49er sailors at the Cup

Andy Rice takes a look at the relationship between Olympic skiff sailing and the Americas Cup

There are many 49er sailors dotted through the teams at the America’s Cup in Valencia, writes Andy Rice, and the skills between a 16-foot skiff and 80-foot keelboat are surprisingly transferable

Emirates Team New Zealand has not looked as sharp as people had expected in the early phases of the Louis Vuitton Cup. One of the reasons suggested has been the injury to the team’s strategist Adam Beashel, whose finger was badly mashed in a winch during Louis Vuitton Act 13. Fortunately surgery later that night meant that Beashel’s finger could be saved, although he has yet to recover to the point where he is fit enough to go racing again.

Beashel’s speciality is sniffing out the best lines of breeze from his lofty perch up the top of NZL 92’s mast. With the wind having been in short supply in Valencia since the beginning of the Louis Vuitton Cup, that sixth sense for finding the best breeze can be a race winner. The Kiwis will be pleased when Beashel is fit enough to get back up the rig on those light and fickle days.

Beashel is one of a number of sailors who graduated to the America’s Cup from the Olympic skiff class, the 49er. At first sight, you’d wonder what the connection between an ultra-light 16-foot two-man dinghy and an 80-foot 24-tonne keelboat would be, but according to Luna Rossa tactician Charlie McKee there are some useful similarities. “Downwind in a Cup boat you’re sailing quite big angles, like you do in a 49er,” says McKee, a double Olympic medallist and former World Champion in the 49er. “The other thing is that both a Cup boat and a 49er travel pretty much at wind speed downwind, so you learn to look in the right place for the breeze.”

Whereas most sailors are used to looking straight back upwind for the breeze, 49er sailors get used to looking for breeze that might be off to the side or sometimes even in front of the boat, such as the skiff’s ability to match or sail faster than windspeed. “It’s a difficult thing for some sailors to grasp,” says McKee, “but 49er sailors already have that instinct, which is probably why you see so many of them up the rigs of these Cup boats. At one time it seemed like we had the whole of the 49er fleet up there!”

Aside from Beashel for the Kiwis, Beashel’s former 49er crew Ed Smyth (49er World Champion 1999 crewing for Chris Nicholson) sometimes does the same windspotter’s job for BMW Oracle Racing. The Bruni brothers have been known to wave to each other from 25 metres up during a pre-start, with Francesco doing the job for Luna Rossa and younger sibling Gabriele doing the same for +39 Challenge. The Italian brothers used to sail together in the 49er, representing Italy at the 2000 Olympics. Danish 49er representative in Sydney 2000, Michael Hestbaek, does strategy for United Internet Team Germany. Now, here they are, the class of 2000 reunited again, but racing each other 25 metres above sea level.

While you’re unlikely to see many 49er sailors doing the hard graft on the winches (that’s what Finn and Star sailors were made for), there are plenty other former skiffies dotted throughout the crews in Valencia. Working the mainsheet for Luna Rossa is Charlie McKee’s brother Jonathan, who won bronze in the Sydney Games with Charlie in the 49er, and in 1984 took gold in the Flying Dutchman class. Ian Walker does tactics on +39 Challenge.

Santiago Vasquez-Lopez, a former 49er World Champion, is back-up helmsman and part of the afterguard for the fast-improving Desafio Espanol 2007, while Morgan Larson is part of the Victory Challenge afterguard. There are a couple of 49er graduates working the danger end of the Cup boats too, with Sean ‘Doogie’ Couvreux and Nick Partridge putting their good looks on the line for Areva Challenge and BMW Oracle respectively.

So if you want a job in the Cup, but don’t want to break into too much of a sweat turning the winch handles, then one of the best entry tickets is via the Olympic 49er class! However, if you suffer from vertigo, probably best not to apply for the strategist’s job.