Slick as Shoeby

James Boyd speaks to Team Tyco's skipper about the Volvo and his America's Cup plans

Kevin Shoebridge is a remarkable figure. For years he was the strong right arm, first of Peter Blake and then Grant Dalton. In between Whitbreads Shoeb shoehorned in America's Cup campaigns with Team New Zealand, back in the days when an AC program didn't take out four years of your life. Looking at the projects he has been involved with his yacht racing CV must be one of the most immaculate in existence.

Now skipper of Team Tyco in the closing stages of the Volvo Ocean Race, his is a story of a campaign which was highly rated and would have been podium place in the rankings were it not for a confounded rudder breakage while they were leading the second leg from Cape Town to Sydney. With a team of predominantly Kiwis and Brits, Tyco is one of the most low key projects in the race, but also one of the most content. On board there seem to have been none of the crew wranglings we have seen on a few of the other Volvo Ocean 60s.

James Boyd spoke to the popular Kiwi skipper in La Rochelle:

mfs: If you could turn the clock back by a year or so what would you have done differently with Team Tyco?

Kevin Shoebridge: It's all the things that illbruck are doing. You would have started your program earlier. You would have spent more time on design. We were quite rushed on design because we had a tight building slot so we were the first designed of all these boats here. In hindsight I would have liked to have spent more time on that. We wanted a reaching boat when we went into this race and we haven't really got one. We've got a light airs reaching boat.

I guess a lot of that was we were all a bit gunshy from the previous race thinking that the wide beam water line boats were going to be slow downwind. but they're not. I think Farr has figured out how to make the fat boats go downwind now. So stability is the winner again.

I would liked to have spent more time on the sail program. I think we've done a good job with it, but we've picked up and played catch up like everyone has. These are the two most important things - the sail program and the performance of the boat.

The people thing we are really happy with. We all get on well together and we sail well together and that's why we've been a pretty cohesive teams right from the start. We haven't got any bun fights going on or people leaving and that's been a really satisfying part of the project.

Obviously the rudder thing - in hindsight now I wish we'd known more about the rudder. But when you buy a rudder off a boatbuilder you just expect it to stay in one piece. You don't expect to go off X-Raying the thing before the start. I look at boat like when you buy a Volvo: you trust it's right, you trust someone has built it to specification and it wasn't. But it's too late now. That's been the biggest disappointment I guess.

mfs: Without the rudder problem how do you think you would be getting on?

KS: If we hadn't lost the rudder we'd be in contention for second and that how we've sailed. I don't think we've had enough speed to be the winning boat, not early enough anyway. It's funny how it all works out: in the end the fastest boat's going to win this race. The second fastest boat is going to come second and it's going to be a shitfight for third.

mfs: For the leg to Gothenburg you've got Mike Quilter coming on board to help with the navigation...

KS: I've sailed with Mike four times around the world, so there's nothing new, you just know it's going to work. It'll be good and it's good to have a new face on board too.

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