Please select your home edition
Edition
Navico AUS Zeus3S LEADERBOARD

Red Bull Youth America's Cup - Objective Australia team heads off

by Simon Reffold on 29 Jul 2013
Objective Australia Media Launch Simon Reffold
Red Bull Australia and NZ MD Jason Sargent joined Yachting Australia CEO Phil Jones today, in wishing Objective Australia Team members all the best in their preparations for the upcoming Red Bull Youth America’s Cup. Objective Australia is the team that will represent Australia in this upcoming inaugural series.

The event, an initiative of Red Bull, is the curtain raiser to the America’s Cup and will be sailed in the AC45 Class boats on San Francisco Bay from 1st to 4th September.

Three things mark this event as a standout; firstly the crews are all country of origin, returning to the original America’s Cup approach. The second is that the event is for youth teams 18-24 years of age. Finally, this is a fleet racing event, where the 10 country competitors will be head to head on the line in the exceptionally fast and exciting AC45 Catamarans that have been racing around the world for the past three years.

Raced on a tight and fast circuit, close to the shore and with the boats covered in cameras and telemetry gear, this is an event designed to maximise impact for spectators. The One Design boats mean that the first over the line is the winner.

The Australian team qualified for the event in February, and have since been individually competing internationally. Some of the team are beginning the journey towards Olympic Selection for 2016 and have been competing successfully in the many northern hemisphere regattas. Some are journeyman competitors, participating in the many top level sailing events around the world for various classes.

When they come together in a weeks’ time in San Francisco though, all thoughts are focussed on preparing for what all of them see as being the biggest event of their lives.


Objective Australia join nine other teams from the US (x2), Germany, France, New Zealand (x2), Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland. Five of those teams have qualified through the February series, the other five as part of existing America’s Cup teams.

Over the past six weeks or so the existing AC45s have been brought into strict One Design compliance ensuring that no boat is favoured over another. All teams will begin with a familiarisation period where they effectively get their racing licenses in these boats. AC45s typically race at speeds between 18 and 35 knots (33-65kmh) and are powered by a wing mainsail as opposed to the traditional fabric sails. They are an incredibly physically demanding boat for the six crew members and require precision timing for all their manoeuvres.

Once mastered, the crew can focus on positioning the boat well in San Francisco’s notoriously windy and current affected waterways.

The team have a little under a month to properly bond, acclimatise, perfect the handling of the boat and get ready for what will be the biggest event of their lives to date.

The Objective Australia team are well up to the task though, between them they have four World Championships, countless National Championships and many are ranked at the top in their classes in the world including world Laser no1 Tom Burton.

The sailing team consists of:

Jason Waterhouse, 22 – Newport NSW. Skipper.
Tom Burton, 23 – Baulkham Hills, NSW
Keiran Searle, 23 – Lismore, NSW
Ted Hackney, 23 – Randwick NSW
Josh McKnight, 22 – Sydney, NSW
Luke Parkinson, 23 – Subiaco, WA
James Wierzbowski, 21 – Melbourne, Vic
Jasper 'Fang' Warren, 24 – Albany, WA

In addition, the team will has been coached and managed by Traks Gordon.

The team is privately funded by Team Principal, Tony Walls, who is the founder and CEO of Objective Corporation, an ASX listed Technology Company.

This is the first Australian Team to compete in an America’s Cup event since Syd Fischer sent a bunch of youth sailors to New Zealand in 2000. While the Young Australia challenge didn’t get past the elimination series it was the incubator for so many of today’s successful Australian sailors including the now America’s Cup wining skipper James Spithill.

In fact, in all the America’s Cup teams competing this year, some 40 percent are Australian Sailors. Yet there is no Australian team. Yachting Australia are seeing the Objective Australia campaign as the siren call for a new surge of interest in the America’s Cup. In this, the 30th Anniversary year of Australia II’s historic victory in Newport they are hoping that the new breed of America’s Cup sailors will be taking on the world in San Francisco – and Objective Australia

Sydney Boat Show 2025 - Apply to ExhibitJeanneau Sun Odyssey 350sMRT AIS Man Overboard Beacons AUS / NZ

Related Articles

British Classic Week day 3
Concours d'Elegance parade and the female and youth (under 25yrs) helm race Day three at British Classic Week in Cowes brought the annual Concours d'Elegance parade and the female and youth (under 25yrs) helm race sponsored by Marineware and Awlgrip.
Posted on 9 Jul
International Moth Worlds at Lake Garda Day 2
A day of waiting with no racing held The second day of racing at the 2025 Moth World Championship began with high hopes: as early as 10:00 a.m., a promising southerly breeze began to build on Lake Garda, hinting at ideal conditions for a full day on the water.
Posted on 9 Jul
Understanding sMRT Alert with Jack Sharland
Man Overboard Devices have come a long way in the last few years Man Overboard Devices have come a long way in the last few years with more features packed into smaller devices, but with all these features it can sometimes be difficult to understand what they all do.
Posted on 9 Jul
Django Team to represent Italy at Admiral's Cup
Yacht Club Costa Smeralda launches two-boat campaign in historic return of the elite offshore race After a 20-year hiatus, the Admiral's Cup is back - and Italy is ready to make a bold return to one of offshore sailing's most legendary stages.
Posted on 9 Jul
Noakes Sydney GC Yacht Race: Don't stop me now
Corinthian sailor Elizabeth Tucker takes on the world Elizabeth Tucker had barely stepped on board a yacht before 2021. Fast forward four years to 2025 and the English-born, Sydney-based sailor has sailed her Class40 yacht, First Light, from Spain to Australia.
Posted on 9 Jul
29er Europeans at Lake Garda overall
Record-breaking event closes in style More than 250 teams, 29 nations, six days of varied racing, and a fleet of young athletes pushing high-performance sailing to the next level. The 2025 29er European Championship, hosted by Fraglia Vela Riva, has officially wrapped.
Posted on 9 Jul
Meet the CYCA's Admiral's Cup Team
Meet the skippers and sailors, get to know their roles and discover what makes their programs unique Meet the skippers and sailors, get to know their roles and discover what makes their programs unique.
Posted on 9 Jul
2025 Sail Paradise - Last call for early bird!
You're invited to test your crew in Australia's spectacular offshore sailing regatta You're invited to test your crew in Australia's spectacular offshore sailing regatta, The Yacht Sales Co Sail Paradise 2025!
Posted on 9 Jul
Who made the right call to get to the breeze?
And how technology is changing the Transpac Race to Hawaii Boats racing in the 2025 Transpac continue to reel in the offshore miles toward the finish line off Honolulu, Hawaii, in the 53rd edition of this historic 2,225-nautical-mile race.
Posted on 9 Jul
OK Dinghy Europeans at Warnemünde day 3
Nick Craig fights back Canada's Ben Flower and Britain's Charlie Cumbley will go into Wednesday's final day at the 2025 OK Dinghy European Championship in Warnemünde, Germany, on equal points with two more races to sail.
Posted on 8 Jul