WWW.BOATINTERNATIONAL.COMON BOARDPHOTOGRAPHY: FRANCOIS VOCHELLE; GETTY IMAGEES; CORY SILKEN
JUNE 2018also manages the specialties and
it’s a massive undertaking.
HOW DO YOU SEE YOUR ROLE IN THE
AMERICAN MAGIC SYNDICATE?
As CEO, my job is to provide all
of the resources that the sailors
need to win. Number one is a
fast boat and number two is all
of the logistic support that a
racing team requires. That’s
the reason we have Roger Penske
[owner of Team Penske motor
racing outfit] with us; he knows
how to win, he understands
about multiple moving parts in
a racing campaign.
I did a fair amount of research
in terms of campaigns that
looked like they should have been
dominant in terms of the sailing
talent, and the commonality in
their demise was the fact that
the sailors were running the
campaign. Sailors aren’t CEOs,
they’re not finance people and
they’re not equipped really to
deal with the press or corporate
sponsors. They can do it, but it’s
a huge distraction. So we built
this operating company with
personnel and finance.
WHERE IS THE SYNDICATE’S
BASE? We will be headquartered
in Newport. Through our
partnership with US Sailing,
we’ve acquired the impressive
mobile headquarters that’s made
of containers that SoftBank Team
Japan used. It will move as the
sailing moves around the world.
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED
WITH DOUG DEVOS AND THE NEW
YORK YACHT CLUB? Doug deVos
[founder of the 52 Super Series]
and I had Terry Hutchinson in
common. [Terry] runs the Bella
Mente program as our tactician. I
had many discussions with Terry
about the likelihood of putting
a team together and finding the
sailing talent. And then one night
we said “Let’s do it.” Why not? Wewent to the New York Yacht Club
and told them we’d love to do a
partnership with them. I’m on
the board, so I know a lot of the
decision-makers in terms of flag
oicers, and so here we are.
THE CLUB MUST BE PRETTY
EXCITED TO BE BACK CHALLENGING
FOR THE AMERICA’S CUP AFTER SO
MANY YEARS... Absolutely, very
excited and so we have their full
support and, in fact, in our little
management team we have Phil
Lotz, who is now the commodore
of the New York Yacht Club, as
managing director. We get along
very well with him and he’s a
terrific asset for us.
WHAT IS YOUR STRATEGY? We
have a bifurcated objective.
The bottom layer is to build an
America’s Cup culture. We’ve
got a bunch of young guys who
are competing for positions.
We have mature guys who have
sailed with us, who have been
through a number of America’s
Cups and are at the top. They’vebecome mentors for the younger
guys. Four years from now, they
may not have a lead position and
the younger guys may take over,
grinding, the helm or whatever.
Basically there are no guaranteed
spots on the boat. We’ve been
recruiting through US Sailing, so
we have young Olympians. That’s
how you start and you build an
America’s Cup culture, awareness
and legacy.
IT’S SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE IN FOR
THE LONG RUN... Our partnership
with the New York Yacht Club,
US Sailing and Oakclif is all part
of this foundation of building an
America’s Cup culture or a legacy.
We’re not a one-shot deal and we
are looking for support that’s as
committed as we are to multiple
America’s Cups. We’d love to be
defending, but if not we will be
challenging again.
ASSUMING YOU WIN, YOU WILL
BE DEFENDING IN NEWPORT? If
we win, we’ ll be defending in
Newport, absolutely. So long as
the New York Yacht Club is happy
with that! All of us want that. I
wear my New York Yacht Club
trustee hat and I want – we want- that for the yacht club. It’s home
base and it’s great sailing. B
HEAT OF BATTLE
Bella Mente has won
three of the past six
Maxi 72 world titlesNEW CHALLENGE
A fourth Bella Mente
will be ready for the
2018 Maxi 72 Worlds“ As CEO, my job is to provide
all of the resources that the
sailors need to win... a fast boat
and all the logistic support”