Moose on the loose
Volvo Ocean Race winner Mike Sanderson has been racking up the air miles (again) in his new role at the helm of Doyle Sails International
The back end of a busy northern hemisphere summer has seen Mike Sanderson, aka Moose, test-sailing in the Solent aboard Alex Thompson’s IMOCA 60 Hugo Boss, competing at Porto Cervo in the Rolex Maxi 72 Worlds and jetting to Newport, Rhode Island for the commissioning of John ‘Hap’ Fauth’s Maxi 72, Bella Mente. As CEO of Doyle Sails International, Sanderson is revelling in the variety and challenge of working with major sailing programmes of this type. Also in the mix are America’s Cup and round the world campaigns, as the successor to the Volvo Ocean Race continues to take shape.
Sanderson’s CV includes two-time Volvo Ocean Race winner, four-time America’s Cup competitor, bronze medallist in the solo transatlantic Open 60 class and ISAF World Sailor of the Year, enabling him to bring a wealth of expertise and knowledge to these programmes.
After his successes in the Volvo Ocean Race, Sanderson took to the corporate speaking circuit, talking about his campaign experiences and how they might apply to business. It was about setting clear goals, getting the best possible people, using their collective expertise to find pathways to success and then working within timeframe and budget to achieve it. Now he finds himself following his own advice and applying all of those lessons as a model for Doyle Sails International, which was established as a new company last year. ‘We are treating the business in exactly the
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same way we would put together a major sailing campaign.’ A key part of the company’s philosophy stems from the typically lean Kiwi race programmes that have achieved success against rivals with much bigger budgets. ‘It is about driving hard to deliver maximum value for every dollar spent – bang for the buck. That is very important.’ He is often asked if he misses the intensity and single-minded competitive focus of total immersion in an America’s Cup, or ocean race team. ‘I have a wonderful challenge on my hands with Doyle,’ he responds. ‘I am working with a great bunch of people. I enjoy dealing with our customers and the management side and I still get to go racing.’ Exciting, is a word that comes up frequently in his conversation, in references to both yacht racing and managing a business with 54 sail lofts worldwide serving a demanding market of grand prix racers, high- performance cruisers and
superyachts. ‘The business challenge can be complex and the goal posts can shift. It is never dull.’ Part of the mission in this
summer’s northern hemisphere tour has been for Sanderson to visit key lofts in the group. ‘I really needed to spend some time with the overseas lofts and entrench myself in Europe and the East Coast of the US.’ Since taking over as CEO, Sanderson has stepped up the recruitment of top sailors into the Doyle team at the New Zealand HQ
Above: many of the biggest guns at the Maxi72
worlds were employing Doyle’s latest cable-less Code Zeros to great effect. Exciting doors are opening up with this technology, says Doyle International CEO Mike Sanderson, who was mentoring a new maxi team through their first regatta
at this level while also keeping a close eye on the front runners in this fiercely competitive fleet...
and in lofts spread around the world. Recent signings include Max Sirena and Francesco Bruni (Doyle Italy), Chris Sherlock and Luke Molloy (Doyle Palma), Chris Nicholson (Doyle Lake Macquarie), Tony Rey (Doyle Salem), joining the likes of Stu Bannatyne, Justin Ferris, Jez Fanstone and Sanderson in New Zealand. Add in director Richard Bouzaid, who was a founding partner in the New Zealand loft with Chris MacMaster, and the core group represents an extraordinary repository of campaign experience at the highest level: 20 America’s Cups, 31 Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Races, 11 Olympic campaigns, along with assorted world and national championships, Fastnets, Sydney- Hobarts, Transpacs and the like. With similar talent in the group’s other lofts around the world, this pool of experience is a powerful asset. ‘It is a big deal,’ Sanderson concurs. ‘We are hiring good people in the same way we would recruit the best people for a sailing campaign. I have always believed fast people make fast boats. The good ideas come from good guys.
‘When some of these people came on board, they cautioned me that they were not salesmen. That is exactly why I was talking to them. Much more important than sales experience, they had hands-on experience. They know what you need to win campaigns, about managing budgets, about building sails that will last the course and be
CARLO BORLENGHI
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