Boat International US Edition – May 2019

boatinternational.com • 05 2019

PHOTOGRAPHY: MATT KNIGHTON

ON BOARD

“Sailingtodayis

arichwhiteman’s

sportandIthink

thatweneed

tochangethat...

let’sgetthe

bestathletes

inthedoor”

ike Buckley, skipper of Stars + Stripes Team

USA, the second US team to challenge for

the America’s Cup, says its entry is all about

“the American dream.” The team, which kicked off its

campaign with a party in Bel Air, California, is building

its first AC75 using a design package from Emirates

Team New Zealand. Boat International caught up with

Buckley to find out how preparations are going.

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO THROW YOUR HAT IN?

About two years ago, (helmsman) Taylor Canfield and

I came up with the idea that it was

really time to try to put “America”

back in the America’s Cup because for

the past 15 or 20 years, the American-

flagged teams have not really had fully

all-American sailing teams.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE TOUGHEST PART?

The hardest part about any America’s

Cup is to come up with the money to

compete in it. Our CEO, Justin

Shaffer, is a tech and media startup

guy. That’s where he’s spent his entire

career and he happens to be a fantastic

sailor as well. He’s really helped lead

our organization; he’s built it slowly and efficiently and

kept a scrappy startup mentality. Fundraising is a huge

part of what we’re doing right now and so plenty of

people are wearing multiple hats.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT NEW YORK YACHT CLUB’S

AMERICAN MAGIC? DO YOU SEE THIS AS AN EAST

COAST/WEST COAST RIVALRY?

We’re excited that there’s more than one American

team and that there are so many challengers in this

America’s Cup. We’re in a position where we can do

something great for the sport of sailing and in order for

that to happen, we need more teams.

HOW DID YOU GET TO USE THE STARS + STRIPES NAME

FOR THE TEAM?

Credit for that goes to Tod Reynolds, our chief

operating officer. It was his idea. Tod and I flew to San

Diego to have lunch with [yachtsman] Dennis

Can Stars + Stripes Team USA bring the America’s Cup home?

Cecile Gauert meets skipper Mike Buckley to find out

The American dream boat

M

[Conner]. And to get to meet one of your sailing idols,

somebody who in his day was as big as Michael

Jordan or Muhammad Ali, was just an awesome

experience. At the end of it we said, “Do you think we

could use Stars + Stripes when we launch?” And he

kind of thought about it for a second and he said,

“Absolutely” and gave us his blessing.

YOU ARE ACTIVELY RECRUITING AT THE MOMENT.

IS THERE ENOUGH TALENT TO GO ROUND?

There are so many great athletes across sports in this

country that if we can’t find between 11 and 16 of the

best athletes in the world here, then we are doing

something wrong.

WHY ARE YOU REACHING OUT TO ATHLETES FROM

DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES?

I’m a big New England Patriots fan. They’ve got a rugby

guy on their team. One of their receivers was a lacrosse

player, never even played college football. In other

sports, people recruit the best athletes, and in sailing we

probably spend too much time being comfortable with

the people that we know. As we speak, we are in the

middle of our first open tryouts and we’re pretty excited.

We’ve got Olympians from several different sports and

other professional athletes showing up.

Skipper of Stars + Stripes

Team USA, Mike Buckley

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