Strike two!

Cup-winning navigator Grant Simmer, onboard Australia II in 1983, did it again this time as design co-ordinator with Alinghi. Having a leading sailor, sailmaker and previous America's Cup winner acting as the link between Alinghi's sailing and design team was typical of Russell Coutts' and Michel Bonnefous's 'smart-cookie' recruitment policy. Rob Mundle talked to Simmer on his return home to Sydney

SH: Take us through the first few minutes of the first upwind leg of Race One in the America's Cup. What were your thoughts while you watched the two boats?
GS: It was really hard to know how fast Team New Zealand were going to be because they hadn't raced against anyone where we could establish reliable information. We had been monitoring them closely from around Christmas, but still we couldn't gauge just how fast they were. We believed we could cope with them in terms of starting, tactics and boathandling, but that was where it ended. Their boat was very different from ours, which was the most extreme of all the challengers with its very U-shaped hull.

To read the remainder of this article please go to the July 2003 edition of Seahorse, available at selected newsstands or by calling: + 44 (0) 1590 671899 or by email at: info@seahorse.co.uk

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