Opposite page: after disappointment in Fremantle in 1987 with the under-funded Eagle 12 Metre syndicate Mike Toppa’s America’s Cup career then lurched to the other extreme in 1992, joining Bill Koch’s no-expense-spared America3
campaign in
San Diego, the first Cup to be held in the new IACC 72-footers. Koch’s science powerhouse of a group nailed it in one, as the first to spot that a narrow IACC beats a wide one – and no matter how used you are to sailing at the pinnacle of the sport the first time you win the Cup is ‘special’. Left: summer of 1967 – Sergeant Pepper changes music for ever and in Newport RI an 11-year-old Toppa is welcomed aboard the 12 Metre Intrepid by her America’s Cup-winning skipper Bus Mosbacher. And grinning even more widely 30-odd years later, Mike Toppa finally makes the front cover of the North Sails catalogue!
good-natured as the parents tried to be. So that was my primary coaching role: helping parents to do it the right way… or go away!’
Back home again After Oakley Capital bought North Sails in 2014 Mike became a ‘full-fledged employee’ rather than a loft owner. ‘I was still coming up to Newport for the summer, and I’d go back in the fall. Until I figured out that the guys in Florida didn’t need me! So I could move back to Newport.’ He now works out of Newport Shipyard year round, unless he’s off at a regatta. Mike is also an active member of the
Newport Shields fleet, which many – includ- ing Mike – call the most competitive summer sailing in town. It’s a return to one aspect of his teenaged years, and ‘a lot of those boats are still racing today!’ He and his mostly family crew finished third at the 2022 Nationals; on the last day Mike turned the helm over to daughter Alie, so he could fly to Europe for a Superyacht regatta.
Superyachting Most of what he estimates to be 100 days of racing each year is now on Superyachts. ‘Selling sails to big boats quickly got me in with owners who wanted to do a couple of races a year. It’s easy to make a difference on those boats, because they don’t usually race. If you can trim the sails 10 per cent harder and make the boat point a little higher and get the crew a little more organ- ised, then all of a sudden you’re going faster than the other guys. And it’s also a management exercise, because you’ve gotta get 30 people on the same page.’ He shrugs. ‘In the end it’s just another
outlet for competitive sailing. And it is competitive; not everybody wants to win, but no one wants to lose.’ Last winter Mike sailed on Rosehardy,
a 56m Perini. ‘I was tactician for Paul Goodison. How’s that for a career arc? Learning how to sail with Olin Stephens, all the way to Paul Goodison’s tactician! ‘But it’s all the same sort of thing, just making the boat go as fast as possible. I
also do some classic racing, which is fun. Any outlet where the competition is good is super-attractive to me.’
Sail technology Over four decades at his ‘only job’ the entire sailmaking industry has transformed. Building sails today is, of course, com- pletely different from when he started. ‘Cutting pieces of cloth and sewing them together to form a sail, versus moulding them and making the sailcloth at the same time. It’s like cutting pieces of wood and nailing them together to make a boat versus building a carbon boat on a mould; just night and day. It’s amazing to see the tech- nology that’s applied to sailmaking now.’ Selling sails and racing with customers
still go well together, he says. ‘What I do for North Sails gives me knowledge I can bring to race programmes… and it’s the only job I’ve ever had, right out of school,’ he repeats, ‘which is pretty rare. I really enjoy what I do, and I’m still pretty good at it, I think; I still get invites for the best regattas. So as long as I keep getting asked to go sailing I’m more than happy to do it.’
Giving back Mike helped start the Lauderdale Yacht Club Foundation which supports the local junior sailing programme; ‘not just giving out regatta entry fees or travel grants’, he explains, ‘but a lot of community outreach. ‘We have a programme where kids in
the elementary school write an essay about why they want to learn to sail, and the letters are fantastic. I was able to leverage some of my connections; Dennis Conner, Bill Koch, Gary Jobson were all super helpful and happy to donate their time to the cause. We raised over a million dollars, all for the benefit of youth sailing, so we’ve helped a lot of kids.’ He’s also on the board of the Storm
Trysail Foundation, which is equally ‘junior sailing-centric’. All this is motivated, of course, by ‘the
opportunities that I had when I was really young; I try to do what I can to carry that
on.’ But there’s only so much time, he admits. ‘I volunteer as much as I can. But I don’t want to get involved with anything I can’t do 110 per cent. I travel a lot, still; I sail a lot, still. And family keeps me busy! ‘But I’ve been thinking about when I do
retire, whenever that is; I’d like to really roll my sleeves up and dig into all these things deeper.’ He’s also on the selection committee for
the Sailing Hall of Fame – though this year he’ll make sure to stay off the subcommittee that might finally consider his own nomi- nation. ‘The bylaws restrict how many people get in any given year, so there’s this huge backlog. But we’re working through that…’ (laughing)
Winter sports Mike doesn’t play tennis any more, but he and Libby do still enjoy skiing. ‘Another one of the great things about living here in Newport is that there’s a forced break,’ he says. ‘In Florida every weekend, every day, every month is the same; there’s no change in environment. Up here, when you can’t go sailing because the water’s too cold, you do something else. And there are lots of other things to do. ‘Then a friend got me into shooting
clays, so that’s another thing I want to do more of this winter. And… I gotta get the DF95 going again…’
Fast, calm, ‘continuing on’ Before I let him get back to his ‘only job’ we commiserate about the boat work required to make Mike’s DF95 raceable once more. He shares my preference for one-design racing, and claims that his best America’s Cups ‘were very close to one- design sailing. Speed and tactics; the mind game is part of it, and the boats are part of it. That’s what is most attractive. ‘I just love to sail boats and love to
make them go faster,’ he says, maxing out the wattage of that trademark grin once more. ‘I’m lucky that I really do enjoy what I do, and that I could make a career out of what I like. Which is the reason why I’ve only ever had one job, why it’s worked out. So I’ll continue on until I can’t do it any more…’
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