John Greenwood - a madforsailing profile

A Finn fanatic who knows a good yarn or two about Rod Carr

What's your date of birth?
2nd November 1959

Where were you born?
Chesterfield, Derbyshire.

At what age did you start sailing?
About four and a half.

What inspired you to take up sailing?
I just got taken by my Dad.

Where was your first sailing club?
Ogston Sailing Club.

Which class did you first race in?
GP14 .

How did you buy your first boat?
Borrowed from Dad, that was to buy Terry Neilson's Vanguard Finn in 1982. Before then I had a borrowed GP age nine, Dad got me a Solo age 11, I think I had a Lark with my brother age 13 and my first Laser at 17. I swapped the Laser three years later for Robin Webb's Finn.

What was your first regatta win?
Outside club sailing it was NSSA Regatta at Grafham in 1973. Won Mirror under-15 in 1973. Mark and Ruth Rushall won the whole thing.

What's your biggest event or championship win?
Probably it is the Veteran Worlds in the Finn last summer because it was a World Championship.

Any other notable regattas that you have taken part in you would like to mention?
Winning J24 Nationals in '91 was probably most fun because we won every event that year. Star Districts was most memorable because I proposed to Bridget after winning before last day.

Which event will you be taking part in next?
Next international event will probably be Star Europeans with a young Finn guy who wants to learn about Star sailing, followed by Abersoch and the GP 14 Nationals with the kids.

Do you do any sailing-specific off the water training?
Not really, sit-ups and a bit of running, plus some stretching and that's to get my socks on.

Which coaches do you use if any?
I have been sailing against myself for nearly 38 years now so I usually ask myself what's going on. If I really want to know the truth I ask Dave Howlett.

If you weren't doing the job you are, what would you like to be doing instead?
Sail boat racing full time again. There are so many fun classes to sail, but if money were no object then I'd definitely include some Star sailing.

Which other sports do you take part in?
Watching the kids play mostly. Have been known to play golf and tennis.

Do you have other hobbies or interests outside of sailing?
Time is spent at work, just doing family stuff or visiting mates and doing their family stuff.

Do you have a favourite bar, pub or restaurant?
Square and Compass in Worth Maltravers, Andy Barker's local.

Tell us about your most memorable sail?
It was a race at Hyeres in 1984, the second Olympic trial for the Finn. The first trial was Palma. I only did a couple of races there because I was sick and had lost about 10kg out of one end or the other. None of the other Brits offered me a lift round to Hyeres so I got one of the other Finn guys to drive me and the boat. Everyone was there. After missing the first day I sailed race three, led at the windward mark and pulled away to about a two minute lead. I remember feeling tired up the last beat and Paolo Samaro catching up from nowhere, it seemed. The team was sponsored by ICI in those days, they had a big spectator boat up at the finish. I remember throwing tack after tack to hold Paolo off to take the gun. I lay in the boat absolutely wasted listening to cheers from the ICI boat and then Rod Carr appeared right by me. He had a full lunch on a tray, silver service style, champagne the whole works. That is still my most memorable sail, not just because of the unusual waiter and the location of having lunch but because I had felt so low before the race about screwing up the trials.

Who are your role models?
I was inspired by John Loveday who was winning National, European and World Championships in the 70s. He was a member of the same club and was always an innovator and had great style and poise in a boat. I don't really have any role models outside sailing. I only ever wanted to race boats and there's still a little bit of me that does.

What's your biggest remaining goal in sailing?
I'd like to be part of a British effort to win the America's Cup. I was signed up to go down to Australia in '85 but dropped out before the guys left because the business I just started got a large contract supplying character chocolate moulds to Kellogg's.

How much time do you spend on the water each week?
Probably only a couple of hours on average. The most I used to do was between 20 and 30 hours a week when I was Finn sailing in the early 80s.

Who are your sponsors?
My wife Bridget because she lets me have the time.

What is the best excuse you have ever given for a poor performance in a race?
Probably to my Mum and probably the first race I ever helmed. It was a crews' race at Ogston in 1967. I was seven and Dad was crewing for me in his new GP14. I remember tacking too close to an Enterprise, threw the tiller across the boat and the Enterprise broke it off. Mum had the whole story when we got home. Starting the race, every tack and spinnaker hoist, rounding every mark so did you win, I remember her asking after at least 15 minutes of babbling and I remember saying "No 'cause Dad was too slow tacking". I've still got the press cutting from the local Sheffield paper - youngest helmsman of the day, seven year-old John Greenwood had to retire on a technicality, as his father so often does.

What is the funniest thing you have either witnessed or experienced whilst sailing?
Apart from Rod Carr being a waiter, the best 'fun sailing' I have ever done was doing Kiel Week with Tim Tavinor and Graham Bailey in 1984 when the three of us had been selected to be the Soling tune up crew for Chris Law in the LA Olympics. We had a lot of fun and did some very funny things - well at the time we thought they were funny. I remember we spent half the grant before we got there on some sandals that massaged your feet as you walked. Graham said the East Germans and the Russians had them, so they must be good, and as he had the grant cheque we all got some. The funniest thing that ever happened to me in sailing was during the early summer of 1983 when Rod Carr suggested I went to the Travemunde Regatta. "It's what you need," I remember him saying. It was a couple of weeks after Kiel so I left my boat there and went home for a week. Rod's secretary, Shireen, made all the travel arrangements to get to Travemunde, entry etc. I drove to Dover from seeing my parents in Nottinghamshire, stayed overnight in the British Army barracks in Kiel the next day, picked up my boat and drove to Travemunde the day after that. I went to the Regatta office to proclaim my arrival and met a lady with a very surprised look. "John Greenwood from UK, The RYA entered me for the Finn racing," I said. "Sorry," came the reply, "no Finns in Travemunde". I immediately spoke to Rod on the good lady's telephone, telling him of the situation I found myself in...."Hold on a minute," he said, "there's a regatta in Greece starting tomorrow if you're quick." Ever the enthusiast, our coach.

Do you have a favourite sailing venue and what makes it a great place to sail?
Kiel Week probably, anything can happen there, just ask Roland Gaebler about his 1984 regatta there. Nothing to do with Tavinor and I, of course. Seriously, it's a brilliant regatta, extremely well organised and usually great fun.

What's the single thing that could most improve the running of regattas?
Race management.

What is your greatest strength in sailing?
Adjusting sail shapes to make the boat go fast.

What is your greatest weakness in sailing?
Preparing my body.

What's the single most important piece of advice you could give to younger sailors?
Get fit. Get really fit.

Who are your sailing heroes, and why?
As a kid, John Loveday I mentioned earlier. John Doerr, also from Ogston the first guy at the club to sail a Finn, those were the local ones. On the world stage, Elvstrom, Law and Howlett were the sailors I looked up to in my late teens and early twenties. Elvstrom because he was the greatest, Law and Howlett because they were the best British Finn sailors during the mid to late seventies when all I wanted to do was sail a Finn.

If you could sail for a day with anyone of your choice who would it be and why?
My dad, because I want to share with him what he started and really make up for breaking the tiller of his new GP all those years ago.

Who do you think are the best sailors in Britain?
All the ones that came back with Olympic medals from Sydney followed closely by a few of those that didn't.

Who do you rate as the best sailor in the world?
The one that wins the America's Cup would be the answer that I would like to give, but that's such a big team effort that the front guy is probably less than five per cent of the story. I don't know, I don't think of people like that. I know that if I wanted to be the best sailor in the World I would have to win a Finn Gold Cup or an Olympic Gold in the Finn and then a Star World Championships within a couple of years of getting into it. Do that and you could be truly acclaimed the best sailor in the world as far as I am concerned.

====================================================

If you're reading this and you think madforsailing should be profiling someone you know ...

madfor sailing want to profile all the top sailors - but we may be struggling to find some of them! If you'd like to tell us about someone you know, just click here and send us an email address or a phone number.