Ken Read interview

madforsailing spoke to Kenny Read, the man on the helm of Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes

If Dennis Conner is considered one of the greatest America's Cup helmsman of all time, then spare a thought for the man who has inherited the spot at the wheel of Conner's latest America's Cup challenges. For a man with the responsibility of filling such big shoes, quite aside from his regular 9-5 job as Vice President of North Sails, Ken Read (above) seems remarkably relaxed. This New Englander is among the nicest people you could possibly meet to the extent that it is hard to concieve him going for the jugular on the race course.

Yet Ken Read's race record speaks for itelf. He is widely regarded as one of the most talented helmsmen in the States since the days when he cleaned up on the Collegeate circuit, to an impressive six World Championship titles in the J/24 class - back in the pre-Mumm 30/36/sportsboat days when this was the hot keelboat class - not to mention two Corel 45 Worlds and skippering the top boat in the 1997 Admiral's Cup. In the America's Cup arena he was sailing coach and strategist for Young America in 1995 before getting the call to join Team Dennis Conner taking over from DC himself in the coveted helmsman's spot.

Read clears up how his role fits in with Mr America's Cup himself in the campaign: "Dennis is the big boss and focusses on the fund raising and corporate and private fund raising. If it came down to it, which it never has, he would have the last word. He's who we all go to for advice. He's working his tail off trying to raise the money. In a perfect world Dennis would be doing what I'm doing, but he's the first one to realise that to run the sailing programme, skipper the boat and fund raise, trying to raise $30-40 million is an impossible task in this day and age. So Dennis is doing the business side of us and he'll leave the sailing up to us."

Within Team Dennis Conner, Read is helmsman and runs the sailing program. Once again Mick Harvey runs the shoreside of the operation, both reporting to another very familiar figure in Director of Operations, Billy Trenkle, who has been involved with Conner's AC campaigns since 1980. And it is this longevity that is the key to Team Dennis Conner's success and is what drove them from the position of an under funded, late underdog in the last Louis Vuitton Cup to missing out on a place in the finals by a hair's breath.

Read says that the longevity of the team has come about through the loyalty that DC inspires in his troops. "When he hires you, you become his friend. That is a big part of his deal. One of his criteria is that 'I don't want anyone on my team who I don't want to go out and have dinner with'. He just wants to get to know you and enjoy you and he really gets into the family aspect of the team.

"A lot has been made of the great cook-outs he has," continues Read. "On a cold day he'll make and bring down a big vat of chilli. So this close-knit, family atmosphere is really really important to him. Besides his management style is to hire people and put them in positions where they can thrive and allow them to either make the right decision or make the mistake. There's never been once where he's leaned over my shoulder and said 'hey, that's not the way I'd do it'. He's there if you've got a question, but he is amazingly adept at allowing people to do their own thing. And it's great. You thrive. You don't feel that there's the pressure of this legend looking over your shoulder who is going to do everything you are going to do.

"So it's simple, it's right out of Management Monthly. Allow your top people to do what they do and your business will thrive. That's why he thrives and that's why people like Billy Trenkle and Mick Harvey have been around for about 1000 years!"

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