James Spithill Visits Kohi
Jimmy poses with Nick
On Sunday 1 December KYC was paid a surprise visit by the famous skipper of Oracle Team USA, Jimmy Spithill. Jimmy attended the KYC pre-race briefing and gave a short speech then opened the floor to questions. Jimmy was happy to answer all questions asked.
A general theme was to not give up, not just when you’re 8-1 down in the AC, but in any regatta. Don’t dwell on a poor result, put it behind you and get on with doing better in the next race.
A surprise question to Jimmy ‘have you had an epic-fail?’ had him thinking. After a bit of thought Jimmy supposed writing off a $15m boat would count as an ‘epic-fail’ (Oracle’s capsize). Somehow you got the feeling failure is not something that Jimmy tolerates!
Jimmy likes the team aspect of sailing and really loved the thrill of match racing. Getting the most out of a team was part of the challenge.
Even if you’re not winning regattas now don’t give up. There are a lot of formats in sailing, you just may not have found the one you’re best at yet.
It was great that Jimmy posed for a lot of photos and signed all sorts of items!
There was a couple of camera crews as well. The TVNZ Breakfast Show clip is here. Note the KYC tee shirt.
Jimmy felt that any one of the KYC skippers was a potential Americas Cup skipper if they wanted it hard enough, so there’s a challenge!