AC37 DEBRIEF

The Americas Cup has been labeled as the most prestigious sailing event in racing history, spanning over 173 years. With an incredible history of fierce battles on the race course and battles on the shore, as the development of racing boats try to keep up with the latest and greatest technology. There are a few sayings in sailing.. one might be “A race on shore, before a race on water” and another “to finish first, first you must finish.” This is my debrief on how these two sayings are reality in my experience working as a sailmaker and rigger in an Americas Cup Racing Team. 

A RACE ON SHORE BEFORE A RACE ON THE WATER

Its true what they say.. It’s a race on the shore before the race on the water. I joined Orient Express Racing Team at the beginning of March 2025, T- 5 months before official racing began for the Preliminary regatta. The race had begun, my race had begun, and without any previous Americas Cup Experience I had no idea what I was in for, hoping that my 5 years of sailmaking and 2 years of rigging would be enough.
I spent the first month getting to grips with the new team and starting to build strops, loops and covers for the AC75, whilst maintaining the sails and rigging of the AC40, the smaller training yacht (before the AC75 arrived at the base.)When the AC75 arrived it was the 6th of April,T- 4 months until the preliminary regatta. It was a race against the clock to get the yacht ‘race ready’ and as the jobs list was long, so were the working days. My job was to now finish the first set of sails for the first test sailing and training and the race sails for the regatta. The shore crew worked tirelessly, working long hours in the punishingly hot Barcelona summer heat.  

The challenge had been set, and it was up to the technical team to push through and get the boat finished. After working in the technical area of the marine industry and within yacht teams I have come to the realisation that rarely things go exactly to plan, and overcoming unforeseen obstacles is a given. On the 7th of June 2024 The Orient Express Racing Team AC75 racing yacht set sail for the first time, a remarkable moment for all the team and our efforts to get to this point, however what we thought might get easier actually got harder, and for us to finish first, we first had to finish.

TO FINISH FIRST, FIRST YOU MUST FINISH

Time on the water is what’s known in sailing to be the most valuable weapon in a teams inventory. The more time you have to familiarise with your boat, the way it behaves and working together within your team to sail it as fast as possible, is the key to winning any regatta. After the first sailing on June 7th, the aim was to do this, the sailors needed to learn how to master their new AC75 yacht, and it was up to the technical team to provide a platform in which the sailors could do so.

After most sailing days, the yacht would return with a jobs list in order to be ready for the next sailing day, which in most cases was the following day. The sailmaking department was no different, as we were finding our own problems and issues that we needed to solve in order to achieve the second most important weapon…Reliability! 

The AC75 yachts had redefined what was possible in sailing, proving that technology isn’t just an advantage, but at the very heart of the sport, and with each new iteration, the boundaries are pushed even further. The AC75 yachts are now extremely technically driven with advanced systems from bow to stern ranging from hydraulic rams to millions of buttons in the cockpit. The yacht and the sailors have become so reliant on the systems in place to work, and when they don’t, it is a direct reflection on the shore team. It isn’t just a battle of sailors, it is a war of technology. The America’s Cup has always been about innovation, and in the modern era, the AC75 class has taken that to the extreme. It is no longer just about reading the wind and handling sails, it is about engineering, data analytics, automation, and computational fluid dynamics. Every decision on board is informed by cutting-edge technology, making the difference between victory and defeat razor-thin. 

We saw in many races during the 37th Americas Cup, technical difficulties which concluded in boats either not making it to the start line, or not finishing the race, proving that reliability is important and the pressure on the shore team to ‘get it right’ was immense and more important than ever before in the history of the Americas Cup. We were working around the clock and against it, to perfect systems, make reparations and make improvements wherever possible to get our boat across the finish line.

ENDINGS - NEW BEGINNINGS

A wild ride it was working in an Americas Cup sailing team, with many highs and many lows. I joined with an open mind and good spirit, however quickly learned that this job doesn’t just require that. It requires an extreme amount of dedication and effort, having to sacrifice some social life and sailing life all for the end goal of winning the ‘old mug’.

The Louis Vuitton Cup didn’t finish how we had hoped at Orient Express Racing, however the foot is in the door with a fantastic boat and team that will go on to compete for the trophy once again. During my race on shore I have made some incredible new friends and had the pleasure of working with some old ones, making for some fun times in the awesome host city that is Barcelona.

2025 is now among us and with so are some exciting new sailing plans. After a holiday in New Zealand and spending time with my friends and family, my next adventure awaits…