Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast

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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.

The podcast kicks off with Vendee Globe veteran Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss), about to cross the start line of the legendary race for an unprecedented fifth time.  Thomson's record in the race holds true to the gruelling fifty percent attrition rate that has seen him finish the lap of the planet twice from four attempts.  Thomson is well known in the offshore sailing world for running an impressive campaign with long term sponsor Hugo Boss, each of his attempts has seen him race one of the newest boats in the fleet, and this time around is no exception.  His new 60ft IMOCA was one of the last to be launched and sits at the forefront of offshore evolution, utilising a state of the art set of foils and progressive hull design.

"Hugo Boss is for us the culmination of nearly twenty years and with this boat we felt we had the confidence to make some bold decisions that perhaps we wouldn't have made before.  So this time we were very bold and I'm as happy as Larry you know.  The feeling of these things going along, you've got the traditional sound of a boat going through the water and sometimes you feel yourself fully in the air, it's an odd felling to be on a monohull where you physically feel the acceleration, it's been a massive change since I first started."

This year's edition sees thirty three entrants attempting the solo non stop charge around the globe, with a fleet that for the first time sees foiling mono hulls outnumber the non-foilers.  Nineteen of the fleet boast foils, the design of which vary significantly.  The favourites are very much the newest designs, the eight second generation foilers built and designed after the finish of the last Vendee, which saw the first foiling monohulls taking part in this race.  As with the rest of the sport, the evolution in offshore foiling has been fast, and the results are stunning.  World renowned naval architect Juan Kouyoumdjian has two brand new boats in this edition, and in his interview here provides a revealing insight into the design processes that go into a new generation IMOCA...

"The first page of the rule book, rule 101 I think it is, says 'everything that is not explicitly forbidden is therefore allowed' so you look at that and you think 'this is my favourite book you know.'  But there's so many compromises to be done because the best theoretical boat is probably the opposite of what a single handed guy needs to go around the world."

Juan K goes on to discuss the fleet, the performance gains that the new foils have brought, and how these gains may effect the level of racing as the fleet charge south down the Atlantic and into the Southern Ocean.

Robertson also talks to three Vendee Globe rookies across the two podcast editions, in Part 1 talking to rising French star Clarisse Cremer (Banque Populaire X) about her campaign sailing for the team that won the last edition of the race with Armel Le Cleac'h.

In Part 2 Robertson 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 Monaco). Robertson also talks to long time friend and one time team mate Sam Davies, as she prepares to take on the Vendee for the third time.

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Shirley Robertson talks through an amazing sailing career with one of the sport's pioneers of professional sailing, the legendary Tracy Edwards.  Edwards is well known as the force behind the first ever all female crew to complete the gruelling Whitbread Round the World Race of the 1980s, a wonderful story that Edwards and Robertson discuss in Part 1 of this pair of podcasts.

In this Part 2 of the interview, the pair start by talking about the recent documentary film released in 2019, about Edwards and her 1989 Maiden crew.  After discussing the film themselves, Robertson talks briefly with Alex Holmes of New Black Films, the Director of Maiden, about the inspiration behind the project, and the making pf the documentary.

Moving on from the Whitbread, Robertson then talks to Edwards about her all female attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy after she bought the record holding multihull "ENZA", renaming her Maiden 2.  A broken mast stopped their attempt, off the coast of Chile.  Edwards' imagination was fired by the potential of racing multihulls, and she went on to establish the Oryx Quest around the world race, starting and finishing in Oman.  It was ground breaking race, attracting four of the word's biggest multihulls of the time.  But financially for Edwards, it was a disaster, a fact that she and Robertson discuss as she looks back on how the traumatic time effected her and her confidence.

The pair also discuss Edwards' current project, running the inspiring Maiden Factor, a foundation using a now fully restored 'Maiden' to raise awareness and funding for girls' education around the world.  Inevitably Edwards and Robertson look back on the thirty years since Edwards finished the Whitbread and discuss how opportunities for women in the sport have changed as a result.  It's not a very positive conclusion as they reflect on how, despite all of Edwards' accomplishments and efforts, the sport still remains a very male orientated environment.

"I don't think we've done ourselves any favours with getting women to the top and...at the top of our sport there's a group of men paying lip service to...equality.  It's not hapening, I find it incredibly frustrating that I'm having the same conversations with young women that I was having thirty five years ago....You know, when World Sailing is making decisions, women need to be there and I know often they are not, so lots of changes have to happen."

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Shirley Robertson talks to one of professional sailings real pioneers as she sits down with Whitbread Round the World trail blazer Tracy Edwards.

Edwards is best known for leading the first ever all female crew in the 1989-90 edition of the race, a feat she took on at the age of just twenty seven, as skipper of the famous 'Maiden'.  Having raced as a cook onboard 'Atlantic Privateer' in the previous edition of the famous race around the planet, as one of just four women in a fleet of over two hundred sailors, she resolved to do whatever it would take to start the race with a crew of her own.

"There was no way that a woman could have been on any of those boats as crew. Knowing that these guys who are my friends on shore, but when we get out to sea think that I'm an idiot, I'm not strong enough, I'm not able enough.  I remember the first storm we went through, Paul Standbridge, who's a great mate of mine, as i started coming out of the hatch he put his boot on top of my head and said 'it's no place for girls up on deck right now.'  My reasoning wasn't feminism, girl power or anything like that, and I knew that no man was going to let me navigate on his boat."

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Part 2 of double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson's chat with America's Cup Hall of Fame inductee Grant Simmer.  Currently in the role of CEO at British Cup hopefuls INEOS TEAM UK, Simmer is into his eleventh Cup campaign, a remarkable feat for a man who's relationship with the oldest trophy in world sport goes back to 1983.

As a twenty six year old, Simmer sailed as navigator onboard Australia II in the 26th America's Cup, and was a vital part of John Bertrand's afterguard in the Cup that finally put an and to the longest winning streak in world sport.  For one hundred and thirty two years the New York Yacht Club had successfully defended twenty four challenges to the Cup, but Alan Bond's team onboard Australia II finally managed to uproot the trophy and take it back to Australia, to a hero's welcome.  Simmer's memories of this time are a remarkable glimpse into what was one of the most historically significant moments in International sport.

"When we heard that the Prime Minister of Australia was essentially calling a holiday because we'd won this event, everybody was just shocked by the magnitude of what we'd done.  I remember thinking 'Wow!  He called a holiday!  What's that all about,,,?  We had the ticker tape parade in Perth, it was quite a big deal."

Post AC26 Simmer initially returned to work as an engineer, but was back working with John Bertrand for the 1995 Cup in San Diego.  As design coordinator, Simmer was responsible for the build of One Australia's Cup boat, but the outcome of their race against New Zealand in the Challenger Series would become Cup legend.

"It was quite rough and choppy and there was some debate whether we'd race because it was so windy and I'd been arguing we should race so we can find out what would break.  The engineers were a bit nervous, but we raced and famously the boat buckled in the sheerline and broke in half and sank."

Simmer's stories from throughout his Cup career are illuminating, and provide a wonderful insight into  a life spent chasing one of the most illusive trophies in world sport.  From his campaigns with Swiss team Alinghi, through his relationship with Russell Coutts and his time spent campaigning with Oracle Team USA, Grant Simmer has played a pivotal role in the modern America's Cup era, and has an almost unparalleled place in the sport.

The pair finish their revealing chat by looking to the future, and the rapidly approaching America's Cup in Auckland, as Simmer discusses his role with Ben Ainslie's Cup team INEOS, and how he hopes his decades of Cup experience will help the British team finally win the the Cup back for a nation that haven't held it since it's very first regatta one hundred and sixty nine years ago..

"I am confident that we've made some good decisions, over the past year particularly, so making good decisions at the right time in the campaign is important.  Continuing to learn is important and not to be too proud of your decisions, but to understand why other people have made decisions, technically.  I always say if you run out money and time at the same time, then you've manage the campaign perfectly."

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Sitting in the hot seat this month for Part One of his chat with double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson is America's Cup Hall of Fame inductee Grant Simmer.  Currently in the role of CEO at British Cup hopefuls INEOS TEAM UK, Simmer is into his eleventh Cup campaign, a remarkable feat for a man who's relationship with the oldest trophy in world sport goes back to 1983.

As a twenty six year old, Simmer sailed as navigator onboard Australia II in the 26th America's Cup, and was a vital part of John Bertrand's afterguard in the Cup that finally put an and to the longest winning streak in world sport.  For one hundred and thirty two years the New York Yacht Club had successfully defended twenty four challenges to the Cup, but Alan Bond's team onboard Australia II finally managed to uproot the trophy and take it back to Australia, to a hero's welcome.  Simmer's memories of this time are a remarkable glimpse into what was one of the most historically significant moments in International sport.

"When we heard that the Prime Minister of Australia was essentially calling a holiday because we'd won this event, everybody was just shocked by the magnitude of what we'd done.  I remember thinking 'Wow!  He called a holiday!  What's that all about,,,?  We had the ticker tape parade in Perth, it was quite a big deal."

Post AC26 Simmer initially returned to work as an engineer, but was back working with John Bertrand for the 1995 Cup in San Diego.  As design coordinator, Simmer was responsible for the build of One Australia's Cup boat, but the outcome of their race against New Zealand in the Challenger Series would become Cup legend.

"It was quite rough and choppy and there was some debate whether we'd race because it was so windy and I'd been arguing we should race so we can find out what would break.  The engineers were a bit nervous, but we raced and famously the boat buckled in the sheerline and broke in half and sank."

Simmer's stories from throughout his Cup career are illuminating, and provide a wonderful insight into  a life spent chasing one of the most illusive trophies in world sport.  From his campaigns with Swiss team Alinghi, through his relationship with Russell Coutts and his time spent campaigning with Oracle Team USA, Grant Simmer has played a pivotal role in the modern America's Cup era, and has an almost unparalleled place in the sport.

The pair finish their revealing chat by looking to the future, and the rapidly approaching America's Cup in Auckland, as Simmer discusses his role with Ben Ainslie's Cup team INEOS, and how he hopes his decades of Cup experience will help the British team finally win the the Cup back for a nation that haven't held it since it's very first regatta one hundred and sixty nine years ago..

"I am confident that we've made some good decisions, over the past year particularly, so making good decisions at the right time in the campaign is important.  Continuing to learn is important and not to be too proud of your decisions, but to understand why other people have made decisions, technically.  I always say if you run out money and time at the same time, then you've manage the campaign perfectly."

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Part 2 of this month's Podcast sees double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson go back to her sailing roots as she talks about success and failure with three very different multiple Olympic medallists. T

This edition kicks off with one of the podcast's most requested interviews, as Shirley discusses the remarkable Olympic history with reigning NACRA 17 Olympic champion Santiago Lange of Argentina.  Santi discuses the delay in the Games, and how the postponement is effecting his build up, before delving into that incredible Olympic history.  Lange has competed at six Olympics, Tokyo will be his seventh campaign, but it was his gold medal win in Rio that is perhaps the most remarkable of Olympic success stories.

Just a year before the Olympic Regatta, Lange was diagnosed with lung cancer, and underwent surgery that put his Olympic dreams in severe doubt, but still managed to sail to victory in what was one of the most popular medal wins of all time.

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This month double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson goes back to her sailing roots as she talks about success and failure with six very different multiple Olympic medallists. The interviews span fifty two years of Olympic competition, feature a total of twelve medals, seven gold, and include some of the biggest names in Olympic Sailing.

The two part podcast kicks off with London 2012 Laser gold medallist Tom Slingsby, and his emotional account of how the surprise of failure in Beijing 2008 drove him to the top of the podium four years later in London.  Slingsby's is a fascinating account, starting with his memories of how, while watching Sydney 2000, he resolved to one day stand atop the Olympic podium.

"I'm not the most athletically gifted person, when I started training and sailing I was not a good junior sailor, before the Sydney Olympics, before I dedicated myself to it I finished 61st at the Radial Nationals in 1999, I was mediocre, but I said 'I love this sport, I wanna do it and I'm gonna train and put in the work' and I just felt like a regular kid, I just loved it and dedicated myself to it."

British 470 Women's Olympic Champion Hannah Mills tells how disruptive a postponed Olympics has been, having decided to return to defend her crown after her win in Rio 2016.

Mills goes on to reveal to Robertson how the relative disappointment of a silver medal at her home Games in London 2012 really fuelled the determination for herself and crew Saskia Clarke, as they resolved to go the distance one last time together, in a bid to go one better and win in Rio.  Mills discusses the Rio regatta, and what finally winning Olympic gold with her best friend meant to the pair as they began to realise their achievement.

From the amateur Olympic era of the 1960s and 70s Robertson then interviews British Olympic sailing legend Rodney Pattisson, a double Olympic gold medallist from Mexico City 1968 and Munich 1972 and a silver medallist from Montreal 1976.  Pattisson sailed the Flying Dutchman Class, was a submarine officer in the Royal Navy, and is widely known as being one of the forefathers of the 'no stone unturned' approach to modern Olympic sailing.  His tales of fine tuning and optimisation while simultaneously duping his opposition are not just amusing, but also show a ruthless and dogged approach to competition, here explaining a dominant display at the Munich Games of 1972...

"People didn't know I'd built another boat, they still thought it was the old one and I kept that a secret right up until after the Games.  It had the same name on the side of the boat, it had the same colours.  One of the things I did was that the old, slower boat had had a prang, and so there was a repair inside the boat that you could see on the varnish work, so I copied that repair and anybody that had a suspicion at all looked underneath the stern deck, knew about the collision and thought it had to be the same boat."

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This month double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson sits down for a two part podcast chat with the first man ever to sail solo non-stop around the planet, Britain's Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.  In this, Part 2 of their discussion, the pair talk about life after the return from Sir Robin's incredible 312 day journey.

Having completed his voyage, and cemented his place in the annals of the history of exploration, Sir Robin's competitive streak soon saw him back on the global race course, and by 1977 he was joint skipper on an entry in the Whitbread Round the World Race, where amongst his crew was a certain Peter Blake.  With the announcement of the Jules Verne Trophy, Knox-Johnston and Blake went on to famously form the eventual record holding team, ENZA New Zealand, breaking the established record in 1994 with a 74 day lap of the planet.

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Double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson sits down for a two part podcast chat with the first man ever to sail solo non-stop around the planet, Britain's Sir Robin Knox-Johnston.

Sir Robin completed his ground breaking voyage in April 1969, after an astonishing 312 days alone at sea.  having sailed his thirty two foot ketch 'Suhaili' thirty thousand miles around the planet.  The voyage is one of the most documented in sailing, and was part of the famous Golden Globe race, initiated by the British newspaper, The Sunday Times.  Nine entrants eventually left to compete in the Golden Globe, but Sir Robin was the only boat that finished, the physical and mental travails of the effort famously proving too much for many of the other entrants.

Sir Robin spent much of his voyage nursing "Suhaili' around the planet, constantly running repairs as the savage effects of months in the ferocious Southern Ocean took a heavy toll.  But his trusty craft was more than a match for the brutal southern storms, and it is with deep affection that Sir Robin talks of her now.

"She was a cracking little sea boat, a wave could wash right over and did on a few occasions, she'd just shake herself and bob back up, like a terrier really.  I built up a huge affection for Suhaili, a tremendous trust in her, she is simple, she's not complicated.  Everything's stronger than it needs to be, everything's thought through. She's very important to me, she's been part of my life since I was 23, and I've done so much with her, she's done so much for me too.  I always say any fool could get her around the world, I proved it!"

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The second part of Shirley Robertson's in depth chat with British sailing legend Sir Ben Ainslie sees the duo delve deep into the America's Cup, as Ben reveals his thoughts and experiences on a career spent chasing the illusive, oldest trophy in world sport.

Throughout this second part Ainslie and Robertson discuss the Ben's passion for the Cup, and how his early experiences in the Cup world did not go as he had hoped they would.  As his experience in the Cup arena grew, his exploits elsewhere in sailing soon put him on the most wanted list, and after the highs of London 2012, Ainslie joined Oracle Team USA, then watched from the sidelines as the team lost race after race to a seemingly unbeatable Emirates Team New Zealand....:

"I was in the (chase) boat with Russell (Coutts) and Grant (Simmer) and I remember  Russell's phone going off, and it was a bit, you know, slightly held off his ear,  and it was pretty obvious it was Larry (Ellison) and he wasn't too happy about what he was seeing, you know.  And then he just turned round to me and he said 'You, you'd better get your wet suit on."

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