Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast

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As the sailing world comes to terms with the withdrawal symptoms brought about by the conclusion of AC36, Shirley Robertson takes one final look back at the three months of Cup action with co-commentator Kenny Read.  Throughout this single episode extra edition of the podcast, there are also appearances from Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Pete Burling, Luna Rossa's co-helm pair of Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni, and an exclusive chat with INEOS TEAM UK front man, now representing the AC37 official Challenger of Record, Sir Ben Ainslie.

Commentating at his third America's Cup, North Sails President Kenny Read joins Robertson to talk through their experiences from three months in New Zealand, including some insight into the broadcasting of AC36.  They discuss the winning differences between the Defender and the Challenger, but also reveal some  amusing moments from three months spent living in the sailing obsessed city of Auckland...:

"I walk around the corner and there's a guy standing there with his shirt sleeves cut off, it's about ten thirty at night, and he's got a Burling tattoo on his bicep, he's a big guy, with a big bicep, and I lean over and say 'Is that temporary?' and he goes "Hell no mate, this is the real thing!" and he flexes!  The passion!!  He has a BIG Pete Burling tattoo on his bicep!  So, you know what, this passion is what we want to see behind the curtain, inside Team New Zealand, because it's there!"

The pair discuss the passion and culture they've experienced while working in Auckland as well as the differences between the two teams of AC36. They look at the personalities involved, and go through some of the rumours circulating around the future of the Cup. Recorded before the official announcement regarding AC37 by Emirates Team New Zealand, Reed and Robertson look at what they already know, and discuss the new AC75 Class and how they have matched up to the foiling classes of previous Cups. And they also talk about how the end of the Cup usually then signals the start of the transfer season for both sailing and back room Cup staff...:

"This is a professional sporting event right, and free agency just started at about 6:05 last night.  You don't think there's phone calls being made to key players right now, then you're dreaming!  Do you think the Italians will be back...?  I would imagine they would love to be back, but back to what?  You have to preface by saying nobody knows where, when, how or what.  And until that happens, I know the New York Yacht Club, they're sitting there saying 'show me the rules and I'll let you know if I'm gonna come."

Robertson ends the podcast by talking to INEOS TEAM UK skipper Sir Ben Ainslie, fresh from the announcement that the team will be the Challenger of Record for the next edition.  Amongst other things, Ainslie reveals his thoughts on the declared intention to commit to the retention of the fully foiling mono hull, the AC75, for AC37 and beyond...:

"The fact that we're committing to the AC75 Class is a massive boost for the Cup, I'd like to see that class committed to for the next ten years or more.  One of the most successful Cups we've seen in the modern history of the Cup was in Valencia with version five of the IACC Class, so sticking to the AC75 Class is really key for the short to medium term future of the Cup."

Ainslie's interview with Robertson concludes this edition, which marks the end of Season Two of the successful Sailing Podcast.  After a short one month break, Season Three will see the podcast return with a host of new interviews lined up from some of the biggest names in the sport.

"Since July 2019 we've published thirty eight episodes of the podcast, at an edition a month for almost two years, that's well over forty hours of audio posted, with interviews from the biggest names across the massive spectrum of ou

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With the final races of the 36th America's Cup Match now just moments away, Shirley Robertson previews the action in another two part podcast from the heart of the action in Auckland New Zealand.

In this edition, Part 2 of the Cup Preview, Robertson looks back on the Prada Cup Challenger Selection Series with fellow broadcast commentator and one time America's Cup helm Kenny Read.  The pair discuss the performance of the three Challengers, before being joined by special guest, David 'Freddie' Carr.  Freddie, a one time Extreme 40 team mate of Robertson's, is the lynch pin of the INEOS TEAM UK grinding unit, and still sore from the Prada Cup Final exit, is candid and honest as he talks about the performance of the successful defender, Luna Rossa, but also about the British team's rollercoaster Challenger Series as they bounced back from serious hardware issue heading into the regatta...:

"It was phenomenally hard, for the design team, they realised there was a problem that was going on with the boat, with the foils, we had a problem with what was going on with the boat and we had to figure out what was the problem.  We had about a week to figure out how to sail this modified boat.  As soon as we put the boat back in the water, after the designers figured out the problem, we knew we were back in the game!"

Freddie talks honestly about the teams turn around of fortune, before moving on to the loss to Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.  Carr discusses how he thinks the Cup Match may pan out, beofre leaving Robertson and Read to go over their thoughts on the upcoming action.

As a preview to the upcoming first to seven wins regatta, it's an insightful hour of chat to take in before racing resumes out on the waters of the Hauraki Gulf.

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With the final races of the 36th America's Cup Match now just moments away, Shirley Robertson previews the action in another two part podcast from the heart of the action in Auckland New, Zealand.

The two part podcast kicks off with an interview with the port side helm of the successful Challenger, the AC36 Challenger of Record, Luna Rossa's Francesco Bruni.  Bruni has been at the forefront of the Italian team's significant improvements in performance over this campaign, and is both realistic and candid as he discusses their Prada Cup success.  He attributes much of that success to the calm and level head of co-helm, Jimmy Spithill, and is both respectful and hopeful when quizzed about their Cup opponents, Emirates Team New Zealand.

"We know they've ben pushing a lot their package for speed, they have small foils, a small rudder, sometimes they lose control a bit because of that.  They are not unbeatable I think but they will definitely be hard opponents to be sure. And they have experience, their whole campaign, package , people, experience I think is the biggest asset they have."

Following on from the discussion with Bruni, Robertson talks to Emirates Team New Zealand super coach Ray Davies.  Davies is a mastermind of the new world of Cup racing, and has been a proud member of the Kiwi outfit for almost two decades.  The gossip around the harbour side in Auckland of late has been of the team's sensational speeds out on the water and Davies is quick to dispel any chat that the team are anything but race ready.  While the Challengers have all been fighting out against each other, the Defender has been clocking up the training miles out in the Hauraki Gulf, and as competition draws near, Davies is clear on how pleased he is with the team's progress...:

"We just get more comfortable all the time now, sailing in breeze.  With these type of boats you get a little nervous when you hit that fifty knot mark, but now it's just standard but once you get comfortable with that, you're just looking for more and more.  The guys are doing an incredible job, sailing the boat, but once you know the limits of the boat and the boat's working well then you can just push harder and harder."

Both Bruni and Davies discuss their thoughts on their respective opponents, their thoughts on how the racing has been to date, and how and where the match may be won and lost.  Ahead of the first to seven wins match, it's an insightful listen to augment enjoyment of the upcoming broadcast.

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This month's edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast sees the double Olympic gold medallist talking to one of the current stars of the 36th America's Cup, as she chats with British INEOS TEAM UK tactician, Olympic Gold medallist and multiple world champion in the Finn Class, Giles Scott.

At just thirty four years old, Scott is already sailing in his third Cup Challenger Series campaign, and has become a pivotal part of Sir Ben Ainslie's after guard.  During racing, discussions between the pair on board the British boat 'Britannia' are available for all to hear on the live broadcasts of the event, and reveal an understanding and relationship that spans over two decades.

In the first part of this two part podcast, Scott discusses his early days of sailing, and how a move to the Finn Class saw him campaigning with Ainslie in the build up to the 2008 Olympics in China.  Three years later, at just twenty four, Scott was a dominant force in the Finn, but describes the bitter disappointment of  missing out on a London 2012, as Ainslie took the British Finn spot in their home Olympic Games.  It was a set back that would forge within Scott an even greater resolve.  By Rio his domination of the Finn Class was absolute, and his relief at finally clinching the Olympic gold medal was there for all to see as he sailed to victory in Brazil with a day of racing to spare...:

"I always got a lot of grief in the build up to Rio because I was a boring winner, I'd never celebrate, I'd never give them the amazing photo, or, you know, I'd always just give it the thumbs up but  the reason I did that was because it wasn't the one that I wanted.  So the out roar of winning in Rio was, it was a big release of all that tension, emotion, I kind of, had done what I'd aimed at, yeah, it was a good moment."

Part one of this edition covers much of Scott's Olympic career, as he remains in hopeful preparation for the postponed Tokyo Games of 2021,  but in Part two, chat turns to the America's Cup, and the British team's goal of winning the Cup back for the first time in it's one hundred and seventy year history.

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This month's edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast sees the double Olympic gold medallist talking to one of the current stars of the 36th America's Cup, as she chats with British INEOS TEAM UK tactician, Olympic Gold medallist and multiple world champion in the Finn Class, Giles Scott.

At just thirty four years old, Scott is already sailing in his third Cup Challenger Series campaign, and has become a pivotal part of Sir Ben Ainslie's after guard.  During racing, discussions between the pair on board the British boat 'Britannia' are available for all to hear on the live broadcasts of the event, and reveal an understanding and relationship that spans over two decades.

Part one of this edition covers much of Scott's Olympic career, as he remains in hopeful preparation for the postponed Tokyo Games of 2021,  but in Part two, chat turns to the America's Cup, and the British team's goal of winning the Cup back for the first time in it's one hundred and seventy year history.

This episode of the podcast turns to Scott's America's Cup career, as he talks though his early days in the Cup with the Luna Rossa team of the AC34 campaign, before moving on to his time with Ainslie's AC35 LandRoverBAR team, and the campaign in Bermuda.

Much of the chat here though is of course about AC36, the Cup here and Auckland, as the pair talk through the problematic opening World Series races, the Team's dramatic turn around in form and the up-coming Prada Cup Final match with Luna Rossa. Robertson and Scott discuss the Team's unbeaten run in the Round Robins of the Prada Cup, but they also reflect on whether American Challenger, American Magic's capsize has effected the approach of the other teams racing.

"These boats are extreme, they're set up on a knife edge and if you want them to be faster you go closer to that knife edge, and that's the way that we race them, we have to to because we want them to be as fast as they can be, so yeah, you're never ever that far away from a bit of a 'whoopsie'."

Scott's onboard relationship with Ainslie, the team's crew set up and specifically Scott's hybrid role as tactician - come - offside - pilot has so far proved successful in the shifty winds of this Auckland race course, but in discussion with Robertson, it's a success that Scott is typically modest about...:

"Of course Ben wants the right information coming to him and is unforgiving because like me, he wants to win races, like all of us in the team, and racing these boats is pretty high pressured and it's not the most relaxing thing to do, although at times, when things are going well, from the comms it almost does sound relaxing but it isn't.   So yeah, I think, I just want to nail every piece of information that I give, make sure it's as fact based as I can make it  and that we're hedging the right way and responding to the competitor in the right way."

The Prada Cup Final kicks off on February 13th and will see Scott's INEOS TEAM UK race against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in a first-to-seven-wins final to decide the Challenger for the 36th America's Cup.

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In Part 2 of this month's Edition, Robertson then sits down with three key players from the Challengers themselves, kicking things off with American Magic skipper Terry Hutchinson.  The only team to have beaten all three of the other teams in the December racing here in Auckland, American Magic put in a solid performance pre Christmas, although Hutchinson was quick to point out that they still didn't win the regatta.  He did however reveal how happy the team were to be back out on the water mixing it up with their rivals...:

"Andrew Campbell commented that for the last eighteen months our simulator and our VPP have driven us to sail the boat in a different way and we're learning how to sail the boat around how these tools have taught us to sail the boat, and they're quite good, quite exciting, and yet it just hits you right in the face that all this equipment that you have is good, but it's not real life, and so we have to get back on the water and do it in real life."

From Challenger of Record Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, Robertson talks to helm Francesco 'Checco' Bruni, unique in the Cup in that he is co-helm of the Italian boat with Australian Jimmy Spithill.  Bruni starts by reflecting on the team's performance during the December races...:

"We definitely felt we were very strong in the light wind and missing something in the stronger wind so our focus obviously is to work on that weakness, but we knew already that all our components for that period of the racing would have been good in the lighter wind."

Robertson's third chat is with a returning podcast guest, Sir Ben Ainslie, Team Principal and helm of British challenger INEOS TEAM UK.  The British boat suffered performance issues during the December racing, at times struggling to get up onto the foils in the lighter airs.  Forthright and pragmatic in the press conferences that followed racing, sitting down with Robertson for the podcast, a determined Ben Ainslie was hopeful that his team would be able to become more and more of a threat over the running of the Prada Cup.

"You can certainly change your measurement certificate through the Prada Cup through the different rounds....and also how you sail the boat and set the boat up.  So I think you'll see a lot of improvements through the Prada Cup, and whoever gets through, we're certainly going to have to push each other hard for that Challenger to give the Kiwis a race, because right now they're head and shoulders above the three other teams and we've really got to up our game to be competitive against them."

The Prada Cup kicks off on January 15th with a series of round robin heats that will decide one finalist and two semi finalists.  The end of January will see a first-to-four-wins semi final, and then from 13th to 22nd February the two finalists will sail in a first-to-seven-wins final to decide the Challenger for the 36th America's Cup.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at 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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With the eyes of the sailing world focused firmly on the waters of Auckland, Shirley Robertson is in New Zealand to preview the Challenger Selection Series for the 36th America's Cup.

Pre-Christmas racing is now over, so this month's two part edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast looks forward to the next instalment of America's Cup racing, the Prada Cup.

 In Part 1 of this Edition, Robertson talks to her fellow Broadcast Commentators at the Cup, as Kenny Read and Nathan Outteridge discuss all they have seen in the World Series racing to date, and weigh up the strengths of each of the three Challengers as the Prada Cup draws near.  The trio dissect the performance of the three teams to date, look at where each team may be able to improve and discuss some of the design differences apparent in each of the Challenger set ups.

The Prada Cup kicks off on January 15th with a series of round robin heats that will decide one finalist and two semi finalists.  The end of January will see a first-to-four-wins semi final, and then from 13th to 22nd February the two finalists will sail in a first-to-seven-wins final to decide the Challenger for the 36th America's Cup.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website, at 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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The worlds of offshore sailing and unbridled adventure meet head to head in this month's edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast, as the two time Olympic gold medallist talks face to face with legendary American Whitbread skipper and off the grid sailing expedition pioneer Skip Novak.

Today, Novak is known throughout the sailing world as the go to man for sailing led polar exploration.  For over three decades he has been running his famous "Pelagic' exploration yachts and is a man with much to say about his career exploring at high latitude, a passion that first came to him while racing around the planet in his first of four Whitbread Round the World Yacht Races.

Part Two of this podcast sees the pair pick up with more Whitbread revelations, including Novak's telling of the tragedy surrounding his 1989 Whitbread campaign as skipper of 'Fazisi', the first ever Soviet team entry into the iconic round the world race, that happened to see the crew racing around the planet while at home, the collapse of the Iron Curtain was bringing in wide sweeping changes to Gorbachev's Soviet Union.  

Throughout this edition of the podcast, Novak's accounts of his time spent racing around the planet make for compulsive listening, he's a man that's written many a book about his ocean adventures, and his impressive story telling is on show for all to see here, as he dips into a vast memory bank of over four decades of ocean adventure.

The final segment in this edition sees the pair turn to Novak's love of exploration, as he reveals his love of the polar regions, the growth of his expedition operation 'Pelagic' and how he has turned the endeavour into a successful global business.  He discusses what makes the perfect exploration vessel, and reveals how his love of climbing and life in the mountains has dove tailed perfectly with his thirst for polar adventure.

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The worlds of offshore sailing and unbridled adventure meet head to head in this month's edition of Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast, as the two time Olympic gold medallist talks face to face with legendary American Whitbread skipper and off the grid sailing expedition pioneer Skip Novak.

Today, Novak is known throughout the sailing world as the go to man for sailing led polar exploration.  For over three decades he has been running his famous "Pelagic' exploration yachts and is a man with much to say about his career exploring at high latitude, a passion that first came to him while racing around the planet in his first of four Whitbread Round the World Yacht Races.

"Not many people know this but as navigator I used to 'tweak' the course every now and again, saying 'we need to head up ten' only to see these places and come a little bit closer to get a view, something you wouldn't do today, but I loved to see these mountainous places coming up out of the mist and fog, and blowing like hell, and there was wildlife, seals jumping all over the place, and penguins, and I thought 'I have to go there one day, I have to see these places, and step on shore'".

That first Whitbread adventure took place in 1977, as the navigator onboard second place finisher 'King's Legend', but perhaps his most famous Whitbread entry was also one of the race's more unusual.

By 1985 British pop sensations Duran Duran were widely acknowledged as one of the decade's biggest super groups.  A platinum album, world wide tours, Rolling Stone magazine covers, Grammy Awards, number ones either side of the Atlantic, the band had become a global phenomenon.

However, their meteoric rise to stardom had totally passed by a busy Skip Novak, but the global success of Simon Le Bon and his band were about to impact heavily on Novak's sailing career. Having unsuccessfully trawled the boardrooms of corporate America for sponsorship, Novak's Whitbread future looked uncertain, but a phone call from the eighties pop ensemble very quickly changed everything.  It's an amusing tale, a story of how Novak was soon skippering the most famous band of the eighties around the world in a seventy seven foot maxi the band christened 'Drum'.

"We stuck (the hull) in the water and towed it across to Cowes, and we were all down below, Simon (Le Bon) came down for this of course, and we were all down below and somebody said 'Simon, what are we gonna call this thing, what are we gonna name it Simon', and he banged on the hull, and the whole hull reverberated like this and he said 'Let's call it Drum' and that's how that happened." 

Duran Duran front man Simon Le Bon makes a guest appearance in Part 1 of this podcast, talking to Robertson about the band's exploits onboard 'Drum'.  Before the Whitbread itself had even started, Novak, Le Bon and the crew had already taken an unwelcome visit to the front pages of the world's tabloid press, following a catastrophic capsize in the 1985 edition of the Fastnet Race.  Novak's eloquent and dramatic account of the incident is typical of his laid back but descriptive style, "I got out as the water was pouring in through the hatch, I was like a salmon trying to swim upstream, the deck was coming down on top of me, I grabbed the rail and it went 'bang', like a coffin had shut!".  The tales that follow are as amusing as they are compelling, and leave the listener pondering on whether such an oddball pairing of financial backing and sporting endeavour could ever possibly be beaten.

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The world renowned Vendee Globe, the non-stop solo lap of the planet, is the topic of this month's podcast, as Shirley Robertson talks to five soon to depart skippers and one IMOCA designer in this two part Vendee Globe extravaganza.

In Part 1 Robertson has already talked to Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss - 5th Vendee Start) and Clarisse Cremer (Banque Populaire x - 1st Vendee Start) as well as world renowned naval architect Juan K about the progression of the IMOCA Class, and the use of foils through out much of this edition's fleet.

In this Part, Robertson catches up with long time friend and previous podcast guest Sam Davies (Initiatives Coeur), as she prepares for her third Vendee attempt.   Sam finished fourth at her first Vendee back in 2009 but four years later suffered a cruel dismasting after just five days at sea.  This time around, she's racing in another of the retro fit foilers, and is confident, after a well thought out build up to the race.  As a French resident, she's also perfectly placed to explain just how big the race is in France.

"The Vendee is huge in France, its a race and a competition but it's not just that, it's huge, all the schools follow the Vendee Globe while it's happening.  Maybe the reason why it's so huge is because it's so simple at the same time as being so hard, and such an extreme event because it's just one person on a boat sailing around the world non stop without assistance."

In this part Robertson also talks to the impressive Charlie Dalin (Apivia), about taking on the race for the first time, and how his skills as a naval architect helped finesse his new generation foiling machine.  And Robertson talks to the first ever German entrant into the race, the very experienced Boris Herrmann, (SeaExplorer Yacht Club de Monacco) 

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