flexibility to adapt quickly enough to where the game went....by the time I figured out catamaran sailing the boats were foiling."
His disappointment has been the British AC37 team's gain, as Williams discusses his role in Barcelona as Pre-Start coach at Sir Ben Ainslie's INEOS Britannia team.
Throughout this two part podcast Williams and Robertson touch on a wide range of subjects around the complexities of Williams' journey from a nine year old school chess champion to his position as one of the most respected match racing champions in the sport of sailing.
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This month, Double Olympic gold medallist and podcast host Shirley Robertson is joined by eight-time World Match Racing Champion Ian Williams, as the duo get together to discuss Williams' career at the sharp end of the most combative discipline in the sport of competitive sailing. This is Part 1 of the two part edition.
Williams discusses his early route to the top of the World Match Racing Tour rankings, a climb that involved turning his back on a full job as a lawyer, to make the most of his very obvious talent in the tough one-on-one world of match racing. It is however clear that the analytical and exacting approach required from a legal professional did not escape him, having made the switch to full time match racing...:
"One day I thought 'hang on, we're pretty good at this, we're pretty fast, we can read the shifts well, we've got the start under control, how's is he going to beat us', and suddenly that was like a light bulb going off, and suddenly we were able to beat him and from that day on I haven't focused on other boats, I've always gone with the approach that if we just go with our plays we should be good."
For any sailor interested in the complexities of the match racing world, this is a fascinating listen. Williams has won the tour an unprecedented eight times, and has a unique approach to taking on the world's best and winning.
"I think the most useful is a frame work for what is a winning start, and how do you get there. The most useful thing is being able to analyse after the start how you won or lost and why, and that often gets lost if you don't have that framework. Sometimes you win by luck, by default, by a mistake by the other boat and if you haven't understood why you've won, then you're not learning."
But from a discipline that was once a well trodden path to America's Cup involvement Williams also discusses how the Cup's move to multi hulls and then foiling left the multiple Match Racing World Tour winner without an America's Cup pathway...:
"The America's Cup was the dream that made me quit the law and go sailing, that was in 2005, in 2007 the last displacement monohull Cup was the same year that I made number one in the match racing world rankings and then the game moved away from me and if I look at it critically I didn't have the flexibility to adapt quickly enough to where the game went....by the time I figured out catamaran sailing the boats were foiling."
His disappointment has been the British AC37 team's gain, as Williams discusses his role in Barcelona as Pre-Start coach at Sir Ben Ainslie's INEOS Britannia team.
Throughout this two part podcast Williams and Robertson touch on a wide range of subjects around the complexities of Williams' journey from a nine year old school chess champion to his position as one of the most respected match racing champions in the sport of sailing.
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This is Part two of Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson's chat with US sailing legend Ed Baird. A World Sailor of the Year award winner, Baird also holds a coveted spot in the America's Cup Hall of Fame, he's a multiple Match Racing World Champion and is a regular across multiple Grand Prix Sailing leagues, from the 52 Super Series to the Maxi circuit.
Robertson and Baird regularly sailed against each other back in days of the Extreme Sailing Series, but their chat was a little less competitive as Baird dropped by while in Cowes training for this summer's Admirals Cup. In this Part 2 the pair begin their discussion talking about Baird's 1999/2000 Challenge for the America's Cup in Auckland New Zealand, a Challenge representing the Newe York Yacht Squadron that was going well, but did not end as planned..,:
"You could see the waves coming and we hopped up out of the water and smashed down on the next wave and the boat broke in half!"
Baird continued his involvement in the Cup and ultimately ended up in Valencia with Swiss Defender Alinghi, initially, again, under helm, Russell Coutts, but soon that was all to change...
"The team...were missing Russell and they expected him to come back, and they spent a year this way, expecting that he'll come back with us...but he didn't....so I went to talk to Brad and the team and they asked me to come and work with them." Baird ended up steering the boat, and went on to helm a Cup victory as Alinghi successfully defended in Valencia.
Throughout this two part podcast Baird and Robertson touch on a wide range of topics, from Olympic Sailing to nationality rules, and a whole host in between, as they wind their way down the fascinating road that is Ed Baird's long and distinguished career as a pro sailor.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast is back for another season of interviews with leading lights from the world of sailing, and the new season kicks off with US sailing legend Ed Baird. A World Sailor of the Year award winner, Baird also holds a coveted spot in the America's Cup Hall of Fame, he's a multiple Match Racing World Champion and is a regular across multiple Grand Prix Sailing leagues, from the 52 Super Series to the Maxi circuit.
Robertson and Baird regularly sailed against each other back in days of the Extreme Sailing Series, but their chat was a little less competitive as Baird dropped by while in Cowes training for this summer's Admirals Cup. The pair begin their two part chat with a discussion on Baird's early career, and how at just twenty two, he won the ultra competitive Laser Worlds in Kingston, Ontario, a regatta boasting the largest World Championship fleet the class has ever had...:
"When you look back at the scoresheet from that race and you see the world class pros that we know today finishing seventy third or fifty seventh, you just think 'wow I didn't even know that guy then and look what he's done in the sport' so it really makes me feel lucky to have had the chance to do that."
From a hard won Laser World Championships win, Baird and Robertson discuss his fight to make a name for himself on the star studded Match Racing scene, but also touch on his multiple and ultimately unsuccessful campaigns to sail for Team USA at the Olympic Games. There's also some real nuggets of information from the three time Match Racing World Champion on his approach to the sport before the duo discuss Baird's entry into the world of the America's Cup...:
"I was walking down (Cowes) high street and walked around the corner and literally bumped into Russell Coutts and he said 'How's it going with the Australians' and I said 'Oh, well, it's not' and he said 'You should come work for us'....so next thing you know I'm working for Team New Zealand" and within weeks Baird was in San Diego coaching the ultimate winners of the 1995 America's Cup.
Episode One of this Two Part edition sees the duo discuss Baird's coaching role with the successful New Zealand Team, lead by Coutts, as they won trhe America's Cup for the first time, beating Dennis Connor in San Diego.
In the next Episode the pair then touch on a wide range of topics, from Olympic Sailing to nationality rules, and a whole host in between, as they wind their way down the fascinating road that is Ed Baird's long and distinguished career as a pro sailor.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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This edition of the podcast sees Shirley Robertson in Barcelona just days after the end of the 37th America's Cup. With the smell of champagne still fresh in the air, Robertson sits down with successful Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand, to talk to port side helm Nathan Outteridge, and sailing team coach RayDavies, to discuss how the Cup was won. In this edition Robertson also talks to Challenger INEOS Britannia's port side helm Dylan Fletcher and starboard trimmer Bleddyn Monn, about the most successful British Challenge in the modern Cup era.
Part One of this edition of the podcast sees Robertson discuss the Cup Match, first with Fletcher and then with Outteridge.
Having commentated on every moment of every race throughout the Barcelona Cup regatta, Robertson is well placed to quiz her four guests and kicks things off with Cup rookie Dylan Fletcher. An Olympic 49er gold medallist from Tokyo, Fletcher was a late edition to the afterguard at INEOS Britannia but played a pivotal role in mastering the AC75 and progressing through an enthralling Louis Vuitton Challenger Series, which ultimately saw the British team reach the Cup Match for the first time in sixty years...:
"It was unbelievable to cross the finish line and book our place in the Match, obviously it was too long since a British boat was in that and to do that alongside Ben and the rest of the Team that's been ten years in the making was a massive achievement."
Robertson stays with the port side helm seat as she then jumps yachts, to talk the Defender's Nathan Outteridge, another 49er Olympic gold medallist, and former training partner to Team New Zealand starboard helm Pete Burling. Outteridge is no stranger to Cup campaigns having twice represented Sweden's Team Artemis Racing in previous America's Cups, but was sailing a Cup match for the very first time, against a very well matched opponent...:
"I received an update from the design team saying 'this would be the expected performance deltas between the hulls in a thirty minute race' and it was under five seconds. Between all of them "
For Part Two of this edition, Robertson shifts back to the Challenger to talk to INEOS Britannia's starboard trimmer Bleddyn Mon. She then goes on to talk to Emirates Team New Zealand super coach, multiple Cup winner Ray Davies.
Throughout this podcast all of Robertson's discussions serve to illustrate the dedication and intensity of racing the AC75s at such a high level. Attention to detail, processes and systems are all discussed to a fascinating degree as each team member reflects on their time racing the Cup Match in Barcelona.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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This two part edition of the podcast sees Shirley Robertson in Barcelona just days after the end of the 37th America's Cup. In Part One she sits down with successful Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand, to talk to port side helm Nathan Outteridge, and Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia's Dylan Fletcher, while in this, Part Two, Robertson talks to Team New Zealand's sailing team coach Ray Davies, and to INEOS Britannia's starboard trimmer Bleddyn Mon.
Robertson commentated on every match of the thirty seventh America's Cup so is well placed to quiz her four guests and kicks things of in Part Two of this edition, with Bleddyn Mon. Sailing in his third America's Cup with Ben Ainslie's British team, Mon studied as an aeronautical engineer and has a key role in data analysis...:
"A lot of the races are won and lost by a few metres here and there and that distance you can really claw back in some manoeuvres and small gains in performance so a big part for us was in manoeuvres, we spent a lot of time looking at tacks. Every single day!"
Robertson's final chat is with America's Cup regular Ray Davies. Sailing coach at Emirates Team New Zealand, Ray has been a permanent fixture in the Team since 2003, Barcelona marking his seventh Cup campaign after a career chasing the illusive trophy. He's done so with some success, boasting multiple wins for Team New Zealand both on and off the boat, and has relished his time coaching a sailing team rich in high end sailing expertise...:
"They developed a boat that at the end of the day was relatively easy to sail, because they put the hours and hours into the systems and the way they could change the modes on the boat relatively easily, so when they were actually racing....the steering of the boat became the easy part of it."
Throughout this podcast all of Robertson's discussions serve to illustrate the dedication and intensity of racing the AC75s at such a high level. Attention to detail, processes and systems are all discussed to a fascinating degree as each team member reflects on their time racing the Cup Match in Barcelona.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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This month on Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast we preview the 37th America's Cup, as the city of Barcelona readies for what promises to be one of the most exciting editions of the famous trophy.
Five Challengers are set to battle it out on the fastest foiling monohulls ever built, as they go head to head in the Louis Vuitton Cup, in a fight to take on the Defender, the current holder of the trophy, Emirates Team New Zealand.
Robertson talks to representatives from all six of the Cup teams, chatting to team members with a wide range of roles, to get a real insight from across the fleet into what to expect come race day.
In this edition, Part One, Robertson kicks off with Emirates Team New Zealand naval architecht, Dan Bernasconi, the brains behind the AC75, the foiling mono-hull that all six teams have built for this edition. With all six AC75s now blasting around the waters off Barcelona at speeds of up to fifty knots, Bernasconi discusses some of the differences between the race boats, as well as discussing changes to the rules for this edition, and the issues that the lumpier sea state off Barcelona may bring.
Robertson also then talks to Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli's port-side helm, Francesco Bruni, helming partner to Jimmy Spithill in the last Cup, the pair that pioneered the dual-helm setup now favoured by all of the America's Cup teams. While at Luna Rossa, Robertson also caught up with match racing guru Philippe Presti, to take a look at how the increased manoeuvrability of the version two AC75s may lead to more engagement and closer racing as the Challenger Series kicks off.
Robertson then heads to AC37 HQ, to catch up with Abby Ehler, the offshore sailing legend and sailing logistics supremo now tasked with delivering the Youth and Women's editions of the America's Cup. Twelve teams will compete in the AC40 race boats for both the UniCredit Youth America's Cup and the Puig Women's America's Cup, the youth event making a return to the regatta after a break in AC36 due to covid travel restrictions. This is however the very first time a women's regatta will take place at the America's Cup, a first that is heralded as a landmark event in sailing's long road to gender equality.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts - in part two Robertson catches up with representatives of the remaining four teams.
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This month on Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast Shirley previews the 37th America's Cup, as the city of Barcelona readies for what promises to be one of the most exciting editions of the famous trophy.
Five Challengers are set to battle it out on the fastest foiling monohulls ever built, as they go head to head in the Louis Vuitton Cup, in a fight to take on the Defender, the current holder of the trophy, Emirates Team New Zealand.
Robertson talks to representatives from all six of the Cup teams, chatting to team members with a wide range of roles, to get a real insight from across the fleet into what to expect come race day.
In this the second episode of this two part edition Robertson kicks things off talking to INEOS Britannia's Design Lead, Martin Fischer. Based at Brackley in the UK, Fischer and his Cup design team share an office with the might of the designers behind Lewis Hamilton and George Russell's Mercedes AMG Formula 1 team, so an obvious discussion point is the influence on F1 design on the increasingly imnportant area of aerodynamics. Fischer was lead design at Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli for the last edition of the Cup, and is an expert voice on the evolution of the AC75 design rule, as well as some ideas on how the other teams' boats are shaping up.
Robertson then heads to Orient Express Racing Team, to talk to team CEO Bruno Dubois. Leading a French team that's based heavily on the talented French Sail GP team, Dubois discusses the talented line up in his team of Quentin Delapierre and Kevin Peponnet, he talks about the design package deal between the team and the Defender, and discusses the fact the team were the last to launch their AC75 in Barcelona.
From France, Robertson heads across the Barcelona yacht basin, to the home of American Magic, to site down with podcast regular and all around sailing super-helm, Tom Slingsby. Part of the American dual-helm seup with Paul Goodison, Slingsby is a previous Cup winner, but missed the previous Cup in Auckland, The pair discuss much about sailing the AC75, compare it to the F50 of Sail GP, but also discuss the adoption of recumbent cyclors by the American Team, the only team in the Cup to do so.
Robertson's final chat is with Swiss Olympic rowing star Barnabe Delarze, one of several rowers in the cyclor team at Alinghi Red Bull Racing. A two time Olympian with a win in the famous University Boat Race on his CV, Delarze discusses life as an AC37 cyclor, how pivotal the role is, why so many of the teams are packed with Olympic rowers, and what winning the Cup for two time winners Alinghi would mean to the team.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts.
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Tales from The America's Cup with Six Time Winner Murray JonesThis month's podcast sees Shirley Robertson talking to New Zealand's Murray Jones about a remarkable career spanning over two decades chasing the oldest trophy in international sport.
Talking during a break in racing at the St Barth's Bucket earlier this year, Part One of the podcast sees Robertson start the conversation with a chat about Jones' early life growing up in New Zealand, and how he soon starting making a name for himself in the 470 Class. In this, Part 2, Robertson picks things up with Murray Jones as Swiss team Alinghi prepare to defend the Cup in Valencia without key team member Russell Coutts.
It's a revealing insight into what was a fascinating time in international sailing, as Murray discusses the successful defence in Valencia and then the politically charged disruption that followed. For 2010 Jones was at the heart of the Alinghi team that went on to eventually lose the Cup in the much discussed Deed of Gift Match, a one of a kind race between two giant ninety foot multihulls, ultimately won by American Challenger BMW Oracle Racing
While the result of the Deed of Gift match saw Alinghi withdraw from the Cup arena for for over two decades, Jones's Cup career continued, with another move, this time to the Defender, BMW Oracle. Injury put a halt to Jones' career as a Cup sailor, but his continued involvement in the Team saw him as a pivotal part of the 2013 San Francisco campaign, his memories of capsizes, espionage, and inevitable tales of the impossible comeback are again fascinating.
Jones' final Cup campaign saw him back where it all started, coaching Team New Zealand to their eventual win in the waters of Bermuda, wrapping up an incredible seven Cup campaigns with another Team win, the sixth winning campaign of his career.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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Tales from The America's Cup with Six Time Winner Murray JonesThis month's podcast sees Shirley Robertson talking to New Zealand's Murray Jones about a remarkable career spanning over two decades chasing the oldest trophy in international sport.
Talking during a break in racing at the St Barth's Bucket earlier this year, Robertson starts the conversation with a chat about Jones' early life growing up in New Zealand, and how he soon starting making a name for himself in the 470 Class. A reserve in the Olympic team as a teenager, Jones' early career saw him part of a spectacularly talented generation of New Zealand sailors. For the national Olympic Team, medals soon followed, but two Olympic appearances in the Flying Dutchman class saw Jones disappointed with two top five finishes, but no medal.
Pretty soon though, the Cup came calling, and Jones became a pivotal member of the 1995 Team New Zealand challenger under Sir Peter Blake. Sailing as strategist in the 1995 San Diego America's Cup, Jones talks of hours spent up the mast of Black Magic, as the team went on to the defeat Dennis Connor's team 0-5, his recollections at times almost understated as he looks back on what was New Zealand's fist ever Cup victory...:
"We'd just test the whole time, we didn't do any racing, we took the attitiude that the Louis Vuitton Cup would be our practice racing and we were just fast and we basically sailed away from all the boats in the Louis Vuitton Cup and Dennis in the Cup. The fastest boat always wins the America's Cup! '"
With the win in San Diego and New Zealand's successful defence of the Cup in Auckland in 2000, by the age of just thirty three, Murray Jones had twice won the most coveted trophy in sailing. But for the world of New Zealand sailing, unexpected events were on the horizzon...:
"Out of the blue, Russel (Coutts) rang me and said 'I want to talk to you about something, I've got an offer to sail for this Swiss guy for the America's Cup and...I'll do it with a couple of you guys, would you be in..?' It blew me away, I had no idea, I said 'Wow!' I hadn't even thought about sailing for any other country other than New Zealand. Anyway, I rang him up the next day and said 'Yeah, I'm in, let's see what happens!' "
Jones and Robertson then discuss how the New Zealander moved over to the newly formed Swiss Alinghi sailing team, the team that then went on to successfully Challenge for the 2003 Cup, winning the Cup from their old team mates at Team New Zealand.
It's a revealing insight into what was a fascinating time in international sailing, as Alinghi Murray discusses the implications implications of the then controversial decision, joining a team that would ultimately see him go on to win two more Cups, in 2003 and 2007.
Part Two of the Podcast gets underway as Robertson and Jones pick things up as Alinghi prepare to defend the Cup in Valencia, without key team member Russell Coutts.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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Tales from Sailing Folk Lore with British Adventurer Pete GossThis month, Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast talks to British offshore adventurer Pete Goss, an accomplished offshore sailor famed for executing one of the bravest solo ocean rescues of all time.
Talking at his home in the south west corner of the UK, in Part 1 Robertson and Goss kick their discussion off with chat about his formative years, his time in the British Marines, and how, in the nineteen nineties, he found a love of offshore sailing through Chay Blyth's British Steel Challenge. Episode 1 goes on to see the pair discuss the dramatic ocean rescue that took place in Pete's 1996 Vendee Globe race, as he recalls the events oc Christmas 1996 that saw him rescue French sailor Raphael Dinelli.
It's an emotional and intense telling of a remarkable story, that continues into tis episode, the second part of this two part podcast, as Pete sails on, determined to finish his Vendee Globe.
His return saw him awarded an MBE from Her Majesty the Queen, and the Legion d'Honneur by then French President Jacques Chirac. Undeterred, Goss immediately launched his next project, taking part in Bruno Peyron's ambitious concept, "The Race".
To take on the no-rules round the world challenge, Goss built one of the most futuristic race boats the sport had ever seen. His insights into the project, and the theories behind his Team Philips multihull are fascinating. With an educational division and a free visitors' centre that saw over 1.2million visitors, Pete's pride in the project is clear to see. Sadly, just weeks before the New Year start of The Race, the project abruptly ended, after the catastrophic loss of the catamaran in a violent North Atlantic storm.
Throughout his career Pete Goss has embarked on a multitude of groundbreaking projects, and while this edition sees him concentrate on two of his more famous endeavours, he also discusses the delightful "Spirit of Mystery" project, a challenge born from Cornish folk lore that ended up in the recreation of one of the bravest offshore navigations of the 1800s.
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Tales from Sailing Folk Lore with British Adventurer Pete GossThis month, Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast talks to British offshore adventurer Pete Goss, an accomplished offshore sailor famed for executing one of the bravest solo ocean rescues of all time.
Talking at his home in the south west corner of the UK, Robertson and Goss kick their discussion off with chat about his formative years, his time in the British Marines, and how, in the nineteen nineties, he found a love of offshore sailing through Chay Blyth's British Steel Challenge, a round the world yacht race that was the forbearer to today's amateur offshore circumnavigation events. Goss was an instructor and skipper on the first event, and it was during that time, he hatched a plan to enter the Vendee Globe, the legendary non stop solo offshore race also, in the mid nineties, in it's infancy.
As one of the first British entrants in the then famously French race, Goss' tales of pre-internet sponsorship gathering are inspiring, and with a new boat, he managed to make the start line, for the third running of the race. What followed was one of the most brutal editions the Vendee Globe has ever seen. Of the sixteen boats that crossed the start line, just six finished. Tragically, one competitor, Canadian Gerry Roufs was lost at sea, but it was the rescue of French sailor Raphael Dinelli that for several days between Christmas and New Year 1996, was headline news around the world.
Pete's telling of the rescue, his memories of the vicious Southern Ocean storm, and his fight to find Dinelli's rapidly sinking boat are compelling. At times emotional, Goss describes how he first heard the mayday while himself fighting for survival in the relentless storm, and how his radio comms with the Royal Australian Airforce eventually led him to the boat...:
"The plane that had dropped him a raft came down to me, and they came up on the VHF so I remember chatting to them, and I said 'How many people are involved', because I was still seventy miles away or whatever, 'how many people are involved in the rescue', and he just said 'It's you!'"
With guidance from the Royal Australian Airforce plane, Goss found Dinelli's life raft and in a heaving Southern Ocean swell, somehow effected the rescue of a near death Raphael Dinelli. He had arrived just in time...:
"I met the pilot and the navigator (of the RAAF plane) a year later at the boat show and from the air they saw this figure clamber into the raft and then the boat just ghosted away and disappeared underneath it."
It's an emotional and intense telling of a remarkable story, that continues into the second part of this two part podcast, as Pete sails on, determined to finish his Vendee Globe - in Part 2 Robertson discusses the impact he rescue had on Goss, before going on to discuss his next major project, the famous TEam Philips multihull project.
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This month, Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast hosts one of offshore sailing's most accomplished names, as multiple world record holder Brian Thompson drops in for a two part chat about being one of the fastest offshore sailors on the planet.
This is the second part of a two part chat with a man who, by his own admission, doesn't even know himself how many offshore World Records he's held. In Part 1 they discuss his multiple record setting antics, from Trans-Atlantics to circumnavigations, the final figure is up in the forties, a fact Brian attributes to a long time spent sailing with American adventurer Steve Fossett.
In this part, the second edition ofthe two part podcast, Thompson discusses his 2008 Vendee Globe campaign, reealing how his succsful solo circumnavigation was something of a repair project for much of the race.
The pair also go on to discuss Brian's role in the succesful Jules Verne record attempt on French offshore legend Loick Peyron's Banque Populaire V, a circumnavigation that set a forty five day, thirteen hour record that stood for five years.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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This month, Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast hosts one of offshore sailing's most accomplished names, as multiple world record holder Brian Thompson drops in for a two part chat about being one of the fastest offshore sailors on the planet.
By his own admission, multihull expert Brian Thompson doesn't even know himself how many offshore World Records he's held, but in his opening chat with Robertson, the modest British sailor does admit to knowing for a fact that no one in sailing has ever held more than he has! From Trans-Atlantics to circumnavigations, the final figure is up in the forties, a fact Brian attributes to a long time spent sailing with American adventurer Steve Fossett...:
"Steve was a remarkable guy who was obsessed, and fascinated with breaking world records, and not just in sailing, but in all sorts of sports, so I think it all started with him, and we probably got fifteen world records with Steve, and later on with Lloyd Thornburg on Phaedo, we got another ten. Sometimes I've done the same record multiple times...round Britain three times, round the world twice, so in all I've probably broken near forty world records!"
Further into this first Episode, Robertson and Thompson discuss Brian's first circumnavigation record onboard Fossett's PlayStation, called Cheyenne at the time of the record attempt, and his growing ability to safely sail big boats fast in big seas. It's now something that Thompson is well known for, and as his career developed, he was in increasing demand, finding himself on a star studded ABN AMRO I as stand in helm for a southern ocean Volvo Ocean Race leg that would prove pivotal to the team's overall Race win...:
"I really concentrate on getting a maximum VMG where there is a sweet spot where if you go half a degree lower you're just going to fall of the cliff and stop. You could be a little bit higher, and you're doing a nice boat speed, and it's all very easy but to be gaining that extra one or two degrees of depth you have to play with fire, and I really enjoy that!"
Into Part 2 and the sailing chat continues as Brian reveals the many difficulties experienced throughout much of his solo Vendee Globe campaign of 2008, before moving onto his sensational Jules Verne record onboard Loick Peyron's Banque Populaire V, a forty five day, thirteen hour record that stood for five years.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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This month, Shirley Robertson heads to Barcelona to interview some of the key personnel from American Magic, the New York Yacht Club's challenger to the 37th America's Cup.
Embarking on their second America's Cup challenge, American Magic are a team rich in sailing talent, with a roster boasting a mix of some of the most experienced campaigners and some of the sport's brightest rising stars.
Robertson starts the two part podcast with one of the sailing team's newest signings, co-helm Tom Slingsby. A previous winner of the Cup in 2013, Slingsby joins the team as co-helm with Paul Goodison, creating a mouth watering combination that sees two of Olympic Laser sailing's fiercest of rivals come together in the Cup's new "dual helm" configuration. As Slingsby admits, it's a setup the pair are still figuring out...:
"Goody and I for sure, we have different ways of racing, I might be a bit more aggressive probably and a bit more into boat on boat sailing and Goody, his way is to go fast and make sure that we're sailing the boat at optimum, and we'll sail away from them that way. It's just going to be a blend...who knows how that's going to work, we're still working on it honestly!"
Robertson also talks to sailing super coach Tom Burnham, the man tasked with getting the most out of American Magic's talent pool, before spending time sailing the AC40 simulator with rising star Harry Melges.
In Part two of this edition Robertson gets things underway with Slingsby's co-helm, Paul Goodison. One time Olympic team mates, Goodison and Robertson reflect on the legacy of the team's AC36 campaign in Auckland, a challenge cruelly cut short by dramatic capsize, before discussing the intricacies of the twin helm setup, in a chat that reflects the rising confidence of the team.
"I think we've got a real chance. I think...there is a belief that we are good enough on our day to do this and to get over the final line and I think if we get a boat that we think we're going to receive... and we race to the level we know we're able to then I think on our day we're going to be right there."
Part two continues with a discussion on AC75 design, as Robertson talks to American Magic design team member David Oliver, before moving on to Riley Gibbs, another of the team's rising young stars. Robertson's final guest is the mastermind behind American Magic, Terry Hutchinson, himself embarking on his sixth America's Cup campaign. Robertson and Hutchinson discuss what kind of racing we're likely to see in next year's Cup, as well as the make up of the new look American Magic sailing team.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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This month, Shirley Robertson heads to Barcelona to interview some of the key personnel from American Magic, the New York Yacht Club's challenger to the 37th America's Cup.
Embarking on their second America's Cup challenge, American Magic are a team rich in sailing talent, with a roster boasting a mix of some of the most experienced campaigners and some of the sport's brightest rising stars.
In this, Part Two of this edition, Robertson gets things underway with American Magic co-helm, Paul Goodison. One time Olympic team mates, Goodison and Robertson reflect on the legacy of the team's AC36 campaign in Auckland, a challenge cruelly cut short by dramatic capsize, before discussing the intricacies of the twin helm setup, in a chat that reflects the rising confidence of the team.
"I think we've got a real chance. I think...there is a belief that we are good enough on our day to do this and to get over the final line and I think if we get a boat that we think we're going to receive... and we race to the level we know we're able to then I think on our day we're going to be right there."
Part two continues with a discussion on AC75 design, as Robertson talks to American Magic design team member David Oliver, before moving on to Riley Gibbs, another of the team's rising young stars. Robertson's final guest is the mastermind behind American Magic, Terry Hutchinson, himself embarking on his sixth America's Cup campaign. Robertson and Hutchinson discuss what kind of racing we're likely to see in next year's Cup, as well as the make up of the new look American Magic sailing team.
In the previous episode Robertson starts the two part podcast with one of the sailing team's newest signings, co-helm Tom Slingsby. A previous winner of the Cup in 2013, Slingsby joins the team as co-helm with Paul Goodison, creating a mouth watering combination that sees two of Olympic Laser sailing's fiercest of rivals come together in the Cup's new "dual helm" configuration.
Robertson also talks to sailing super coach Tom Burnham, the man tasked with getting the most out of American Magic's talent pool, before spending time sailing the AC40 simulator with rising star Harry Melges.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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This month, Shirley Robertson visits Swiss America's Cup powerhouse Alinghi Red Bull Racing at their base in Barcelona as they prepare to Challenge for the 37th America's Cup.
They're the only team to have ever launched a successful challenge to the America's Cup at first attempt, and the only European team to have ever won it, but for over a decade Swiss America's Cup syndicate Alinghi have been waiting, watching, following developments. And now, they are back, relaunched as Alinghi Red Bull Racing, and already well established in the host city of Barcelona. In this month's podcast, double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson visits the Swiss team and talks to several key players, to hear just what it is about AC37 that has rekindled interest, and to look at how one of the most successful Cup teams of the modern era is launching a bid to reclaim the illusive silver ware.
Robertson starts the two part podcast with the team's principle helm, Arnaud Psarofaghis. No stranger to racing fast foiling yachts, Psarofaghis is visibly excited at the development process of a Cup campaign, as the pair discuss the way the team have learned to sail their first generation AC75...:
"When you are on the boat, you start to accelerate, 12 knots, 14 knots, 15 knots, and it's incredible because the boat is big, noisy, it's quite a brutal environment, and I remember the first time we got to take off speed and suddenly there is a moment of silence. Nothing is happening...you feel like it's a dinghy...you have that moment of joy for ten seconds, and then you come back to reality!"
Sailing team manager Pierre Yves Jorand then discusses the challenges ahead for the team, as well as revealing the process that saw Alinghi owner Ernest Bertarelli re-enter the America's Cup arena...:
"We were listening, we were watching the America's Cup, we were reading the protocols and Ernesto (Bertarelli) always said that once the protocol will be right, we'll be back. A couple of years ago he mentioned the America's Cup is like climbing Everest, and to be successful you need a good forecast. And for us the weather forecast is the protocol, and this time, the protocol seems to be fair, and we decided to come back. We are super excited to be back."
In Part 2 of this edition, Robertson talks to Yves Detrey, Alinghi team veteran and winner of the Cup with the Swiss syndicate in 2003 and 2007, she talks AC75 design with America's Cup naval architect Adolfo Carrau from Botin Partners, the design house of choice for Alinghi Red Bull Racing. and she wraps things up with team board member Brad Butterworth, a key component of the Swiss syndicate since the earliest days of campaigning.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com
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This month, another two part podcast sees Shirley Robertson visits Swiss America's Cup powerhouse Alinghi Red Bull Racing at their base in Barcelona as they prepare to Challenge for the 37th America's Cup.
As the only team to have ever launched a successful challenge to the America's Cup at first attempt, they're also the only European team to have ever won it, but for over a decade Swiss America's Cup syndicate Alinghi have been waiting, watching, following developments. And now, they are back, relaunched as Alinghi Red Bull Racing, and already well established in the host city of Barcelona. In this month's podcast, double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson visits the Swiss team and talks to several key players, to hear just what it is about AC37 that has rekindled interest, and to look at how one of the most successful Cup teams of the modern era is launching a bid to reclaim the illusive silver ware.
In Part One Robertson chats to principal helm, Arnaud Psarofaghis and to Sailing team manager Pierre Yves Jorand, then in this, the second part of the podcast, she kicks things off with Yves Detrey, Alinghi team veteran and winner of the Cup with the Swiss syndicate in 2003 and 2007. The pair share memories of the Cup wins, in a conversation that takes in the immensity of those Cup victories at home in Switzerland, as well as the challenges to overcome in the new Cup arena.
Robertson also talks AC75 design with America's Cup naval architect Adolfo Carrau from Botin Partners, the design house of choice for Alinghi Red Bull Racing. Driving the design team for American Magic in the last Cup, Carrau's discussion on the evolution of the second generation AC75s will leave the listeners impatient for a glimpse of the new boats. This edition is then wrapped up with team board member Brad Butterworth, a key component of the Swiss syndicate since the earliest days of campaigning. Butterworth, as ever, has interesting views on key aspects of this Cup cycle, including the nationality rule, the other Challengers, and collaboration with Formula One teams.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com
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This month, Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast hosts one of the sport's most recognisable talents as New Zealand's Dean Barker talks to double Olympic gold medallist Robertson about a career spent chasing the illusive America's Cup.
From his formative years growing up in Takapuna, Auckland, Barker was soon sailing at a high level, and was inspired in no small part by the likes of Russell Coutts and the generation of remarkably talented New Zealand sailors making their presence felt on the global stage. Barker discusses these early days through to the moment when Russell Coutts asked him to helm the final match of Team New Zealand's successful Cup Defence against Luna Rossa in New Zealand...:
"It was quite incredible, it was something that I will never ever forget, just having the chance to be a part of it was pretty special....but to be on the boat when we crossed the finish line...it was a huge weight off the shoulders...it was the first time I had touched the Cup and it was the start of a pursuit of trying to do that again."
From that Cup win, Dean Barker would spend two decades chasing the illusive trophy, in a career that would see him gain a reputation as one of the most clinical match racers in the sport.
Robertson and Barker discuss many of the key campaigns that have punctuated his career, including his appearance at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and his Match Racing world title. They wrap up this, the first of two parts, as Dean discusses what his Olympic appearance meant to him personally, and how tough it was to qualify amongst the rich pool of sailing talent from his native New Zealand.
In Part 2 the pair inevitably go on to reflect on the remarkable events of San Francisco 2013, a Cup that saw Emirates Team New Zealand concede eight losses in a row against eventual winners Oracle Team USA. The build up to the 2013 Cup was a remarkable period of development that had seen Barker's Team New Zealand innovate in the extreme, the end result, the fast, powerful fully foiling AC72 that stunned sailing fans across the globe. before also discussing the campaign with American Magic, at home in Auckland, along with a cautionary tale of his fight with colon cancer throughout the build up to that Cup. This edition of the podcast is another fascinating look into the life of one of the sport of sailing's biggest names, Barker's honesty and sincerity adding significantly to stories from a long and remarkable career.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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Part 2 of this month's podcast that sees Shirley Robertson talk to one of the sport's most recognisable talents, as New Zealand's Dean Barker reflects on a career spent chasing the illusive America's Cup.
In Part 1 the pair discuss his formative years growing up in Takapuna, Auckland, and coming to the attention of Russell Coutts, the helm of a New Zealand team that would go on to successfully challenge and then successfully defend the America's Cup.
Part two of the podcast kicks off with chat about the marathon Challenger Series in 2007 which saw Barker helm Team New Zealand to twenty seven wins from thirty two matches, to reach another America's Cup match. Barker and Robertson then go on to reflect on the remarkable events of San Francisco 2013, a Cup that saw Emirates Team New Zealand concede eight losses in a row against eventual winners Oracle Team USA. The build up to the 2013 Cup was a remarkable period of development that had seen Barker's Team New Zealand innovate in the extreme, the end result, the fast, powerful fully foiling AC72 that stunned sailing fans across the globe...:
"To say the boats were under control would be a massive over statement, they were so hard to manage on that reach across from the start to the turning mark off St Francis Yacht Club...the speeds and the power and everything, and how out of control you felt at times...you're thinking if it goes wrong here, we're going to be picking up pieces off the waterfront here in San Francisco!"
The result of the 35th America's Cup is well documented, and is much talked about from many of the protagonists here on Robertson's podcast, but the effect of the very public loss on Dean Barker has been profound, a fact that he discusses with Robertson as he looks back on what was a difficult time.
Bringing his career up to the present day, Barker also discusses the campaign with American Magic, at home in Auckland, along with a cautionary tale of his fight with colon cancer throughout the build up to that Cup. This edition of the podcast is another fascinating look into the life of one of the sport of sailing's biggest names, Barker's honesty and sincerity adding significantly to stories from a long and remarkable career.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast continues with Part 2 of the fascinating chat with one of offshore sailing's most active campaigners, a sailor who's career spans two decades at the highest level of the sport and includes a record equaling five Vendee Globe starts. Alex Thomson, widely known for his Vendee campaigns sailing a series of iconic Hugo Boss IMOCA, has done much to raise awareness of offshore sailing and with his team, has been responsible for some of the most innovative developments the monohull IMOCA Class has ever seen.
Part 1 of of Thomson's discussion with Robertson takes in Thomson's remarkable career path, time spent sailing with Sir Robin Knox Johnston and his early Vendee Globe campaigns.
In this edition, Thomson talks all about the progression in design and build of the IMOCA Class, the now foiling monohull class that he and his team have been key protagonists in developing over the past twenty years of racing. The duo also cover Thomson's remaining attempts to win the Vendee Globe, and of course discuss the series of sailing stunts that have netted Thomson millions of views on YouTube, taking in the evolution of the idea, the execution of the stunts themselves and Thomson's desire to bring new audiences to his offshore campaigns are all talked through in this revealing chat...:
"Hugo Boss had done a trick shot video with Martin Kymer, the German golfer, and put it on the internet and they told us they had fifty thousand views....and I went back to the team and said 'we've got to come up with an idea, put it on the internet and get more than fifty thousand views'...so we got a couple of suits...shot it....and we put it on the internet and...a million views in a week!."
This is a fascinating insight into the career of a man that has spent over two decades chasing a dream to win one of offshore sailing's biggest accolades, he's gone against convention, pushed boundaries of design, and suffered some well publicised failures, but most interestingly in this chat with Robertson, Alex Thomson also suggests that when it comes to trying to win the Vendee Globe, he's not quite done yet.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast continues this month with one of offshore sailing's most active campaigners, a sailor who's career spans two decades at the highest level of the sport and includes a record equaling five Vendee Globe starts. Alex Thomson, widely known for his Vendee campaigns sailing a series of iconic Hugo Boss IMOCA, has done much to raise awareness of offshore sailing and with his team, has been responsible for some of the most innovative developments the monohull IMOCA Class has ever seen.
Obviously, much of Thomson's discussion in this two part podcast centres around his various Vendee Globe campaigns, but in this first episode there's much discussion about Thomson's early career path, time spent sailing with Sir Robin Knox Johnston and the result of his time spent with British business tycoon Sir Keith Mills...:
"We met at Shoreham airport, we flew to Brest, and he bought me a boat for 1.1million Euros....That level of belief, in me, at that time, was difficult to comprehend really."
Thomson is candid about his first campaign, as he is throughout the chat with Robertson, and reveals much about how, along with Sir Keith Mills, they brought Hugo Boss into what would go on to become one of the longest sponsorship partnerships in the sport.
Thomson has also had an eventful career that's involved a series of very high profile sinkings and race retirements, not least when keel damage to the original Hugo Boss famously left him floundering deep in the South Atlantic. But the drama doesn't end with keel damage.
Having discussed the cause of a very public falling out with fellow British offshore sailor Mike Golding, "...the next day in the Sunday Times, Mike called me a jumped up little prick!", Thomson discusses how, with his keel dangling uselessly from the hull, the only chance of rescue was of course, with Mike Golding, who pulled off a daring rescue with catastrophic circumstances...:
"I was on the boat for about three hours...the wind hit, the boat leaned over, and his mast just collapsed, Mike is standing in the cockpit with his mouth open, and I'm now feeling guilty...I said to Mike, 'I am so sorry..."
In the second part of this podcast the chat about Thomson's Vendee campaigns continues, , but there's much discussion about his series of daring stunts that have netted him over 10million views on YouTube alone.
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This month's edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast comes from the Spanish port of Alicante, long time home to the Ocean Race, as the fourteenth edition of this famous round the world adventure gets underway with a dramatic new look.
On what is the fiftieth anniversary of what was originally called the Whitbread Round The World Race, then became famous as the Volvo Ocean Race and is now being sailed as simply The Ocean Race, Shirley Robertson presents her podcast from the start of the thirty two thousand nautical mile odyssey. In this edition she talks to skippers and crew members from each of the five foiling IMOCA entrants, and catches up with Ocean Race Co-President, Johan Salen, to talk thorough the class changes, and the future of the Race.
Now being sailed in the IMOCA class, the superfast foiling monohulls more familiar to Vendee Globe fans, much of the dockside chat was over sailing these solo-orientated speed machines with a crew, and how sailing from the almost fully covered cockpits was a huge departure for this race.
The format of this new look Ocean Race is covered in Episode 1 of this two part edition - in this episode, British offshore sailor Will Harris, sailing the Race with Boris Herrmann's "Team Malizia" explains amongst other things, the challenge of sailing from the fully covered cockpit of the new designs of IMOCA...:
"We're always looking at the sensors and the numbers because when you're inside these boats that's really all you've got to go off, it's how these boats are sailed now, it's not so much about what you feel in the helm, or what you feel by looking at the sails."
This edition of The Ocean Race is a fascinating new era, and the discussions within the podcast certainly reflect that. Revealing the decisions made to move the Race forward, Episode 2 continues with Robertson's talk with Co-President of the Race, Johan Salen, which makes for interesting listening, Robertson also talks to IMOCA regular, Route du Rhum winner Paul Meilhat, skippering 'Biotherm'.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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This month's edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast comes from the Spanish port of Alicante, long time home to the Ocean Race, as the fourteenth edition of this famous round the world adventure gets underway with a dramatic new look.
On what is the fiftieth anniversary of what was originally called the Whitbread Round The World Race, then became famous as the Volvo Ocean Race and is now being sailed as simply The Ocean Race, Shirley Robertson presents her podcast from the start of the thirty two thousand nautical mile odyssey. In this edition she talks to skippers and crew members from each of the five foiling IMOCA entrants, and catches up with Ocean Race Co-President, Johan Salen, to talk thorough the class changes, and the future of the Race.
Now being sailed in the IMOCA class, the superfast foiling monohulls more familiar to Vendee Globe fans, much of the dockside chat was over sailing these solo-orientated speed machines with a crew, and how sailing from the almost fully covered cockpits was a huge departure for this race.
In Part 1 of this two part podcast, Robertson talks all things Ocean Race with three of the five IMOCA teams taking on the challenge, including Charlie Enright of '11th Hour Racing'....:
"It almost requires a more natural sailor, because you are trying to do it with less feedback, if that makes sense, so it's more seat of the pants, it's more feeling, it's really unique to be sailing inside and down below."
From 'Holcim PRB', French offshore skipper Kevin Escoffier is also in PArt 1..:
"You have to discover new ways of feeling it, the vibration, the sounds of the foils...anybody who has sailed a dinghy will know, if they close their eyes, they will feel the boat."
Part 1 also includes guest appearances from The Ocean Race race village with one time winner of the Volvo Ocean Race, Ian Walker, and Team SCA Volvo skipper Sam Davies. Episode 1 then wraps up with two time Ocean Race sailor Annie Lush of 'Guyot environnment' discussing the differences between this edition of the race and her two previous editions.
This edition of The Ocean Race is a fascinating new era - in Part 2 of this podcast, Robertson talks with Co-President of the Race, Johan Salen, two time Volvo Ocean Race sailor Annie Lush, British offshore sailor Will Harris of Team Malizia and to IMOCA regular, Route du Rhum winner Paul Meilhat, skippering 'Biotherm'.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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This is the second part of a two part interview with one of the most decorated sailors of the modern era, as multiple Olympic Gold Medallist Shirley Robertson finally sits down with one of sailing's contemporary greats,, multiple World Sailor of the Year, Tom Slingsby.
In the wonderfully diverse sport of competitive sailing there can be few athletes whose accolades are as wide ranging as Sydney born Australian Tom Slingsby. At just thirty eight years of age, he boasts an unprecedented roll call of success that includes an Olympic Gold medal, an America's Cup win, two Moth World Titles, two SailGP titles, multiple Laser world championship wins, he's even won line honours in both the Sydney to Hobart and Middle Sea Races.In Part One of this podcast Robertson and Slingsby discuss the Aussie's early career, so Part 2 here picks up as Slingsby is about to play a pivotal role in one of modern sailing's most fabled of regattas - the 2013 America's Cup.
Regular podcast listeners will have heard the 2013 story from many of the key players from that San Francisco Cup, but this telling is perhaps the most revealing. Slingsby's memories of the comeback are recalled from the perspective of the then rookie young America's Cup sailor somewhat overawedby his surroundings and the characters around him. His memories of the initial losses and the awkward meetings that followed are insightful and revealing, a must-listen to all fans of the modern Cup era...
"I was getting yelled at by Russell Coutts, and I still remember sitting there thinking 'I can't believe I'm sitting there with these legends, Grant Simmer, Jimmy (Spithill), Ben Ainslie, Russell Coutts', I remember I was really in awe!"
What follows is a fascinating discussion on the dramatic turnaround of 2013, who made what decisions, and how the match was finally won.
From the America's Cup to Sail GP, the displacement Laser dinghy to the foiling Moth, Slingsby's talent has seen him become one of the most applauded sailors of his generation. Getting a glimpse inside the mind of the man that's created such success makes for a truly fascinating two part podcast and is a must listen for any modern day sailing fan.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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Series Four of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast continues in fascinating fashion as the multiple Olympic Gold Medallist finally sits down with one of modern sailing's most decorated athletes, multiple World Sailor of the Year, Tom Slingsby.
In the wonderfully diverse sport of competitive sailing there can be few athletes whose accolades are as wide ranging as Sydney born Australian Tom Slingsby. At just thirty eight years of age, he boasts an unprecedented roll call of success that includes an Olympic Gold medal, an America's Cup win, two Moth World Titles, two SailGP titles, multiple Laser world championship wins, he's even won line honours in both the Sydney to Hobart and Middle Sea Races. It's an incredibly diverse list of titles, all stemming from one resolution made as a fifteen year old boy watching the 2000 Sydney Olympics...:
"I was down there (at Bradleys Head) everyday, and just seeing the Olympic arena, I just, in that moment, watching that final where Michael Blackburn took bronze and Ben Ainslie match raced Robert Scheidt to gold, I said right then and there that I want to be a part of this arena."
That moment was the catalyst to a remarkable, and still ongoing career. But it wasn't always easy. Slingsby's honest and candid account involves deep disappointment and harsh lessons at the 2008 Olympics, before moving on to detail the extraordinary lengths he went to, along with coach Micheal Blackburn to make sure he would prevail at the London Games of 2012.
This is the first part of a fascinating two part interview, in which Slingsby gives the listener a sometimes intimate account of life as a successful twenty first century professional sailor.
From the decision not to defend his Olympic title, Robertson and Slingsby move on to his America's Cup career, and the much discussed 2013 San Francisco Cup which saw Slingsby help Team Oracle USA to the remarkable, and much documented comeback against Emirates Team New Zealand.
Regular podcast listeners will have heard the story from many of the key players from that 2013 Cup, but this telling is perhaps the most revealing. Slingsby's memories of the comeback are recalled from the perspective of the then rookie young America's Cup sailor somewhat overawed by his surroundings and the characters around him. His memories of the initial losses and the awkward meetings that followed are insightful and revealing, a must-listen to all fans of the modern Cup era - Part One ends as Slngsby begins in his role onboard Oracle Team USA, looking forward to the famous 2013 comeback in the Bay of San Francisco.
From the America's Cup to Sail GP, the displacement Laser dinghy to the foiling Moth, Slingsby's talent has seen him become one of the most applauded sailors of his generation. Getting a glimpse inside the mind of the man that's created such success makes for a truly fascinating two part podcast and is a must listen for any modern day sailing fan.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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Part 2 of double Olympic gold medallist Robertson's chat with the skipper of the America's Cup's first ever successful Challenger, Australian John Bertrand. It was exactly thirty nine years ago that Bertrand, skippering "Australia II" in Newport, crossed the finish line ahead of Dennis Connor's Defending "Liberty", to end the New York Yacht Club's one hundred and thirty two year winning streak. For the sport of sailing, it provoked a seismic shift in international competition, for the thirty six year old Bertrand, competing in his fourth Cup, it was totally life changing.
"It was Everest, it was the four minute mile. No one had ever got through that invisible barrier, the Everest of not only sailing, but of sport. The America's Cup started before the American Civil War, it's remarkable...it was the Everest of sport that was there and was the fascination to many many entrepreneurs, including us Australians."
Robertson and Bertrand begin their chat with a discussion about destiny as Bertrand discusses how his great grandfather was an engineer in Southampton, involved in the building of two of Sir Thomas Lipton's Shamrock America's Cup yachts. The easy flowing conversation takes in Bertrand's Olympic campaigning, the pair share the unenviable position of both having finished an Olympic campaign in fourth place, before chat inevitably concentrates on the America's Cup campaign of 1983.
Sailing for the Australian business tycoon Alan Bond, Bertrand lifts the lid on a campaign that ultimately led to the design and build of one of the most controversial yachts to have sailed around an America's Cup race course...:
"Benny (Lexcen) then showed us the wing keeled boat and I thought 'oh my god, just give us an equal boat and we'll play the game', .....anyway we went sailing the first day over at Freemantle, and it was just unbelievable, the boat could spin on it's axiss relative to a conventional boat."
Whether familiar with the sporting details of the 1983 America's Cup or not, Bertrand's interview with Robertson is a fascinating and revealing insight into what it took to end the unprecedented one hundred and thirty two year winning streak, told by one of sailing's great story tellers...:
"The full significance (of what we had done) really only became apparent when we got home, and still is...The country stopped...you could not buy a bottle of champagne in Australia the day after the America's Cup....In a survey recently, the most memorable events in modern Australian history, John F Kennedy's assasination, Armstrong on the moon and Australia II crossing the finishing line."
This is a fascinating exchange, as Bertrand discusses all manner of stories, from the pre-race words to the team from backer Alan Bond, to his relationship, post 1983, with defeated Defender Dennis Connor. The events of September 1983 are now sailing folk lore, but to hear them directly from the man in charge of the America's Cup's first ever successful Challenger is truly inspiring.
An America's Cup Hall of Famer, one of the most decorated sailors of all time, Olympic medalist and multiple world champion, Bertrand's chat with Robertson extends well beyond the 1983 America's Cup, and is a revealing and engaging insight into the life and mind of one of Australia's greatest ever sporting icons.
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The fourth Series of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast starts in spectacular fashion as double Olympic gold medallist Robertson sits down with the skipper of the America's Cup's first ever successful Challenger, Australian John Bertrand. It was exactly thirty nine years ago that Bertrand, skippering "Australia II" in Newport, crossed the finish line ahead of Dennis Connor's Defending "Liberty", to end the New York Yacht Club's one hundred and thirty two year winning streak. For the sport of sailing, it provoked a seismic shift in international competition, for the thirty six year old Bertrand, competing in his fourth Cup, it was totally life changing.
"It was Everest, it was the four minute mile. No one had ever got through that invisible barrier, the Everest of not only sailing, but of sport. The America's Cup started before the American Civil War, it's remarkable...it was the Everest of sport that was there and was the fascination to many many entrepreneurs, including us Australians."
Robertson and Bertrand begin their chat with a discussion about destiny as Bertrand discusses how his great grandfather was an engineer in Southampton, involved in the building of two of Sir Thomas Lipton's Shamrock America's Cup yachts. The easy flowing conversation takes in Bertrand's Olympic campaigning, the pair share the unenviable position of both having finished an Olympic campaign in fourth place, before chat inevitably concentrates on the America's Cup campaign of 1983.
Sailing for the Australian business tycoon Alan Bond, Bertrand lifts the lid on a campaign that ultimately led to the design and build of one of the most controversial yachts to have sailed around an America's Cup race course...:
"Benny (Lexcen) then showed us the wing keeled boat and I thought 'oh my god, just give us an equal boat and we'll play the game', .....anyway we went sailing the first day over at Freemantle, and it was just unbelievable, the boat could spin on it's axiss relative to a conventional boat."
Whether familiar with the sporting details of the 1983 America's Cup or not, Bertrand's interview with Robertson is a fascinating and revealing insight into what it took to end the unprecedented one hundred and thirty two year winning streak, told by one of sailing's great story tellers...:
"The full significance (of what we had done) really only became apparent when we got home, and still is...The country stopped...you could not buy a bottle of champagne in Australia the day after the America's Cup....In a survey recently, the most memorable events in modern Australian history, John F Kennedy's assasination, Armstrong on the moon and Australia II crossing the finishing line."
This is a fascinating exchange, as Bertrand discusses all manner of stories, from the pre-race words to the team from backer Alan Bond, to his relationship, post 1983, with defeated Defender Dennis Connor. The events of September 1983 are now sailing folk lore, but to hear them directly from the man in charge of the America's Cup's first ever successful Challenger is truly inspiring.
An America's Cup Hall of Famer, one of the most decorated sailors of all time, Olympic medalist and multiple world champion, Bertrand's chat with Robertson extends well beyond the 1983 America's Cup, and is a revealing and engaging insight into the life and mind of one of Australia's greatest ever sporting icons.
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This month on the podcast it's America's Cup Hall of Famer Tom Whidden who in this second part of his chat with Shirley Robertson discusses in detail the events of the famous 'race of the century', the America's Cup race that saw the New York Yacht Club finally relinquish their one hundred and thirty two year ownership of the America's Cup.
It was a landmark edition of the Cup, in which Tom Whidden, onboard with Dennis Connor and his American Team, lost the Cup to Alan Bond's Australian syndicate, Australia II - the loss was the very first time the Cup left ownership of the New York Yacht Club since the first victory in 1851 in front of British Queen, Victoria, in a now famous race around the Isle of Wight. Yet despite the implications of the loss, as Whidden reveals, humour was somehow still on the agenda...:
"We had a little dock house where the telephone was, and I walked down the dock and the phone was ringing and I pick up the phone. Dennis is still on the boat at that point...and the voice on the other end says "It's the President, they would like to talk to Dennis" and I say "Yeah yeah yeah", and they say "No, it's really the President, it's President Reagan"...so I get on the loudspeaker and I said "Dennis Connor, Dennis Connor, you have a phone call, it's the President and he wants to tell you you screwed up!"
Whidden's lighthearted and amicable style is wonderful to listen to, as he discusses his sailing career with a transfixed Robertson. There are Dennis Connor stories aplenty, including his much talked about "plastic boat" quote of the 1987 Challenger Series campaign, but of course there's far more to Whidden than his America's Cup campaigns. For decades now he's been at the forefront of one of the industry's leading corporate entities as the driving force of new technologies at North Sails, where he currently sits as Executive Chairman.
Whidden discusses the growth of the company, the adoption of the revolutionary new production techniques, 3DL and 3Di and the future of the company as they continue to develop sailing technologies.
The pair round their discussion off back at the modern day America's Cup, and Whidden's position within the New York Yacht Club, as he discusses his thoughts on the new AC75s, and American Magic's position representing the Club as the Cup heads to Barcelona.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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This month on the podcast it's America's Cup Hall of Famer Tom Whidden who recounts one of the most important eras in competitive sailing as he sits down with double Olympic gold medallist and podcast host Shirley Robertson.
After a childhood spent learning to sail on the East Coast of the United States, a teenage Tom Whidden made two bold declarations. He would become a sail maker, and he would compete in the America's Cup. Decades later he's still a pivotal figure at sailing industry powerhouse North Sails, and he's raced an incredible eight America's Cup campaigns, having won the illusive trophy three times.
But in this fascinating chat with Robertson, it's Whidden's memories of the historic 1983 loss to Alan Bond's Australia II that are the most revealing. Whidden partnered up with Cup legend Dennis Connor for the 1980 Freedom Syndicate campaign, and was tactician for the 1983 Defence, but it was a Defence that would finally see the end to the one hundred and thirty two year winning streak. Unsurprisingly, Whidden's memory of each and every race is near flawless, as he talks Robertson through the historic loss....:
"I'm looking back and I'm going, they're about to tack, and the bow comes up, comes up, comes up and I go 'they're actually not tacking' and they get this big humongous left shift and they go up, and slowly but surely they sail away. They beat us by two minutes in that race. So now it's the race of the century."
The 'race of the century' was of course the deciding match of the 1983 America's Cup, a match that Whidden and his team onboard Liberty famously lost. It was the end of an era, Alan Bond's Australia II finally prised the Cup out of the one hundred and thirty two year grip of the New York Yacht Club in an historic edition of the Cup that still has implications int he sport today.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
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With the much awaited announcement that the 37th America's Cup will be held in the Spanish city of Barcelona, Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast this month features interviews with several of the Cup's key stakeholders, as they discuss the excitement behind this landmark decision.
In Part One of this two part podcast, Robertson talks to Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton, who was excited to name the Spanish city as the winning venue in a tender process that included three other significantly attractive bids, before talking to American Magic team principal Terry Hutchinson.
In this, Part 2 of the two part podcast, Robertson talks to Sir Ben Ainslie, team principal from INEOS Britannia, the official Challenger of Record (COR) representing the Royal Yacht Squadron. Ainslie is excited that the Cup will be making a rare appearance in Europe, but is excited for global sailing fans that the Cup is to be held in such an iconic destination. Ainslie is spearheading a campaign that sees a British Challenger of Record for the first time in over fifty years, and he's confident that now the venue has been announced, his team can proceed with few distractions. Talking about their position as COR Ainslie tells Robertson...:
"Some people would say it's potentially a distraction...but so far it's been a really productive process...and of course so far the venue decision, I don't think you could ask for a better venue anywhere in the world, the protocol, I think is a really positive progressive protocol as is the development of the Class Rule, so I'd like to think we've done an OK job so far."
Ainslie appears in the second part of this two part podcast, along with Robertson's fellow AC36 broadcast commentator, Ken Read from North Sails, who shares his thoughts on the announcement, before the podcast is wrapped up by Emirates Team New Zealand's Kevin Shoebridge. As team COO, Shoebridge discusses the impact of the announcement on the sailing team, the opportunities that this decision will bring, and the implications of a defence on waters far from home.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
With the much awaited announcement that the 37th America's Cup will be held in the Spanish city of Barcelona, Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast this month features interviews with several of the Cup's key stakeholders, as they discuss the excitement behind this landmark decision.
It's been just over a year since Emirates Team New Zealand successfully defended the Cup on home waters in Auckland, and following a rigorous and in depth selection process, Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton was excited to name the Spanish city as the winning venue in a tender process that included three other significantly attractive bids.
Dalton kicks off the podcast with a discussion about the process itself, highlighting what it was about Barcelona's bid that saw them come out on top, before inevitably discussing the complicated decision to hold the Cup away from Auckland. In the one hundred and seventy years of America's Cup history, a defence away from home waters is a significant rarity, in fact only once, in 2017 (Oracle Team USA defending in Bermuda) has this decision been made without geography being a determining factor (2007 and 2010 saw Swiss team Alinghi defend in Valencia due to lack of open ocean at home in Switzerland). The decision has faced significant criticism at home in New Zealand but Dalton's chat with Robertson is very clear - without securing the financial security for the sailing team, a viable defence against such a strong group of Challengers is an impossibility...:
"The team will always be the priority...in saying that though, we want an absolutely amazing event, we're the Defender, we have a responsibility to that, but the team will always be the priority, and so we can't take money out of the equation...and the original motive was to put the team in it's best financial position to be able to have a chance against amazingly strong teams coming at us, to three-peat." clarifies Dalton.
Robertson discusses several aspects of the decision process with Dalton, as the pair discuss the responsibility of the Defender to continue the legacy of the world's oldest international sporting trophy.
Robertson, who herself sailed the first of her four Olympic regattas for Team GB at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, talks to several other key stakeholders in the 37th America's Cup, including podcast regular Terry Hutchinson, team principal of American Magic, the Challenger representing the original holder of the trophy, the New York Yacht Club. Hutchinson and his American team are delighted with the venue announcement, and he does not underestimate the significance of the Defender's decision...:
"The Defenders have taken an aggressive decision...and as a competitor you can't overlook that, and so I'm excited by the opportunity, I also recognise all the teams are really really good, so we know how this game goes, we lived it to the nth degree in the last one so I'm excited by the opportunity in front of us."
In the second part of this two part podcast Robertson talks to team principal of the official Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia's Sir Ben Ainslie, before discussing the implications of the announcement with North Sails President Kenny Read. Part 2 wraps up with a chat with Emirates Team New Zealand's COO Kevin Shoebridge, who discusses the implications of the announcement on the New Zealand sailing team, and the opportunities it brings.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast this month features one of the most respected names in boat building, as Jason Carrington takes to the mic to discuss his phenomenal career in the sport. Carrington has been at the forefront of high performance boat building for several decades, and in this, Part 2 of his chat with Robertson, much of the discussion relates to his work inside the boat shed as he builds some of the world's fastest racing machines.
This Episode begins with the discussion around Carrington's final Volvo Ocean Race, onboard "Ericsson", one of the first Volvo 70s, again built under the watchful eye of Carrington, before the chat turns to life in the boat yard and the formation in 2017 of the now world renowned Carrington Boats.
Based in Hythe, on the UK's south coast, Carrington Boats have recently been responsible for the build of some of sailing's most talked about race machines, most notably the latest iteration of Alex Thomson's "Hugo Boss" and Ben Ainslie's 2021 America's Cup AC75 "Britannia". Carrington talks passionately about the difficulties of building foiling yachts at the very cutting edge of the sport, and does not shy away from the responsibilities that such complex projects bring. Carrington's interview reveals a modest character, keen to remind Robertson that the men and women of the boat shed are often the unsung heroes of a successful campaign...:
"There's building boats and there's building boats, but these type of boats, you've got to be very good at what you do, they're not in the spotlight, but they should be really."
Robertson's two part podcast with Jason Carrington is a fascinating glimpse into the career of a man that has played a pivotal role in the progression of the sport of sailing, and reveals a passionate character driven by a very obvious and deep rooted love of the sport of competitive yacht racing.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast this month features one of the most respected names in boat building, as Jason Carrington takes to the mic to discuss his phenomenal career in the sport. Carrington has been at the forefront of high performance boat building for several decades, but as his chat with Robertson reveals, his achievements in the boat shed are more than matched by an impressive career offshore.
In this two part edition, Part 1 sees Carrington reveal how a childhood spent on the water in Lymington (UK) led to an apprenticeship at the groundbreaking Green Marine, under the tutelage of the pioneering Bill Green himself. It wasn't long before Carrington was impressing as a bowman, and was soon setting off on his first Whitbread attempt on the 1993/94 "Fortuna" campaign with British Whitbread stalwart Lawrie Smith. It was the first of four Whitbred / Volvo campaigns for Carrington, his second seeing him again take on the Round the World race with Smith onboard "Silk Cut"....:
"Sailing with Lawrie was wonderful, I remember my first glimpse of the Southern Ocean, I've never been with anyone that sailed so hard in the Southern Ocean...I was on the handles on deck....Lawrie was in the hatch and I looked and said 'this is crazy' and Lawrie just said "This is when you make the miles!.""
Carrington's tales of sailing the 93/94 and 97/98 Whitbread are told with a very obvious enthusiasm that hides nothing of his love for the camaraderie and hardships of round the world sailing. As the Whitbread transitioned to the Volvo Ocean Race, it's Carrington's memories of building Volvo60 "Assa Abloy" that then begin to reveal a glimpse of the attention to detail he's since become famous for...:
"(Our sponsor) wanted the coach roof to be red and I caused such a fuss about 'why are we putting this paint on the boat, it's heavier, we don't need that paint' and I worked out per square metre what that was gonna weigh and I said 'No, we're not painting it red', I even phoned the sponsor...there was no compromise!"
From a lap of the planet on "Assa Abloy", tales from Carrington's sailing career then take in a Jules Verne attempt with Ellen MacArthur onboard catamaran "Kingfisher 2", as this epiosde wraps up. In Part 2 of this month's pod, Carrington then discusses his final Volvo Ocean Race another onboard "Ericsson", before the chat turns to life inside the boat shed, and the formation in 2017 of the now world renowned Carrington Boats.
Robertson's two part podcast with Jason Carrington is a fascinating glimpse into the career of a man that has played a pivotal role in the progression of the sport of sailing, and reveals a passionate character driven by a very obvious and deep rooted love of the sport of competitive yacht racing.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
This month Shirley Robertson talks to a man with one of the most varied careers in the sport of professional sailing, as she sits down for an extensive chat with one time Team GB team mate Paul Goodison.
Having discussed Goodison's Olympic career, which peaked with a gold medal in Beijing 2008, this second part of their chat concentrates on Paul's America's Cup campaigning.
Most recently Goodison has been an integral part of the New York Yacht Club's 36th America's Cup campaign as main sail trimmer on board American Magic's Patriot. Goodison and Robertson reflect on many of the key points of the Auckland Cup, as Paul eloquently discusses the process of developing and building a seventy five foot foiling monohull the like of which has never been built before.Ultimately of course, talk turns to the catastrophic capsize midway through the Challenger Series Round Robin that severely effected the campaign...:
"I remember clearly with about thirty seconds coming into the mark how dark and black the sky was and how the water was getting rougher and looking at the speedo, we were doing 42knots upwind, it was 'woah, this is pretty full on, this is going to be exciting!'"
Goodison's recollections on American Magic's campaign in Auckland are fascinating, as the team desperately tried to overturn the disadvantages dealt by the nature of the capsize.Looking forward though, perhaps the most exciting of Goodison's insights concerns the next America's Cup. He reveals to Robertson he has recently re-signed with the American outfit, and will be continuing in a key role as American Magic continue to represent the New York Yacht Club.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
This month Shirley Robertson talks to a man with one of the most varied careers in the sport of professional sailing, as she sits down for an extensive chat with one time Team GB team mate Paul Goodison.
Most recently sailing as main trimmer in the 36th America's Cup with American Magic, a closer inspection of Goodison's career reveals a remarkable strength and depth that has brought success across a multitude of disciplines in a career that's spanned several decades. Growing up in the the north of England, Goodison learned to sail on a reservoir, but was quickly mixing it up with that precocious young talent pool of the time, honing his sailing skills with contemporaries Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy, Andrew Simpson and Chris Draper. A professional career beckoned, which initially led to an early career campaigning in the super competitive Laser class. After a fourth place in the Athens Games of 2004, Paul topped the podium in Beijing to win Olympic Gold, completing a journey that had began in earnest after a night out celebrating his friend's silver in 1996...:
"When Ben returned from Atlanta having won a silver medal, we were all at the Laser Nationals...and Ben had his medal with him and I remember for the first time, it was the first Olympic medal I'd ever seen, and held, and all of a sudden you make the connection, this is no longer one of those things you see on the TV, this is a guy you've sailed against and all of a sudden it became clear it's not so far away."
After the highs of Beijing, Robertson and Goodison then turn to the home Games of London 2012, and Goodison is honest and frank about the disappointment of finishing in seventh place. Going into the Games Goodison felt well prepared, but he reveals how some poorly timed competition with his peers in the gym seriously effected his chances at his home Games - it's a honest and precautionary tale!
At the same time, Goodison had fallen back in love with sailing on discovering the foiling moth - he uncovered a new energy and enthusiasm that would propel him to three consecutive world titles in one of the most competitive classes out there. His love of the moth is clear to see as he shares his enthusiasm with Robertson about the single handed foiling dinghy.
Looking forward to the second part of their two part chat, Goodison and Robertson spend the second half talking about the America's Cup, and most notably Paul's role with American Magic, the official Challengers of the New York Yacht Club.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Shirley Robertson this month talks to a man that has sailed in a remarkable six America's Cup campaigns, as she sits down to chat with New Zealand grinder Jono Macbeth. As the pair discuss, Macbeth's career in sailing was in no way scheduled, starting after a chance encounter with the legendary Sir Peter Blake. Team New Zealand had just won the 1995 America's Cup in San Diego when Blake invited a young Macbeth to join an exciting new venture in Auckland. The pair first met after a random encounter at an Auckland kayak shop....:
"I was down in a squat position and I was about to try and pick up this fridge all by myself and I hear this big booming voice behind me..."Do you need a hand?" And without turning around I said "Yeah, that'd be good mate", and glanced over my shoulder and low and behold there was (Sir Peter) Blake, standing over me, arms folded."
What followed is one of the most exhaustive Cup careers in the sport. Blake invited Macbeth to join the team, and since that first Team New Zealand defence of the Cup in 2000, Macbeth has been a regular feature competing for the illusive trophy, and has lived through some of the modern era's most fascinating campaigns.
Macbeth stayed on at Team New Zealand as Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth left the team to sail with ultimate 2003 Cup winners Alinghi, and then again sailed in the Cup match after New Zealand won through the exhausting 2007 Louis Vuiton Challenger Series in Valencia.
As the future of the Cup went through the courts, and a Deed of Gift match looked likely, Macbeth joined Russell Coutts at BMW Oracle, and began sailing the monster 90ft trimaran that would ultimately win the two team Deed of Gift battle in Valencia. It was a fascinating period, as designers, sailing teams and shore crew all came to grips with the introduction of the wing sail.
Jono's story spans almost two decades of Cup campaigning - Part 1 wraps up after that Deed of Gift victory, before Part 2 gets underway in San Francisco 2013.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Part Two of Shirley Robertson's chat to a man that has sailed in a remarkable six America's Cup campaigns, as she sits down to chat with New Zealand grinder Jono Macbeth. As the pair discuss, Macbeth's career in sailing was in no way scheduled, starting after a chance encounter with the legendary Sir Peter Blake. Team New Zealand had just won the 1995 America's Cup in San Diego when Blake invited a young Macbeth to join an exciting new venture in Auckland...:
This part of the podcast joins Macbeth as the Cup yachts dropped to 72ft for the 2013 edition in San Francisco, by which time Macbeth was a regular fixture in the world of the Cup, and an integral part of the sailing team at Oracle, desperate to develop the foiling capabilities of the exciting new multi-hulls. It was a development period that didn't always go to plan...:
"I remember Jimmy clear as day over comms 'Watch out boys, look out for all your mates here', and I was thinking 'what is he talking about', and then "BANG", the bows go under and I was second cockpit back with Rome Kirby and Joey Newton and we just went underwater....the boat just kept on driving down!"
The team ultimately of course went on to overturn a huge deficit against Team New Zealand, winning the 2013 Cup in dramatic fashion, a moment that Macbeth reveals to be the highlight of his multiple Cup winning career.
From San Francisco Macbeth joined the newly formed Land Rover BAR, running the British sailing team for Sir Ben Ainslie, exiting the Cup at the Challenger Series phase in Bermuda in 2017.
Now working in a sustainability role at North Sails, Jono Macbeth is one of the most experienced grinders in the game, and his behind the scenes revelations of life at the very heart of the fight for the oldest trophy in world sport is truly fascinating.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
In this month's two part Podcast Shirley Robertson talks to four of sailing's most successful and influential sailing coaches.
In Episode Two Robertson talks to one of Olympic Sailing's most influential coaches, and she talks to one of the business world's high end psychologists who's had a big impact on the world of offshore sailing.
A double Olympic silver medallist himself, Joe Glanfield has recently coached Hannah Mills to her third Olympic medal. A gold in Tokyo with Eilidh Macintyre in the 470 Class made her the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time - each one of her three Olympic medals has been won with Glanfield as her coach. His thoughts on how to achieve success at an Olympic level, how to handle the stresses of sailing at such a high level are enlightening.
And to finish the four interview podcast, Robertson talks to Dutch business development coach Anje-Marijcke van Boxtel - an organisational psychologist specialising in executive team development who's unique approach to motivating team communication and solid leadership saw her apply her in depth knowledge in the last two editions of the Volvo Ocean Race. Eight time Volvo veteran Bouwe Bekking recruited van Boxtel to coach his team at Team Brunel, and her insights into the application of business theory to offshore sailing are fascinating.
Both coaches operate at a very high level, both coach some of the biggest names in the sport, but their thoughts and methods are as relevant on an Olympic sailing course as they are to the amateur weekend racer.
It's an inspiring listen as Robertson once again takes a deep dive into some of the most fascinating characters in the sport of sailing.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
In this month's two part Podcast Shirley Robertson talks to four of sailing's most successful and influential sailing coaches.
In Episode One Robertson talks to one of the most ubiquitous coaches in sailing, former Australian Olympian Andrew 'Dog' Palfrey, and she talks to French America's Cup super-coach Philippe Presti.
Both men coach the sport at a very high level, both men coach some of the biggest names in the sport, but their thoughts and methods are as relevant to an America's Cup sailing team as they are to the amateur weekend racer.
It's a fascinating listen as Robertson once again takes a deep dive into some of the most fascinating characters in the sport of sailing.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
In this month's edition of the podcast, Shirley Robertson sits down face to face with one of offshore sailing's most accomplished sailors, as she talks to British offshore trail blazer, Dee Caffari.
In Part One of the podcast, Robertson talks about her journey into sailing and her decision to leave an established job in search of adventure. In this edition of the podcast, now well in to her sailing career Caffari continues her account of her non stop solo around the planet adventure sailing the distinctive yellow "Aviva" around the planet in the Vendee Globe.
Post Vendee the pair discuss Caffari's thoughts on what was her third circumnavigation and touch on her next adventure, the Barcelona World Race, before discussing Caffari's experiences in the Volvo Ocean Race.
It is undeniable that both Robertson and Caffari have forged incredibly successful sailing careers, in a world that is, also undeniably, male-centric. Talk therefore inevitably turns towards this aspect of the sport, as Caffari offers some enlightening insights into her first Volvo Ocean Race campaign with all-women campaign Team SCA. The pair share the opinion that it's a great shame it needs to be discussed, but that there are clearly very limited opportunities for women in the professional world of sailing.
Staying with the Volvo Ocean, Caffari then discusses the 2017-18 edition that saw her skipper a young crew onboard "Turn the Tide on Plastic" before the pair finally reflect on the extraordinary nature of Caffari's career and the landmarks she has achieved.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
In this month's edition of the podcast, Shirley Robertson sits down face to face with one of offshore sailing's most accomplished sailors, as she talks to British offshore trail blazer, Dee Caffari.
Caffari's achievements are well documented, she holds multiple 'firsts', she's sailed around the planet six times, completed two Volvo Ocean Races, spent months alone at sea sailing 'the wrong way around' and finished a Vendee Globe in it's most attritional edition ever. And she's achieved all of that after a sudden and unexpected career change in her mid twenties...:
"I don't fit the mould, I think that's what confuses everybody, and they can't pigeon hole me, they can't put me into a box so I always feel on the outside a little bit. I grew up dancing, I didn't grow up sailing!"
From the outset Robertson and Caffari's discussion is frank and honest. Dee reveals the catalysts that saw her turn away from a successful and established career to take a chance on making it in the world of sailing. Her story is inspiring, and before long she was skippering a yacht of amateurs in the 2004 Global Challenge race.
That successful endeavour kick started an unparalleled career that first saw her become the first woman ever to sail around the world solo non-stop against the prevailing winds and currents. From there a Vendee Globe campaign onboard "Aviva" lead to a sixth place finish in an edition of the gruelling race that saw just eleven boats complete the course.
"In 2008 there were thirty entires, and only eleven finished, completed the race. In the war of attrition, which the Vendee is known for, the odds are pretty much always against you. But for me the big thing was to stand in the skippers' line up! I hadn't grown up in that environment and I'd literally just exchanged my 42 ton steel tank for an 8 ton carbon fibre race machine!"
Episode One of this two part podcast finishes as Dee Caffari sails across the start line of the 24 000 mile Vendee Globe. Her journey non stop solo around the world is then picked up as the duo continue their chat in Part 2.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
In this month's edition of the podcast, Shirley Robertson talks to a host of Olympic sailing stars as she delves deep into the world of British Sailing, and asks just why the team has become such a dominant force in Olympic Sailing.
Robertson, a former Team GB member herself of course, a four time Olympian and double Olympic gold medallist, talks to three of Team GB's Tokyo 2020 gold medallists, discussing their own personal routes to victory, but also delving into life as a member of the most successful Olympic sailing team of all time.
In part two of the podcast Robertson talks to the men's 49er Class crew Stu Bithell and she talks to Finn gold medallist Giles Scott. Both Bithell and Scott thrilled British sailing fans in the manner of their medal wins, both managing to grasp gold medals that seemed to be slipping away in two of the closest medal races in recent memory. Bithell and helm Dylan Fletcher just squeezed enough speed out of their 49er to put points between themselves and New Zealand gold medal favourites Burling and Tuke, while Giles Scott manoeuvred himself back into gold medal position on the very final leg of his medal race after a nerve wracking twenty minutes of sailing that saw the reigning Finn gold medallist re-start his race...:
"The only way that I could really mess things up and slip off the podium was if I got disqualified and Josh (Junior) won the race. So that is your doomsday scenario that you have to talk about....so the conclusion to that was if there is at all a chance of you being over the line, you're going back and of course in that race there was an individual recall flag.....as soon as the flag went up I was going back, there wasn't anything going through my head....and from there it was a full scramble to try and get back into the race."
Robertson also gets an outside perspective on the Great British Medal Factory, talking to newly appointed US Sailing performance head Paul Cayard. A former Olympian himself, Cayard has been tasked with turning around the fortunes of the ailing American sailing team, and has an interesting take on his observations of the British setup.
In Part 1 of this edition she kicks off the podcast with the woman who's gold medal in the 470 Class in Tokyo makes her the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time - British 470 helm Hannah Mills. Robertson also talks to the Team's Head of Performance, Mark Robinson, she discusses the rigours of back to back Olympic campaigning with Team GB's Luke Patience. A three time Olympian, Patience started his career with a silver in London, but after two consecutive fifth place finishes in Rio and Tokyo, is both honest and sincere in his description of the pain that constant Olympic pressure can bring. It's a moving account from one of British Sailing's most eloquent of athletes.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
In this month's edition of the podcast, Shirley Robertson talks to a host of Olympic sailing stars as she delves deep into the world of British Sailing, and asks just why the team has become such a dominant force in Olympic Sailing.
Robertson, a former Team GB member herself of course, a four time Olympian and double Olympic gold medallist, talks to three of Team GB's Tokyo 2020 gold medallists, discussing their own personal routes to victory, but also delving into life as a member of the most successful Olympic sailing team of all time. She also talks to the Team's Head of Performance, Mark Robinson, she discusses the rigours of back to back Olympic campaigning with Team GB's Luke Patience, and she gets the outside viewpoint from US Sailing's Paul Cayard.
Kicking off the podcast in Episode 1, Robertson talks to the woman who's gold medal in the 470 Class in Tokyo makes her the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time - British 470 helm Hannah Mills.
"At the Games there's so much distraction, there's a bit of a circus because it is the Olympic Games....it's like a marathon of horrible stressful days but what I think I'm good at is just accepting that it's fine...the nerves are fine, it means you care, it's a good thing....it's just part of you for that experience, and being able to accept all those things that you can't control....whilst all that's going on the background, that's the difference between success and failure at the Games."
Mills and crew Eilidh Mcintyre were one of three gold medal winning teams for the British Sailing Team in Tokyo. In part two of the podcast Robertson talks to the men's 49er Class crew Stu Bithell and she talks to Finn gold medallist Giles Scott.
Episode 1 wraps up with an insightful and moving discussion with 470 fifth place finisher Luke Patience. A three time Olympian, Patience started his career with a silver in London, but after two consecutive fifth place finishes in Rio and Tokyo, is both honest and sincere in his description of the pain that constant Olympic pressure can bring. It's a moving account from one of British Sailing's most eloquent of athletes.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Part 2 of this months's edition of the podcast which sees Shirley Robertson talk to one of the modern America's Cup era's most influential sailors as she interviews Australian Glenn Ashby. An integral part of Emirates Team New Zealand, Ashby has just won his third America's Cup, and talked to Robertson after celebrating the team's successful defence in March 2021.
Like many of Robertson's guests, in Part 1 Ashby reveals that his early life in sailing saw him working in a sail loft, having left school at the age of sixteen, but by then he had already made a name for himself out on the water. Growing up sailing on a lake in Bendigo, Victoria, the first time Ashby sailed on the sea was at eleven years old, in a regatta that saw him become junior state champion. From there, only a potential career racing motorbikes was going to stop the young Ashby becoming a professional sailor - motor sport lost the battle, for the teenage Ashby, Europe was calling...:
"There was a French guy, I heard a bang bang bang on the window, he was throwing stones from on the street to wake me up...and I got down to the boat park and the whole fleet had left, my boat was the only boat on the beach with the cover on. If I hadn't made that race I'd have lost the regatta!"
That admission from Ashby from his first A-Class Worlds regatta win in 1996. He would go on to claim nine more A-Class world titles, three Formula 18 World titles and three Tornado world titles. His ability to sail fast cats fast soon saw him claim a spot at the Olympics where in 2008 he won a silver medal in the outgoing Tornado Class with fellow Aussie Darren Bundock
Inevitably Robertson and Ashby turn to chat of the America's Cup which was itself beginning to look at multihulls for the 2010 Deed of Gift Match. Once decided, Ashby's inclusion was inevitable. Having joined BMW Oracle for the 2010 edition, Ashby then began a career with Emirates Team New Zealand, as they looked to win the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco. What followed for Ashby has been a three Cup campaign with one of the most successful teams of the modern era, but as Ashby reveals, after the shattering defeat in San Francisco, things could have been very different in deed.
"Sitting in the board room with seven or eight people having to make a decision, with Dalts saying 'it's up to you guys, do we shut the doors, or do we keep them open, what do we do?' The brutal reality of the doors of a team that had been around for twenty odd years, to have to be part of that decision making process to shut the doors after being so close, it just didn't feel right."
And so as Ashby reveals, the comeback began. It's a revealing chat, as Glenn talks through the "clean sheet of paper" that saw Emirates Team New Zealand ultimately win the 35th America's Cup in Bermuda. It's an inspirational tale told by one of the team's pivotal members.
Robertson's interview with Ashby is a fascinating discussion, looking behind the scenes of some of the modern era's most talked about Cup moments, from trying to keep the foils of the AC72 a secret pre San Francisco to redemption in Bermuda and the foiling monohulls of AC36, all told first hand from one of the modern day sailing's genuine pioneers.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
This month's edition of the podcast sees Shirley Robertson talk to one of the modern America's Cup era's most influential sailors as she interviews Australian Glenn Ashby. An integral part of Emirates Team New Zealand, Ashby has just won his third America's Cup, and talked to Robertson after celebrating the team's successful defence in March 2021.
Like many of Robertson's guests, Ashby reveals that his early life in sailing saw him working in a sail loft, having left school at the age of sixteen, but by then he had already made a name for himself out on the water. Growing up sailing on a lake in Bendigo, Victoria, the first time Ashby sailed on the sea was at eleven years old, in a regatta that saw him become junior state champion. From there, only a potential career racing motorbikes was going to stop the young Ashby becoming a professional sailor - motor sport lost the battle, for the teenage Ashby, Europe was calling...:
"There was a French guy, I heard a bang bang bang on the window, he was throwing stones from on the street to wake me up...and I got down to the boat park and the whole fleet had left, my boat was the only boat on the beach with the cover on. If I hadn't made that race I'd have lost the regatta!"
That admission from Ashby from his first A-Class Worlds regatta win in 1996. He would go on to claim nine more A-Class world titles, three Formula 18 World titles and three Tornado world titles. His ability to sail fast cats fast soon saw him claim a spot at the Olympics where in 2008 he won a silver medal in the outgoing Tornado Class with fellow Aussie Darren Bundock
Inevitably Robertson and Ashby turn to chat of the America's Cup which was itself beginning to look at multihulls for the 2010 Deed of Gift Match. Once decided, Ashby's inclusion was inevitable. Having joined BMW Oracle for the 2010 edition, Ashby then began a career with Emirates Team New Zealand, as they looked to win the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco. What followed for Ashby has been a three Cup campaign with one of the most successful teams of the modern era, but as Ashby reveals, after the shattering defeat in San Francisco, things could have been very different in deed.
"Sitting in the board room with seven or eight people having to make a decision, with Dalts saying 'it's up to you guys, do we shut the doors, or do we keep them open, what do we do?' The brutal reality of the doors of a team that had been around for twenty odd years, to have to be part of that decision making process to shut the doors after being so close, it just didn't feel right."
And so as Ashby reveals, the comeback began. It's a revealing chat, as Glenn talks through the "clean sheet of paper" that saw Emirates Team New Zealand ultimately win the 35th America's Cup in Bermuda. It's an inspirational tale told by one of the team's pivotal members.
Robertson's interview with Ashby is a fascinating discussion, looking behind the scenes of some of the modern era's most talked about Cup moments, from trying to keep the foils of the AC72 a secret pre San Francisco to redemption in Bermuda and the foiling monohulls of AC36, all told first hand from one of the modern day sailing's genuine pioneers.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Part 2 of this month's podcast which sees Shirley Robertson talk to one of the world's leading offshore and Maxi yacht skippers, from New Zealand, Mike "Moose" Sanderson. With tales to tell from the America's Cup, the Volvo Ocean Race and a host of successful Maxi yacht campaigns, Sanderson is a man who very obviously loves to talk sailing. Having left school early to pursue a career as a sail maker, he has spent his entire adult life immersed in the sport, and from his very first answer his enthusiasm and passion is there for all to hear.
Having sat down to talk just days after Emirates Team New Zealand's win at the 36th America's Cup, the pair kick things off with a short chat about the successful defence of the Cup, before moving on to Sanderson's early love of sailing and desire to make a living from the sport. HIs early inspiration was New Zealand's 1987 Freemantle America's Cup campaign, and of course Sir Peter Blake, and "Steinlager 2's" Whitbread win of 1990, both of which drove him to quit school and take to sailing. Within a few years he had attracted the attention of some big names, in a country where big things were happening in the sport of sailing. At twenty one he was on the crew of New Zealand Endeavour, off around the world on the Whitbread, and his career was well underway.
"What was unbelievable about that campaign was that it was only four or five years after Freemantle, and all my heroes from Freemantle were actually sailing on the boat, these guys had literally all been on posters on my wall, and now I'm getting to sail around the world with them!"
That 1993/94 Whitbread Race was his first of many circumnavigations that made a big impression on the young twenty two year old.
"My first time around the world was like honestly, it was like reading a book about the round the world race...in the Southern Ocean we broke the mizzen mast, everything which I dreamt about, good and bad, it all happened. It was a very surreal time."
The 1993/94 Whitbread was the start of a career that would take in America's Cup campaigns, multiple Whitbread and Volvo Ocean Race campaigns, and a World Sailor of the Year win in 2006, having become the youngest skipper ever to win the prestigious Volvo Ocean Race leading the famed "ABN Amro I" campaign. His career spans the modern era of yacht racing, and has seen him sail with some of the biggest names in the sport.
He talks candidly about the Cup period in 2003 in Auckland when Alinghi beat Team New Zealand, and of the implications that had for the sport...:
"That 1989 to 2000 period was interesting times....post 2000 of course was probably the biggest turning point in professional sailing that we've seen....because it went from something that you could possibly live on to literally overnight salaries tripled, quadrupled, whatever you like, suddenly every man and his dog was putting up there hand. It was a great time to be a professional sailor"
As an insight into the modern professional era of competitive sailing, this honest and engaging interview opens the door on life as a professional in our sport, and takes the listener down a multitude of different avenues, as Sanderson opens up on a lifetime spent sailing at the highest level.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
This month on her podcast Shirley Robertson talks to one of the world's leading offshore and Maxi yacht skippers, from New Zealand, Mike "Moose" Sanderson. With tales to tell from the America's Cup, the Volvo Ocean Race and a host of successful Maxi yacht campaigns, Sanderson is a man who very obviously loves to talk sailing. Having left school early to pursue a career as a sail maker, he has spent his entire adult life immersed in the sport, and from his very first answer his enthusiasm and passion is there for all to hear.
Having sat down to talk just days after Emirates Team New Zealand's win at the 36th America's Cup, the pair kick things off with a short chat about the successful defence of the Cup, before moving on to Sanderson's early love of sailing and desire to make a living from the sport. HIs early inspiration was New Zealand's 1987 Freemantle America's Cup campaign, and of course Sir Peter Blake, and "Steinlager 2's" Whitbread win of 1990, both of which drove him to quit school and take to sailing. Within a few years he had attracted the attention of some big names, in a country where big things were happening in the sport of sailing. At twenty one he was on the crew of New Zealand Endeavour, off around the world on the Whitbread, and his career was well underway.
"What was unbelievable about that campaign was that it was only four or five years after Freemantle, and all my heroes from Freemantle were actually sailing on the boat, these guys had literally all been on posters on my wall, and now I'm getting to sail around the world with them!"
That 1993/94 Whitbread Race was his first of many circumnavigations that made a big impression on the young twenty two year old.
"My first time around the world was like honestly, it was like reading a book about the round the world race...in the Southern Ocean we broke the mizzen mast, everything which I dreamt about, good and bad, it all happened. It was a very surreal time."
The 1993/94 Whitbread was the start of a career that would take in America's Cup campaigns, multiple Whitbread and Volvo Ocean Race campaigns, and a World Sailor of the Year win in 2006, having become the youngest skipper ever to win the prestigious Volvo Ocean Race leading the famed "ABN Amro I" campaign. His career spans the modern era of yacht racing, and has seen him sail with some of the biggest names in the sport.
He talks candidly about the Cup period in 2003 in Auckland when Alinghi beat Team New Zealand, and of the implications that had for the sport...:
"That 1989 to 2000 period was interesting times....post 2000 of course was probably the biggest turning point in professional sailing that we've seen....because it went from something that you could possibly live on to literally overnight salaries tripled, quadrupled, whatever you like, suddenly every man and his dog was putting up there hand. It was a great time to be a professional sailor"
As an insight into the modern professional era of competitive sailing, this honest and engaging interview opens the door on life as a professional in our sport, and takes the listener down a multitude of different avenues, as Sanderson opens up on a lifetime spent sailing at the highest level.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Shirley Robertson's guest this month is one of the most successful tacticians of the modern era. From the America's Cup to the Whitbread, the Admirals Cup to the Sydney Hobart, New Zealand's Brad Butterworth has been at the sharp end of competitive sailing for his entire adult life, and has a grand prix sailing CV few could match.
The duo sat down together at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in Auckland where Butterworth had been consulting for the official Challenger of record, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. The pair kick things off by discussing various aspects of the thirty sixth America's Cup, including the adoption of the new Cup Class, the AC75, and Brad's role as mediator between the Challenger and the Defender.
Sailing since his early school days, Butterworth has strong opinions on various aspects of the America's Cup, and as a winner of four consecutive Cups for two different nations, has more back to back race wins than any afterguard member in Cup history, a fact that in 2004 saw him honoured in the America's Cup Hall of Fame.
In Part 1 of this two part podcast, Robertson and Butterworth talk about his days campaigning with Sir Peter Blake, in the Whitbread Race of 1995, a race that saw 'Steinlager II' dominate the fleet, a fact that had a great effect on the up and coming Butterworth, but in Part 2 the talk centres on Butterworth's successes in the America's Cup, winning for New Zealand in 1995, successfully defending the Cup on home waters in 2000 and then, in a move hugely unpopular with the sailing mad New Zealand public, moving from Team New Zealand to Swiss rivals and eventual 2003 winners Alinghi...:
"It was crazy, it was madness, they were trying to put bullet proof vests on us when we towed out, he (Coutts) had protection, I had protection, a lot of the guys, Kiwis, had protection....they started a movement called Blackheart, which was a great name, for a group that hated us guys. It got out of control. They tried to make it as hard as they possibly could to leave here and compete."
As an insight into the behind the scenes goings on at the highest level of our sport, this two part podcast is a fascinating discussion with one of the most candid, high level names in sailing. From nationality rules to classes of boat through to race formats and court cases, all told from the perspective of a man who openly admits few people would ever call him diplomatic.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Shirley Robertson's guest this month is one of the most successful tacticians of the modern era. From the America's Cup to the Whitbread, the Admirals Cup to the Sydney Hobart, New Zealand's Brad Butterworth has been at the sharp end of competitive sailing for his entire adult life, and has a grand prix sailing CV few could match.
The duo sat down together at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in Auckland where Butterworth had been consulting for the official Challenger of record, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. The pair kick things off by discussing various aspects of the thirty sixth America's Cup, including the adoption of the new Cup Class, the AC75, and Brad's role as mediator between the Challenger and the Defender.
Sailing since his early school days, Butterworth has strong opinions on various aspects of the America's Cup, and as a winner of four consecutive Cups for two different nations, has more back to back race wins than any afterguard member in Cup history, a fact that in 2004 saw him honoured in the America's Cup Hall of Fame. Robertson and Butterworth spend much time discussing this rich Cup history but also talk about his days campaigning with Sir Peter Blake, in the Whitbread Race of 1995, a race that saw 'Steinlager II' dominate the fleet, a fact that had a great effect on the up and coming Butterworth...:
"He's the best seaman I've ever seen, with seamanship skills by far the best, in the world, I would say, and he taught us guys all of what we know today....When he put his (sea)boots on, you paid attention, you'd think 'OK, things are a bit hairy up there', he was very good with the weather, he had the utmost respect from us guys, until the day he died."
With Blake as skipper, and Butterworth as one of the watch leaders, "Steinlager II" won every one of the six legs of that 1989-90 Whitbread Race, and remains the only boat to have ever sailed a clean sweep of what is now The Ocean Race.
In 1989 Brad Butterworth joined the crew of Larry Ellison's Sayonara to sail in the Sydney to Hobart race, taking line honours in an addition that would become synonymous with tragedy and loss of life. Six sailors were lost as the one hundred and fifteen strong fleet were battered by unprecedented storms on the 630 mile course.
"It's a hard thing for them to do but they should have cancelled it, or delayed it, by two days would have made a huge difference. But it was a beautiful day sailing out of Sydney Heads, a full on Sydney farewell, and then that night that southerly buster came in and just got worse and worse. And then the wind gear blew off the top of the tree at seventy two knots, it took us four hours to put the storm jib on, the sea state was so bad"
In Part 2 of their chat Butterworth talks to Robertson about winning the Cup for New Zealand, successfully defending the Cup on home waters and then, in a move hugely unpopular with the sailing mad New Zealand public, moving from Team New Zealand to Swiss rivals and eventual 2003 winners Alinghi...:
"It was crazy, it was madness, they were trying to put bullet proof vests on us when we towed out, he (Coutts) had protection, I had protection, a lot of the guys, Kiwis, had protection....they started a movement called Blackheart, which was a great name, for a group that hated us guys. It got out of control. They tried to make it as hard as they possibly could to leave here and compete."
As an insight into the behind the scenes goings on at the highest level of our sport, this two part podcast is a fascinating discussion with one of the most candid, high level names in sailing. From nationality rules to classes of boat through to race formats and court cases, all told from the perspective of a man who openly admits few people would ever call him diplomatic.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Season 3 of the Podcast continues here with Part 2 of Shirley Robertson's chat with American Magic main man Terry Hutchinson...:
Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast continues with this, the second of a two part interview with one of the sport's most decorated skippers. American sailor Terry Hutchinson has been a world champion sixteen times, he's twice been World Sailor of the Year and has competed in five America's Cup campaigns. Most recently he lead the New York Yacht Club's return to the Cup as the skipper and Executive Director of AC36 Challengers American Magic.
Talking in Auckland after the culmination of the Prada Cup Challenger Series, Hutchinson and Robertson spend this Part 2 discussing American Magic's campaign at AC36, in a franf and candid interview that sees Terry initially reveal how the team felt about their fellow Challengers heading into the Prada Cup, discussing the landscape heading into the start of competition in Auckland. In a pragmatic and candid discussion, Terry then talks Shirley through the race against Luna Rossa on January 17th, as he reveals the impact of the team's capsize on the campaign...:
"In retrospect the thing I regret the most is not chirping up and saying, having the presence of mind to say 'hey, just protect the asset here' because we had a big lead. but the previous leg, we had done the exact same manoeuvre." It's an honest and revealing discussion that takes place at a difficult time for Hutchinson, clearly disappointed at the end result for a team that he feels had a lot more to give at AC36...:
"The hard part is that my measure is the scorecard. When I get on the plane, I definitely know I'm gonna be sad, we're leaving without what we came for, and at the same time I do take solace in the fact that we conducted ourselves in the manner that not only the Club, but our principals would have expected us to. That has to mean something, but I still use the scorecard as the measure."
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Shirley Robertson kicks of Season 3 of the Podcast with American Magic main man Terry Hutchinson...:
Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast is here for another Series, and gets underway with this, the first of a two part interview with one of the sport's most decorated skippers. American sailor Terry Hutchinson has been a world champion sixteen times, he's twice been World Sailor of the Year and has competed in five America's Cup campaigns. Most recently he lead the New York Yacht Club's return to the Cup as the skipper and Executive Director of AC36 Challengers American Magic.
Talking in Auckland after the culmination of the Prada Cup Challenger Series, Hutchinson and Robertson spend much of Part 2 discussing American Magic's campaign at AC36, but kick off the podcast here with tales of Terry's early career, during which he shares an admission that as a school boy in 1983, he skipped class to go and watch Dennis Connor, then sitting at 3-3 against "Australia II" ultimately lose the America's Cup...:
"I thought, there's a big race going on and I need to go and watch this so I asked my teacher if I could go to the bathroom, and I just kept walking and walked down to Marmadukes in Eastport and watched Dennis go from winning that race to not winning. After the race was over I walked back into school and low and behold everyone was wondering where I was, my Mom was there wondering 'what did you do!', and I was 'Race 7 of the America's Cup was going on, I had to go and watch it!'"
It was a determination that would see Hutchinson rise through the ranks of the American sailing world, joining Paul Cayard in 2000 as main trimmer on board America One. The pair discuss Terry's early Cup exploits, including joining the 2003 Stars and Stripes campaign with Dennis Connor...:
"I went to his house for dinner, he cooked this incredible chicken curry, and I went to his house and when I walked in, he's got this replica of the America's Cup. To be considered part of his team, was really an unbelievable compliment." Other Cup highlights in this part include sailing against Alinghi for Emirates Team New Zealand in 2007, and then campaigning with Artemis in the build up to San Francisco 2013, during which time Hutchinson sailed on the radical new Extreme Sailing series. Robertson and Hutchinson also discuss the phenomenal success of Quantum Racing, the TP52 sailing series and Terry's relationship with team owner Doug DeVoss.
Inevitably though, much of the chat centres around the 36th America's Cup, and Terry's recent campaign with American Magic. In Part 2 Terry reveals how the team felt about their fellow Challengers heading into the Prada Cup, as they discuss the landscape heading into the start of competition in Auckland. In a pragmatic and candid discussion, Terry then talks Shirley through the race against Luna Rossa on January 17th, as he reveals the impact of the team's capsize on the campaign...:
"In retrospect the thing I regret the most is not chirping up and saying, having the presence of mind to say 'hey, just protect the asset here' because we had a big lead. but the previous leg, we had done the exact same manoeuvre."
It's an honest and revealing discussion that takes place at a difficult time for Hutchinson, clearly disappointed at the end result for a team that he feels had a lot more to give at AC36...:
This edition of the podcast is in 2 parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact
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As the sailing world comes to terms with the withdrawal symptoms brought about by the conclusion of AC36, Shirley Robertson takes one final look back at the three months of Cup action with co-commentator Kenny Read. Throughout this single episode extra edition of the podcast, there are also appearances from Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Pete Burling, Luna Rossa's co-helm pair of Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni, and an exclusive chat with INEOS TEAM UK front man, now representing the AC37 official Challenger of Record, Sir Ben Ainslie.
Commentating at his third America's Cup, North Sails President Kenny Read joins Robertson to talk through their experiences from three months in New Zealand, including some insight into the broadcasting of AC36. They discuss the winning differences between the Defender and the Challenger, but also reveal some amusing moments from three months spent living in the sailing obsessed city of Auckland...:
"I walk around the corner and there's a guy standing there with his shirt sleeves cut off, it's about ten thirty at night, and he's got a Burling tattoo on his bicep, he's a big guy, with a big bicep, and I lean over and say 'Is that temporary?' and he goes "Hell no mate, this is the real thing!" and he flexes! The passion!! He has a BIG Pete Burling tattoo on his bicep! So, you know what, this passion is what we want to see behind the curtain, inside Team New Zealand, because it's there!"
The pair discuss the passion and culture they've experienced while working in Auckland as well as the differences between the two teams of AC36. They look at the personalities involved, and go through some of the rumours circulating around the future of the Cup. Recorded before the official announcement regarding AC37 by Emirates Team New Zealand, Reed and Robertson look at what they already know, and discuss the new AC75 Class and how they have matched up to the foiling classes of previous Cups. And they also talk about how the end of the Cup usually then signals the start of the transfer season for both sailing and back room Cup staff...:
"This is a professional sporting event right, and free agency just started at about 6:05 last night. You don't think there's phone calls being made to key players right now, then you're dreaming! Do you think the Italians will be back...? I would imagine they would love to be back, but back to what? You have to preface by saying nobody knows where, when, how or what. And until that happens, I know the New York Yacht Club, they're sitting there saying 'show me the rules and I'll let you know if I'm gonna come."
Robertson ends the podcast by talking to INEOS TEAM UK skipper Sir Ben Ainslie, fresh from the announcement that the team will be the Challenger of Record for the next edition. Amongst other things, Ainslie reveals his thoughts on the declared intention to commit to the retention of the fully foiling mono hull, the AC75, for AC37 and beyond...:
"The fact that we're committing to the AC75 Class is a massive boost for the Cup, I'd like to see that class committed to for the next ten years or more. One of the most successful Cups we've seen in the modern history of the Cup was in Valencia with version five of the IACC Class, so sticking to the AC75 Class is really key for the short to medium term future of the Cup."
Ainslie's interview with Robertson concludes this edition, which marks the end of Season Two of the successful Sailing Podcast. After a short one month break, Season Three will see the podcast return with a host of new interviews lined up from some of the biggest names in the sport.
"Since July 2019 we've published thirty eight episodes of the podcast, at an edition a month for almost two years, that's well over forty hours of audio posted
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With the final races of the 36th America's Cup Match now just moments away, Shirley Robertson previews the action in another two part podcast from the heart of the action in Auckland New, Zealand.
The two part podcast kicks off with an interview with the port side helm of the successful Challenger, the AC36 Challenger of Record, Luna Rossa's Francesco Bruni. Bruni has been at the forefront of the Italian team's significant improvements in performance over this campaign, and is both realistic and candid as he discusses their Prada Cup success. He attributes much of that success to the calm and level head of co-helm, Jimmy Spithill, and is both respectful and hopeful when quizzed about their Cup opponents, Emirates Team New Zealand.
"We know they've ben pushing a lot their package for speed, they have small foils, a small rudder, sometimes they lose control a bit because of that. They are not unbeatable I think but they will definitely be hard opponents to be sure. And they have experience, their whole campaign, package , people, experience I think is the biggest asset they have."
Following on from the discussion with Bruni, Robertson talks to Emirates Team New Zealand super coach Ray Davies. Davies is a mastermind of the new world of Cup racing, and has been a proud member of the Kiwi outfit for almost two decades. The gossip around the harbour side in Auckland of late has been of the team's sensational speeds out on the water and Davies is quick to dispel any chat that the team are anything but race ready. While the Challengers have all been fighting out against each other, the Defender has been clocking up the training miles out in the Hauraki Gulf, and as competition draws near, Davies is clear on how pleased he is with the team's progress...:
"We just get more comfortable all the time now, sailing in breeze. With these type of boats you get a little nervous when you hit that fifty knot mark, but now it's just standard but once you get comfortable with that, you're just looking for more and more. The guys are doing an incredible job, sailing the boat, but once you know the limits of the boat and the boat's working well then you can just push harder and harder."
Both Bruni and Davies discuss their thoughts on their respective opponents, their thoughts on how the racing has been to date, and how and where the match may be won and lost. Ahead of the first to seven wins match, it's an insightful listen to augment enjoyment of the upcoming broadcast.
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With the final races of the 36th America's Cup Match now just moments away, Shirley Robertson previews the action in another two part podcast from the heart of the action in Auckland New Zealand.
In this edition, Part 2 of the Cup Preview, Robertson looks back on the Prada Cup Challenger Selection Series with fellow broadcast commentator and one time America's Cup helm Kenny Read. The pair discuss the performance of the three Challengers, before being joined by special guest, David 'Freddie' Carr. Freddie, a one time Extreme 40 team mate of Robertson's, is the lynch pin of the INEOS TEAM UK grinding unit, and still sore from the Prada Cup Final exit, is candid and honest as he talks about the performance of the successful defender, Luna Rossa, but also about the British team's rollercoaster Challenger Series as they bounced back from serious hardware issue heading into the regatta...:
"It was phenomenally hard, for the design team, they realised there was a problem that was going on with the boat, with the foils, we had a problem with what was going on with the boat and we had to figure out what was the problem. We had about a week to figure out how to sail this modified boat. As soon as we put the boat back in the water, after the designers figured out the problem, we knew we were back in the game!"
Freddie talks honestly about the teams turn around of fortune, before moving on to the loss to Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. Carr discusses how he thinks the Cup Match may pan out, beofre leaving Robertson and Read to go over their thoughts on the upcoming action.
As a preview to the upcoming first to seven wins regatta, it's an insightful hour of chat to take in before racing resumes out on the waters of the Hauraki Gulf.
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This month's edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast sees the double Olympic gold medallist talking to one of the current stars of the 36th America's Cup, as she chats with British INEOS TEAM UK tactician, Olympic Gold medallist and multiple world champion in the Finn Class, Giles Scott.
At just thirty four years old, Scott is already sailing in his third Cup Challenger Series campaign, and has become a pivotal part of Sir Ben Ainslie's after guard. During racing, discussions between the pair on board the British boat 'Britannia' are available for all to hear on the live broadcasts of the event, and reveal an understanding and relationship that spans over two decades.
In the first part of this two part podcast, Scott discusses his early days of sailing, and how a move to the Finn Class saw him campaigning with Ainslie in the build up to the 2008 Olympics in China. Three years later, at just twenty four, Scott was a dominant force in the Finn, but describes the bitter disappointment of missing out on a London 2012, as Ainslie took the British Finn spot in their home Olympic Games. It was a set back that would forge within Scott an even greater resolve. By Rio his domination of the Finn Class was absolute, and his relief at finally clinching the Olympic gold medal was there for all to see as he sailed to victory in Brazil with a day of racing to spare...:
"I always got a lot of grief in the build up to Rio because I was a boring winner, I'd never celebrate, I'd never give them the amazing photo, or, you know, I'd always just give it the thumbs up but the reason I did that was because it wasn't the one that I wanted. So the out roar of winning in Rio was, it was a big release of all that tension, emotion, I kind of, had done what I'd aimed at, yeah, it was a good moment."
Part one of this edition covers much of Scott's Olympic career, as he remains in hopeful preparation for the postponed Tokyo Games of 2021, but in Part two, chat turns to the America's Cup, and the British team's goal of winning the Cup back for the first time in it's one hundred and seventy year history.
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This month's edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast sees the double Olympic gold medallist talking to one of the current stars of the 36th America's Cup, as she chats with British INEOS TEAM UK tactician, Olympic Gold medallist and multiple world champion in the Finn Class, Giles Scott.
At just thirty four years old, Scott is already sailing in his third Cup Challenger Series campaign, and has become a pivotal part of Sir Ben Ainslie's after guard. During racing, discussions between the pair on board the British boat 'Britannia' are available for all to hear on the live broadcasts of the event, and reveal an understanding and relationship that spans over two decades.
Part one of this edition covers much of Scott's Olympic career, as he remains in hopeful preparation for the postponed Tokyo Games of 2021, but in Part two, chat turns to the America's Cup, and the British team's goal of winning the Cup back for the first time in it's one hundred and seventy year history.
This episode of the podcast turns to Scott's America's Cup career, as he talks though his early days in the Cup with the Luna Rossa team of the AC34 campaign, before moving on to his time with Ainslie's AC35 LandRoverBAR team, and the campaign in Bermuda.
Much of the chat here though is of course about AC36, the Cup here and Auckland, as the pair talk through the problematic opening World Series races, the Team's dramatic turn around in form and the up-coming Prada Cup Final match with Luna Rossa. Robertson and Scott discuss the Team's unbeaten run in the Round Robins of the Prada Cup, but they also reflect on whether American Challenger, American Magic's capsize has effected the approach of the other teams racing.
"These boats are extreme, they're set up on a knife edge and if you want them to be faster you go closer to that knife edge, and that's the way that we race them, we have to to because we want them to be as fast as they can be, so yeah, you're never ever that far away from a bit of a 'whoopsie'."
Scott's onboard relationship with Ainslie, the team's crew set up and specifically Scott's hybrid role as tactician - come - offside - pilot has so far proved successful in the shifty winds of this Auckland race course, but in discussion with Robertson, it's a success that Scott is typically modest about...:
"Of course Ben wants the right information coming to him and is unforgiving because like me, he wants to win races, like all of us in the team, and racing these boats is pretty high pressured and it's not the most relaxing thing to do, although at times, when things are going well, from the comms it almost does sound relaxing but it isn't. So yeah, I think, I just want to nail every piece of information that I give, make sure it's as fact based as I can make it and that we're hedging the right way and responding to the competitor in the right way."
The Prada Cup Final kicks off on February 13th and will see Scott's INEOS TEAM UK race against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in a first-to-seven-wins final to decide the Challenger for the 36th America's Cup.
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In Part 2 of this month's Edition, Robertson then sits down with three key players from the Challengers themselves, kicking things off with American Magic skipper Terry Hutchinson. The only team to have beaten all three of the other teams in the December racing here in Auckland, American Magic put in a solid performance pre Christmas, although Hutchinson was quick to point out that they still didn't win the regatta. He did however reveal how happy the team were to be back out on the water mixing it up with their rivals...:
"Andrew Campbell commented that for the last eighteen months our simulator and our VPP have driven us to sail the boat in a different way and we're learning how to sail the boat around how these tools have taught us to sail the boat, and they're quite good, quite exciting, and yet it just hits you right in the face that all this equipment that you have is good, but it's not real life, and so we have to get back on the water and do it in real life."
From Challenger of Record Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, Robertson talks to helm Francesco 'Checco' Bruni, unique in the Cup in that he is co-helm of the Italian boat with Australian Jimmy Spithill. Bruni starts by reflecting on the team's performance during the December races...:
"We definitely felt we were very strong in the light wind and missing something in the stronger wind so our focus obviously is to work on that weakness, but we knew already that all our components for that period of the racing would have been good in the lighter wind."
Robertson's third chat is with a returning podcast guest, Sir Ben Ainslie, Team Principal and helm of British challenger INEOS TEAM UK. The British boat suffered performance issues during the December racing, at times struggling to get up onto the foils in the lighter airs. Forthright and pragmatic in the press conferences that followed racing, sitting down with Robertson for the podcast, a determined Ben Ainslie was hopeful that his team would be able to become more and more of a threat over the running of the Prada Cup.
"You can certainly change your measurement certificate through the Prada Cup through the different rounds....and also how you sail the boat and set the boat up. So I think you'll see a lot of improvements through the Prada Cup, and whoever gets through, we're certainly going to have to push each other hard for that Challenger to give the Kiwis a race, because right now they're head and shoulders above the three other teams and we've really got to up our game to be competitive against them."
The Prada Cup kicks off on January 15th with a series of round robin heats that will decide one finalist and two semi finalists. The end of January will see a first-to-four-wins semi final, and then from 13th to 22nd February the two finalists will sail in a first-to-seven-wins final to decide the Challenger for the 36th America's Cup.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com
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With the eyes of the sailing world focused firmly on the waters of Auckland, Shirley Robertson is in New Zealand to preview the Challenger Selection Series for the 36th America's Cup.
Pre-Christmas racing is now over, so this month's two part edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast looks forward to the next instalment of America's Cup racing, the Prada Cup.
In Part 1 of this Edition, Robertson talks to her fellow Broadcast Commentators at the Cup, as Kenny Read and Nathan Outteridge discuss all they have seen in the World Series racing to date, and weigh up the strengths of each of the three Challengers as the Prada Cup draws near. The trio dissect the performance of the three teams to date, look at where each team may be able to improve and discuss some of the design differences apparent in each of the Challenger set ups.
The Prada Cup kicks off on January 15th with a series of round robin heats that will decide one finalist and two semi finalists. The end of January will see a first-to-four-wins semi final, and then from 13th to 22nd February the two finalists will sail in a first-to-seven-wins final to decide the Challenger for the 36th America's Cup.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
The worlds of offshore sailing and unbridled adventure meet head to head in this month's edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast, as the two time Olympic gold medallist talks face to face with legendary American Whitbread skipper and off the grid sailing expedition pioneer Skip Novak.
Today, Novak is known throughout the sailing world as the go to man for sailing led polar exploration. For over three decades he has been running his famous "Pelagic' exploration yachts and is a man with much to say about his career exploring at high latitude, a passion that first came to him while racing around the planet in his first of four Whitbread Round the World Yacht Races.
Part Two of this podcast sees the pair pick up with more Whitbread revelations, including Novak's telling of the tragedy surrounding his 1989 Whitbread campaign as skipper of 'Fazisi', the first ever Soviet team entry into the iconic round the world race, that happened to see the crew racing around the planet while at home, the collapse of the Iron Curtain was bringing in wide sweeping changes to Gorbachev's Soviet Union.
Throughout this edition of the podcast, Novak's accounts of his time spent racing around the planet make for compulsive listening, he's a man that's written many a book about his ocean adventures, and his impressive story telling is on show for all to see here, as he dips into a vast memory bank of over four decades of ocean adventure.
The final segment in this edition sees the pair turn to Novak's love of exploration, as he reveals his love of the polar regions, the growth of his expedition operation 'Pelagic' and how he has turned the endeavour into a successful global business. He discusses what makes the perfect exploration vessel, and reveals how his love of climbing and life in the mountains has dove tailed perfectly with his thirst for polar adventure.
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The worlds of offshore sailing and unbridled adventure meet head to head in this month's edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast, as the two time Olympic gold medallist talks face to face with legendary American Whitbread skipper and off the grid sailing expedition pioneer Skip Novak.
Today, Novak is known throughout the sailing world as the go to man for sailing led polar exploration. For over three decades he has been running his famous "Pelagic' exploration yachts and is a man with much to say about his career exploring at high latitude, a passion that first came to him while racing around the planet in his first of four Whitbread Round the World Yacht Races.
"Not many people know this but as navigator I used to 'tweak' the course every now and again, saying 'we need to head up ten' only to see these places and come a little bit closer to get a view, something you wouldn't do today, but I loved to see these mountainous places coming up out of the mist and fog, and blowing like hell, and there was wildlife, seals jumping all over the place, and penguins, and I thought 'I have to go there one day, I have to see these places, and step on shore'".
That first Whitbread adventure took place in 1977, as the navigator onboard second place finisher 'King's Legend', but perhaps his most famous Whitbread entry was also one of the race's more unusual.
By 1985 British pop sensations Duran Duran were widely acknowledged as one of the decade's biggest super groups. A platinum album, world wide tours, Rolling Stone magazine covers, Grammy Awards, number ones either side of the Atlantic, the band had become a global phenomenon.
However, their meteoric rise to stardom had totally passed by a busy Skip Novak, but the global success of Simon Le Bon and his band were about to impact heavily on Novak's sailing career. Having unsuccessfully trawled the boardrooms of corporate America for sponsorship, Novak's Whitbread future looked uncertain, but a phone call from the eighties pop ensemble very quickly changed everything. It's an amusing tale, a story of how Novak was soon skippering the most famous band of the eighties around the world in a seventy seven foot maxi the band christened 'Drum'.
"We stuck (the hull) in the water and towed it across to Cowes, and we were all down below, Simon (Le Bon) came down for this of course, and we were all down below and somebody said 'Simon, what are we gonna call this thing, what are we gonna name it Simon', and he banged on the hull, and the whole hull reverberated like this and he said 'Let's call it Drum' and that's how that happened."
Duran Duran front man Simon Le Bon makes a guest appearance in Part 1 of this podcast, talking to Robertson about the band's exploits onboard 'Drum'. Before the Whitbread itself had even started, Novak, Le Bon and the crew had already taken an unwelcome visit to the front pages of the world's tabloid press, following a catastrophic capsize in the 1985 edition of the Fastnet Race. Novak's eloquent and dramatic account of the incident is typical of his laid back but descriptive style, "I got out as the water was pouring in through the hatch, I was like a salmon trying to swim upstream, the deck was coming down on top of me, I grabbed the rail and it went 'bang', like a coffin had shut!". The tales that follow are as amusing as they are compelling, and leave the listener pondering on whether such an oddball pairing of financial backing and sporting endeavour could ever possibly be beaten.
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The world renowned Vendee Globe, the non-stop solo lap of the planet, is the topic of this month's podcast, as Shirley Robertson talks to five soon to depart skippers and one IMOCA designer in this two part Vendee Globe extravaganza.
In Part 1 Robertson has already talked to Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss - 5th Vendee Start) and Clarisse Cremer (Banque Populaire x - 1st Vendee Start) as well as world renowned naval architect Juan K about the progression of the IMOCA Class, and the use of foils through out much of this edition's fleet.
In this Part, Robertson catches up with long time friend and previous podcast guest Sam Davies (Initiatives Coeur), as she prepares for her third Vendee attempt. Sam finished fourth at her first Vendee back in 2009 but four years later suffered a cruel dismasting after just five days at sea. This time around, she's racing in another of the retro fit foilers, and is confident, after a well thought out build up to the race. As a French resident, she's also perfectly placed to explain just how big the race is in France.
"The Vendee is huge in France, its a race and a competition but it's not just that, it's huge, all the schools follow the Vendee Globe while it's happening. Maybe the reason why it's so huge is because it's so simple at the same time as being so hard, and such an extreme event because it's just one person on a boat sailing around the world non stop without assistance."
In this part Robertson also talks to the impressive Charlie Dalin (Apivia), about taking on the race for the first time, and how his skills as a naval architect helped finesse his new generation foiling machine. And Robertson talks to the first ever German entrant into the race, the very experienced Boris Herrmann, (SeaExplorer Yacht Club de Monacco)
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The world renowned Vendee Globe, the non-stop solo lap of the planet, is the topic of this month's podcast, as Shirley Robertson talks to five soon to depart skippers and one IMOCA designer in this two part Vendee Globe extravaganza.
The podcast kicks off with Vendee Globe veteran Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss), about to cross the start line of the legendary race for an unprecedented fifth time. Thomson's record in the race holds true to the gruelling fifty percent attrition rate that has seen him finish the lap of the planet twice from four attempts. Thomson is well known in the offshore sailing world for running an impressive campaign with long term sponsor Hugo Boss, each of his attempts has seen him race one of the newest boats in the fleet, and this time around is no exception. His new 60ft IMOCA was one of the last to be launched and sits at the forefront of offshore evolution, utilising a state of the art set of foils and progressive hull design.
"Hugo Boss is for us the culmination of nearly twenty years and with this boat we felt we had the confidence to make some bold decisions that perhaps we wouldn't have made before. So this time we were very bold and I'm as happy as Larry you know. The feeling of these things going along, you've got the traditional sound of a boat going through the water and sometimes you feel yourself fully in the air, it's an odd felling to be on a monohull where you physically feel the acceleration, it's been a massive change since I first started."
This year's edition sees thirty three entrants attempting the solo non stop charge around the globe, with a fleet that for the first time sees foiling mono hulls outnumber the non-foilers. Nineteen of the fleet boast foils, the design of which vary significantly. The favourites are very much the newest designs, the eight second generation foilers built and designed after the finish of the last Vendee, which saw the first foiling monohulls taking part in this race. As with the rest of the sport, the evolution in offshore foiling has been fast, and the results are stunning. World renowned naval architect Juan Kouyoumdjian has two brand new boats in this edition, and in his interview here provides a revealing insight into the design processes that go into a new generation IMOCA...
"The first page of the rule book, rule 101 I think it is, says 'everything that is not explicitly forbidden is therefore allowed' so you look at that and you think 'this is my favourite book you know.' But there's so many compromises to be done because the best theoretical boat is probably the opposite of what a single handed guy needs to go around the world."
Juan K goes on to discuss the fleet, the performance gains that the new foils have brought, and how these gains may effect the level of racing as the fleet charge south down the Atlantic and into the Southern Ocean.
Robertson also talks to three Vendee Globe rookies across the two podcast editions, in Part 1 talking to rising French star Clarisse Cremer (Banque Populaire X) about her campaign sailing for the team that won the last edition of the race with Armel Le Cleac'h.
In Part 2 Robertson talks to the impressive Charlie Dalin (Apivia), about taking on the race for the first time, and how his skills as a naval architect helped finesse his new generation foiling machine. And Robertson talks to the first ever German entrant into the race, the very experienced Boris Herrmann, (SeaExplorer Yacht Club de Monaco). Robertson also talks to long time friend and one time team mate Sam Davies, as she prepares to take on the Vendee for the third time.
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Shirley Robertson talks to one of professional sailings real pioneers as she sits down with Whitbread Round the World trail blazer Tracy Edwards.
Edwards is best known for leading the first ever all female crew in the 1989-90 edition of the race, a feat she took on at the age of just twenty seven, as skipper of the famous 'Maiden'. Having raced as a cook onboard 'Atlantic Privateer' in the previous edition of the famous race around the planet, as one of just four women in a fleet of over two hundred sailors, she resolved to do whatever it would take to start the race with a crew of her own.
"There was no way that a woman could have been on any of those boats as crew. Knowing that these guys who are my friends on shore, but when we get out to sea think that I'm an idiot, I'm not strong enough, I'm not able enough. I remember the first storm we went through, Paul Standbridge, who's a great mate of mine, as i started coming out of the hatch he put his boot on top of my head and said 'it's no place for girls up on deck right now.' My reasoning wasn't feminism, girl power or anything like that, and I knew that no man was going to let me navigate on his boat."
Tracy Edwards onboard her restored yacht 'Maiden'
The hurdles and barriers at times seemed insurmountable, and Edwards is not reserved in recounting stories of how the male dominated establishment failed to respect her team's efforts to get to the start line. Tales of outrageous sexism abound as Edwards looks back on the build up to the race, but it's also very refreshing to listen to Edwards' motivations, which came from a drive and focus born from a mix of supreme confidence and an angry reaction to here male detractors.
The race went well, Maiden won two legs in their division, and finished second overall, experiencing an unprecedented, and unexpected welcome back to their home port in Southampton, England, a finish that Edwards looks back on with a lot of emotion."It was , it was just so extraordinary. At sunrise we saw the Needles, which is such a beautiful sight, especially when you're coming home. And then we saw a boat, and then another boat and Nancy (Hill) said 'I wonder if there's a regatta on today?'. More and more and more came, they reckon there was six hundred boats in the Solent following us. I remember at one point Sally (Creaser) saying to me 'do you think there's someone more important behind us!' "
The story of Edwards 'Maiden' team has been made into a documentary, a hit across the film festival circuit and at the box office, in 2019. In Part 2 of this podcast, Robertson also talks to New Black Films director Alex Homes about making the film, and gathering all the footage to create what has become a new edition to the list of must see sailing films. Edwards and Robertson then go onto to chat about the rest of Edwards' remarkable career in sailing.Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Shirley Robertson talks through an amazing sailing career with one of the sport's pioneers of professional sailing, the legendary Tracy Edwards. Edwards is well known as the force behind the first ever all female crew to complete the gruelling Whitbread Round the World Race of the 1980s, a wonderful story that Edwards and Robertson discuss in Part 1 of this pair of podcasts.
In this Part 2 of the interview, the pair start by talking about the recent documentary film released in 2019, about Edwards and her 1989 Maiden crew. After discussing the film themselves, Robertson talks briefly with Alex Holmes of New Black Films, the Director of Maiden, about the inspiration behind the project, and the making pf the documentary.
Moving on from the Whitbread, Robertson then talks to Edwards about her all female attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy after she bought the record holding multihull "ENZA", renaming her Maiden 2. A broken mast stopped their attempt, off the coast of Chile. Edwards' imagination was fired by the potential of racing multihulls, and she went on to establish the Oryx Quest around the world race, starting and finishing in Oman. It was ground breaking race, attracting four of the word's biggest multihulls of the time. But financially for Edwards, it was a disaster, a fact that she and Robertson discuss as she looks back on how the traumatic time effected her and her confidence.
The pair also discuss Edwards' current project, running the inspiring Maiden Factor, a foundation using a now fully restored 'Maiden' to raise awareness and funding for girls' education around the world. Inevitably Edwards and Robertson look back on the thirty years since Edwards finished the Whitbread and discuss how opportunities for women in the sport have changed as a result. It's not a very positive conclusion as they reflect on how, despite all of Edwards' accomplishments and efforts, the sport still remains a very male orientated environment.
"I don't think we've done ourselves any favours with getting women to the top and...at the top of our sport there's a group of men paying lip service to...equality. It's not hapening, I find it incredibly frustrating that I'm having the same conversations with young women that I was having thirty five years ago....You know, when World Sailing is making decisions, women need to be there and I know often they are not, so lots of changes have to happen."
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Part 2 of double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson's chat with America's Cup Hall of Fame inductee Grant Simmer. Currently in the role of CEO at British Cup hopefuls INEOS TEAM UK, Simmer is into his eleventh Cup campaign, a remarkable feat for a man who's relationship with the oldest trophy in world sport goes back to 1983.
As a twenty six year old, Simmer sailed as navigator onboard Australia II in the 26th America's Cup, and was a vital part of John Bertrand's afterguard in the Cup that finally put an and to the longest winning streak in world sport. For one hundred and thirty two years the New York Yacht Club had successfully defended twenty four challenges to the Cup, but Alan Bond's team onboard Australia II finally managed to uproot the trophy and take it back to Australia, to a hero's welcome. Simmer's memories of this time are a remarkable glimpse into what was one of the most historically significant moments in International sport.
"When we heard that the Prime Minister of Australia was essentially calling a holiday because we'd won this event, everybody was just shocked by the magnitude of what we'd done. I remember thinking 'Wow! He called a holiday! What's that all about,,,? We had the ticker tape parade in Perth, it was quite a big deal."
Post AC26 Simmer initially returned to work as an engineer, but was back working with John Bertrand for the 1995 Cup in San Diego. As design coordinator, Simmer was responsible for the build of One Australia's Cup boat, but the outcome of their race against New Zealand in the Challenger Series would become Cup legend.
"It was quite rough and choppy and there was some debate whether we'd race because it was so windy and I'd been arguing we should race so we can find out what would break. The engineers were a bit nervous, but we raced and famously the boat buckled in the sheerline and broke in half and sank."
Simmer's stories from throughout his Cup career are illuminating, and provide a wonderful insight into a life spent chasing one of the most illusive trophies in world sport. From his campaigns with Swiss team Alinghi, through his relationship with Russell Coutts and his time spent campaigning with Oracle Team USA, Grant Simmer has played a pivotal role in the modern America's Cup era, and has an almost unparalleled place in the sport.
The pair finish their revealing chat by looking to the future, and the rapidly approaching America's Cup in Auckland, as Simmer discusses his role with Ben Ainslie's Cup team INEOS, and how he hopes his decades of Cup experience will help the British team finally win the the Cup back for a nation that haven't held it since it's very first regatta one hundred and sixty nine years ago..
"I am confident that we've made some good decisions, over the past year particularly, so making good decisions at the right time in the campaign is important. Continuing to learn is important and not to be too proud of your decisions, but to understand why other people have made decisions, technically. I always say if you run out money and time at the same time, then you've manage the campaign perfectly."
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Sitting in the hot seat this month for Part One of his chat with double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson is America's Cup Hall of Fame inductee Grant Simmer. Currently in the role of CEO at British Cup hopefuls INEOS TEAM UK, Simmer is into his eleventh Cup campaign, a remarkable feat for a man who's relationship with the oldest trophy in world sport goes back to 1983.
As a twenty six year old, Simmer sailed as navigator onboard Australia II in the 26th America's Cup, and was a vital part of John Bertrand's afterguard in the Cup that finally put an and to the longest winning streak in world sport. For one hundred and thirty two years the New York Yacht Club had successfully defended twenty four challenges to the Cup, but Alan Bond's team onboard Australia II finally managed to uproot the trophy and take it back to Australia, to a hero's welcome. Simmer's memories of this time are a remarkable glimpse into what was one of the most historically significant moments in International sport.
"When we heard that the Prime Minister of Australia was essentially calling a holiday because we'd won this event, everybody was just shocked by the magnitude of what we'd done. I remember thinking 'Wow! He called a holiday! What's that all about,,,? We had the ticker tape parade in Perth, it was quite a big deal."
Post AC26 Simmer initially returned to work as an engineer, but was back working with John Bertrand for the 1995 Cup in San Diego. As design coordinator, Simmer was responsible for the build of One Australia's Cup boat, but the outcome of their race against New Zealand in the Challenger Series would become Cup legend.
"It was quite rough and choppy and there was some debate whether we'd race because it was so windy and I'd been arguing we should race so we can find out what would break. The engineers were a bit nervous, but we raced and famously the boat buckled in the sheerline and broke in half and sank."
Simmer's stories from throughout his Cup career are illuminating, and provide a wonderful insight into a life spent chasing one of the most illusive trophies in world sport. From his campaigns with Swiss team Alinghi, through his relationship with Russell Coutts and his time spent campaigning with Oracle Team USA, Grant Simmer has played a pivotal role in the modern America's Cup era, and has an almost unparalleled place in the sport.
The pair finish their revealing chat by looking to the future, and the rapidly approaching America's Cup in Auckland, as Simmer discusses his role with Ben Ainslie's Cup team INEOS, and how he hopes his decades of Cup experience will help the British team finally win the the Cup back for a nation that haven't held it since it's very first regatta one hundred and sixty nine years ago..
"I am confident that we've made some good decisions, over the past year particularly, so making good decisions at the right time in the campaign is important. Continuing to learn is important and not to be too proud of your decisions, but to understand why other people have made decisions, technically. I always say if you run out money and time at the same time, then you've manage the campaign perfectly."
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Part 2 of this month's Podcast sees double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson go back to her sailing roots as she talks about success and failure with three very different multiple Olympic medallists. T
This edition kicks off with one of the podcast's most requested interviews, as Shirley discusses the remarkable Olympic history with reigning NACRA 17 Olympic champion Santiago Lange of Argentina. Santi discuses the delay in the Games, and how the postponement is effecting his build up, before delving into that incredible Olympic history. Lange has competed at six Olympics, Tokyo will be his seventh campaign, but it was his gold medal win in Rio that is perhaps the most remarkable of Olympic success stories.
Just a year before the Olympic Regatta, Lange was diagnosed with lung cancer, and underwent surgery that put his Olympic dreams in severe doubt, but still managed to sail to victory in what was one of the most popular medal wins of all time.
It wasn't until 1988, at the Korea Games, that sailing held it's first ever dedicated Women's Class, sailed in the 470 dinghy. In dramatic and challenging conditions, it was American Lynne Jewel Shore and her helm Allison Jolly that took the win, claiming the only gold medal for an otherwise disappointed US Sailing Team. In her interview with Robertson, Lynne reflects fondly of a rigorous and intense build up to the Games, as the duo tried to prepare for the treacherous Korean conditions...
"I can't watch the footage, I look at it and I think 'what the heck were we doing out there', it really was dangerous conditions, it was crazy. I went there feeling very comfortable and confident that we had done everything we could to be prepared for the moment."
Three of Robertson's interviewees have had their Tokyo 2020 Olympic campaigns completely disrupted by the postponement of the Games to 2021. The podcast wraps up with defending 49er Olympic Champion Blair Tuke, discussing how the postponement allows full concentration on the defence of the America's Cup, and talks about the logistics of running simultaneous Cup and Games campaigns. He delves into his partnership with Pete Burling, how the pair won silver in London 2012, and then didnt lose another regatta, all the way through to claiming gold in Rio by an unprecedented Olympic points margin.Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
This month double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson goes back to her sailing roots as she talks about success and failure with six very different multiple Olympic medallists. The interviews span fifty two years of Olympic competition, feature a total of twelve medals, seven gold, and include some of the biggest names in Olympic Sailing.
The two part podcast kicks off with London 2012 Laser gold medallist Tom Slingsby, and his emotional account of how the surprise of failure in Beijing 2008 drove him to the top of the podium four years later in London. Slingsby's is a fascinating account, starting with his memories of how, while watching Sydney 2000, he resolved to one day stand atop the Olympic podium.
"I'm not the most athletically gifted person, when I started training and sailing I was not a good junior sailor, before the Sydney Olympics, before I dedicated myself to it I finished 61st at the Radial Nationals in 1999, I was mediocre, but I said 'I love this sport, I wanna do it and I'm gonna train and put in the work' and I just felt like a regular kid, I just loved it and dedicated myself to it."
British 470 Women's Olympic Champion Hannah Mills tells how disruptive a postponed Olympics has been, having decided to return to defend her crown after her win in Rio 2016.
Mills goes on to reveal to Robertson how the relative disappointment of a silver medal at her home Games in London 2012 really fuelled the determination for herself and crew Saskia Clarke, as they resolved to go the distance one last time together, in a bid to go one better and win in Rio. Mills discusses the Rio regatta, and what finally winning Olympic gold with her best friend meant to the pair as they began to realise their achievement.
From the amateur Olympic era of the 1960s and 70s Robertson then interviews British Olympic sailing legend Rodney Pattisson, a double Olympic gold medallist from Mexico City 1968 and Munich 1972 and a silver medallist from Montreal 1976. Pattisson sailed the Flying Dutchman Class, was a submarine officer in the Royal Navy, and is widely known as being one of the forefathers of the 'no stone unturned' approach to modern Olympic sailing. His tales of fine tuning and optimisation while simultaneously duping his opposition are not just amusing, but also show a ruthless and dogged approach to competition, here explaining a dominant display at the Munich Games of 1972...
"People didn't know I'd built another boat, they still thought it was the old one and I kept that a secret right up until after the Games. It had the same name on the side of the boat, it had the same colours. One of the things I did was that the old, slower boat had had a prang, and so there was a repair inside the boat that you could see on the varnish work, so I copied that repair and anybody that had a suspicion at all looked underneath the stern deck, knew about the collision and thought it had to be the same boat."
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This month double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson sits down for a two part podcast chat with the first man ever to sail solo non-stop around the planet, Britain's Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. In this, Part 2 of their discussion, the pair talk about life after the return from Sir Robin's incredible 312 day journey.
Having completed his voyage, and cemented his place in the annals of the history of exploration, Sir Robin's competitive streak soon saw him back on the global race course, and by 1977 he was joint skipper on an entry in the Whitbread Round the World Race, where amongst his crew was a certain Peter Blake. With the announcement of the Jules Verne Trophy, Knox-Johnston and Blake went on to famously form the eventual record holding team, ENZA New Zealand, breaking the established record in 1994 with a 74 day lap of the planet.
Robertson and Knox-Johnston then discuss how a trip with British mountaineer and expedition leader Sir Chris Bonnington inspired an idea that would become the 'open to all' crewed around the world adventure, The Clipper Race. It's a race that has been on going now for over twenty years, and is currently in it's twelfth, a fact that Sir Robin ranks as one of his greatest achievements.
"When I look at all the lives that have benefitted from the Clipper, and the number of those sailors, forty percent of them have never been on a boat before, who have taken up sailing subsequently as their sport, to my mind that is going to rank pretty highly because there's over five thousand people now that have taken the sport up all over the world." states Sir Robin, on being asked by Robertson what he sees as his greatest contribution to the sport.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com
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Double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson sits down for a two part podcast chat with the first man ever to sail solo non-stop around the planet, Britain's Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.
Sir Robin completed his ground breaking voyage in April 1969, after an astonishing 312 days alone at sea. having sailed his thirty two foot ketch 'Suhaili' thirty thousand miles around the planet. The voyage is one of the most documented in sailing, and was part of the famous Golden Globe race, initiated by the British newspaper, The Sunday Times. Nine entrants eventually left to compete in the Golden Globe, but Sir Robin was the only boat that finished, the physical and mental travails of the effort famously proving too much for many of the other entrants.
Sir Robin spent much of his voyage nursing "Suhaili' around the planet, constantly running repairs as the savage effects of months in the ferocious Southern Ocean took a heavy toll. But his trusty craft was more than a match for the brutal southern storms, and it is with deep affection that Sir Robin talks of her now.
"She was a cracking little sea boat, a wave could wash right over and did on a few occasions, she'd just shake herself and bob back up, like a terrier really. I built up a huge affection for Suhaili, a tremendous trust in her, she is simple, she's not complicated. Everything's stronger than it needs to be, everything's thought through. She's very important to me, she's been part of my life since I was 23, and I've done so much with her, she's done so much for me too. I always say any fool could get her around the world, I proved it!"
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston onboard 'Suhaili'
Once passed New Zealand, and into the second half of his voyage, a troublesome radio meant Sir Robin struggled to make contact with anyone to inform of his progress, and he was assumed missing until he finally signalled a ship while passing the Azores, just fifteen hundred miles from home. News of his survival hit the front pages, and by the time he steered 'Suhaili' back into the English Channel, he was a household name in the UK. Met by a flotilla of well wishers, the shoreline around Falmouth lined with cheering crowds, Robin Knox-Johnston had become the first man ever to complete the ground breaking voyage.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
The second part of Shirley Robertson's in depth chat with British sailing legend Sir Ben Ainslie sees the duo delve deep into the America's Cup, as Ben reveals his thoughts and experiences on a career spent chasing the illusive, oldest trophy in world sport.
Throughout this second part Ainslie and Robertson discuss the Ben's passion for the Cup, and how his early experiences in the Cup world did not go as he had hoped they would. As his experience in the Cup arena grew, his exploits elsewhere in sailing soon put him on the most wanted list, and after the highs of London 2012, Ainslie joined Oracle Team USA, then watched from the sidelines as the team lost race after race to a seemingly unbeatable Emirates Team New Zealand....:
"I was in the (chase) boat with Russell (Coutts) and Grant (Simmer) and I remember Russell's phone going off, and it was a bit, you know, slightly held off his ear, and it was pretty obvious it was Larry (Ellison) and he wasn't too happy about what he was seeing, you know. And then he just turned round to me and he said 'You, you'd better get your wet suit on."
Sir Ben Ainslie
Ainslie then goes on to share his version of how the team turned a massive deficit into a famous America's Cup victory, and how lifting the oldest trophy in world sport for an American team, solidified his resolve and convinced him that his future in the sport lay in creating a British team, with a long term goal and vision. His honest and insightful account of the 2013 Cup gives another angle on how this remarkable defence of the Cup unfolded.
The final points of discussion in the podcast relate to Ainslie's current position, leading the British outfit, INEOS Team UK, into the next iteration of the America's Cup. The pair discuss how the initial Team came about, the rigours of raising money for such a financially dependent endeavour, and how lessons learned in the last Cup in Bermuda are helping the effort as the Team prepare for the 36th America's Cup in New Zealand in 2021.Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
The first in a two part discussion between two one time TeamGB Olympic team mates sees Shirley Robertson engaged in frank and honest discussion with Sir Ben Ainslie.
The most successful Olympic sailor of all time, Ainslie won four golds and one silver over an Olympic career that culminated in front of thousands at his home games, London 2012.
Standing atop the podium at the sailing venue in Weymouth, Ainslie accepted his fourth gold medal to draw the line under an Olympic career that had started as a nineteen year old in the 1996 Games in Atlanta, USA. Throughout his early appearances on the world stage, Ainslie often found himself locked in battle with Brazilian sailing maestro Robert Scheidt, and as he recounts those early tussles to his then Team GB team mate Robertson, Ainslie's recall and attention to detail is impressive. One false move, one sloppy tack, and against Scheidt, Olympic success could vanish. In 1996 he fell foul of the wily Brazilian, and had to settle for silver, but four years later, as the gold medal went down to the final race again, a determined and steadfast Ainslie sailed circles around his great adversary, in a display of control and aggression that split the sporting world.
"If you can sail, and get into someone and it's within the rules, and that's not an easy thing to do, that's the game, in my view. And there was quite a lot of controversy about it at the time....from Roger Bannister, he's a hero in England obviously, the first guy to break the four minute mile...and I could understand (the criticism) but it's interesting how the sport's developed.....I think maybe it was a little bit ahead of it's time."
Sir Ben Ainslie celebrates winning Gold at London 2012 - © Rick Tomlinson Photography
Ainslie and Robertson spent three Olympic Games as team mates, twice claiming gold at the same Games, in Sydney and Athens. Their collective recall is therefore insightful, as in this Part 1 of the podcast they unpick Ainslie's Olympic career before reminiscing on Ainslie's final Olympic triumph at London 2012...:
"You can't really beat that can you, a home Games and being able to get a fourth gold medal in front of a home crowd, it was an incredibly special moment. I've always liked that element of being up against it, the tougher the challenge, the more exciting it is. It's a bit of a strange approach, you really shouldn't be looking to make life hard for yourself, but there have certainly been a few occasions where I've managed to do that, and then had that challenge and taken it on and found that rewarding in some kind of perverse way."
Robertson's chat with Ainslie continues for a second part, in which the pair discuss Sir Ben's America's Cup career and how his team is preparing for the 36th America's Cup, in Auckland, New Zealand.Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sailingpodcast)
Shirley Robertson continues her two part chat with offshore sailor Nick Moloney in this the second part of their discussion about the Australian offshore sailor's diverse career.
This edition kicks off with Moloney's move into solo sailing and jumps straight in with his tense and brutal account of his first Mini Transat race, and attempt that resulted in a badly broken arm and a very near death experience underneath the upturned hull of his 6.5m mini transat boat...:
"A big wave hit the side of the boat, rolled it on it's side and washed my legs from underneath me and I had my arm around the vertical shroud. As my legs came out from underneath me my arm slid down the narrowing of the 'v' and snapped my forearm in half. And I went in the water. It's hard to talk about it now. I didn't talk about it for along time."
Maloney's honest and emotional account of the incident is one of several anecdotes he shares that benefit from his easy, genuine style of story telling. The near death accident failed to dampen his spirit, and his offshore career blossomed. It wasn't long before he got the call from French offshore sailing legend Bruno Peyron, offering a spot on the then ground breaking catamaran 'Orange' - their objective, the Jules Verne Trophy.
Awarded for the fastest sailed lap of the planet, the Jules Verne Trophy os one of the most coveted awards in the sport. And so it was on May 5th 2002 that Moloney, on board 'Orange', crossed the finish line, as one of thirteen crew onboard the record breaking circumnavigation. The non-stop blast around the planet had taken 64 days 8 hours and 37 minutes, and for Moloney, sailing with French offshore legend Bruno Peyron was just one of many highlights in an incredible voyage...:
"Bruno had a lot going on....so you didn't see a lot of him, but whenever you were out of control, which was pretty often in those boats, before we knew it, before we actually knew we were out of control, he'd put his wet weather gear on, his harness on, and as soon as the situation got critical he appeared like a fairy, and just grabbed the helm, laid down command and got the situation back in control immediately, and that for me was absolutely amazing.
"I remember getting the trophy, and having said to myself 'I'm gonna put my name on that trophy', everyone's name's on the base.....and the trophy itself is this chrome canoe body suspended on a magnetic field.....and when the (black silk sheet) dropped off the base, my name was right there! It was so emotional!"
More recently, Moloney and Robertson both held key roles as skippers in the fledgling Extreme 40s Series, the groundbreaking, fast catamaran series that paved the way for inshore, 'stadium' style racing. Their recollections are of wild early days, racing fast boats in small spaces, with the inevitable collisions and dangers of the new sport pushing them all to their limits.
But it was offshore that Moloney's calling was strongest. A tight business alliance with Ellen Macarthur flourished, and set Moloney on an inevitable collision course with the solo sailor's ultimate challenge, the toughest race on the planet, the Vendee Globe. It's his honest and at times brutal accounts of his exploits alone at sea that are the highlight of this podcast, confessing how at times, he hated the noises, the movements, everything about being at sea, confronting near death experiences with the honest and matter of fact approach of a man that knows things could have ended very differently. It's a compelling listen, but there's also a passion and transparent emotion in Moloney's story telling that is there for all to hear in an interview that offers a raw insight into the life of one of the sport's real characters.
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Shirley Robertson kicks off the second Series of her Sailing Podcast with an in depth chat with Australian offshore sailor Nick Moloney. In another two part extravaganza, the pair spend this first episode discussing much about Moloney's diverse sailing career which has seen him race in amongst other things the America's Cup, the Whitbread Round the World Race, the Jules Verne Trophy and the Vendee Globe.
In Part 1 of this chat they kick things off with a discussion about Moloney's recent trip to Antarctica, and how having sailed 'down south' in the Southern Ocean on multiple occasions, it was particularly rewarding to be able to stop and spend some time respecting the fragile environment of the southern continent.
Moloney grew up on Port Philip Bay near Melbourne, Australia, and spent much of his early life in the ocean, surfing and then sailing, but it wasn't long before his tenacity saw him spread his wings and travel further afield in the search of adventure. Once in Sydney, meetings with Australian legends John Bertrand, Peter Gilmour and Iain Murray saw Moloney's world of opportunity open up and a career in sailing became a viable option.
Moloney's first foray into the the world of the America's Cup was with Syd Fischer in 1992, but he was soon involved with several other Cup teams, including Paul Cayard's "Il Moro di Venezia". From there, childhood hero John Bertrand took Maloney to the Cup in the 1995 campaign oneAustralia, which saw them make the Louis Vuitton Challenger final.
Moloney's impressive career then took a turn offshore, as he got the call from Dennis Connor, this time to sail the Whitbread Round the World Race in "Toshiba". Moloney's excitement at sailing the Whitbread is obvious, his passion for racing offshore was being honed during this iconic race, and this is clear to hear in his discussion with Robertson.
The pair wrap up the first episode with a chat about Moloney's almost impulsive record windsurf across the Bass Straits, a twenty one hour marathon in 1998 that goes well to illustrate the tenacity and drive of the man.
Robertson's chat with Moloney continues in Part 2 as the stories go offshore, and Maloney tells of his successful Jules Verne Trophy attempt with French sailing legend Bruno Peyron onboard the then groundbreaking catamaran 'Orange'. From there, Moloney went solo, dodged death in the Mini Transat and took on the legendary Vendee Globe - his honesty and adept story telling make for a compelling listen.
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This month Shirley Robertson sits down for another two part edition - this time talking to her one time Team GB team mate Iain Percy. A double Olympic gold medallist, Percy topped the podium in Sydney 2000 at the beginning of British Sailing's golden era - Robertson and a certain Ben Ainslie also bringing home gold for GB in those Games.
Percy bagged gold again in Beijing in 2008, and then silver at home in London 2012. And it's these years of shared Olympic history that form the foundations of Part 1 of this chat - from their formative sailing years through to sharing digs at the Games in Sydney, Robertson and Percy have much to talk about as they look back on their Olympic years.
This is a candid interview between two good friends, and Iain is open in discussing how much better the thrill of winning felt when part of a crew - his success in China of course achieved with his best friend and team mate Andrew 'Bart' Simpson. The pair went on to win silver in London four years later, and Percy describes in detail the moments that saw their firm grasp on the gold medal suddenly slip away.
This is the first of two episodes of this month's podcast, and it concludes with a brief look at how Iain moved from Olympic sailing into the world of the America's Cup. Part 2 is also available to download and includes an emotional discussion with Robertson about the loss of Iain's best friend Andrew Simpson, who tragically died in the build up to the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco.
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This is the second part of multiple Olympic medallist Iain Percy's chat with Shirley Robertson, and is a candid and revealing discussion between to ex Team GB team mates who have known each other for decades.
In Part 1 Iain discussed growing up ailing in the golden age of British Youth Sailing, regularly competing against the likes of Ben Ainslie, Chris Draper and close friend Andrew Simpson.
In Part 2, the pair move on to discuss the America's Cup, and Iain's move to Swedish 'Team Artemis Racing'. It was of course during the build up to the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco that Andrew Simpson tragically lost his life in a sailing accident. It's a tragedy that has obviously effected Iain greatly, and here the pair fondly share their memories of the generous and giving 'Bart' in an emotional discussion about their friend and what he brought to the British Sailing Team.
But Percy and Robertson also discuss the importance of the Andrew Simpson Foundation, a sailing foundation created in Bart's memory to continue the generous work and time he put in inspiring children around the world to take up sailing.
In 2017 Iain Percy was team principal at Team Artemis Racing, finalists in the Challenger Series of the 35th America's Cup in San Francisco. Iain speaks openly about his time in the Cup, as well as revealing how today, his determination to continue the momentum of the Cup team has led him to form Artemis Technologies, a company taking the technological advancements forged in sailing and applying them further afield.
This two part podcast is an intimate discussion between two old friends and team mates, and is a revealing look at the professional life of one of British Sailing's most inspiring talents.
This edition of the podcast is the second part of Shirley Robertson's fascinating inside look at the design and build of the boats that will ultimately race in the 36th America's Cup.
Continuing on from Part1, Robertson talks to the four design chiefs from each of the four America's Cup teams currently building the seventy five foot foiling monohulls, the AC75s. It's recommended that Part1 is listened to first, as the the first episode includes an intro to the Class Rule, and discusses some of the more general aspects of the challenges and pitfalls of designing this class of boat. In t his episode the designers go on to discuss some more specific design elements, including the specific make up of the foils, and the differences between the current foils being used by each team. They discuss the sail specifications of the class rule, looking at how the D-Section mat will promote the use of an innovative double skinned main sail, and they discuss power generation, how the power is to be generated to control the giant loads of the new main sail. Robertson quizzes the designers on the teams' use of "recon" and how 'spying' on each others' designs helps move design thinking forward. The role of the sailing team is discussed, as the designers reveal how important the men out on the water are to the design process, before they wrap up by sharing their thoughts on what single aspect of design is most likely to in, or lose, the 36th America's Cup.
From the Defenders of the America's Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand, Robertson talks to design ace Dan Bernasconi. From the Challenger of Record, Luna Rossa, she talks to Cup design veteran Martin Fischer. From British entry INEOS TEAM UK she talks to accomplished Cup designer Nick Holroyd, and from American Magic she talks to race boat design legendary yacht designer Marcelino Botin.
This edition of the podcast is a fascinating look inside the secretive world of America's Cup design and is a must listen for any sailing fan hoping to follow the action when the Cup gets underway.
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This edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast this month takes a departure from the norm to talk to the design chiefs of each of the four America's Cup teams.
Each team hoping to win the 36th America's Cup is currently halfway through a lengthy design process, and with the clock ticking, they are all focusing on the design and build of what they hope will be the fastest racing monohull ever sailed.
In this edition of the podcast, Shirley Robertson talks to the design chiefs of each of the four teams, to discuss the challenges and pitfalls of designing the foiling monohulls that will compete in the 36th America's Cup. The end result of each team's endeavours will be a seventy five foot long foiling monohull, powered by an innovative double skinned mainsail. The boats will be unique, like nothing the sailing world has ever seen. They will be capable of speeds up to three times the wind speed, and will race each other for the first time in April 2020 at the World Series event in Sardinia, Italy.
Each of the four teams have already launched their initial Cup boats, the first of two boats that each time is allowed to build, as they strive to refine the foils and systems that will eventually be used in the 36th America's Cup in Auckland, New Zealand.
From the Defenders of the America's Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand, Robertson talks to design ace Dan Bernasconi. From the Challenger of Record, Luna Rossa, she talks to Cup design veteran Martin Fischer. From British entry INEOS TEAM UK she talks to accomplished Cup designer Nick Holroyd, and from American Magic she talks to race boat design legendary yacht designer Marcelino Botin.
Part1 of this two part podcast sees discussion look at the initial design parameters, as the designers all discuss the requirements of the Class Rule. They discuss their thoughts on the four Mk1 AC75s currently out sailing, and whether the Mk2s built later this year will change in any way from the initial designs. They all discuss the rise of simulation and it's importance in the design of such complicated boats. The designers then compare the importance of hydrodynamics over aerodynamics in boats that are designed to spend much of their time flying above the water, before finishing this edition with a look at how data gathering and analysis in particular has moved on since the last design round, for the previous Cup.
This edition of the podcast features four of the brightest names in yacht design, all discussing the most pressing aspects of the design and build of what will become the fastest racing monohulls ever built.
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This is the second part of two time America’s Cup winning skipper Jimmy Spithill's chat with Shirley Robertson which saw the pair settle down for an extended two part interview ahead of the first round of the America’s Cup World Series in Sardinia.
In Part 1 Jimmy discussed growing up in the Australian sailing enclave of Pittwater, recalling the endless days spent messing about on the water. From childhood, through Australia's Young Sailor of the Year, to his first appearance in the America's Cup at just twenty years of age, and eventually onto his first Cup win in Valencia 2010, Part 1 is a great insight into the early life of one of sailing's leading stars.
in Part 2, things get real serious, as Jimmy recounts the early days of the frighteningly quick AC72, as theCup turned to foils, wings and a massive leap in performance. In this interview Jimmy tells us the inside story of that incredible comeback to win the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco, his insight and memories of that sensational victory both candid and illuminating. Starting with the capsizing of the brand new AC72 just days after launching, to the cut and thrust of the daily press conferences and the eventual comeback against an incredibly quick and accomplished New Zealand team. The comeback propelled the sport into the spotlight, and was the start of relentless victory celebrations across the US…:
“For the next couple of weeks you’re on all the late night shows, Jay Leno and Colbert, all the big ones going around and I’ll never forget we were on the Colbert show, and Tom Hanks was there doing a recording of something, so I’d done my piece and was having a beer and chatting to some of the guys….and it was surreal, sitting in the green room with Tom Hanks, and he’s asking questions about the racing, he’d seen it, we’re having a beer and the whole time his assistant is saying ’Tom, we’ve got to go, the plane’s waiting’ and he’s saying “No, tell them to wait”, he was genuinely interested in what had happened.”
Jimmy goes on to discuss the disappointment of losing the Cup in Bermuda, and talks about his current role with the Italian team Luna Rosa Challenge. But he's also very open regarding his time spent sailng with french offshore legend Francois Gabart, and how much he loves the prospect of heading offshore on a foiling multihull. From his passion for surfing and foiling to his competitive spirit and drive to succeed, Spithill’s chat with Robertson is illuminating, engaging, and a thoroughly interesting listen.
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Two time America’s Cup winning skipper Jimmy Spithill joins Shirley Robertson this month, as the pair settle down for this the first of an extended two part interview ahead of the first round of the America’s Cup World Series in Sardinia.
Spithill has long been a fixture in the America’s Cup scene, having first led the Australian entry to the 2000 Cup in Auckland, as skipper of ‘Young Australia’. He’s skippered in every Cup since, winning for the first time in 2010 at the wheel of Larry Ellison’s BMW Oracle Racing. That first win, helming the giant 90 foot trimaran, secured his spot as the Cup’s youngest ever winning skipper. In 2013 a successful defence of the Cup in San Francisco saw Spithill lead the unlikely comeback against a New Zealand Team that was, at 8-1 up, just one race win away from reclaiming the oldest trophy in world sport. Having then lost the defence of the next Cup in Bermuda in 2017, Spithill is now in a key role at the long established Italian team, Luna Rosa.
Spithill grew up thirty miles north of Sydney, Australia in the stunning sailing hotspot of Pittwater. He talks fondly of his childhood, taking a boat to school, where he’d whistfully wait for classes to end so he could head back out on to the water. He’s also very candid about his upbringing, and discusses with Robertson how his formative years have contributed to the character we see today out on the race course…:
“We have a running joke, between Tom Slingsby, or anyone with red hair, and that’s there’s two things you get good at growing up with red hair, and one is running, for obvious reasons. The other is fighting, because you just get sick of running!….At some point you’ve got to decide what you’re going to do, are you going to continue to take this, or is it time to stand up, and when you do it’s an incredible feeling, and it’s an important lesson in life. That at some point you have to stand up for yourself.”
This is the first of two instalments of Shirley Robertson's interview with Jimmy Spithill, and concludes with his take on how he skippered that 90 foot trimaran to victory in the 2010 America's Cup. Be sure to download Part 2, which sees Jimmy recount the fascinating story of how Oracle Team USA overcame that 8-1 deficit to defend the oldest trophy in world sport.
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The second instalment of Shirley Robertson's chat with sailing legend, Ken Read. The pair continue their discussions following on from an illuminating Part 1 which saw Read discuss his role as President of commercial sailing behemoth North Sails, and his America's Cup campaigns with US sailing all star Dennis Connor.
In this edition the chat gains momentum, as the stories continue to flow. Read's easy going style make him a delight to listen to as he reveals how he was lured into a Volvo Ocean Race campaign mid race back in the 2005-2006 edition of the famous race. From there, Read goes on to reveal how a chance meeting with the owner of Puma set the ball rolling on what would become one of the Ocean Race's most memorable of entries. For two editions, in 2008-09 and 2011-12 Read was at the helm of the memorable red Volvo entry 'Puma' - and here reveals how both campaigns took shape, and just how close he came to winning one of sailing's most illusive trophies.
The thrill of racing the planet over with, Read then discusses what happens when a billionaire sailing fanatic decides to invest in building a boat to smash records. The result was of course the 100ft maxi "Comanche" - the design and build of which was done very much under Read's watch. Once finished the boat was an absolute beast, a head turner wherever she sailed - in fact Robertson was onboard on one of the first forays in big winds on Comanche, a day the pair remember well - Read's tales of charging the Bass Straits in the iconic Sydney to Hobart Race are compelling.
The pair wrap up with some thoughts on the future of the sport, chat about the televising of sailing and Read's time on the commentary team of the America's Cup. They then conclude with an honest, heart felt discussion about what sailing has given Read, how much he has invested in it over his life time, and the inevitable personal costs it's brought. It's a compelling listen - an honest and forthright conversation with one of the great communicators of the sport of sailing.
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Throughout her broadcasting career one of Shirley Robertson's most interviewed of subjects must be US sailing's Ken Read. Currently in the top executive role at corporate sailing giant North Sails, his sailing history includes helming two America’s Cup campaigns, two Volvo Ocean Race campaigns, two US Sailor of the Year Awards and a trophy cabinet stacked with National and World Championship wins.
Read a key figure in the sport, and has been on the other side of Robertson’s interview microphone on countless occasions and the result here is a candid and honest exchange, as the pair chat through Read’s early career and move into the corporate world at North Sails, through his early America’s Cup exploits and onto his Volvo Ocean Race campaigns as skipper of Puma, before discussing the future of the sport and Read’s involvement in the record breaking 100ft maxi ‘Comanche
As a young America's Cup skipper he was under the tutelage of America's Cup Hall of Famer Dennis Connor, and his early Cup recollections are peppered with accounts of his time spent with the US sailing legend. Read is candidly honest about his time sailing for Connor, and the revealing discussion about the 2000 and 2003 Cup Campaigns are as funny as they are insightful.
As a special edition this month's podcast will be published in 2 Parts, so be sure to catch up with Part 2 when chat turns towards Read's time at the helm of the Volvo Ocean Race entry 'Puma' and his involvement in the revolutionary 100ft Maxi 'Comanche'.
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Double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson catches up with Australian sailing star Kyle Langford for an hour of revealing chat that covers much of his of his stellar career.
Langford rocketed into the spot light when just three days before the 2013 America's Cup he was announced as the Defender's Wing Trimmer on BMW Oracle's giant foiling AC72. It was a daunting prospect, controlling the power as the team learnt to race the largely untested beast throughout a regatta famous for the unlikely comeback from a seven point deficit against a fired up Emirates Team New Zealand. Langford's honest and open chat with Robertson here reveals the backstory behind that decision, a tribunal that saw the Defender docked points before the Cup, the build up to that dramatic turn around and the faith that skipper Jimmy Spithill had in the young Aussie.
As Oracle Team USA then went on to Defend the Cup in Bermuda Langford kept his seat on the downsized AC50 that would see them again face the Kiwis in the match up in 2017. Here he reveals how the team prepared for Bermuda but were out thought by the innovative Kiwi team, their grip on the Cup slipping away to the greater pace and adaptability of a New Zealand outfit hungry for sporting redemption.
Having been on the losing side in the Cup, Langford immediately took on a new and different challenge, turning to the Volvo Ocean Race to try and forget the disappointment of Bermuda. But it wasn't long before he realised that one of his team mates around the world would be the skipper of that winning Kiwi team. It's an interesting chat as Langford discusses the politics onboard, racing in the Southern Ocean and his tenacity in getting to grips with offshore sailing.
At just thirty years old, Langford is one of a new generation of stars in the competitive sailing arena, he's crammed an awful lot of high end sailing into a to date short sailing career, and is a revealing guest as he discusses the last decade and his stellar rise into the ranks of the sport's elite.
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Shirley Robertson talks all things offshore with celebrated British offshore adventurer Sam Davies.
With a submarine commander as one grandfather and a boat builder as the other, it should be no surprise that Cambridge engineering graduate Sam Davies pursued a career that now sees her racing around the planet. But as she reveals in this illuminating chat, offshore sailing’s loss was very nearly synchronised swimming’s gain, after an early passion for life in the pool almost saw her follow a very different career path.
An early career spent racing with British sailing trail blazer Tracy Edwards soon saw Sam craving a life out at sea, and It was in those early days, chasing the illusive around the world record, the Jules Verne Trophy that Sam glimpsed the potential, inspired by the pro-active spirit and determination of Edwards, as she realised that if she really dug in, anything could be possible.
As her career took off, an early deviation towards the Olympic arena saw her team up with the podcast's very own Shirley Robertson back when she was campaigning for Athens 2004 in the technical keel boat, the Yngling. Robertson was drawn to the can-do professionalism of the young bowman, but it was a collaboration that wouldn’t go the distance. The pair here laugh over the early campaign days as Sam began to realise that the monotony of Olympic campaigning really wasn’t for her - that her sailing life lay further out to sea.
And so began her march to the forefront of Britain's considerable offshore sailing elite. Her career took the inevitable turn towards the solo marathon the Vendee Globe, and in 2008 she crossed the start line in one of the most recognisable boats the race has ever seen. It was a performance that would rocket her to household name status in France, as she resolutely sailed “Roxy” nonstop around the planet in just over ninety five days, one of just eleven finishers from a field of thirty. It was a remarkable achievement. Davies does reveal though the cost of her disappointment in the following Vendee, after a hard fought campaign to get to the start line lasted just five days out on the race course. But very quickly, she was back at the helm, the Vendee forgotten, as she took on a very different role skippering the all female ’Team SCA’ in the Volvo Ocean Race.
Sam is currently looking forward to her third Vendee Globe campaign, this time as skipper of the inspirational “Initiative Coeur” - a campaign actively saving the lives of disadvantaged children around the world - it’s an innovative approach to raising money, that Sam passionately explains, whereby the effect of her sponsors' donations, achieved through Sam’s interaction with her fan base, reveals very tangible results.
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There's not much Sir Russell Coutts hasn't achieved in the sport of modern day yacht racing - from the Olympic Games, Match Racing and America's Cups, he's one of the sport's most successful athletes, but he's also one of sailing's big innovators, a man with a drive and determination to leave his sport in a much better place today, than where it was when he first started competing.
On the race course, Coutts was a fierce and ruthless competitor. His early career saw him win an Olympic gold medal and multiple Match Racing World Championships, before an inevitable move to the world of the America's Cup. He successfully challenged and then defended the oldest trophy in world sport for his home nation of New Zealand, but then shocked the sailing world by moving to Swiss challenger Alinghi. By the time Alinghi lifted the Cup in Auckland, Coutts had won it three times, but remarkably had never lost a Cup match. His Cup career then saw another move, to the American BMW Oracle Team, for whom he masterminded two further Cup wins, the last, in 2013, seeing the famous come back from an 8-1 defecit on 72ft foiling multi hulls out on San Francisco Bay, an event watched by millions world wide.
Away from the race course, Coutts is seen by many as one of sailing's real visionaries. His drive and determination behind the wheel have transposed to the boardroom, where he has been masterminding the advancement of sailing in a bid to increase it's appeal to a younger generation, and make it a truly viable spectator sport. Most recently Coutts has initiated the exciting Sail GP championships, a series of races held in the world's fastest race boats, but run with a view to the maximisation of broadcasting opportunity and spectator experience.
Robertson and Coutts discuss his past, his hopes for the future and his love of the sport in an honest and revealing hour of chat that sees one of the sport's most well known characters clearly demonstrate that after a lifetime spent out on the water, his passion for sailing today is as strong as it's ever been.
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US sailing legend Paul Cayard is next up as Shirley Robertson sits down for an honest and truthful hour of chat with one of the biggest names in competitive sailing.
Paul Cayard is a true legend of the sport, a US Sailing Hall of Fame inductee, a World Champion, an Olympian, he’s competed in multiple America’s Cups and was the first American ever to skipper a Whitbread Round the World Race campaign to victory when his 1997/98 ‘EF Language’ won the gruelling predecessor to the Volvo Ocean Race.
His chat with Robertson is a candid and revealing one, discussing several aspects of his impressive career, with tales from both on and off the water. He was the perfect man to play the real life Captain Jack Sparrow, as Disney turned to him to front their "Pirates of the Caribbean" Volvo Ocean Race entry - Cayard skippered the boat to a dramatic second place in the race, and in doing so created a Volvo campaign that lives on in the memories of sailing fans around the world.
Cayard is an honest interview, he's qualified to discuss multiple aspects of the sport, and his self assured confidence allows him to truly speak his mind - the result, a fascinating, anecdote-rich discussion that sees Cayard reflect on almost forty years as a sailing professional.
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Chris Draper is another of those guys that’s been at the sharp end of this radical change in sailing over the past two decades. Starting with the 49er, the Extreme40s, and then of course, all of the foiling America’s Cups, and now SailGP, he sails moths, he kites, has an intense passion for surfing, and we cram all of that, and a bit more into an hour of chat - it’s a revealing sixty minutes or so that sees Shirley Robertson look forward to the British leg of SailGP as she interviews the CEO and wing trimmer of the British SailGP team, Chris Draper.
Draper is no stranger to sailing fast boats, but has embraced the exciting new SailGP circuit with typical energy and enthusiasm.
“The noise they make is incredible, the foils whistling, and six of them careering towards you while you’re sitting on the shore, or on a spectator boat, well it really is difficult to get your head around, just how dramatic it is!"
Draper and Robertson have a degree of shared history - the pair were British Olympic team mates for the 2004 Games in Athens, where Draper won bronze in the 49er Class. Shortly after that they were opponents, both helming the exciting new catamarans of the fledgling Extreme Sailing Series, the birth of 'stadium sailing’.
The pair do, therefore, have much to talk about, and the result is a frank and honest discussion that looks into multiple aspects of Draper’s wide ranging professional sailing career. A favourite to win gold in Athens, Draper is audibly moved as he discusses the fact that to him, a bronze medal wasn’t what he went to Athens to achieve.
“It’s really sad now, in hindsight, when I think back at my Olympic memories, I guess I shouldn't think about it with remorse, it’s a shame, it was a tough one at the time."
But he also reveals how excited the Extreme Sailing fraternity became when BMW Oracle Racing won the 33rd America’s Cup, a win that opened up the Cup world to the experienced fast cat sailor.
“We watched Oracle win the Cup, all sat together in Oman, and realised that probably meant it was going to go to catamarans, and we all just thought ‘wow!’"
It wasn’t long before Draper was recruited into the America’s Cup world, eventually for Luna Rosa as they campaigned in the AC72s for the 34th Cup in San Francisco.
“That was an amazing time then, for all the sailors. We had all these different shapes and sizes of foils, and they all had nicknames…we had a Draper, and another we called CJ - one was quite stable and forgiving, risk averse, like myself, and the other was very fast, and very high risk, and could crash at any moment!”
Draper also talks openly and candidly as he reveals what life was like in the final days of Luna Rosa’s AC35 campaign the Italian team withdrawing from the Cup due to unsettled differences with the Defender, despite having spent a vast amount of time developing foiling mechanisms for the campaign.
Our last day of sailing at Luna Rosa was the first day that the auto-pilot beat the human. We were two-boating…myself against Bruni….and it was the first day the computer smashed the human, and we were all ‘oh my god, this is enormous!’"
It's a revealing listen - a great hour of sailing chat between two ex-team mates, good friends, with a shared sailing history.
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Francois Gabart is one of the stars of the offshore sailing world - the youngest ever winner of the solo offshore marathon the Vendee Globe, Francois also holds the title for the fastest ever solo lap of the planet, achievements that have made him a household name in his native France..
Gabart set a remarkable world record in 2017 when he took just 42 days 16hours 40minutes and 35seconds to sail alone, non stop around the world, coming within just 2 days of the overall crewed world record. The landmark achievement was set sailing the giant 100ft trimaran ‘Macif’, a foiling trimaran capable of sustained periods of high speed out in the world’s toughest sailing conditions…:
“I love speed. I’m not afraid of speed and I have to say that sometimes I even think that speed is not dangerous, that it’s sometimes safer to go fast."
As a six year old child Gabart spent a year at sea with his parents, as on a whim they decided to take off to see the world. He attributes a degree of his success to these formative days spent enjoying the experience of being out at sea. His sailing career started well, he was national champion in the competitive Optimist class. Several national titles followed as Gabart set his sights on Olympic success, but admits to Shirley that even then, his horizons were slightly wider…:
“There was something missing when I would just sail around the buoys, and then go back to shore at night. I was thinking ‘why can’t we just try to go further, sail into the night and just go’"
And so began a search for something more. Gabart discusses the unique French pathway to becoming an offshore professional, and how he tentatively set off around the world on his one and only Vendee Globe race, aged just 29.
“I was so proud to be a winner. I had been dreaming about doing the Vendee Globe, but i never thought I’d be a winner….The day I arrived, I was just thinking I did something incredible but I didn't know exactly what I had done, I was so focused on what I was doing I didn't realise the consequences of that….It didn't so much change the way I was living, but it changed the way the world was looking at myself."
Looking to the future, Gabart is pushing the boundaries of the sport wherever he can - he's an advocate of collaboration between the different areas of sailing, keen to learn from the technological advancements of the the America's Cup as he searches for speed out in the world's toughest oceans - he's a man revelling in his time, an articulate and intelligent athlete delighted to be involved in the sport of sailing while it undergoes a radical and exciting revolution.
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There aren't many people in world sailing that have as many strings to their bow as British sailing's Ian Walker. But this podcast isn't just a chat about sailing. Ian's success around the race course is well documented, but he is a remarkable man, a thinker, with a cerebral approach to the sport that has finessed throughout all his years out on the water. But he's also a man that's known tragedy, adversity, and sadness, and in this candid interview with a man that also counts as a very dear friend, we talk all manner of topics, as I spend an hour in conversation with one of British sailing's leading characters.
His competitive career started in the Olympic arena with campaigns that led to silver medals in both Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. And then for the Athens Olympics of 2004 Ian turned to coaching, guiding myself and my team to a gold medal in the Yngling class, my second consecutive gold, and a milestone in my career.
His Olympic experience though makes up but a fragment of Ian's competitive experience. Following the Sydney games of 2000 Walker was straight into the America's Cup arena, skippering Britain's first Cup challenge in over a decade down in Auckland, New Zealand.
And as if that wasn't enough, Walker has also skippered three Volvo Ocean Race campaigns, three times leading a team of sailors around the planet on sport's longest, most gruelling endurance event. By the third campaign, on Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Walker's determination was relentless. As the race concluded, the team had enough points to win with one leg to spare, taking the illusive trophy in emphatic fashion.
Today, you can find Ian Walker behind a desk, nurturing Britain's Olympic sailing talent as Director of Racing at the RYA. It's a challenging role, the British Sailing team are the most successful Olympic sailing team of this millennium, a period of success that Walker himself helped kick off with those early silver medals. But as a former team mate, who's also been coached by Walker, I know our sport in the UK is in very good hands.
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Nathan Outteridge has been at the cutting edge of our sport for over a decade. A multiple World Champion, he's well known within sailing as one of the very best at making fast boats sail..... faster..!!
With a history racing dynamic, zippy two man skiffs, Nathan was perfectly placed to step into the fast paced world of foiling, as the sailing world became obsessed with speeding about above the waves. From the exciting one man foiling Moth to the drama and jeopardy of foiling America's Cup giants, Nathan has been at the forefront of the progression of our sport.
A multiple Olympic medallist, an America's Cup skipper and multiple World Champion, Nathan is currently leading the charge on the exciting new SailGP racing series, while simultaneously campaigning for a spot at his fourth Olympic Games, this time in the foiling 18ft catamaran, the Nacra 18.
In this Edition Shirley Robertson spends an hour with Nathan Outteridge, discussing all aspects of the sport of sailing, getting a unique behind the scenes glimpse into the life of one of the sport's most accomplished athletes.
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