AUSTRALIA An Aussie abroad
Blue Robinson talks to Team New Zealand’s Australian skipper Glenn Ashby… Seahorse Magazine: Realistically, how long do you think it took for the ETNZ squad to move on from the San Francisco loss? Glenn Ashby: Good question, there were a lot of big lessons to be learnt, I think, by both teams. This was an event that was hanging in the balance for quite a while. It could have gone either way and that was respected by both teams and so, yes, it was brutal. It was bloody hard, with months and months of feeling very frustrated, asking how it slipped away. The result is the team had to become stronger to go forwards and we used those lessons to bond. SH: And you achieved that how? GA: Design-wise we kept a strong core of people from the previous campaign. There is no question we have been behind the eight ball as far as on-water testing is concerned, but the nucleus is good and with our core group strong we can continue to develop. But it was only recently that we have been able to get the on-the-water testing we wanted – again it comes down to resources. When the Auckland qualifying regatta was pulled from under our feet it really hit hard, affecting both the government and commercial funding, and so we had to throttle right back to keep the doors open. SH: With wise heads like Grant Dalton and Kevin Shoebridge, did you ever get outside support involved? GA: Sure, we had workshops to deal with all this but it was up to the leaders to make the right calls. Obviously you can have the best ideas in the world but if you don’t have the resources to imple- ment them it makes it very difficult, and that was our situation for the first 12 months or so. As much as we wanted to push ahead in design and testing, we just weren’t in a position to do so. SH: Then Dean Barker was off the squad, Pete Burling in as helm and you as skipper… GA: It was unfortunate that situation unfolded as it did, it was never intended to occur like that. Peter and Blair are very talented young guys, as is Dean, and the idea was to grow a very strong sailing group, leveraging off each other. Change occurs in every team and Dean had an opportunity and has built a great team with SoftBank, plus change has meant some people in the team being elevated to opportunities they may not have previously considered. One thing that is very clear is that ETNZ is culturally a tough group of guys, and that means right across all the departments. This is reflected in the management, the work ethic and how we treat each other. SH: As coach and competitor you have watched a lot of sailors… what can you say of Peter and Blair? GA: Both those guys are talented. Extremely talented! I don’t think since Russell Coutts’ own Olympic days that New Zealand has seen the dominance these young guys have. The dedication and prepa- ration in an A-Class catamaran, a Moth or 49er is obviously out- standing; they have the skill set that suits this type of yachting. SH: How do they work within a larger team? GA: Fitting into a big team like ETNZ was a big learning curve. It’s not just you, your mate and a coach, it’s 80-90 people here. The power of the individual gets superseded by the power of the group, and it’s about getting the best out of the group. Clearly these guys are fitting in and performing extremely well, and so post-Rio the reintegration back has been great. SH: And your duties now… GA: I am skipper and prior to the Portsmouth ACWS event I had never helmed an AC45F – it’s fair to say I haven’t helmed anything as skipper over the past few years. But I have been immersed in design, plus the trimming, which means I have been working closely with our aero team and that has been my focus. So the hour training before the Friday races in Portsmouth was bloody handy… SH: How has your strong coaching background played out? GA: Similar to my time with Oracle’s big tri and the last campaign here with Dean, we don’t have an official coach in the team so I’m working with the helmsmen and the others on up-skilling into big multihull sailing. These days the basic level of knowledge is much greater than it was in foiling and multihull sailing, so with guys like Ray Davies or Richard Meacham, Pete and Blair, Guy Endean, these guys have done a lot of sailing and understand how it works.
SEAHORSE 19
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