Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast

• Series 5 - Ep4 - Ian Williams - Part 2

  Send us a textThis is Part 2 of Double Olympic gold medallist and podcast host Shirley Robertson's chat with eight-time World Match Racing Champion Ian Williams, as the duo get together to discuss Williams' career at the sharp end of the most  combative discipline in the sport of competitive sailing.Williams discusses his early route to the top of the World Match Racing Tour rankings, a climb that involved turning his back on a full job as a lawyer, to make the most of his very obvious talent in the tough one-on-one world of match racing. It is however clear that the analytical and exacting approach required from a legal professional did not escape him, having made the switch to full time match racing...:"One day I thought 'hang on, we're pretty good at this, we're pretty fast, we can read the shifts well, we've got the start under control, how's is he going to beat us', and suddenly that was like a light bulb going off, and suddenly we were able to beat him and from that day on I haven't focused on other boats, I've always gone with the approach that if we just go with our plays we should be good."For any sailor interested in the complexities of the match racing world, this is a fascinating listen.  Williams has won the tour an unprecedented eight times, and has a unique approach to taking on the world's best and winning."I think the most useful is a frame work for what is a winning start, and how do you get there.  The most useful thing is being able to analyse after the start how you won or lost and why, and that often gets lost if you don't have that framework.  Sometimes you win by luck, by default, by a mistake by the other boat and if you haven't understood why you've won, then you're not learning."But from a discipline that was once  a well trodden path to America's Cup involvement Williams also discusses how the Cup's move to multi hulls and then foiling left the multiple Match Racing World Tour winner without an America's Cup pathway...:"The America's Cup was the dream that made me quit the law and go sailing, that was in 2005, in 2007 the last displacement monohull Cup was the same year that I made number one in the match racing world rankings and then the game moved away from me and if I look at it critically I didn't have the flexibility to adapt quickly enough to where the game went....by the time I figured out catamaran sailing the boats were foiling."His disappointment has been the British AC37 team's gain, as Williams discusses his role in Barcelona as Pre-Start coach at Sir Ben Ainslie's INEOS Britannia team.Throughout this two part podcast Williams and Robertson touch on a wide range of subjects around the complexities of Williams' journey from a nine year old school chess champion to his position as one of the most respected match racing champions in the sport of sailing.Support the show

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• Series 5 - Ep3 - Ian Williams - Part 1

  Send us a textThis month, Double Olympic gold medallist and podcast host Shirley Robertson is joined by eight-time World Match Racing Champion Ian Williams, as the duo get together to discuss Williams' career at the sharp end of the most  combative discipline in the sport of competitive sailing.  This is Part 1 of the two part edition.Williams discusses his early route to the top of the World Match Racing Tour rankings, a climb that involved turning his back on a full job as a lawyer, to make the most of his very obvious talent in the tough one-on-one world of match racing. It is however clear that the analytical and exacting approach required from a legal professional did not escape him, having made the switch to full time match racing...:"One day I thought 'hang on, we're pretty good at this, we're pretty fast, we can read the shifts well, we've got the start under control, how's is he going to beat us', and suddenly that was like a light bulb going off, and suddenly we were able to beat him and from that day on I haven't focused on other boats, I've always gone with the approach that if we just go with our plays we should be good."For any sailor interested in the complexities of the match racing world, this is a fascinating listen.  Williams has won the tour an unprecedented eight times, and has a unique approach to taking on the world's best and winning."I think the most useful is a frame work for what is a winning start, and how do you get there.  The most useful thing is being able to analyse after the start how you won or lost and why, and that often gets lost if you don't have that framework.  Sometimes you win by luck, by default, by a mistake by the other boat and if you haven't understood why you've won, then you're not learning."But from a discipline that was once  a well trodden path to America's Cup involvement Williams also discusses how the Cup's move to multi hulls and then foiling left the multiple Match Racing World Tour winner without an America's Cup pathway...:"The America's Cup was the dream that made me quit the law and go sailing, that was in 2005, in 2007 the last displacement monohull Cup was the same year that I made number one in the match racing world rankings and then the game moved away from me and if I look at it critically I didn't have the flexibility to adapt quickly enough to where the game went....by the time I figured out catamaran sailing the boats were foiling."His disappointment has been the British AC37 team's gain, as Williams discusses his role in Barcelona as Pre-Start coach at Sir Ben Ainslie's INEOS Britannia team.Throughout this two part podcast Williams and Robertson touch on a wide range of subjects around the complexities of Williams' journey from a nine year old school chess champion to his position as one of the most respected match racing champions in the sport of sailing.Support the show

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• Series 5 - Ep2 - Ed Baird Part 2

  Send us a textThis is Part two of Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson's chat with US sailing legend Ed Baird. A World Sailor of the Year award winner, Baird also holds a coveted spot in the America's Cup Hall of Fame, he's a multiple Match Racing World Champion and is a regular across multiple Grand Prix Sailing leagues, from the 52 Super Series to the Maxi circuit.Robertson and Baird regularly sailed against each other back in days of the Extreme Sailing Series, but their chat was a little less competitive as Baird dropped by while in Cowes training for this summer's Admirals Cup.  In this Part 2 the pair begin their discussion talking about Baird's 1999/2000 Challenge for the America's Cup in Auckland New Zealand, a Challenge representing the Newe York Yacht Squadron that was going well, but did not end as planned..,:"You could see the waves coming and we hopped up out of the water and smashed down on the next wave and the boat broke in half!"Baird continued his involvement in the Cup and ultimately ended up in Valencia with Swiss Defender Alinghi, initially, again, under helm, Russell Coutts, but soon that was all to change..."The team...were missing Russell and they expected him to come back, and they spent a year this way, expecting that he'll come back with us...but he didn't....so I went to talk to Brad and the team and they asked me to come and work with them."  Baird ended up steering the boat, and went on to helm a Cup victory as Alinghi successfully defended in Valencia.Throughout this two part podcast Baird and Robertson touch on a wide range of topics, from Olympic Sailing to nationality rules, and a whole host in between, as they wind their way down the fascinating road that is Ed Baird's long and distinguished career as a pro sailor.This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact [email protected] in this release courtesy of Support the show

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• Series 5 - Ep1 - Ed Baird Part 1

  Send us a textShirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast is back for another season of interviews with leading lights from the world of sailing, and the new season kicks off with US sailing legend Ed Baird. A World Sailor of the Year award winner, Baird also holds a coveted spot in the America's Cup Hall of Fame, he's a multiple Match Racing World Champion and is a regular across multiple Grand Prix Sailing leagues, from the 52 Super Series to the Maxi circuit.Robertson and Baird regularly sailed against each other back in days of the Extreme Sailing Series, but their chat was a little less competitive as Baird dropped by while in Cowes training for this summer's Admirals Cup.  The pair begin their two part chat with a discussion on Baird's early career, and how at just twenty two, he won the ultra competitive Laser Worlds in Kingston, Ontario, a regatta boasting the largest World Championship fleet the class has ever had...:"When you look back at the scoresheet from that race and you see the world class pros that we know today finishing seventy third or fifty seventh, you just think 'wow I didn't even know that guy then and look what he's done in the sport' so it really makes me feel lucky to have had the chance to do that."From a hard won Laser World Championships win, Baird and Robertson discuss his fight to make a name for himself on the star studded Match Racing scene, but also touch on his multiple and ultimately unsuccessful campaigns to sail for Team USA at the Olympic Games.  There's also some real nuggets of information from the three time Match Racing World Champion on his approach to the sport before the duo discuss Baird's entry into the world of the America's Cup...:"I was walking down (Cowes) high street and walked around the corner and literally bumped into Russell Coutts and he said 'How's it going with the Australians' and I said 'Oh, well, it's not' and he said 'You should come work for us'....so next thing you know I'm working for Team New Zealand" and within weeks Baird was in San Diego coaching the ultimate winners of the 1995 America's Cup.Episode One of this Two Part edition sees the duo discuss Baird's coaching role with the successful New Zealand Team, lead by Coutts, as they won trhe America's Cup for the first time, beating Dennis Connor in San Diego.In the next Episode the pair then touch on a wide range of topics, from Olympic Sailing to nationality rules, and a whole host in between, as they wind their way down the fascinating road that is Ed Baird's long and distinguished career as a pro sailor.This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact [email protected] the show

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• Series 4 - Ep24 - AC37 Review Part 2

  Send us a textThis two part edition of the podcast sees Shirley Robertson in Barcelona just days after the end of the 37th America's Cup.  In Part One she sits down with successful Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand, to talk to port side helm Nathan Outteridge, and Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia's Dylan Fletcher, while in this, Part Two, Robertson talks to Team New Zealand's sailing team coach Ray Davies, and to INEOS Britannia's starboard trimmer Bleddyn Mon.Robertson commentated on every match of the thirty seventh America's Cup so is well placed to quiz her four guests and kicks things  of in Part Two of this edition, with Bleddyn Mon.  Sailing in his third America's Cup with Ben Ainslie's British team, Mon studied as an aeronautical engineer and has a key role in data analysis...:"A lot of the races are won and lost by a few metres here and there and that distance you can really claw back in some manoeuvres and small gains in performance so a big part for us was in manoeuvres, we spent a lot of time looking at tacks. Every single day!"Robertson's final chat is with America's Cup regular Ray Davies.  Sailing coach at Emirates Team New Zealand, Ray has been a permanent fixture in the Team since 2003, Barcelona marking his seventh Cup campaign after a career chasing the illusive trophy.  He's done so with some success, boasting multiple wins for Team New Zealand both on and off the boat, and has relished his time coaching a sailing team rich in high end sailing expertise...:"They developed a boat that at the end of the day was relatively easy to sail, because they put the hours and hours into the systems and the way they could change the modes on the boat relatively easily, so when they were actually racing....the steering of the boat became the easy part of it."Throughout this podcast all of Robertson's discussions serve to illustrate the dedication and intensity of racing the AC75s at such a high level.  Attention to detail, processes and systems are all discussed to a fascinating degree as each team member reflects on their time racing the Cup Match in Barcelona.This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact [email protected] the show

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