Volvo veteran goes Mini sailing

We speak to ex-Ericsson and SEB Aussie crewman Tom Braidwood about his new challenge

Every so often someone from one of the pinnacles of our sport decides to take time out from the America's Cup or the Volvo Ocean Race to 'do something for themselves' with all the encumbant responsibilities and without the support and infra-structure of a large team. For those with mortgages, families and who consider themselves 'pros', this is a brave move, having to pay for their yachting rather than being paid for it and over the last decade Andrew Cape, Nick Moloney and Jonathan McKee have been examples of sailors who have gone out on a limb to complete in the Mini Transat.

The latest addition to this list is knarly Australian sailor Tom Braidwood. Now 34 years old, Braidwood, like James Spithill, received his break when he joined Syd Fischer's Sydney 95 America's Cup campaign. He has sailed two Admiral's Cup, a Farr 40 World championship and numerous top level inshore racs, but he is best known as an offshore sailor. Braidwood most recently was part of Neal McDonald's Ericsson Volvo Ocean Race team and before that was bowman on SEB and on the Silk Cut shore team.

"So, Mr Braidwood - a life crisis?" "I’ve always wanted to do this," we are told. "I did the America’s Cup with Syd and I came back thinking that was pretty cool and Nick Moloney was doing it back then. And that gave me the bug. Now I am knee deep and paddling..."



Braidwood started out on his Mini Transat campaign when his role as Project Manager for the build of Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo was nearing completion at McConaghys 18 months ago (he remains crew boss on Alfa). "It was looking at that stage like the Volvo wasn’t getting the momentum. And unfortunately for my wife said ‘whatever’, she didn’t think I’d get any support. Then I made a few phone calls and guys like Iain Murray and Simon Gosser said they’d help me out, so we started building."

His boat, a Simon Rogers design, is sistership to Nick Bubb's Whittlebury Hall. The boat has the same canting keel that also slides fore and aft by 850mm. The boat has different rudders and bulb and instead of Bubb's ambitious wingmast, Braidwood's Mini has a regular carbon fibre fixed mast made by Southern Spars with a single spreader. "The weight saving is huge and also the windage is good. On a cat or an Open 60 wingmasts go pretty quick. On a Mini you are going okay speeds, but you are not going 20 knots that often to really make a wingmast work and I thought the righting moment was a bit more important," says Braidwood.

Build of the Braidwood's Mini took place at Iain Murray's Azzurra Yacht facility on the Gold Coast. Around this time Braidwood got the call to join up with Ericsson Racing Team and left John Hildebrand to oversee the project in his absence.

The boat is as technically advanced as can be and being Alfa Romeo's Project Manager certainly helped. "It is a full pre-preg Nomex boat, so it should be all there," says Braidwood. "Even the bulb is calcium lead instead of anotminium because I was able to do a deal with the guys who were pouring the bulb for Alfa Romeo. And it’s a full C&C milled bulb as well. What I felt was important was starting with something that you know was right. North Sails Sydney supported me as well - I’ve got all the moulds Jonathan McKee had for this boat."

Braidwood admits he has no experience in the Mini class but wanted a boat he knew would be in the ball park from the outset so that when he goes to France he can develop it further. "It is important to start off with something that we know is going to be quick rather than trying to reinvent the wheel," he says.

The Mini was launched almost a year ago, coinciding with the Volvo visiting Melbourne and based out of his homeport of Newcastle, to the north of Sydney. He has since spent as much time as possible working her up. There has been little point in racing the boat in Australia, simply because there are no other Minis to race against.

"A lot of guys here are really interested," he says. "A whole bunch have been talking about it. It would be great to see a Mini class going off down here. The money, the price of the boats on the water is pretty reasonable. It is a matter of pulling it all together." But at present this is just a dream.

Part of the process of working the boat up has been trying to make as many mistakes as possible and seeing what the boat will take. "We’ve been going out and doing all the wrong things to see what happens - Chinese gybing it and laying it over. We’ve had it out on the harbour with the spreaders in the water. We’ve got a video where we left the keel on the wrong side and gybed it in 25 knots and flattened it straight over! But they are such safe fat little boats you let the main off and up she comes.

"I’ve got into plenty of trouble. I was coming into the Heads and a big squall hit me when I was getting the chute off and I trawled the chute out fo the back and it spun the boat around and I Chinese gybed. But you’ve just got to dust yourself off and tidy it up. But they’re such tiny boats, you can manhandle everything. Not like the Volvo… When it all goes horribly wrong you just have to regroup, sort it out, not panic and rush around and tidy up and get going again. That discipline of not rushing into things is important singlehanded stuff." To date he has had 17 knots of the Mini in flat water but has yet to break the 20 mark.

Braidwood has set up his own website and thanks to his profile has been sparking off a lot of media interest in his campaign with the prospect of a possible TV documentary in the pipeline.

Domestically Braidwood's timing is superb. He is married to wife Belinda and they have a four month old daughter. They are to move to La Rochelle in February/March with the boat. "Belinda is pretty excited is it. What other excuse would you turn up in Europe other than Volvo or America’s Cup and say we are going to live over there for a year. So it’ll be great."

Aside from having the bottle to go ahead with a campaign, the biggest hurdle facing entries is getting a spot on the start line. Only 75 boats are allowed to start and less than a month after the entry list was opened at the Salon Nautique in Paris 170 - yes, 170 - boats are on the list, a majority on the waiting list. Fortunately among this list are six wildcard entries, known as DCQs, especially designated for a select handful of sailors from overseas. Braidwood is one of these.



"The next stage is that I’ve got to do my 1,000 mile qualifier which I hope to do out of Sydney, which I’ve got approval out of Classe Mini to do," says Braidwood. "So we’ll go from Sydney out around Lord Howe Island and up around Middleton Reef and then back into Newcastle." After this Braidwood has to complete 1,000 miles of Mini racing over in Europe. "That is really where you get to learn about the boat and see how you’re going and any little tweaks you need to do. I don’t profess to be any expert on Minis so the big thing for me is to get over there and not to be a smart Alec but to see what they do and learn how they do it and try to close the gap."

Unlike some of his peers in the pro sailing world, Braidwood has managerial experience. He is crew boss of Alfa Romeo and had a similar role with Ericssonas well as his 'skill' as a rigger. The biggest issue facing him at present is financing the project.

"We don’t have a naming sponsor," he says. "So we are just redrawing on the homeloan! We are pretty hard searching for a naming sponsor. These things are pretty interesting projects, and Australians love their yachting but it is very hard to find a sponsor here. It doesn’t work as well as it does in Europe. Sponsors over there sponsor a boat and they work with the project. The stereotype for sponsorship in Australia is 'I’ll give you 50k, you put my name on the mainsail and I’ll never talk to you again'. So you can see why no one sees the value in it."

Had he paid for everything Braidwood reckons his Mini campaign would be setting him back around Aus$ 300,000 (around £120,000). One of the reasons he has put so much effort into making his Mini as good as possible is so that he can sell it to recoup some of the money when he sells the boat.

Aside from getting the boat up to speed Braidwood also needs to learn how go singlehanding when he goes to France. Aside from shorthanded sailing with his father on the family Adams 10 when he was younger, Braidwood admits he hasn't done this before. "A bit like Nick Moloney and all those guys, the only way to do this is you’ve got to get in there and learn the hard way. I think I’ll struggle. Anyone who’s sailed with me knows I’m a chatty person, I’m a real people person, so I don’t doubt it will be a challenge. I’ll just have to take it on. Once you’re on the boat you can’t do anything about it anyway. It’ll be good. One of the reasons I’ve always wanted to do some singlehanded stuff. I’ve done the America’s Cup and the Volvo and they are all different disciplines."

For Braidwood the Mini Transat is a one-off. The boat will be sold on finishing it. He says he would love to do an Open 60 campaign, but this would have to be fully funded. "I’ve done this where I’ve self-funded the whole thing and struggled and struggled. Because without even wanting to you have to cut corners. 'I’ll get it later, when I might have a sponsor, etc' - it is not the way to do things. And so it is hard to change your mind set. On a Mini program and budget with no income, you start going 'I might laminate that in'. My wife is pretty good at making sure I do things properly."