The SailGP-AC36 Connection
While the Stars & Stripes America’s Cup 36 Team is actively recruiting American sailors, the team’s helmsman has signed on with SailGP’s American team: Taylor Canfield, a US Virgin Islander who lives in Miami.
American SailGP Team
Yesterday, the US SailGP Team’s F50 foiling catamaran splashed into the waters of Sydney Harbour in Australia for the first time. The series’ inaugural event is set for Sydney on February 15-16. The team, led by helmsman Rome Kirby, will face off against five other national teams: Australia, China, Great Britain, France and Japan. The team announced yesterday that Taylor Canfield, World Match Racing Tour and Congressional Cup champion, has joined the crew as flight controller/tactician. Canfield has topped the world match-race rankings for three of the past five years.
The American crew is the youngest, but Kirby (29), Canfield (30), Dan Morris (31), Mac Agnese (24), Hans Henken (26) and Riley Gibbs (22) count among them multiple world championship wins and numerous America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race campaigns to their credit. Kirby was aboard the Oracle Team USA boat for the AC34 win on San Francisco Bay in 2013. Agnese, Gibbs and Henken hope to quality for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
For much more about Taylor Canfield, see our feature profile in the current (Volume 500!) edition of Latitude 38 magazine.
Stars & Stripes Team USA
On Friday, the Long Beach Yacht Club-flagged AC36 team Stars & Stripes announced an open application process for athletes and professionals applying for positions on the team’s sailing roster and shore team. “In the last America’s Cup, the athletes were required to sail the most complex sailboats ever designed while sustaining their max heart rate for more than 20 minutes,” said team co-founder Mike Buckley. “We are anticipating that the physicality of our new AC75 race boat will exceed that and are looking to build the most fit, skilled and inclusive team possible.”
Applicants can go to an online Google Doc form here.
Stars & Stripes will begin its sailing team recruitment with two foiling camps in Long Beach on February 19-28, and March 10-22. Each camp will be designed to push each sailor’s fitness and sailing ability to the maximum.
The team is also recruiting shore-based personnel, including engineers, designers and boat builders. The team is already building their first AC75 in Holland, Michigan, at Composite Builders. They are searching for boatbuilding apprentices, students and younger professionals. And the team will need specialists in electronics, software development and hydraulic specialties in the near future.