luna rosa

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 acros

With Jimmy Spithill racing for Luna Rosa, why are the Aussies cheering on Team NZ? This week Mel and Tom talk to Aussies Tom Slingsby and Nathan Outteridge to find out and to get some insight as to what held Australia back from entering a challenger in the 2021 America's Cup.

Nathan Outteridge is an Olympic gold medalist and an America's cup finalist and Tom Slingsby is an Olympic gold medalist and was the strategist for the America's Cup winning Team Oracle USA in 2013.

For more, visit newshub.co.nz/podcasts

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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 podcast@shirleyrobertson.com 

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 podcast@shirleyrobertson.com 

This is the second part of two time America’s Cup winning skipper Jimmy Spithill's chat with Shirley Robertson which saw the pair settle down for an extended two part interview ahead of the first round of the America’s Cup World Series in Sardinia.

In Part 1 Jimmy discussed growing up in the Australian sailing enclave of Pittwater, recalling the endless days spent messing about on the water.  From childhood, through Australia's Young Sailor of the Year, to his first appearance in the America's Cup at just twenty years of age, and eventually onto his first Cup win in Valencia 2010, Part 1 is a great insight into the early life of one of sailing's leading stars.

in Part 2, things get real serious, as Jimmy recounts the early days of the frighteningly quick AC72, as theCup turned to foils, wings and a massive leap in performance.  In this interview Jimmy tells us the inside story of that incredible comeback to win the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco, his insight and memories of that sensational victory both candid and illuminating. Starting with the capsizing of the brand new AC72 just days after launching, to the cut and thrust of the daily press conferences and the eventual comeback against an incredibly quick and accomplished New Zealand team. The comeback propelled the sport into the spotlight, and was the start of relentless victory celebrations across the US…:

“For the next couple of weeks you’re on all the late night shows, Jay Leno and Colbert, all the big ones going around and I’ll never forget we were on the Colbert show, and Tom Hanks was there doing a recording of something, so I’d done my piece and was having a beer and chatting to some of the guys….and it was surreal, sitting in the green room with Tom Hanks, and he’s asking questions about the racing, he’d seen it, we’re having a beer and the whole time his assistant is saying ’Tom, we’ve got to go, the plane’s waiting’ and he’s saying “No, tell them to wait”, he was genuinely interested in what had happened.”

Jimmy goes on to discuss the disappointment of losing the Cup in Bermuda, and talks about his current role with the Italian team Luna Rosa Challenge. But he's also very open regarding his time spent sailng with french offshore legend Francois Gabart, and how much he loves the prospect of heading offshore on a foiling multihull. From his passion for surfing and foiling to his competitive spirit and drive to succeed, Spithill’s chat with Robertson is illuminating, engaging, and a thoroughly interesting listen.

Two time America’s Cup winning skipper Jimmy Spithill joins Shirley Robertson this month, as the pair settle down for this the first of an extended two part interview ahead of the first round of the America’s Cup World Series in Sardinia.

Spithill has long been a fixture in the America’s Cup scene, having first led the Australian entry to the 2000 Cup in Auckland, as skipper of ‘Young Australia’. He’s skippered in every Cup since, winning for the first time in 2010 at the wheel of Larry Ellison’s BMW Oracle Racing. That first win, helming the giant 90 foot trimaran, secured his spot as the Cup’s youngest ever winning skipper. In 2013 a successful defence of the Cup in San Francisco saw Spithill lead the unlikely comeback against a New Zealand Team that was, at 8-1 up, just one race win away from reclaiming the oldest trophy in world sport. Having then lost the defence of the next Cup in Bermuda in 2017, Spithill is now in a key role at the long established Italian team, Luna Rosa.

Spithill grew up thirty miles north of Sydney, Australia in the stunning sailing hotspot of Pittwater. He talks fondly of his childhood, taking a boat to school, where he’d whistfully wait for classes to end so he could head back out on to the water. He’s also very candid about his upbringing, and discusses with Robertson how his formative years have contributed to the character we see today out on the race course…:

“We have a running joke, between Tom Slingsby, or anyone with red hair, and that’s there’s two things you get good at growing up with red hair, and one is running, for obvious reasons. The other is fighting, because you just get sick of running!….At some point you’ve got to decide what you’re going to do, are you going to continue to take this, or is it time to stand up, and when you do it’s an incredible feeling, and it’s an important lesson in life. That at some point you have to stand up for yourself.”

This is the first of two instalments of Shirley Robertson's interview with Jimmy Spithill, and concludes with his take on how he skippered that 90 foot trimaran to victory in the 2010 America's Cup.  Be sure to download Part 2, which sees Jimmy recount the fascinating story of how Oracle Team USA overcame that 8-1 deficit to defend the oldest trophy in world sport.