{"id":153327,"date":"2024-08-22T09:18:37","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T08:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=153327"},"modified":"2025-05-28T10:18:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T09:18:33","slug":"peter-burling-new-zealands-2024-americas-cup-skipper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/americas-cup\/peter-burling-new-zealands-2024-americas-cup-skipper-153327","title":{"rendered":"Peter Burling: New Zealand’s 2024 America’s Cup skipper"},"content":"British sailing dominance in\u00a0Olympic Sailing<\/a> has long been\u00a0fabled: from 2000 until the\u00a0Tokyo\u00a0Games Team GB\u00a0were an unstoppable force, winning 28 medals. The most successful was 2008, when amid fog, tempest, and plagues of weed, the British team returned home from Beijing with six medals, four gold. Britain took gold in both the men\u2019s single-handed classes on the tricky waters of Qingdao that summer. One went around the neck of Ben Ainslie<\/a> (his fourth), in the Finn<\/a>, the other to Paul Goodison, in the Laser.\r\n\r\nSixteen years later, the pair will be lining up against one another off Barcelona in a few months time, each helming for the America\u2019s Cup<\/a>. But while Ainslie will be racing Britannia<\/a>, Paul Goodison\u2019s red, white and blue are the colours of the New York Yacht Club\u2019s challenger, American Magic<\/a>.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_153153\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"Standing Standing in for Ben Ainslie as Great Britain SailGP driver when Ainslie welcomed his second child. Photo: Ricardo Pinto\/SailGP[\/caption]\r\n\r\nPaul Goodison and Ainslie were born in the same year, and had come up through an Olympic feeder system so successful other countries dubbed it the \u2018medal factory\u2019, and other sports tried to emulate it. Many of his team mates cut their teeth on the Optimist circuit, but Sheffield-born Goodison took another route into the sport.\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019m very, very different to my peers, I guess,\u201d Paul Goodison reflects. \u201cMy first memory of sailing would have been on a lake in Rotherham, racing with my old man at four or five years old. Dad had a real passion for all sailing. We used to go up to the local gravel pit and I got thrown in to crew.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe had everything \u2013 National Twelves, Enterprises, Streakers \u2013 basically old wooden boats. Every winter we\u2019d take them home, put them in the garage and me and my little brother would help take the varnish off them \u2013 and gouge great holes in the wood and test dad\u2019s patience.\u201d\r\n

Paul Goodison's road to gold<\/h2>\r\nFootball was Goodison\u2019s first love, and only after winning a Yorkshire and Humber schools dinghy circuit repeatedly as a teenager did he begin to take sailing more seriously. He joined winter training camps run by legendary coach Jim Saltonstall \u2013 the man who so influenced many of those 28 medals \u2013 and was selected for the Laser youth squad \u201ca tiny little kid in a full rig, hanging on for dear life!\u201d.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_153148\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"Paul Goodison has won three back-to-back International Moth World Championships. Photo: Martina Orsini\/Foiling Week[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\u201cThe big break was when a group of us \u2013 myself, Iain Percy, Ben Ainslie, Andrew Simpson, Alistair Coates and Hugh Styles \u2013 were selected to be in the development squad, the first group of sailors that had National Lottery support. It was an amazing opportunity for me because I was the least established of the group and the youngest. They went on to be some of my closest and best friends as I grew up sailing, which then led on to the national team.\u201d\r\n\r\nSeeing the success of his friends drove Paul Goodison on. \u201cOne of my biggest memories was Ben coming back from the Atlanta Games in 1996. We were in Mumbles [a small Welsh seaside town], doing the Laser nationals. Ben turned up towards the end with his silver medal, and we all put it on and went out with him and celebrated.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt was the first time I\u2019d had a realisation that the Olympics was not just a dream a million miles away, but actually could become reality. I thought, wow, this is something that\u2019s doable and it\u2019s something I want to do. It was a really big mind shift.\u201d\r\n\r\nArticle continues below...<\/em>\r\n\r\n[collection]\r\n

Change of gear<\/h2>\r\nPaul Goodison got to the Games \u2013 representing Britain at Athens in 2004 in the Laser. But he finished 4th, and the disappointment was hard to process.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt took me a long time to understand what on earth went wrong. You\u2019ve got to get yourself to a level that even on your bad days you\u2019re still winning. Whereas, looking back on my bad days, I wasn\u2019t good enough. And on my good days I was only just good enough.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_153145\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"Paul Paul Goodison takes control of American Magic\u2019s latest Patriot preparing for this year\u2019s America\u2019s Cup off Barcelona. Photo: Ugo Fonoll\u00e1\/America\u2019s Cup[\/caption]\r\n\r\nPaul Goodison refocussed ahead of Beijing. \u201cThe one thing that we\u2019d had instilled in us as a team was that you have to be good at winning in the venue, in those conditions. So I made it my goal to win every regatta that was in China and on the Olympic waters.\u201d This time, he took the gold.\r\n\r\nInjury put paid to hopes of defending his Olympic title at Weymouth in 2012, but Paul Goodison had already been tempted into other areas of the sport. \u201cI was very aware that I couldn\u2019t keep that level of intensity up for four years. I needed to go and do other things. After [2012] I started introducing myself to some foiling<\/a> stuff. And it just blew my mind. It was like learning to sail again.\u201d\r\n\r\nAfter more than a decade of sailing the brutally physical, and utterly untweakable Laser, the foiling Moth<\/a> offered a totally different experience. \u201cIt was an awesome change. The first bit is frustrating when you have to spend a lot of the time fixing stuff that you\u2019ve broken, but then you get more into the fiddling. Back in that era, the boats were much harder to sail. The control systems weren\u2019t quite as good and so a little bit of time spent tweaking and making the boat more manageable made a lot of improvements on the water. It was great fun.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_153143\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"American American Magic\u2019s Patriot heads skywards in the last America\u2019s Cup \u2013 the crash landing seriously damaged the boat. Photo: Will Ricketson\/American Magic[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Moth fleet was rapidly becoming the de facto training ground for America\u2019s Cup sailors: Nathan Outteridge won the worlds in 2011 and 2014, Pete Burling<\/a> in 2015. Goodison took his first Moth World Championship title in 2016, then went on to win three back to back \u2013 a remarkable achievement in a class where the development race is as sharp as the competition.\r\n

America's Cup calling<\/h2>\r\nAfter being recruited as back-up helmsman for Artemis Challenge in 2017, Paul Goodison was looking for his next campaign. \u201cYou desperately want to be involved,\u201d he says, recalling the \u2018transfer season\u2019 for sailors between Cups. \u201cArtemis was frustrating that I was there on the sailing team, but I didn\u2019t race. At some point you want to be with the best team, and you\u2019d like to be with a bunch of people you\u2019ve worked with before that you like and respect. And you want to have a chance of winning.\u201d\r\n\r\nThat chance seemed to come when Goodison moved to American Magic as mainsheet trimmer for the 36th Cup. By Christmas 2020 the team\u2019s AC75<\/a> Patriot was looking positively slippery against the other Challengers.\r\n\r\nBut on Day 3 of the Prada Cup Patriot was hurtling into the top gate mark in a building breeze with a solid lead over Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli<\/a> when skipper and helmsman Dean Barker called for a tack bear away.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_153151\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"Goodison Goodison was injured for the London Games at Weymouth in 2012. Photo: Clive Mason\/Getty[\/caption]\r\n\r\nGoodison\u2019s voice was clear on the onboard comms. \u201cI think a smarter move is a bear away gybe here,\u201d he pointed out, reiterating \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a real hard manoeuvre to tack bear away.\u201d Barker went for the tack bear away, a gust hit, and Patriot flung herself skywards, dramatically crashing back into Auckland\u2019s Hauraki Gulf<\/a> with such velocity a huge hole was punched through the hull.\r\n\r\nEveryone had heard Goodison\u2019s call, and seen the outcome when Barker overruled him. How do you bounce back as a team after such a huge disappointment? Goodison is matter-of-fact. \u201cI guess it was really tough the first day or two, but we\u2019re very structured. Every day we sail, there\u2019s roles and responsibilities of who\u2019s giving information and who\u2019s making decisions. It wasn\u2019t any different from any other days.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe team devoted long, long nights to trying to rebuild the shattered and flooded hull and return to competition. \u201cDoug Devos, one of our owners, addressed us all in the boat shed about how these situations define us and how proud he was as a team. It was one of those amazing group come together moments. It feels so sad, looking back, that we weren\u2019t able to finish the fairytale by performing.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_153150\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"Goodison Goodison won Laser gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Photo: Clive Mason\/Getty[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\u201cBut some special bonds were made there \u2013 which is why, ultimately, I\u2019m back here at American Magic trying to do it again. I feel like we have a duty to the owners and to the other team members that went through all that.\u201d\r\n\r\nGoodison, who lost one of his closest friends when Andew \u2018Bart\u2019 Simpson was killed in a training accident ahead of the San Francisco America\u2019s Cup, spoke after the incident about how lucky the Patriot crew had been.\r\n

In each other\u2019s heads<\/h2>\r\nFor the 37th AC<\/a> Goodison is on the port wheel, Tom Slingsby<\/a> helming the starboard. The pair have sailed against each other for years \u2013 it was Slingsby who took Laser gold in Weymouth 2012, and won the Moth worlds after Goodison \u2013 and the ingrained rivalry runs deep. But now, with the split helm AC75s, they have to sail in perfect synchronicity.\r\n\r\nWhen they began working on their partnership, Goodison was initially surprised at how many similarities there were between their approaches. \u201cBut then as you dig into the finer detail, it\u2019s really interesting to see how you both see situations slightly differently. The one thing we keep coming back to is there\u2019s always more than one way to skin the cat!\r\n\r\n\u201cBut we\u2019ve been working really hard these last 12 months, trying to make sure that we are aligned. Getting to a point where it\u2019s not the way one of us thinks about how we should do something, versus the other one. We\u2019re trying to think more on the same lines and read each situation similarly, which has been really interesting.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_153141\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"Celebrating Celebrating with Tom Slingsby after winning the first Preliminary Event of the 37th America\u2019s Cup. Photo: Alex Carabi\/America\u2019s Cup[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWith the deck-sweeping mainsails meaning each helm has zero visibility on the other side of the boat, the trust between the two has to be absolute. \u201cIf you\u2019re on port [helm], you basically have free licence to put the boat where you think is best. If you\u2019re on starboard, it\u2019s free licence to put the boat where you see more fit. And then learning how we hand off and pick up from each other has been really exciting.\u201d\r\n\r\nThere is a quiet confidence emanating from American Magic in these pre-competition days. \u201cEverybody\u2019s proud of what we as a team have produced in the 75,\u201d Goodison tells me. They have taken a slightly different design approach to many of the other challengers, including recumbent cyclors and a much lower volume hull than others.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_153142\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"Goodison Goodison co-helms in the AC40 and AC75 with Slingsby. Photo: America\u2019s Cup\/AC37 Event Limited[\/caption]\r\n\r\nBut while many of his former GBR team mates and oldest friends have also made Barcelona their home for many months with INEOS Britannia<\/a>, the secrecy of the Cup makes catching up over a few beers tricky.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe still chat. Last weekend, we were at the skate park and bumped into a bunch of the British guys there with their kids. So we chat about how Alinghi<\/a> look and how Team New Zealand<\/a> look, but we kind of awkwardly avoid talking about our own boat. It\u2019s nice, I\u2019m still really good friends with a bunch of those guys,\u201d says Goodison.\r\n\r\n\u201cBut I still want to beat them, though!\u201d\r\n\r\n
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In the high-octane, highly competitive world of professional sailing, few names resonate as powerfully as Peter Burling. As the skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand in the 2024 America’s Cup, Burling is not just steering a boat; he’s carrying the expectation of a sailing-obsessed nation into one of the most prestigious events in the sport of sailing. At just 33 years old, Peter Burling’s career already reads like a seasoned veteran’s. Hailing from Tauranga, New Zealand, his journey began on the waters of the Bay of Plenty, where he started sailing dinghies as a young boy. Burling’s innate talent was evident from the start. By the age of 15, he was already competing on the world stage, earning a silver medal in the 420 class at the 2006 ISAF Youth World Championships. This was only the beginning of a remarkable trajectory. Burling first made global headlines at the 2012 London Olympics, where he and his sailing partner, Blair Tuke, clinched a silver medal in the 49er class. The gold medal in that event when to Nathan Outteridge, who (alongside his crew, Iain Jensen) were Burling and Tuke’s training partners in the lead up to the regatta. The relationship between Outteridge and Burling has remained strong despite often being competitors on the water, and in 2024 they will both co-skipper the Emirates Team New Zealand AC75. While Burling and Outteridge may well end up being the talk of the 2024 America’s Cup, it is Peter Burling’s partnership with Blair Tuke that has been the key driver in their success to date and the chemistry on the water is undeniable. The pairing followed up their 2012 silver medal with an incredible four-year unbeaten streak in the 49er class, which culminated in a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Their dominance solidified Burling\u2019s reputation as one of the sport’s brightest talents. Article continues below… However, Burling (and Tuke’s) ambitions extended beyond the Olympics. The pair won the Youth America’s Cup in 2013 (then the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup) and also took their talents offshore as they competed with Team Brunel in the 2017-2018 Volvo Ocean Race. In 2017, he led Emirates Team New Zealand to a stunning victory in the 35th America’s Cup, becoming the youngest winning skipper in the history of the competition at just 26. His calm demeanour, razor-sharp decision-making, and unparalleled sailing skills played a crucial role in reclaiming the Auld Mug from Oracle Team USA, a victory that can only be described as an unexpected domination by the kiwis. But Burling isn’t just a master of strategy and skill; he\u2019s also a leader who inspires trust and confidence in his crew. Known for his (typically Kiwi) quiet determination and meticulous attention to detail, Burling’s leadership style is one that fosters collaboration and innovation. His ability to stay cool under pressure is legendary, a quality that has earned him the respect and admiration of his peers and competitors alike. Beyond the thrill of competition, Burling is also deeply …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3349,"featured_media":153265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[687],"tags":[1227,569],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3349"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153327"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158217,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153327\/revisions\/158217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153327"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=153327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}