The Quantum team idea started about this time last year, I was still working for ETNZ and we were hatching a plan to keep the team together to train for the next America’s Cup, When we went our separate ways I said to Ed Reynolds (Project Manager of Quantum) “Is this a Team New Zealand or a ‘Terry and Ed’ thing?!”

Ed wanted to continue based purely on our relationship and I decided to take it on. It was a great opportunity and we formulated the plan for the season, started mapping out the days and started speaking to the sailors on the boat.

It was important to have a good balance of talent and skill but also personality. I wanted to make sure that whether we won the circuit or got a tenth that we were all going to be good friends at the end of it.
There are many components to a programme like this and the people side of things is obviously massively important. I take my hat off to all the guys on the boat because certainly at times I am not the easiest person to deal with! All year long my hope was that nobody would out-work us, and whatever we did we would always put our best foot forward. That way if somebody beats you, you can’t feel bad about it. As professionals if we are not doing our best we are not doing our job.

There is a long history between most of us on board. But even with newer guys like Jeremy Lomas the bowman, who I sailed with in Team New Zealand for four years, it actually feels like I’ve known him for 20 years - he is that good a friend.

But probably the most interesting relationship on the boat is with Morgan. We grew up sailing against each other since we were 17, and you couldn’t find two more different people! I have a huge respect for his ability and having sailed against him and been beaten by him in my senior college year on a tie-breaker (I can’t forget the last race being horribly slow downwind and him sailing straight through me to leeward!) When something like that happens you remember it!
Morgan has been a really good balance for me; I need someone who sees things differently, because if we are both seeing the same thing then we are not going to get the best out of each other. I think that has been a very good relationship alongside Ian (Moore, Navigator) and Mark (Mendelblatt, Strategist) in the afterguard.

The relationship with Quantum is also super important – Ed has been a very close friend of mine since I was about twenty, and I have felt a massive responsibility to do a good job with them, to promote their product and make sure that they get all they want out of it. Help them develop their sails and give inside information as professional sailors to make their product better. I think we have achieved that without question.

By the time we got to Cagliari our sails had taken a massive step forward.  In my mind it was the first regatta where we started to show the true potential of the boat.
Winning in Cagliari was without a doubt the sweetest moment this year, and I already had a good feeling on arrival. We had a brand new main sail we were keen to use and I had put it in my bike box to avoid it getting damaged. But it was too heavy and they wouldn’t take it. So I had to wrap it in plastic and chuck it on the carousel in Washington DC as it was. I called the designer and said we needed a plan B as I wasn’t even sure it was going to even make it to Sardinia! When I got off the plane and saw that the first thing that came out in baggage reclaim was the main sail I thought ‘this is going to be a good regatta!’

It was the start of a culmination of about eight months of work. We are now starting to see the fruits of our labour on the race course and it is that point in the season that I would compare it to winning the Louis Vuitton Cup in Valencia with ETNZ, the feeling was actually one sigh of relief!

For three months we have been carrying around that leadership thing on our backs and it might as well have been a target! It is a great statement to have but people aren’t afraid to take their shots at you either, although I think it is actually a compliment when someone tacks on you because it means you are probably doing something right!

Cartagena was a very tricky venue, and if I look back at how the season has unfolded, had I known that it was going to be as hard as it was I would have been way more concerned about the event. Looking at Bribon and Matador’s performance, they won that regatta downwind. And that is a point we have highlighted since. We have been working really hard on our downwind sails because we basically lost the Trophy Region of Murcia downwind.

We have taken that approach at each event; questioning our weak spots, and ensuring we improve on them. We have had the same mind-set all season –the sails, the boat, me… I look at Marseille and think ‘jeez! I couldn’t start a lawn mower there!’
I knew I had to do a much better job, so when we showed up in Cagliari we worked on sails, our time and distance, our starting, things that were going to be beneficial. And I think it paid off in both the following venues.

The guys that have the hardest job are the shore crew. They do 80% of the work with about 5% of the glory! It is a really tough position but we are quite fortunate in that we have a lot of experience on the team, and they understand that. It certainly hasn’t been easy at times when the sailors show up with certain expectations and things aren’t always that way. You have to manage those relationships carefully because at the end of the day you are only as successful as the boat is prepared.
They have an absolutely full-time job. The shore team started work on April 2nd and nobody had a vacation until the Regatta Breitling. It was non-stop absolutely every single day - that is a real whipping.

We really want to do well in the Trophy of Portugal. We want to end on a high note. It is unbelievable to have won the circuit but if we get a bad result in Portimao it won’t feel the same. It is really important to me to continue to sail in the way we know best and improve on the first few days here.
Maybe some times we take it too seriously but if we don’t keep moving forward to learn from our mistakes, we are not going to get better and I’m not going to allow that!

I was born in Faro, 50 kilometres from Portimao, and have always sailed in this area although I have been living in Barcelona for last four years.
I am absolutely thrilled to be back sailing in the Algarve - it is a huge privilege. I normally come to Portugal a couple of times a year but it is always to see my family and friends. Sailing here with such a fantastic climate and in such a stunning environment is fabulous.

I learnt to sail in the beautiful bay around Faro, until I was about 20 when I went to live in Cascais to prepare for the Olympic Games ‘92 in Barcelona. I began to sail professionally after the games with a project organised by the Portuguese Sailing Federation and went to Lisbon to train for the Olympics in Atlanta (where he won a bronze medal in 470).

The Audi MedCup circuit is a perfect showcase for the unique natural conditions Portugal has for sailing; a stunning coast line and very good wind. The Portuguese are also very skilled in event organisation and the Trophy of Portugal is fantastic to encourage more investment in sailing; more Portuguese sailors and boats in competition.

It is great for me to be sailing with a Portuguese team. For the last four years I have always sailed in Spain and Italy, and it is often amusing on board as I start to mix other languages with my native tongue!

The Audi MedCup circuit really is referential in sailing, the level of competition is magnificent, the best sailors are here and any slight tactical or boat handling error is paid for dearly.

On Bigamist we go out to each race to do the best possible, we have had a couple of good results this week so far, and that is hugely encouraging with a three year-old boat that is not as competitive as the rest of the fleet. I think the owner Pedro Mendonça is happy and would like to find a sponsor to continue competing on the circuit.

As well as the Melges 24, 32 and Mumm 30 classes in Italy, I also sail with the Platu 25, J80 and IMS classes in Spain. I am also working with North Sails in the commercial department and development of one design sails - coordinating it all is not an easy task, I don’t have much of a personal life!

I obviously love the job, but us humans are strange animals! When you don’t sail much you are always thinking about being on the water, and when you sail too much you want more time to yourself; we are never 100% happy! Sometimes I do think about sailing less, but I am pretty happy with my life!

In nearly all my sailing campaigns I have the role of tactician. I have always been the helmsman or the tactician in the past, and I love both because racing on smaller boats I am used to doing both jobs at once!

Both roles have a great deal of responsibility – the helmsman feels the boat like no other crew member, and the tactician undertakes some big decision-making responsibilities. The tactician’s job is never perfect and often quite unrewarding, but it is a fun mix. When things work out on the boat it really is magnificent, and when they don’t you have to analyse what went wrong and make sure you make adjustments for the next race.

There obviously isn’t any university course you can study to be a tactician. You have to sail in a lot of regattas and make a lot of mistakes, analyse and try and correct them. You can study a little meteorology but the real school is just plain old practice and to sail as much as possible.

I did the first regatta this year in Alicante with CAM, and was delighted to now be offered to do the Trophy of Portugal with Tau Cerámica-Andalucía. I was sailing with the team for a few years, have always had a good relationship with them, and it is fantastic to race with the team again.

Manuel (Luis’ brother and strategist on the boat) and I have sailed a lot together, but not so often on the same boat! We are normally competing against each other! We started sailing together four of the six brothers in our family, and each of us has our own history in the world of sailing.

Sailing with my brother is always a pleasure; he has an amazing skill for reading the wind, and sees things on the course very well. He also likes to work hard on the boat and focuses a great deal on the boat handling. I think he feels more confident knowing there is someone else with him who is taking charge of what is happening on the race course whilst he concentrates on the crew work.
Manuel is more multi-talented, he concentrates more on the individual work of each crew member during the manoeuvres. I am usually more focussed on the tactics and driving the boat, I don’t really think too much about how the boat is being handled, but when Manuel is on tactics, I think he is as good, if not better, than me.

TAU Cerámica-Andalucía is a team that Javier Banderas brought together from a group of friends who have known each other for a long time; a fantastic basis for the team, to form a great crew capable of competing at a top level. It is something that I consider of great value. Perhaps other teams have brought in professionals from different places, but the relationship between them takes a while to establish itself. The companionship and good atmosphere on board the boat makes everything happen more smoothly and racing is so much more enjoyable.

The week has started with some pretty good results and we will continue fighting. The level of the class is extremely high and you really have to go out and battle each individual race without thinking of what happened the day before or what the scores are. You have to start from zero with whatever chances you get up against such a competitive fleet.

I hope we have a good week. I’ve got quite a good feeling about it because I can see there is a really good atmosphere, the boat is responding well and when we make the right decisions we can be up front.

Competing in the Olympics is totally different from this kind of racing. In the Audi MedCup there is a whole number of crew members to coordinate and bring together, the racing also depends a great deal on the material, the boat and its measurement, and the budget each team is working with.
There are actually different stages in your life for each thing. The Olympics is a lot more personal; there is a certain time when you are more focussed on developing yourself as a sailor, and in a certain way investigating and discovering as much as possible about the boat and sail set up.

The Audi MedCup is more about the relationship formed with the rest of the crew, and earning the respect of your team members. You have to learn to let each person do their individual thing in each manoeuvre – the bowman, the skipper and the tacticians all have their own participation – it is very different to Olympic sailing.

Making the change from being ‘self-sufficient’ on board to trusting fully in all the others in a bigger team is difficult. I admit that when I changed to bigger boats I wanted to do everything – the driving and the tactics, and I was looking at everything that was happening! I had to learn to delegate more, and let everyone get on with their separate jobs. It was a lesson learnt especially during the time I sailed in the America’s Cup. Each guy on the boat had a very specific role and knew exactly what to do and how to do it, and a lot better than I did!

I am quite comfortable as tactician or helmsman of a boat, and even the role of strategist - the position I had during the Cup, as it’s a great spot to be in on the boat.
However offshore racing does not attract me in the slightest! 30 days inside a boat is not the most attractive thought. I prefer shorter, more tactical races with their start, good fight and round the buoys. Maybe I just don’t want to put up with the cold and icebergs! I think it’s my sub-conscious that is stopping me, the real reason is that I’m from a warm climate of the Canary Islands, and I just don’t want to be cold and wet and not get any sleep!

Lagos has been organising ‘Premium Events’ for over 35 years; looking for high-value communication opportunities at a top level, an important impact in media for sponsors.
Arturo Delgado, former President of the TP52 class, has been a friend of ours for many years and had been suggesting we look at doing more events in sailing. He envisaged sailing as a sport with great value so we began to study the possibilities. With Arturo everything just happened naturally as it does with good friends; in the past he lived in Portugal for many years, and speaks fluent Portuguese, so it was very easy to come to an agreement with him to organize a TP52 event in Portugal.

The first year of the circuit in 2007 for us was a little risky. We didn’t know very well how the market was going to respond, but we had the full backing of the Portimao and Portuguese Tourism Boards. The local region has a very dynamic communications department who have been working with a very interesting programme of events, in not just sport but also a cultural focus, and offered us the possibility to create an area of communication for both Portimao and the Algarve (something other than golf and beaches!) and with great potential. In fact it hasn’t stopped growing.

We have had a fantastic welcome here and people are very active. We have formed a good partnership with the tourism board as they really understand that sailing can project a very strong message to the outside and on an international level. The Audi MedCup circuit 2008 has returned with added value and experience to its name. We have brought it together again and this year have improved on the last

We were looking to identify more closely with the main sponsor and its colours – in this case Audi, and that is present all over the village area with the major presence of red, white and metallic grey. It is a beautiful, clean and open space which I think people are happy and comfortable in, and I think we will also be accompanied by some good sailing conditions here in September.

The Audi MedCup Circuit is a first class event. Lagos is responsible for events such as the Open Tennis Championship in Estoril and the Dakar rally (the most famous rally in the world) and has the possibility to now make the Audi MedCup the most referential sailing event in Portugal. The circuit is at the forefront of international sailing events, exactly what we were looking for – Lagos doesn’t do anything small-scale!

There is always a process of evolution in structure and culture for the organisation of an event, as it is important to understand communication opportunities, and to know how to project the sponsor’s values. That is my role here.

I think there is a very bright future sailing as one of the greater marketing supports for worldwide quality brands to be developed and moulded, and with the additional advantage of its environmental values. It is a clean, impact-free sport that is perfect in today’s marketing language.

I also think it can motivate people to work as a team, as well as accepting their individual responsibilities, and that is absolutely essential for a company to be successful in any project.

A sailing team is actually like a very small company. The people on board have to know how to work well together, and work with what is available:- in this case the wind, current and sea conditions that are prevailing each time.

It is also an incredible educational opportunity. I actually think there is scope for teaching managerial skills that could be used by business schools. I’m sure there could be part of an MBE course taught on the water!

My connection to the world of sailing is family-related; my mother took me for my first sail when I was about five. I started with Optimist, continued with smaller dinghies in my ‘teens before moving onto bigger boats, with Admirals Cup teams in Germany during the 80's. There was then a time of just windsurfing, before being pulled back later with star and dragoon classes.

About three years ago I decided to try other things and sat together with Rolf Vrolijk because I hadn’t had that much experience of big boat sailing, and it happened to be the time the TP 52s arrived in Europe. I had chosen to stay away from ‘handicap’ sailing, I was tired of the new boat requirements every year, and all the rule changes. The TP52 was more similar to one-design sailing with a box rule, very close and competitive. It really was a good decision to opt for a fantastic, very modern boat.

I have been sailing regattas most of my life; fifteen or twenty years in the dragoon class, travelling the world with professional teams and winning Europeans and nationals, so I suppose I have had a kind of ‘professional sailor’ lifestyle since then.
I also run a real estate business in Germany, but for the last few years I have been taking 8-10 weeks off work a year to be on the water with professional teams - it is much more fun to race with good sailors! And I am fortunate in my job that I have the possibility to take that time and here I am.

Running a campaign like this is like running a small company. We have members from nine or ten different nations. It takes skill to move it forwards and to a point where we can be successful. Right now we have a professional team, and although we struggled a bit at the beginning of the season in the first few regattas, we are now very close to the other guys winning. We have had a few breakdowns with material which meant things were slower (we broke the forestay in Cartagena but were still in a strong position for the podium) It is indeed comparable to running a business; you need to be smart and work hard!

Platoon started in 2006, we built a boat with Rolf (Vrolijk) and were a group of friends sailing together but we soon saw that in a competition like the Audi MedCup Circuit which involves America’s Cup teams it is almost impossible – you can’t run a car on a Formula 1 circuit with friends!

I’m very happy that I came to an agreement with Jochen; I think our plans now are to establish a German platform, in the 80’s the German Admiral’s Cup team was so successful, but in the ‘90s but we didn’t have that so now we are taking the step to compete with a strong German team against the other nations. The Audi MedCup Circuit is a good platform to educate young German sailors from contact with sailors of different nationalities.

It is hard to describe a ‘passion’ for sailing. It is like a virus – once you have been sailing you want to do it forever. It is the opposite of normal modern life in big cities. You need to play the shifts and act calm, observe what is going on around you.
Sailing brings you down to earth and is a really good alternative to modern life. If you have been on the water and liked it, you’ll like it forever.

The most difficult part of my job is to keep motivation high in the team even when we have had a bad day. There are fourteen crew members on the team - a lot of individual characters and from 8 different nations! There are a lot of different cultures among the team; it is not easy to bring them together throughout the season it has been growing together. Everyone has to learn to accept each other and work as a team, creating a good atmosphere that works hard together even on bad days to catch up and get a mood of positive enthusiasm to fight until the end.

Cartagena was the first regatta that we really felt we were in a position to win; and despite our break down, we were still able to have a shot at the podium. Our boat speed and general feeling was really good. Right now we feel we are able to win, so we will see what happens this week in Portimao!