ground out his final school years before rejoiningWalker in an Olympic Tornado campaign. In 2007, they headed to Portugal
for the Tornado worlds. ‘Our results were forgettable,’ Langford laughs, but their Tornado programme was soon dashed anyway when the class was dropped from the Olympic slate. However, the America’s Cup that
was taking place in neighbouring Spain caught his eye. ‘I had not followed it closely up to then but with the Olympic goal out of the picture, I decided to do everything I could to get involved with the Cup.’ After several years of racing in a
variety of disciplines, his AC chance came when he was racing RC44s with Jimmy Spithill, who offered him a position with Oracle Racing. Langford was just 21 years old. ‘I clearly remember my first day
with Oracle. Although I had been doing quite well up to then, including match racing with some success against AC sailors, I realised how little I really knew about sailing. I had no idea how much I didn’t know until I joined Oracle. Luckily I was the youngest member of the team by 10 years, so again more experienced guys took me under their wing and opened my eyes to the technical and development side of the sport.’ The 2013 America’s Cup in San
Francisco was meant to be his apprenticeship, as understudy to wing trimmer Dirk de Ridder. That plan dramatically changed when, just three days before the opening race of Oracle’s AC defence, Langford found himself propelled onto the A-boat in the crucial wing-trimmer role.‘For sure I was nervous,’ he admits, ‘but, probably naively, I was confident I could do a good job.’ It was an extraordinary event, with
Oracle storming back from 8-1 down against ETNZ to win the Match 9-8 and retain the Cup. At 24, Langford was a Cup winner. Four years later he felt the pain of losing the Cup against the Kiwis in Bermuda but the personal gains were hgue. Although Langford was, by his own admission,
Above: Langford’s many other successes include two SailGP wins and a second place at the 2020 International Moth world champion- ships
not a star pupil at school, he never lacked ambition or a driving thirst for knowledge; he saw his America’s Cup experience as his master’s degree in sailing. ‘It would be such a missed
opportunity if you were around so many brilliant minds across so many specialist fields and you failed to learn as much as possible from them. I have found in the sailing world that if you show an interest in any area, no matter how advanced their formal qualifications might be, the experts are always very helpful and forthcoming in passing on that knowledge. I have been very lucky to take advantage of that. It has provided a good foundation for my career going forward.’ The next big-ticket item on
Langford’s a busy to-do list was to race around the world. Straight off the Bermuda America’s Cup, Langford found himself donning sea boots and foul weather gear for the Volvo Ocean Race with Bouwe Bekking’s Brunel team. Once again this was foreign
territory. ‘At that point, I had never sailed through the night before, cruising or racing. I had never done a Sydney-Hobart Race, or really gone offshore.’ One senses that this was not a
passion project but more of that drive to complete the entire curriculum of his sailing education. Accordingly, by the age of 30 his CV included a world dinghy title, Moth worlds silver medal, RC44 match race champion, an America’s Cup win, two-time SailGP champion and a podium finish in an ocean race around the world. There is a pattern here of
setting high goals and achieving them. To that extent, Langford’s professional sailing credentials are beyond question. When it comes to helping a team or campaign develop a successful performance package, however, the real added value lies in the ability to translate those credentials into vital intelligence to drive the process forward. ‘Regardless of whether you are
using a solid wing on an AC50, or a mainsail on a TP52, the balance you are trying to achieve and the general concepts are the same,’ he says. ‘At the end of the day, you want to maximise drive and minimise drag. You can jump on any boat and, through experience, straightaway feel if the sails are good or bad. With a fundamental understanding of the physics of sailing and the engineering behind the building of sails, you need to identify the factors impacting their performance and what can be improved. ‘Just saying it is bad is unacceptable. Helping to figure out the solutions and providing solid feedback to the design team is what makes a good development sailor. If you are struggling for height, for example, you probably have too much drag. An adjustment of just a couple of millimetres can make a huge difference in terms of luff curve, or broadseam shape. ‘My goal is always to be on the
fastest boat. When I am part of a team, it is always about looking for that last per cent of performance. Partnering with Doyle Sails gives me access to the best designers and technology in the world as well as some of the best sailors in the world. ‘The first time we put up that Structured Luff sail on Comanche, I was impressed to be working with the guys who came up with the original concept. And the best part is that there is still plenty more development to come. I am excited to be part of that process.’ For Doyle CEO Mike Sanderson,
the strategy is clear: ‘Kyle’s extraordinary story is a part of our philosophy of gathering the best expertise in all aspects of the endeavour – design, technology, materials, sailing performance – and using the combined power of that knowledge and experience to keep improving. ‘That way, everybody keeps
lifting the game and the whole becomes much greater than the sum of its parts.’
www.doylesails.com
❑ SEAHORSE 61
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
