America's Cup - NZL Sailing Team's lineup to defend Red Bull Youth

by Yachting NZ and Sail-World on 18 Jan 2017 Eight sailors have been announced in the NZL Sailing Team crew to defend the Red Bull America's Cup Trophy.

New Zealand took first and second places in the inaugural event sailed in San Francisco in 2013. The finals for the event will be sailed in Bermuda in the five day non-racing gap in the America's Cup Match.

Logan Dunning Beck will be skipper and helmsman for the campaign and will be joined by Stewart Dodson, Isaac McHardie, Micah Wilkinson, Matt Kempkers, Luca Brown, Harry Hull and Josh Salthouse.

The event will be sailed in the foiling versions of the one design AC45 used in the America's Cup World Series.

Ten nations will be represented at the event, with Australia being a notable absentee.

The NZ team is a mix of sailors from Olympic classes, keelboats and catamarans, with Dunning Beck, McHardie and Wilkinson members of Yachting New Zealand’s Aon Fast Track programme which aims to accelerate the development of talented youngsters into Olympic campaigners. Many also have designs on being involved in future America’s Cups.

Four of the team who won in 2013 are now key members of Emirates Team New Zealand’s America’s Cup campaign this year.

Peter Burling was skipper and helmsman of the youth team four years ago and is now Emirates Team New Zealand helmsman. He was joined on the boat by Blair Tuke, Andy Maloney and Guy Endean who are also members of Emirates Team New Zealand.

On top of that, Olympians Sam Meech, who won bronze in the Laser in Rio, and Jason Saunders, who finished fourth in the Nacra 17 with Gemma Jones, were also on board in 2013. Surprisingly Gemma Jones did not make the final team, despite placing fourth at the 2016 Olympics in the Nacra 17 and is competing on the foiling GC32 race circuits.

“It’s a great opportunity to be involved with a team event and if you perform well it can really open doors,” Dunning Beck said. “It’s an opportunity to show America’s Cup teams that you’re good enough to step up to that level.

“We have got a really good bunch of guys who have a lot of experience and the ability to do really well at this event. It’s also just plain cool to be sailing boats like this.”

The Red Bull Youth America’s Cup will be sailed in the same AC45 foiling catamarans the America’s Cup teams competed in during the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series.

All six teams competing in the America’s Cup will race in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup along with entries from Austria, Bermuda, Denmark, Germany, Spain and Switzerland. Six sailors aged 19-25 will be on each catamaran.

As many as 40 youngsters applied to be part of the NZL Sailing Team, with 13 invited to trial. Emirates Team New Zealand helped with the selection of the final team of eight.

They will be allowed to practice on an AC45 for a maximum of seven days before the official practice sessions. In the meantime, the NZL Sailing Team have been training on a GC32 foiling catamaran, which is similar to the AC45s.

Yachting New Zealand chief executive David Abercrombie said the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup was a good chance to expose some of this country’s best young sailors to a professional environment. He also said the team will have a simple goal.

“The only reason to enter is if you’ve got a decent chance of winning,” Abercrombie said. “Many of the teams have a lot of experience sailing the AC45s but we have a pretty strong team. It’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to give it our best shot.

“Emirates Team New Zealand have been very supportive throughout the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup campaign and they must also be congratulated for this week adding Nespresso as a sponsor.”

NZL Sailing Team:

Logan Dunning Beck
Age: 23
Yacht club: Wakatere Boating Club, Auckland
Career highlights: first 2016 Weymouth Sailing World Cup 49er, first Melbourne Sailing World Cup 49er.

Stewart Dodson
Age: 23
Yacht club: Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Auckland
Career highlights: first 2012 New Zealand youth match racing championships, second 2013 Red Bull Youth America’s Cup, first 2016 World Match Racing Tour, member of Red Bull Sailing Team.

Isaac McHardie
Age: 19
Yacht club: Royal Akarana Yacht Club, Auckland
Career highlights: first 2013 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships SL16 catamaran, third 2014 ISAF Youth World Championships 29er, second 2016 Red Bull Foiling Generation.

Micah Wilkinson
Age: 21
Yacht club: Ngaroto Sailing Club
Career highlights: first 2013 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships SL16 catamaran, fifth 2014 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships SL16 catamaran, fifth 2014 29er world championships, first Red Bull Foiling Generation world championships.

Matthew Kempkers
Age: 22
Yacht club: Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Auckland
Career highlights: fifth 2016 Red Bull Foiling Generation, fourth 2016 Laser national championships, fifth 2016 New Zealand open match racing national championships.

Luca Brown
Age: 23
Yacht club: Murrays Bay Yacht Club, Auckland
Career highlights: sixth 2016 Extreme Sailing Series (Sydney), 2012 U20 Canterbury rugby team

Harry Hull
Age: 22
Yacht club: Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Auckland
Career highlights: sixth 2016 Extreme Sailing Series (Sydney), first 2016 Auckland to Fiji, first 2016 New Zealand Match Racing Nationals

Josh Salthouse
Age: 24
Yacht club: Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Auckland

Career highlights: sixth 2016 Extreme Sailing Series (Sydney), first 2015 Warren Jones International Match Racing, first 2015 New Zealand Match Racing Championships, five World Match Racing events with 36 Below Racing.