AMERICA’S CUP
From Kingswear to the America’s Cup - By The Dart talks to Nick Hutton
to talk briefly about his new role as part of Sir Ben Ainslie’s BAR team that’s been formed to contest the next Americas Cup, the oldest trophy in world sport and in doing so bring the cup back to Britain for the first time in its 160+ year history. The America’s Cup arguably exploded into global consciousness with the hugely exciting comeback of Oracle Team USA against Emirates Team New Zealand in the 2013 event. The boats used, AC72s, were wing sail catamarans capable of incredible acceleration and speed of over 40knots as they rise on their hydrofoils. Ben Ainslie was a crucial element in one of the best comebacks in sporting history and, on the back of this, he has been able to put together a British challenge for the next staging of the Cup that has a serious chance of success.
K Nick began his sailing career in Kingswear at the Royal Dart
Yacht Club sailing an Optimist dinghy from the age of 5-8yrs. Graduating to racing Cadets all over the UK as his talent became clear, it was an obvious path that would one day lead him to challenging as a professional sailor for the sport’s most prized piece of silverware. He’s racing aboard one of the most exciting performance boats on the water for which he’s been building up a lot of relevant experience. Prior to being selected as the youngest member of the BAR
team, Nick has spent a number of years racing multi-hulls at the highest level, completing six Extreme Sailing Series (ESS) and was crowned the 2010 Champion, with The Wave, Muscat. He is now back competing with Sir Ben on the ESS circuit, with J.P. Morgan BAR, as the team’s headsail trimmer. Nick made his America’s Cup debut in 2012 when he was bowman with the Italian entry, ‘Prada Luna Rossa Challenge’ alongside BAR teammate, David Carr. The sailors enjoyed success together, winning the 2012/13 America’s Cup World Series and finishing runners up in the Louis Vuitton Cup – the 30th anniversary of the event. The winner was Emirates Team New Zealand, which went on to challenge Oracle Team USA. This experience of sailing these super-fast machines is highly
relevant. As Nick explains, “only 60-70 people in the world have sailed these boats. It’s a small pool of young and fit sailors, of which a surprising number are British. The step up, from say the Extreme Series to America’s Cup, is a bit like GP2 motor racing to Formula One.” Aboard Luna Rossa, Nick played a key role in managing the trim of the foils or daggerboards – getting the rake and trim is crucial as the boat bears away on a gybe. Too early or too late is measured in fractions of seconds. Get it wrong through a gybe and the boat could easily lose 400metres in just seconds. Nick explains, “Sailing these boats through say a gybe in nothing like being on a normal boat. It’s more like accelerating a fast car or taking off in an aeroplane. The speeds can rocket from 20 knots to 40 knots in just 2 seconds with a corresponding and amazing increase in g-force.” The current AC72 boats are 80+ feet long, 45 ft wide with the mast and fixed wing sail standing 130ft high. Downwind, the boats can go 1.8 times faster than the wind. So if you let a balloon go as you went around the top mark you would easily beat it to the bottom mark.
The boats to be used in the next Cup challenge are likely 123
ingswear born international sailor Nick Hutton made a brief return to Dartmouth. He caught up with By The Dart
to be shorter and narrower to bring costs down but capable of similar if not greater speeds – 50 knots is apparently the target. The big advances are likely to be in the speed of the new boats upwind.
“I’m not sure what Nick Hutton
Sir Ben Ainslie & Duchess of
role I will play on the new boat,” says Nick, “as it depends on how the boat’s systems are set up.” In the meantime, Nick is busy training with BAR on the Extreme 40 multihull. As a member of the core team, he’s helping with the design of the boat’s systems and even having a close role in working with Henri Lloyd in developing the BAR clothing range. With Luna Rossa, Nick was a brand ambassador for Prada, one of the boat’s main sponsors. The new BAR team is now based in
Cambridge and the America’s Cup Oracle Team USA
It’s more like accelerating a fast car or taking off in an aeroplane. The speeds can rocket from 20 knots to 40 knots in just 2 seconds with a corresponding and amazing increase in g-force.
Portsmouth allowing Nick to see more of his wife Philippa (also from Kingswear) whom he married three years ago. As you’d imagine, an international professional sailor spends a lot of their time abroad. “In three years”, says Nick, “I’ve spent less than 90 days in the UK. Indeed, with Luna
Rossa, over 1½ years I spent more time sharing a room with my team mate Dave Carr than I did with my wife!” Nick and Phillipa have recently bought a house near Ashburton whilst Phillipa works as senior manager with Deloittes in Bristol. “It’s a big benefit being at home now.” Sailing these machines is as different to say, sailing a Squib out of the RDYC on a Wednesday evening, as it can possibly be. The physicality is astonishing, akin says Nick, “to being a professional cyclist.” To demonstrate the effort required, bear in mind that the current AC72 boats had a crew of 11. Apparently, if you had an engine to power the hydraulics rather than grinders, you could sail the AC72s with just 4 people. Nick has, therefore, to prepare himself like any serious athlete. “I have a ‘coffee- grinder’ (winch) at home on which I have to spend 40 mins a day. I have to get myself super fit. The weight limit is around 87 kilos – I’m currently 85. An America’s Cup race lasts only 40 mins but our average heart rate is in the upper 160s. Our VO2 rate (the volume of oxygen you can consume while exercising at your maximum capacity) is 72, which is in the higher range for a sport cyclist. We can’t rely just on adrenalin, as we need to concentrate for every second.” “I feel very privileged sailing at this level and hugely excited about what BAR might achieve. It’s a long way from sailing on the river Dart, which by the way I last did 11 years ago, but I am living the dream I have had since a boy.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164