New Route Presents Tough Challenges

Q: Why have you decided to join the Spanish team?
A: I spoke with Bouwe (Bekking) as April last year to see if I was interested in sailing with the team. Obviously I was very keen to do the race again and Telefonica seemed like a good prospect. Farr (Yacht Design) was already in place with an exclusive deal and I knew they would be very motivated as well. Obviously working for a Spanish team is good too – I have my home here now and whilst I'm still very much a Brit at heart it has something of a home team feel to it.

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Q: How satisfying is it to work with someone of the calibre of Bouwe Bekking?
A: This last year working together has been really good, I obviously had a lot of respect for Bouwe with what he achieved with movistar last time, and, despite having a boat with a lot of structural problems, he kept his team well up on the rankings. He has a lot of experience with the race but he is also an open-minded guy so the whole development phase of this programme has been really rewarding.

Q: Does having a two-boat campaign give the team an edge?
A: Having a two-boat entry is obviously an advantage, having another boat there to push you is of massive benefit. This was certainly the case with the ABN AMRO boats last time. Although the black boat was quicker than us last time (also a result of a two-boat programme) we both benefited from sailing against each other day in day out and really pushing ourselves. The challenge that brings really accelerates the learning process. This time is a little different as our two boats will be pretty similar – however, with the second generation of the boat, the rule has moved in the direction of maximum beam boats so I don't think we'll see massive gains in terms of hull form. However, with similar boats it gives us a good two-boat platform to test sails with and this may well give us an edge in the race.

Q: What are your views of the new route?
A: Obviously the new route presents us with a lot of new challenges, and all this starts at the design process just trying to accurately work out what conditions we will experience this time around. I think although there is one less Southern ocean leg the race will be no less challenging. It will be a race of even greater extremes. There will be more upwind, more light airs, longer legs, shorter stops, plus the fact that no one has actually done this course before makes it a really interesting project and pretty exciting for a navigator as there are going to be some big decisions to be made along the way.

Q: Do you feel added responsibility in the role of navigator, particularly at the relatively young age of 30?
A: Now that I’m 30 and have a few grey hairs I don’t think of myself as so young these days! I am one of the younger navigators in the race and if it were not for the under-30 rule, I would probably find myself being one of the youngest on the boat. Its a big responsibility but one I am very happy taking on. I have done two America’s Cups now and the last race with ABN AMRO TWO have gained a lot of experience but also had the opportunity to work with and learn from some really experienced guys.

I have always enjoyed soaking up information from those who are wiser than me but for this race I am really keen to take on more of the responsibility, hopefully have a bit more input into the team and really put all that I have learned plus some of my own ideas into practice.

Having been offered the navigator’s spot I have the chance to do this. There is a lot to think about and manage with all the meteorology, routing, performance analysis and electronics but I have tried in each area to do it a little better than before and where I lack some experience and skill we are lucky to have really talented guys supporting us. When it comes to sailing or making decisions, my age doesn’t really come into it. I think this is more down to the people around me having the faith in my ability and believing in what I can do more than anything else.

Q: During the last edition you were one of the best on-board writers and through your words we were given a deep insight into life on board. How do you think the presence of media crew member for this race will help that process?
A: I actually really enjoyed writing my daily report each day from the boat! Hopefully I’ll be able to keep on doing this for the next edition of the race. I was really surprised by how many people followed what I wrote. I took that as a real compliment.

I hope that having a media guy on board will be a real success. So much happens on board these boats that the public never get to see. With any luck the new media position will allow everyone to get even closer to the action and change that a bit. Hopefully it will give a new angle on the race and allow something that I’m really passionate about get out to an even wider audience. Being the media guy is going to be a pretty demanding job, I don’t think just anyone can step into the position – I can safely say it can be pretty damn horrible trying to work on a computer bouncing up and down in a Volvo Open 70, so if he’s down there editing video while were pounding upwind in 25knots I’ll take my hat off to him for sure.

Q: In this edition we are going to have a new satellite communications system – fleet broadband. How is it going to benefit the boats when you will be racing, how do you think it will help you in your role?
A: The new satellite communications on board will not only allow us to get more footage off the boats for everyone to enjoy but also more weather data onto the boat and faster. More data could mean we get a few more hours on a GRIB forecast, or higher resolution to help us make more informed decisions. The weather we receive on board is from the servers at race HQ. I’m sure the 2008-09 weather package will reflect the fact there is more bandwidth available. As for faster, well this means less time downloading weather and more time thinking about it or more time up on deck sailing the boat. Sailing is what this race is all about, so if I can spend a bit more time on deck rather than wrestling with computer connections then that’s got to be a good thing.