- The long-term confidant: America's Cup coach Rob Wilson
- Once a match racing star, now a coach in the America's Cup
- The coach trio for "Luna Rossa"
- Experienced and young talents in the America's Cup
- The coaching challenges in the America's Cup
- The coaches would like more information
- Mutual respect required in the double pass
- The element of surprise in the America's Cup
- Without a coach from three minutes before the start
One coach alone is no longer enough in the multi-faceted America's Cup game. The two finalists in the Louis Vuitton Cup - Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Ineos Britannia - operate with an army of clever helpers and three coaches each. They have different tasks and their skills cover the entire spectrum of requirements of an America's Cup team.
The long-term confidant: America's Cup coach Rob Wilson
The coaching triumvirate for Ineos Britannia consists of the highly experienced Briton Rob Wilson, his compatriot Ian Williams and the Spaniard Xabi Fernandez. Rob Wilson shares his first participation in an Opti World Championship with skipper and helmsman Ben Ainslie: in 1989, both experienced their World Championship premiere in the Optimist children's and youth dinghy in Yokohama, Japan. Wilson later sailed Tornado until the catamaran was removed from the Olympic programme and the man from Shepperton moved to the coaching camp.
Rob Wilson was active as a coach in the Extreme Sailing Series, accompanied 2012 Paralympic champion Helena Lucas to her gold medal on her home turf and was hired by Ben Ainslie as a coach for the 35th America's Cup in 2017 for his first Cup campaign under the British flag. Rob Wilson came to stay. Olympic gold and silver medallist Xabi Fernandez has also been working alongside Ben Ainslie since the 35th America's Cup. The four-time round the world sailor competed in two Cup campaigns with the Brits as a sailor before switching to the coaching side for the current Cup edition.
Number three in the British coaching team is Ian Williams, a proven duelling sail specialist: As a seven-time match race world champion, Ian Williams is a luminary in his field. The law graduate and London lawyer gave up his job in 2005 to earn his living in professional sailing. His success proved him right.
Once a match racing star, now a coach in the America's Cup
Germany's sailing fans were able to get to know the smart Brit in 2013 and 2014 as the winner of Match Race Germany on Lake Constance. Other top players currently involved in the Louis Vuitton Cup final also triumphed here: "Britannia" helmsman Ben Ainslie won Match Race Germany in 2009, while "Luna Rossa" pilot Francesco Bruni triumphed on Lake Constance in 2011. Like Ben Ainslie and his team Ineos Britannia, the Italian racing team also relies on a trio of coaches.
Hamish Willcox, three-time 470 World Champion with David Barnes in the early 1980s and eight Olympic Games as a coach with one gold and four silver medals, five America's Cup appearances with two victories (2010 with Oracle Team USA, 2017 with Emirates Team New Zealand) made the New Zealander a legend.
The former coach of the exceptional Kiwi sailors and America's Cup defenders Peter Burling and Blair Tuke has also developed a training tool called "Road to Gold". SailGP boss Russell Coutts described "Road to Gold" as "not just great for coaches". Ambitious sailors worldwide could also use it "to coach themselves and check where they stand".
The coach trio for "Luna Rossa"
At Hamish Willcox's side in his sixth Cup engagement and third for the Azzurri in the 37th America's Cup are the experienced match racer, Olympic and Cup sailor Philippe Presti and his younger, technically talented colleague Jacopo Plazzi Marzotto. "We complement each other perfectly," says Frenchman Presti, who YACHT met in Barcelona to talk about his duties and his role as coach in the America's Cup. They usually just call the two-time Finn Gold Cup winner "Filippo" at Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.
The 59-year-old from Arcachon is contesting his seventh America's Cup. He experienced the Cup premiere with his compatriots and Le Défi Areva in 2003. Philippe Presti then took part three times for Oracle Team USA and also worked with Ben Ainslie in the Americans' legendary comeback victory in 2013. He is now an opponent of Presti's Italian protégés. They know each other. Philippe Presti knows his two coxswains Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni even better.
In 2007, they formed a team in Valencia under the Italian "Luna Rossa" umbrella: Jimmy Spithill steered one boat, Philippe Presti the other. The then 34-year-old Francesco Bruni was the trimmer. Philippe Presti then switched to the coaching side at the start of the multihull era in the America's Cup. It was the time when we switched from the big, slow boats to the fast multihulls. Today I find my ride with Luna Rossa fulfilling."
Experienced and young talents in the America's Cup
Presti sees the reason for this in the players who make up the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team: "I enjoy the depth of content in this team, all these good guys in the sailing team, these bright minds, this energy. I never thought it would be like this when I started in the Cup. I didn't feel the depth of content and intensity that is there now."
The 59-year-old is just as enthusiastic about the stars in the sailing team as he is about the up-and-comers. "The experienced people have really seen a lot. They are clever and a strong challenge. Then there are the new, young and hungry sailors who want it all. That's fantastic and excites me," says Philippe Presti. Shooting star and Youth America's Cup winner Marco Gradoni is one of them. "He almost made the team. He's extremely smart, in an almost unsettling way," says the coach, impressed.
If Philippe Presti, who with a bit of luck can also be seen playing guitar in spontaneously formed America's Cup bands with a penchant for the blues, had not become a sailor and coach, "I would probably be a teacher," he says. With the Italians, he sees himself as responsible for race management.
The coaching challenges in the America's Cup
Philippe Presti's focus is on communication coordination, tactics and strategy, especially the pre-start phase and match racing. We have a super experienced coach in Hamish and a super technician in Jocopo. We work closely together. Then the engineers and others come and give feedback. I coordinate all these groups."
The America's Cup is not a sporting event. It is a management competition. From head to toe." Philippe Presti
The coaches in the America's Cup keep a close eye on the action on the water. They are joined on the support boats by Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team Director and Skipper Max Sirena, Operations Manager Gilberto Nobili and Boat Captain Michele Cannoni. Plus the engineers, foil specialists, wind analysts and other experts. Together, they want to be able to react to every conceivable adversity and challenge.
They see the same live images on the screens on board the support boats as the spectators on land. They can integrate their own boat data. What the teams don't have, but would like to have? Philippe Presti says: "We only have limited access to race information. The racing software is not ours. That's how the America's Cup has developed. I'm not sure I like that."
The coaches would like more information
What exactly does he mean by that? "We record the decisions on the water as we see them on the screens. It's designed, built and controlled by Team New Zealand. They give us something and we use what they give us. At the last Cup, for example, we had a lot of other information. The thing is: When something is happening in front of you, you need information to build your strategy on. Today we don't have that information."
What are they, for example? "It is possible to have information in the software about whether you are too late or too early when you enter the start box." So a kind of forecast? "Yes, like a kind of routing programme that makes predictions. We don't have that information. But that's the game."
Another new feature since the 36th America's Cup is the game with two helmsmen instead of just one. It was introduced by Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni from the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team. The motivation for this was the limited visibility with only one pilot on the new AC75 yachts and also aerodynamic advantages with stationary crews. "It used to be one helmsman who had the strategy in his head. Now there are two. The ball has to be passed from one to the other. It's not easy to play."
I try to find out where the holes in the cake are. I can start there, do something or find someone who can do something." Philippe Presti
The decisions in the race are made by the helmsman who currently has the ball in his hand. "He positions the boat where he thinks it should be," explains Philipp Presti, "the other person provides information and input." There is no time for discussion in the age of foilers racing across the water at 40 and even over 50 knots.
Mutual respect required in the double pass
How difficult was it to forge a unity between Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni, who are so different as people and sailors? "We are still the same group as in 2007, we know each other very well," says Philippe Presti with a smile. The coach believes that "the differences are good if you manage them well". The most important thing is that they both respect each other.
We have created a relationship that is healthy." Philippe Presti
"They listen to each other. They accept each other's mistakes. That's really demanding. You have to be able to cope with that. There could also be tension, but that's not the case. We spent hours in the simulator, discussing the plans, explaining what was happening."
In football, goalkeepers study the typical movements and preferences of goal scorers before important games. And vice versa: the players study how a goalkeeper prefers to move, whether he has favourite corners or weaknesses. Do the teams in the America's Cup do something similar with regard to their duels? Do they study the favourite "moves" of the opposing helmsmen?
The element of surprise in the America's Cup
"That's exactly my role," says Philippe Presti. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli studies and analyses the actions and reactions of Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher at the helm of the opposing "Britannia". It's the same the other way round. "We do this in depth," says Philippe Presti. Will he reveal one or two of the results of these studies? "Of course not!"
But you know how your opponents react in certain ways? "That's exactly what I try to do: I watch everything, listen to everything. Think about the plays, watch the guys' reactions. I coached Ben in San Francisco, so I know a bit about how he reacts. I know Dylan a little less because he came into the game late. I listen to their communication and try to understand what and how they think."
From that point on, his team tried to take countermeasures. "We think about how we can develop our strategy based on the opponent. What a boat is capable of in terms of performance always comes into play." However, because similarly meticulous preparatory work is expected from the opponents, the element of surprise also plays a role.
Without a coach from three minutes before the start
"Of course surprises are important; we have an idea of how they think. But you also know that they can change. And the conditions change. They learn from mistakes. They learn with experience. And we do the same. It's a game. I know their match racing coach very well: Ian Williams. We've sailed against each other a lot. I know that they perform at the highest level."
Coaches can talk to the team up to three minutes before a start. After that, the sailors are on their own, but thanks to their coaches, they are as well prepared as possible.
