Series 1 - Ep8 - Kyle Langford
12/02/19 • 65 min
Double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson catches up with Australian sailing star Kyle Langford for an hour of revealing chat that covers much of his of his stellar career.
Langford rocketed into the spot light when just three days before the 2013 America's Cup he was announced as the Defender's Wing Trimmer on BMW Oracle's giant foiling AC72. It was a daunting prospect, controlling the power as the team learnt to race the largely untested beast throughout a regatta famous for the unlikely comeback from a seven point deficit against a fired up Emirates Team New Zealand. Langford's honest and open chat with Robertson here reveals the backstory behind that decision, a tribunal that saw the Defender docked points before the Cup, the build up to that dramatic turn around and the faith that skipper Jimmy Spithill had in the young Aussie.
As Oracle Team USA then went on to Defend the Cup in Bermuda Langford kept his seat on the downsized AC50 that would see them again face the Kiwis in the match up in 2017. Here he reveals how the team prepared for Bermuda but were out thought by the innovative Kiwi team, their grip on the Cup slipping away to the greater pace and adaptability of a New Zealand outfit hungry for sporting redemption.
Having been on the losing side in the Cup, Langford immediately took on a new and different challenge, turning to the Volvo Ocean Race to try and forget the disappointment of Bermuda. But it wasn't long before he realised that one of his team mates around the world would be the skipper of that winning Kiwi team. It's an interesting chat as Langford discusses the politics onboard, racing in the Southern Ocean and his tenacity in getting to grips with offshore sailing.
At just thirty years old, Langford is one of a new generation of stars in the competitive sailing arena, he's crammed an awful lot of high end sailing into a to date short sailing career, and is a revealing guest as he discusses the last decade and his stellar rise into the ranks of the sport's elite.
Double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson catches up with Australian sailing star Kyle Langford for an hour of revealing chat that covers much of his of his stellar career.
Langford rocketed into the spot light when just three days before the 2013 America's Cup he was announced as the Defender's Wing Trimmer on BMW Oracle's giant foiling AC72. It was a daunting prospect, controlling the power as the team learnt to race the largely untested beast throughout a regatta famous for the unlikely comeback from a seven point deficit against a fired up Emirates Team New Zealand. Langford's honest and open chat with Robertson here reveals the backstory behind that decision, a tribunal that saw the Defender docked points before the Cup, the build up to that dramatic turn around and the faith that skipper Jimmy Spithill had in the young Aussie.
As Oracle Team USA then went on to Defend the Cup in Bermuda Langford kept his seat on the downsized AC50 that would see them again face the Kiwis in the match up in 2017. Here he reveals how the team prepared for Bermuda but were out thought by the innovative Kiwi team, their grip on the Cup slipping away to the greater pace and adaptability of a New Zealand outfit hungry for sporting redemption.
Having been on the losing side in the Cup, Langford immediately took on a new and different challenge, turning to the Volvo Ocean Race to try and forget the disappointment of Bermuda. But it wasn't long before he realised that one of his team mates around the world would be the skipper of that winning Kiwi team. It's an interesting chat as Langford discusses the politics onboard, racing in the Southern Ocean and his tenacity in getting to grips with offshore sailing.
At just thirty years old, Langford is one of a new generation of stars in the competitive sailing arena, he's crammed an awful lot of high end sailing into a to date short sailing career, and is a revealing guest as he discusses the last decade and his stellar rise into the ranks of the sport's elite.
Previous Episode
Series 1 - Ep7 - Sam Davies
Shirley Robertson talks all things offshore with celebrated British offshore adventurer Sam Davies.
With a submarine commander as one grandfather and a boat builder as the other, it should be no surprise that Cambridge engineering graduate Sam Davies pursued a career that now sees her racing around the planet. But as she reveals in this illuminating chat, offshore sailing’s loss was very nearly synchronised swimming’s gain, after an early passion for life in the pool almost saw her follow a very different career path.
An early career spent racing with British sailing trail blazer Tracy Edwards soon saw Sam craving a life out at sea, and It was in those early days, chasing the illusive around the world record, the Jules Verne Trophy that Sam glimpsed the potential, inspired by the pro-active spirit and determination of Edwards, as she realised that if she really dug in, anything could be possible.
As her career took off, an early deviation towards the Olympic arena saw her team up with the podcast's very own Shirley Robertson back when she was campaigning for Athens 2004 in the technical keel boat, the Yngling. Robertson was drawn to the can-do professionalism of the young bowman, but it was a collaboration that wouldn’t go the distance. The pair here laugh over the early campaign days as Sam began to realise that the monotony of Olympic campaigning really wasn’t for her - that her sailing life lay further out to sea.
And so began her march to the forefront of Britain's considerable offshore sailing elite. Her career took the inevitable turn towards the solo marathon the Vendee Globe, and in 2008 she crossed the start line in one of the most recognisable boats the race has ever seen. It was a performance that would rocket her to household name status in France, as she resolutely sailed “Roxy” nonstop around the planet in just over ninety five days, one of just eleven finishers from a field of thirty. It was a remarkable achievement. Davies does reveal though the cost of her disappointment in the following Vendee, after a hard fought campaign to get to the start line lasted just five days out on the race course. But very quickly, she was back at the helm, the Vendee forgotten, as she took on a very different role skippering the all female ’Team SCA’ in the Volvo Ocean Race.
Sam is currently looking forward to her third Vendee Globe campaign, this time as skipper of the inspirational “Initiative Coeur” - a campaign actively saving the lives of disadvantaged children around the world - it’s an innovative approach to raising money, that Sam passionately explains, whereby the effect of her sponsors' donations, achieved through Sam’s interaction with her fan base, reveals very tangible results.
Next Episode
Series 1 - Ep9a - Ken Read Part 1
Throughout her broadcasting career one of Shirley Robertson's most interviewed of subjects must be US sailing's Ken Read. Currently in the top executive role at corporate sailing giant North Sails, his sailing history includes helming two America’s Cup campaigns, two Volvo Ocean Race campaigns, two US Sailor of the Year Awards and a trophy cabinet stacked with National and World Championship wins.
Read a key figure in the sport, and has been on the other side of Robertson’s interview microphone on countless occasions and the result here is a candid and honest exchange, as the pair chat through Read’s early career and move into the corporate world at North Sails, through his early America’s Cup exploits and onto his Volvo Ocean Race campaigns as skipper of Puma, before discussing the future of the sport and Read’s involvement in the record breaking 100ft maxi ‘Comanche
As a young America's Cup skipper he was under the tutelage of America's Cup Hall of Famer Dennis Connor, and his early Cup recollections are peppered with accounts of his time spent with the US sailing legend. Read is candidly honest about his time sailing for Connor, and the revealing discussion about the 2000 and 2003 Cup Campaigns are as funny as they are insightful.
As a special edition this month's podcast will be published in 2 Parts, so be sure to catch up with Part 2 when chat turns towards Read's time at the helm of the Volvo Ocean Race entry 'Puma' and his involvement in the revolutionary 100ft Maxi 'Comanche'.
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