Ian Walker talks to madforsailing

The sailing manager of GBR Challenge talks to Ed Gorman about a busy summer ahead

Ian, today you've announced your campaign with United Airlines for the Admiral's Cup. It sounds like it's going to be a very busy summer, what with testing the two Japanese America's Cup boats as well. How are you going to fit it all in?
The America's Cup is the main focus and nothing is going to detract from that. All the Admiral's Cup training is going to have to be done at the weekends, apart from of course the event itself. We can justify the time spent on the Admiral's Cup because I think it's a useful training exercise. It'll be people sailing under pressure and it's a good event and a good way of sharpening up and getting back into racing before the America's Cup Jubilee regatta in August. So the Admiral's Cup sits quite nicely, without losing sight of the fact that the America's Cup is the main focus of what we are doing.

Has the choice of crew for the Sydney 40 in the Admiral's Cup been made with the GBR Challenge for the America's Cup in mind?
The crew of the Sydney 40 is made up of four people in the United Airlines sailing team - Richard Sydenham, Mark Covell, myself and Andy Beadsworth - and two people who I love to sail keelboats with in James Stagg and Simon Fry and they are both on the America's Cup team. The GBR Challenge is, in effect, sponsoring and supporting the Sydney 40 by making these people available to it. I think that's something that Peter Harrison (the chairman of the GBR Challenge) is keen to do. He supported the event by sponsoring the British team last time round and he very much wants the America's Cup to complement the Admiral's Cup and the Olympic programme.

Was there ever any question of you backing out of the Admiral's Cup because of your commitments with the GBR Challenge?
Obviously we are employed by the GBR Challenge. We can't just take time off and do what we want and it is a consideration whether we take two weeks off in July to do this, but we are definitely going ahead.

When are you hoping to start testing out the two Japanese America's Cup boats? (Peter Harrison has purchased JPN 44 and JPN 52 from the Nippon Challenge)
The boats are due to arrive on March 19th. We won't be doing too much in the way of testing in the UK. Instead we'll be learning to sail the boats and trialling potential crew and getting the whole mechanism of the thing up and running. Any testing will be carried out largely in the winter in New Zealand. If the boats do arrive on time, with the best will in the world, it will take two or three weeks to put them back together, so we're talking the first and second weeks of April. Then we'd look to very slowly work our way into it with one boat and a core group of people through April. Then, hopefully, by May and June, we'll start to trial other people and bring other experienced people in to expand our numbers and sail two boats. We have to send one boat off to New Zealand by the beginning of July in order to have it there for when the sailing team go down in September. So we will be back to a one-boat programme through July which sits well with people doing the Admiral's Cup.

Should we draw any conclusions from the fact that Andy Beadsworth will be driving the Sydney 40, in terms of his likely role in the America's Cup?
No is the answer to that - it hasn't even crossed my mind. Andy is one of a number of people and I think we need a number of people. Until we start sailing America's Cup boats we'll have no idea who the best person is to steer them. The main candidates on paper are Andy Beadsworth and Andy Green because of their match racing experience, Chris Main and potentially David Barnes. There's a group there and we need that with two boats and with match racing teams going away to events, so we are very open-minded.

How do you view the prospects for the British team in the Admiral's Cup this time round?
They are obviously very good. I hate saying our aim is solely to win something but I think it's got to be. We've got to the point where we've got good people, good boats, good backing...but you know what the Admiral's Cup is like, the favourites very rarely win it. But I think we need to put in a top performance, notwithstanding the vagaries of the event.

With potentially more teams than last time, it should be a better event?
The biggest thing is it's all one-design. I think the British have generally done well in one-design classes within the Admiral's Cup whereas we normally fall foul in the big boat development classes.

But why do people seem to dislike the Sydney 40 so much?
I haven't sailed it yet. I don't think they are the best-designed boat in the world but I've not sailed it. The main thing from my point of view is that I like one-design racing. If they're all the same, it really doesn't matter. I'd go and race X-boats if they are all the same - it's a tactical battle and that's what I enjoy.

Thanks a lot, Ian.