Historic humility

For a long time I have wanted to break into the maxi boat sailing market. Or should I say break back into the market; (quite) a few years back I spent time sailing IOR maxis like Condor and Boomerang and then sailed on the Nelson-Marek 80ft IMS maxi Falcon for a while.

But those boats are tiny compared with the modern maxis. Nowadays 100ft is commonplace, with many boats bigger. Oops, I just remembered, I served as the sailing master and coach of Michael Fay's 140ft Challenger for the America's Cup, back in 1988, what we call the K-boat.

Long time backer of Team New Zealand Ronald De Waal, who is also the owner of the J-boat Velsheda, needed a tactician for this year's Maxi boat world championship in Sardinia. For me the opportunity of sailing on a J-boat, given my obsession with the America's Cup, was something to jump at.

J-boats were used in the America's Cup until they got too expensive, which is kind of funny to think about given the cost of modern America's Cup campaigns. As with all boats used in the America's Cup, they were cutting edge in their time. It is interesting to compare our latest Emirates Team New Zealand boat with De Waal's 75-year-old Charles Nicholson-designed Velsheda.

To read the remainder of this and many other articles, please purchase your copy of the December 2006 edition of Seahorse International Sailing available at selected newsstands or by calling: + 44 (0) 1590 671899 or by email at: info@seahorse.co.uk

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