Tom Slingsby on his three Cup campaigns, SailGP, Moth sailing and more
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World/nz 11 Apr 06:06 PDT
Where SailGP started - Larry Ellison with Tom Slingsby at the medal presentation - Bermuda June 26, 2017 © Richard Gladwell - Sail-World.com/nz
America's Cup winner, Olympic Gold medalist, and multiple SailGP Grand Final winner, Tom Slingsby spoke in mid-March at Sydney's Double Bay Sailing Club.
Moderated by Martin White, who first introduced Slingsby, the promising tennis player, to sailing, with a ride on one race day on White's 505. Their familiarity makes for an easy conversation.
In this two-hour video, he covers a lot of ground, including the technical side of the America's Cup, particularly Barcelona, who he rated and why. Also covered are flight control systems and who had the best flight control (not the Kiwis). Whether American Magic gained or lost output through having their recumbent cyclors. He makes the interesting point, against the current controversy over the use of battery power in the upcoming Cup, that 10 of their 2024 sailing crew "didn't know how to sail".
There's some comment on the British campaigns of 2017, 2021 and 2024. He notes that they always started slow and came right very quickly at the end of the Challenger Selection Series, and why that was, plus their gimmick in 2017 that would have caused a furore had they progressed to the Challenger Final. He also discusses the trade-offs between various foil sizes and thicknesses.
Overall, in the 2024 America's Cup across five factors: Sails and rig; Foil design; Hull design; Sailing team and Control systems, he rates the teams.
He discusses how the control systems worked on an AC75 - and how, when the button was pushed to activate the foil control system in a tack/gybe, the control system loop would activate a further 17 adjustments to sails, travellers and mast rotation. The trick is the sequence of adjustments and how much each was adjusted by over the next few seconds.
Singsby also talks about how they measure gains in the America's Cup, with design and setup innovations measured in metres per minute, then tested on the water and against the competition.
He explains why he believed the Kiwis had a big advantage in their foil control systems and how the system gave them more time to sail the boat.
Going back to the 2013 Cup, he talks about the Defender making gains while the Challengers were racing, and which group has the advantage.
Getting away from the Cup, he talks about how he started sailing and gives a great explanation on how to read wind gusts and how to maximise the advantage.
He also talks about the factor on which he focuses most during gust response - no matter whether it is sailing a Laser/ILCA or an AC75.
Turning to SailGP, he reveals a discussion he had with Oracle team chief Larry Ellison while they were standing on the stage in Bermuda, waiting to be presented with a medal for coming second. Slingsby said he turned and apologised to Ellison for not winning. The software billionaire said not to worry, and that he now had the opportunity to create a new sailing event. All was revealed later that afternoon. "Count me in" was Slingsby's response
That event turned out to be SailGP, and Slingsby committed to sitting out the 2021 America's Cup to focus on getting established in the first years of the new League.
He then talks about the ten-year plan for SailGP - it's ambitious, and where they see SailGP fitting with the America's Cup. Also discussed is what the teams are able to do between rounds of SailGP. Surprisingly, Slingsby says he does no sailing outside SailGP.
Staying with SailGP, Slingsby covers the constant question asked by the armchair tacticians on "why did you screw up the start?". He also talks about the Black Foils' crash in Auckland, the effects of riding too high, and how the F50 can be sailing at 92kms forward speed but sliding sideways at 25kms, if the foils lose grip, as happened with the Kiwis.
There's a lot more not covered above, including on-board communication and the difference between professional and Corinthian crews. But at the end, he deals with the issues of the moment, revealing that he had turned down the most money he'd ever been offered in sailing by one of the 2027 America's Cup teams. However said (at the time March 18) that he was considering an offer from another team.
Given his sailing wish list, to cap off an already stellar sailing career, there's no prize for guessing which team is in Slingsby's viewfinder.
This interview is one of the best ever, and you owe it to yourself to set aside a couple of hours for what is a fascinating and most informative session.