Percy takes on the AC45

Iain Percy tells us of his role on the Artemis Racing AC45

From the ashes of TeamOrigin, so a handful of former crewman from the defunct British America’s Cup challenger have managed to wangle their way into other teams, with one in particular, Iain Percy who earlier this year joined up with Torbjorn Tornqvist’s Artemis Racing, where he sails with skipper Terry Hutchinson.

Like Oracle, Artemis Racing are working on crew rotation at the America’s Cup World Series regattas, so while Percy was racing as tactician on board in Plymouth last week, he wasn’t sailing with the team at the first AC World Series event in Cascais last month.

“I have only sailed a few days in training over the last 3-4 months but it has been great, but I have enjoyed it, it’s hard work,” said Percy prior to the regatta starting.

Aboard the under-staffed AC45s, the tactician role is in fact more a nominal one, as on all the boats all the crew are constantly working flat out. “I am very much reminded by our bowman that my main role is bow assist, and he’s right,” quips Percy. “There is no dedicated tactician on these boats, there is a lot of boat handling role. You pull a lot of strings – I do the runner upwind, which is a big grind, you furl the gennaker, you help with the deploy, you do as much as the other three. The helmsman is probably the only one who has a bit of an easy ride.”

It seems that on the AC45s it is mainly the helmsman who does the tactics with input from tactician, whenever the opportunity arises. “It is more a tactics/strategy mix rather than straight tactics, because you are quite head down with the boat handling,” says Percy. “It is more a case of taking time every 20 seconds to check we are on the right shift and where the next line of pressure is and giving Terry a second option. You can see that the helmsman has the most time, but I certainly have time to get my head up, particularly upwind. Downwind is more getting ready for the gybe and laylines. So there is a lot going on. The fact that I am quite busy means you have to play it a bit more like small boat match racing. But it is interesting, a new challenge. We have all got a lot to learn.”

So how is Percy getting on with the new features of the America’s Cup World Series courses – the reaching starts, the course boundary lines, etc. “Like all aspects of this racing, we are learning fast. You never get your head fully around anything, but we are certainly on a steeper part of the learning curve than we would be on a traditional windward-leeward on a monohull. It is always fun when you are learning new things. We come across new lessons each day you put in the bank. In two years time all the teams will be racing in a more professional way, but it is a fun process trying to get there.”

Is the AC45 too shorthanded? “It is the right number of people for the boat, but it is very hard work, it is physical. The heart rates are up there, as hard as your body can push basically and the fitter you are, the harder you work. It is not like you can get to a fitness level where it would ever get easy. You would just do it harder and faster all the time. But that’s great. I like the fact it is such a physical challenge as well. It is fast, high tempo and it has a strong fitness demand and I like all those aspects.”

In Plymouth, Artemis’ results were up and down. They were strong at the beginning of the regatta, but were roundly dispatched by match racing newbie Chris Draper on Team Korea during Friday’s semi-finals. And the final winner-takes-all fleet race on Sunday was a catastrophe for Artemis with a pre-start collision with Green Comm that left their starboard bow punctured.

“Green Comm came in on port and half tacked in front of us and we tried to get behind them but were unable to, so we got locked up and we ended up with their rudder inside our hull,” recounted Percy. “I didn’t know what was going to break first – our hull or their rudder. In the end they flipped over so that solved that problem and we got off after that. We were taking a little water, but nothing too dramatic.”
However with their hull slowly filling up with water, skipper Terry Hutchinson believed that this contributed to their capsize later on in the race. So how terrifying was that? “Not too bad...the capsize happened quite slowly.”

Despite this Percy says they sailed well and were generally in strong shape. “My first capsize in a catamaran, so a bit of action - a lot of fun, but it is a shame it went a bit wrong for Artemis. We dominated the fleet racing at the beginning which we are pleased with. But it is still early days for all of us and there’s a lot to work on. For me, this being my first event, I am still on a very steep part of the learning curve and I am probably letting the boys down on a number of occasions, but I am enjoying learning and enjoying working with the team.”

Percy’s partner in crime on the Star, Andrew Simpson, was also in Plymouth last week to see the racing. The confirmation of their selection for Team GBR at the London 2012 Olympic Games this morning came as no great surprise as in the Star class they have little competition in the British team. While Percy remains an active part of the Artemis Racing sailing team, his priority at the moment is the Star as he and Simpson look set to have their hands full if they are to break the reign of Brazilian multiple Olympic medallist Robert Scheidt, who currently rules the roost in the men’s Olympic keelboat. Hence over the next month they are scheduled to be training hard out of Weymouth.