The reasons for our sailing success
Mark Orams looks at why Kiwis yachties are revered and respected in the international sailing community
‘We need more Kiwis on this boat”, was the summation from the American owner of a yacht I was racing on many years ago. It was his blunt assessment of the best option to improve performance after a poor regatta result.
In the years since, I have continued to be asked by the international sailing community: What it is that makes Kiwi sailors so good?
The New Zealand public may not realise, but in a similar way to Kiwi rugby players, Kiwi yachties are revered by many and respected by all in the international sailing community. This reputation has been created by decades of continued success in all aspects of the sport, from small high-performance yachts at Olympic level to around the world race success and the America’s Cup.
We have the most successful America’s Cup record of any nation in the past 40 years. We have been a finalist in every America’s Cup challenger series we have contested, right from our first off Fremantle in 1987, and have won the America’s Cup three times (in 1995, 2000 and 2017). Now in the summer of 2021, we have the chance to win it again.
This is in a sport that is technologybased and requires huge money, a complex array of skills and research and development.
Little old New Zealand has been pitted against global powers such as the United States, Great Britain, Japan and Italy, whose teams are often supported by billionaires, the likes of which New Zealand has never had.
It’s impressive, and raises admiration and wonderment from the international sailing community.
So what is it that makes our little islands surrounded by our planet’s largest ocean so good at sailing? A big part of the answer is found in this aforementioned geographical reality.
Our ancestors were some of the greatest ocean navigators of all time. When Maori arrived on these shores, they had for centuries already been skilled ocean navigators and a people of the sea.
Early European explorers and immigrants sailed here on ships. In the centuries of settlement by Maori and Europeans, the steep topography and dense forests of our islands meant it was far easier to travel by sea than land.
The complex nature of our coastal seas and wide range of wind, tides, waves and weather meant that to be successful as a sailor here, one needed to be skilled, adaptable, resilient, hard-working and in tune with the elements. Funny, but these attributes are how I would describe today’s top Kiwi yachties.
A graphic example of New
To be successful as a sailor here, one needed to be skilled, adaptable, resilient, hard-working and in tune with the elements.
Zealand’s sailing heritage remains in action today with the classic Mullet Boat class on the Waitemata harbour. “Mulleties” were originally designed in the late 1800s and locally built to take fishers out to the eastern reaches of the Hauraki Gulf and Manukau Harbour to catch fish — primarily mullet (hence the boat’s name).
A sea-worthy vessel with deep bilges, a flat bottom and buoyancy to carry a large cargo of fish but swift enough to sail from and back to the fish market wharves of downtown Auckland was needed.
Inevitably, these Mulleties raced under sail back to the wharves because the first back often drew the best price for their fish, and with no refrigeration, getting the catch back fresh was a high priority.
Natural competitive spirits combined with the financial incentive and the challenges of Auckland’s varying conditions drove the development of a high level of sailing skill.
An interesting connection between the America’s Cup and annual New Zealand Championship for the Mulleties is that the winner is awarded the elaborate Lipton Cup, so named because it was donated by Sir Thomas Lipton, of Lipton tea fame.
Sir Thomas had unsuccessfully mounted numerous campaigns to try and win the America’s Cup back for England in the early 1900s.
The story goes that in 1920, a group of Mullet Boat sailors in Auckland wanted to source a suitably grand trophy for their annual regatta and wrote to Sir Thomas Lipton asking him to donate one.
In typical Kiwi fashion, they somewhat exaggerated their status in Auckland society and made claims to represent a well-to-do Auckland yacht club, which was untrue — they were more accurately a bunch of reprobate sailors who enjoyed racing hard and drinking rum.
To validate their story, they arranged for a photo to be taken in front of the Victorian facade of the newly-built Esplanade Hotel on the Devonport waterfront and represented this as their yacht club.
It worked, and Sir Thomas Lipton commissioned a trophy from Garrard and Co of London, the same designer and maker of the America’s Cup that has pride of place in the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
This summer’s America’s Cup series will take place on these same waters the Mulleties have sailed for more than a century.
While the yachts are vastly different, the spirit of finding every way to make the boat go faster beats strongly in the hearts of the sailors of both vessels.
So why are we Kiwis so good at sailing? As with our prowess in rugby, it is a multitude of factors from our heritage, character as a nation and willingness to give it a go — mixed with a little cheekiness and humour.
Smart move
The recent appointment of Brad Butterworth as an adviser to the Italian Luna Rossa team is telling. This team is the least experienced in terms of America’s Cup winners (with the notable exception of Jimmy Spithill). They are also the team with the least Kiwis. So the appointment of the fourtime America’s Cup winner (twice in Auckland) Brad “Billy” Butterworth is a good move.
● Professor Mark Orams is the Dean of the Graduate Research School at Auckland University of Technology and a former member of Team New Zealand. He was also part of Sir Peter Blake’s winning Whitbread around the world yacht race crew aboard Steinlager 2.