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This is Part 2 of podcast host and Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson's chat with the first American woman to have sailed non-stop, alone, around the planet - the remarkable Cole Brauer, who took time out from an Admiral's Cup campaign to sit down and talk about her remarkable career to date.

In Part 1 we hear how, aged just 29, American Brauer crossed the finish line of the Global Solo Challenge in her Class40 First Light.  Throughout the first episode Brauer discusses her late discovery of the sport, a passion for sailing offshore and how she found herself taking up the opportunity of a solo round the world race.

Brauer had backed herself, seized the opportunities and soon found herself on the start line of the solo non stop Global Solo Challenge.  It's an inspiring tale, that over the race, Brauer would share with a growing number of fans.  Throughout the 130 days, her following grew by the thousands, so much so that she currently boasts more Instagram followers than almost any other sailing based account on the photo sharing platform...:

"After the first month we went from ten thousand followers and I finished the first month with one hundred thousand followers, and then it just accelerated from there, where we were just getting seven thousand followers a day, and these people were real, they were real like your Mom and Pop just watching this, who had no idea, anything about sailing."

The social media aspect to Cole's story leads to an interesting discussion as she reveals to Robertson the good and the bad sides of daily posts to hundreds of thousands of followers.  The duo also then discuss Brauer's feeling of responsibility as a role model, a position she takes very seriously, and her feelings on the lack of opportunity for women in the sport...:

"I'm living in a van in the parking lot.  And the guy next to me is making ridiculously more money than me.  Why...?  It's because he asked for more.  Because he walked into the room and he realised with what he was worth."

It's a topic Brauer is passionate about, but she also discusses this in an eloquent and powerful manner.

Shortly after the interview, Brauer went on to win the Admiral's Cup as part of Monaco Yacht Club's two boat Jolt team.  She is currently co-skipper onboard IMOCA Malizia, competing on the Ocean Race Europe.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact [email protected].

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This month, podcast host and Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson talks to the first American woman to have sailed non-stop, alone, around the planet, as the remarkable Cole Brauer takes time out from an Admiral's Cup campaign to sit down and talk about her remarkable career to date.

It was in March 2024, aged just 29, that American sailor Cole Brauer crossed the finish line of the Global Solo Challenge in her Class40 First Light.  After 130 days at sea, she'd set a new Class40 record, and scored a second place in the first edition of the race. Remarkably, she also became the first ever woman from the United States to sail non-stop solo around the planet.  Her story is a tale of grit, determination and perseverance, and it's a story she tells well.

In a candid interview with Robertson, Brauer discusses the drive and motivations behind her success, which are varied and complex, but also admits to drawing on inspiration from famed British solo legend, Dame Ellen MacArthur...:

"This woman is my size, she is...against all these very very skilled experienced men and in the the early 2000s, especially to do it at such a young age and...she killed it, she completely rocked it and I remember just crying and thinking 'That's it, I've got to do that, whatever it takes, that's my way in to this offshore world'.  And of course that's pretty far fetched for anyone from the United States, man or woman, because there isn't that many people that are American that have even thought about the Vendee...or even know what it is.  But I knew at that moment after reading her book that that was what I really wanted to do."

Brauer's interview reveals a comparatively late discovery of the sport, early days spent living in a van, working through a long list of boatyard jobs, before significant success in the Bermuda One-Two led to bigger opportunities. Brauer backed herself, seized the opportunities and soon found herself on the start line of the solo non stop Global Solo Challenge.  It's an inspiring tale, that over the race, Brauer would share with a growing number of fans.  Throughout the 130 days, her following grew by the thousands, so much so that she currently boasts more Instagram followers than almost any other sailing based account on the photo sharing platform...:

"After the first month we went from ten thousand followers and I finished the first month with one hundred thousand followers, and then it just accelerated from there, where we were just getting seven thousand followers a day, and these people were real, they were real like your Mom and Pop just watching this, who had no idea, anything about sailing."

By Part 2 of this two-part episode, the social media aspect to Cole's story leads to an interesting discussion as she reveals to Robertson the good and the bad sides of daily posts to hundreds of thousands of followers.  The duo also then discuss Brauer's feeling of responsibility as a role model, a position she takes very seriously, and her feelings on the lack of opportunity for women in the sport.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact [email protected].

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This is Part 2 of Double Olympic gold medallist and podcast host Shirley Robertson's chat with eight-time World Match Racing Champion Ian Williams, as the duo get together to discuss Williams' career at the sharp end of the most  combative discipline in the sport of competitive sailing.

Williams discusses his early route to the top of the World Match Racing Tour rankings, a climb that involved turning his back on a full job as a lawyer, to make the most of his very obvious talent in the tough one-on-one world of match racing. It is however clear that the analytical and exacting approach required from a legal professional did not escape him, having made the switch to full time match racing...:

"One day I thought 'hang on, we're pretty good at this, we're pretty fast, we can read the shifts well, we've got the start under control, how's is he going to beat us', and suddenly that was like a light bulb going off, and suddenly we were able to beat him and from that day on I haven't focused on other boats, I've always gone with the approach that if we just go with our plays we should be good."

For any sailor interested in the complexities of the match racing world, this is a fascinating listen.  Williams has won the tour an unprecedented eight times, and has a unique approach to taking on the world's best and winning.

"I think the most useful is a frame work for what is a winning start, and how do you get there.  The most useful thing is being able to analyse after the start how you won or lost and why, and that often gets lost if you don't have that framework.  Sometimes you win by luck, by default, by a mistake by the other boat and if you haven't understood why you've won, then you're not learning."

But from a discipline that was once  a well trodden path to America's Cup involvement Williams also discusses how the Cup's move to multi hulls and then foiling left the multiple Match Racing World Tour winner without an America's Cup pathway...:

"The America's Cup was the dream that made me quit the law and go sailing, that was in 2005, in 2007 the last displacement monohull Cup was the same year that I made number one in the match racing world rankings and then the game moved away from me and if I look at it critically I didn't have the flexibility to adapt quickly enough to where the game went....by the time I figured out catamaran sailing the boats were foiling."

His disappointment has been the British AC37 team's gain, as Williams discusses his role in Barcelona as Pre-Start coach at Sir Ben Ainslie's INEOS Britannia team.

Throughout this two part podcast Williams and Robertson touch on a wide range of subjects around the complexities of Williams' journey from a nine year old school chess champion to his position as one of the most respected match racing champions in the sport of sailing.

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This month, Double Olympic gold medallist and podcast host Shirley Robertson is joined by eight-time World Match Racing Champion Ian Williams, as the duo get together to discuss Williams' career at the sharp end of the most  combative discipline in the sport of competitive sailing.  This is Part 1 of the two part edition.

Williams discusses his early route to the top of the World Match Racing Tour rankings, a climb that involved turning his back on a full job as a lawyer, to make the most of his very obvious talent in the tough one-on-one world of match racing. It is however clear that the analytical and exacting approach required from a legal professional did not escape him, having made the switch to full time match racing...:

"One day I thought 'hang on, we're pretty good at this, we're pretty fast, we can read the shifts well, we've got the start under control, how's is he going to beat us', and suddenly that was like a light bulb going off, and suddenly we were able to beat him and from that day on I haven't focused on other boats, I've always gone with the approach that if we just go with our plays we should be good."

For any sailor interested in the complexities of the match racing world, this is a fascinating listen.  Williams has won the tour an unprecedented eight times, and has a unique approach to taking on the world's best and winning.

"I think the most useful is a frame work for what is a winning start, and how do you get there.  The most useful thing is being able to analyse after the start how you won or lost and why, and that often gets lost if you don't have that framework.  Sometimes you win by luck, by default, by a mistake by the other boat and if you haven't understood why you've won, then you're not learning."

But from a discipline that was once  a well trodden path to America's Cup involvement Williams also discusses how the Cup's move to multi hulls and then foiling left the multiple Match Racing World Tour winner without an America's Cup pathway...:

"The America's Cup was the dream that made me quit the law and go sailing, that was in 2005, in 2007 the last displacement monohull Cup was the same year that I made number one in the match racing world rankings and then the game moved away from me and if I look at it critically I didn't have the flexibility to adapt quickly enough to where the game went....by the time I figured out catamaran sailing the boats were foiling."

His disappointment has been the British AC37 team's gain, as Williams discusses his role in Barcelona as Pre-Start coach at Sir Ben Ainslie's INEOS Britannia team.

Throughout this two part podcast Williams and Robertson touch on a wide range of subjects around the complexities of Williams' journey from a nine year old school chess champion to his position as one of the most respected match racing champions in the sport of sailing.

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This is Part two of Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson's chat with US sailing legend Ed Baird. A World Sailor of the Year award winner, Baird also holds a coveted spot in the America's Cup Hall of Fame, he's a multiple Match Racing World Champion and is a regular across multiple Grand Prix Sailing leagues, from the 52 Super Series to the Maxi circuit.

Robertson and Baird regularly sailed against each other back in days of the Extreme Sailing Series, but their chat was a little less competitive as Baird dropped by while in Cowes training for this summer's Admirals Cup.  In this Part 2 the pair begin their discussion talking about Baird's 1999/2000 Challenge for the America's Cup in Auckland New Zealand, a Challenge representing the Newe York Yacht Squadron that was going well, but did not end as planned..,:

"You could see the waves coming and we hopped up out of the water and smashed down on the next wave and the boat broke in half!"

Baird continued his involvement in the Cup and ultimately ended up in Valencia with Swiss Defender Alinghi, initially, again, under helm, Russell Coutts, but soon that was all to change...

"The team...were missing Russell and they expected him to come back, and they spent a year this way, expecting that he'll come back with us...but he didn't....so I went to talk to Brad and the team and they asked me to come and work with them."  Baird ended up steering the boat, and went on to helm a Cup victory as Alinghi successfully defended in Valencia.

Throughout this two part podcast Baird and Robertson touch on a wide range of topics, from Olympic Sailing to nationality rules, and a whole host in between, as they wind their way down the fascinating road that is Ed Baird's long and distinguished career as a pro sailor.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact [email protected].

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Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast is back for another season of interviews with leading lights from the world of sailing, and the new season kicks off with US sailing legend Ed Baird. A World Sailor of the Year award winner, Baird also holds a coveted spot in the America's Cup Hall of Fame, he's a multiple Match Racing World Champion and is a regular across multiple Grand Prix Sailing leagues, from the 52 Super Series to the Maxi circuit.

Robertson and Baird regularly sailed against each other back in days of the Extreme Sailing Series, but their chat was a little less competitive as Baird dropped by while in Cowes training for this summer's Admirals Cup.  The pair begin their two part chat with a discussion on Baird's early career, and how at just twenty two, he won the ultra competitive Laser Worlds in Kingston, Ontario, a regatta boasting the largest World Championship fleet the class has ever had...:

"When you look back at the scoresheet from that race and you see the world class pros that we know today finishing seventy third or fifty seventh, you just think 'wow I didn't even know that guy then and look what he's done in the sport' so it really makes me feel lucky to have had the chance to do that."

From a hard won Laser World Championships win, Baird and Robertson discuss his fight to make a name for himself on the star studded Match Racing scene, but also touch on his multiple and ultimately unsuccessful campaigns to sail for Team USA at the Olympic Games.  There's also some real nuggets of information from the three time Match Racing World Champion on his approach to the sport before the duo discuss Baird's entry into the world of the America's Cup...:

"I was walking down (Cowes) high street and walked around the corner and literally bumped into Russell Coutts and he said 'How's it going with the Australians' and I said 'Oh, well, it's not' and he said 'You should come work for us'....so next thing you know I'm working for Team New Zealand" and within weeks Baird was in San Diego coaching the ultimate winners of the 1995 America's Cup.

Episode One of this Two Part edition sees the duo discuss Baird's coaching role with the successful New Zealand Team, lead by Coutts, as they won trhe America's Cup for the first time, beating Dennis Connor in San Diego.

In the next Episode the pair then touch on a wide range of topics, from Olympic Sailing to nationality rules, and a whole host in between, as they wind their way down the fascinating road that is Ed Baird's long and distinguished career as a pro sailor.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact [email protected].

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This two part edition of the podcast sees Shirley Robertson in Barcelona just days after the end of the 37th America's Cup.  In Part One she sits down with successful Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand, to talk to port side helm Nathan Outteridge, and Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia's Dylan Fletcher, while in this, Part Two, Robertson talks to Team New Zealand's sailing team coach Ray Davies, and to INEOS Britannia's starboard trimmer Bleddyn Mon.

Robertson commentated on every match of the thirty seventh America's Cup so is well placed to quiz her four guests and kicks things  of in Part Two of this edition, with Bleddyn Mon.  Sailing in his third America's Cup with Ben Ainslie's British team, Mon studied as an aeronautical engineer and has a key role in data analysis...:

"A lot of the races are won and lost by a few metres here and there and that distance you can really claw back in some manoeuvres and small gains in performance so a big part for us was in manoeuvres, we spent a lot of time looking at tacks. Every single day!"

Robertson's final chat is with America's Cup regular Ray Davies.  Sailing coach at Emirates Team New Zealand, Ray has been a permanent fixture in the Team since 2003, Barcelona marking his seventh Cup campaign after a career chasing the illusive trophy.  He's done so with some success, boasting multiple wins for Team New Zealand both on and off the boat, and has relished his time coaching a sailing team rich in high end sailing expertise...:

"They developed a boat that at the end of the day was relatively easy to sail, because they put the hours and hours into the systems and the way they could change the modes on the boat relatively easily, so when they were actually racing....the steering of the boat became the easy part of it."

Throughout this podcast all of Robertson's discussions serve to illustrate the dedication and intensity of racing the AC75s at such a high level.  Attention to detail, processes and systems are all discussed to a fascinating degree as each team member reflects on their time racing the Cup Match in Barcelona.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact [email protected].

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This edition of the podcast sees Shirley Robertson in Barcelona just days after the end of the 37th America's Cup.  With the smell of champagne still fresh in the air, Robertson sits down with successful Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand, to talk to port side helm Nathan Outteridge, and sailing team coach RayDavies, to discuss how the Cup was won.  In this edition Robertson also talks to Challenger INEOS Britannia's port side helm Dylan Fletcher and starboard trimmer Bleddyn Monn, about the most successful British Challenge in the modern Cup era.

Part One of this edition of the podcast sees Robertson discuss the Cup Match, first with Fletcher and then with Outteridge.

Having commentated on every moment of every race throughout the Barcelona Cup regatta, Robertson is well placed to quiz her four guests and kicks things off with Cup rookie Dylan Fletcher.  An Olympic 49er gold medallist from Tokyo, Fletcher was a late edition to the afterguard at INEOS Britannia but played a pivotal role in mastering the AC75 and progressing through an enthralling Louis Vuitton Challenger Series, which ultimately saw the British team reach the Cup Match for the first time in sixty years...:

"It was unbelievable to cross the finish line and book our place in the Match, obviously it was too long since a British boat was in that and to do that alongside Ben and the rest of the Team that's been ten years in the making was a massive achievement."

Robertson stays with the port side helm seat as she then jumps yachts, to talk the Defender's Nathan Outteridge, another 49er Olympic gold medallist, and former training partner to Team New Zealand starboard helm Pete Burling.  Outteridge is no stranger to Cup campaigns having twice represented Sweden's Team Artemis Racing in previous America's Cups, but was sailing a Cup match for the very first time, against a very well matched opponent...:

"I received an update from the design team saying 'this would be the expected performance deltas between the hulls in a thirty minute race' and it was under five seconds.  Between all of them "

For Part Two of this edition, Robertson shifts back to the Challenger to talk to INEOS Britannia's starboard trimmer Bleddyn Mon.  She then goes on to talk to Emirates Team New Zealand super coach, multiple Cup winner Ray Davies.

Throughout this podcast all of Robertson's discussions serve to illustrate the dedication and intensity of racing the AC75s at such a high level.  Attention to detail, processes and systems are all discussed to a fascinating degree as each team member reflects on their time racing the Cup Match in Barcelona.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact [email protected].

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This month on Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast we preview the 37th America's Cup, as the city of Barcelona readies for what promises to be one of the most exciting editions of the famous trophy.

Five Challengers are set to battle it out on the fastest foiling monohulls ever built, as they go head to head in the Louis Vuitton Cup, in a fight to take on the Defender, the current holder of the trophy, Emirates Team New Zealand.

Robertson talks to representatives from all six of the Cup teams, chatting to team members with a wide range of roles, to get a real insight from across the fleet into what to expect come race day.

In this edition, Part One, Robertson kicks off with Emirates Team New Zealand naval architecht, Dan Bernasconi, the brains behind the AC75, the foiling mono-hull that all six teams have built for this edition.  With all six AC75s now blasting around the waters off Barcelona at speeds of up to fifty knots, Bernasconi discusses some of the differences between the race boats, as well as discussing changes to the rules for this edition, and the issues that the lumpier sea state off Barcelona may bring.

Robertson also then talks to Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli's port-side helm, Francesco Bruni, helming partner to Jimmy Spithill in the last Cup, the pair that pioneered the dual-helm setup now favoured by all of the America's Cup teams.  While at Luna Rossa, Robertson also caught up with match racing guru Philippe Presti, to take a look at how the increased manoeuvrability of the version two AC75s may lead to more engagement and closer racing as the Challenger Series kicks off.

Robertson then heads to  AC37 HQ, to catch up with Abby Ehler, the offshore sailing legend and sailing logistics supremo now tasked with delivering the Youth and Women's editions of the America's Cup.  Twelve teams will compete in the AC40 race boats for both the UniCredit Youth America's Cup and the Puig Women's America's Cup, the youth event making a return to the regatta after a break in AC36 due to covid travel restrictions.  This is however the very first time a women's regatta will take place at the America's Cup, a first that is heralded as a landmark event in sailing's long road to gender equality.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts - in part two Robertson catches up with representatives of the remaining four teams.

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