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Spithill to helm OneWorld
AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- OneWorld will be skippered by 23-year-old James Spithill, sailing director Peter Gilmour has decided days ahead of round robin one of the Louis Vuitton Cup. Spithill became the youngest skipper of an America's Cup challenger when he helmed Young Australia in the 1999 Louis Vuitton Cup. Gilmour, who will sail on the boat as a back-up, has sailed in four previous America's Cup campaigns and was skipper of the Nippon Challenge in the 1999 Louis Vuitton Cup. "I think to a large extent, the sailing crew selects the sailing crew, and that's what's happened with James over the past few months," Gilmour said in Auckland. "He's certainly a much better sailor than I was at his age, and I think everyone is confident with him helming the boat." Gilmour said he would call tactics from the back of the boat, and would skipper later during the series.
"I'm certainly going to steer my share of the races as this goes on, but experience tells me it's just going to get harder and harder to get James in as the series develops. "This is a way of putting his feet to the fire a bit and letting him find his way. We very much look at this as a marathon, not a sprint, and it's important that we have everybody ready to sail all of the time. This is the best way to achieve that with James." OneWorld has been sailing its two new boats since March, and says it has spent more time than any of the other challengers sailing on the Hauraki Gulf, where the series is held from October 1, over the past two years. The design is led by Laurie Davidson, Phil Kaiko, and Bruce Nelson, a trio who between them can claim the line drawings for the last five winners of the America's Cup, dating back to Nelson's work on Stars & Stripes in 1987. OneWorld has to be rated among the favourites going in to the Louis Vuitton Cup. Despite carrying a one-point penalty from an Arbitration Panel ruling, Gilmour says the team is using that as a motivating force heading into the first race. "The whole legal issue has been a distraction, but since February we've really tried to isolate the sailing team from it," Gilmour said. "We've just been focusing on the sailing and what we have to do out on the water."
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