quickly, so we have a boom-furling main which still gives us a good sail shape. We will have no backstay under 20kt; over that our first reef allows us to put in a topmast backstay to stabilise the rig. We have a furling code zero plus provision for a gennaker which may or may not happen, but the code zero should cover it all.’ A conventional keel it may be, but the sandbar in Sydney’s Middle Harbour where the boat will be berthed dictated a lifting keel. The result is a beautifully milled stainless keel by APM in Milan, giving a maximum draft of 3.6m and a minimum draft of 2m. The keel will also stay as is for now, polished and without anti-foul – a strong Italian influence at work here.
My final question to Guido was what he has learnt during this process. ‘The first thing is I’ve enjoyed this thoroughly. I’m very engaged and I have learnt just how far technology has advanced – allowing you to do so much.
‘We opted for lithium battery electric propulsion with Oceanvolt, which was not a compromise as the technology is now mature enough for this application. We have two sail drives, each pretty much equivalent to 40hp diesel drives, but the torque curve is so much stronger and I will be able to go around the harbour for a couple of hours without running the generator, allowing us to sail, anchor and motor home without using all of the battery capacity. This also means we can get up to the Whitsundays with just a couple of stops for fuel.
‘We will launch in July – would you like to join us on the sea trials, Blue?’ Oh I think I would like that very much. Blue Robinson
USA Malcolm in the Middle
For almost a century American sailors won more medals at each Olympic Games than any other country. Then in 1996 the team began the downward slide that would describe the next two decades: second in total medals at Savannah and Sydney; tied for third in Athens and Qingdao. And in 2012 Team USA hit the unthinkable bottom by coming home empty-handed.
After a lone bronze at Rio 2016, what happens at the 2020 Games in Tokyo will either cement the post-Weymouth turnaround or mark Rio as just a lucky accident. Obviously US Sailing would prefer the former. So would Malcolm Page; in January the Australian double gold medallist brought his accent and his experience to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, to take over as chief of Olympic sailing for Team USA.
As the editor of this magazine observed in the February 2017 issue (after noting Page’s ability to keep a secret until his new position had been officially announced), ‘US Sailing sure needs a kick up the jacksy.’ Sitting in his new sun-filled corner office only two weeks into the job, Page sounds confident about continuing to build what would be a very visible US turnaround. As an athlete, he won his first gold only four years after Team Australia’s own medal-less 2004 Olympics, so his first promise of two US sailing medals at Tokyo 2020 carries weight. So does his second promise, which is to return the US to the top of the medals table – perhaps by 2024. ‘If we’re the best managers and the best administrators and the best at finance and the best at communica- tions,’ he says, ‘with the best coaches, we’ll produce the best athlete.’ When asked for the strategy to achieve his lofty goals, he quickly ticked off the three things ‘that I’m hanging my reign on, if you can call it that… Performance excellence. Team culture. Sustainability.’ He already has some very concrete ideas of how to lead the US team forward in each. Performance excellence ‘It’s about skilling the athlete,’ says Page, and he’s not just talking about the finer points of reading a compass or trimming a main. ‘I’m a big believer in education – it’s a huge factor. And you definitely need it for sailing.’ Once US Olympic hopefuls complete their secondary education the usual next step is to spend four years at one of the top sailing universities. With six or seven days a week of practice and regattas and sharp-eyed coaching, college sailors build a very strong foun- dation in starting, boathandling and small course tactics. But college sailing has traditionally existed in its own bubble, and the school- year-based schedule doesn’t easily mesh with Olympic training.
20 SEAHORSE
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