25 July 2004

SS: You are currently doing some sailing with the Shosholoza sailing team, how are you able to help the guys out?

MJ: I am currently doing a little sailing with the team, working with the bow, pit and middle of the boat teams to help them to streamline manoeuvres.

SS: What do you see the strong and weak points of this campaign as being?

MJ: To date, the only weak point I see is the time the team has spent on the water, time together as a team and lack of international experience. All these points have been recognised and everything possible is being done to rectify this. The team itself is a group of talented and determined young individuals who, given the time and opportunity, will mould itself into a formidable opponent on the Americas Cup racecourse.

SS: Is the obvious lack of big boat and in particular AC experience on this boat as big a problem as some seem to think it is or do you think that there is enough time for it to be overcome?

MJ: In the short period of time I have been working with Shosholoza, the team has come a long way in terms of dealing with the sheer size and power involved with sailing an A.C. boat. This is no mean feat as these boats are extremely difficult to sail. There is however no way to simulate sailing in the close proximity of another well drilled crew, and the sooner this team gets onto the race course, the steeper the learning curve will be.

SS: Do you have any patriotic aspirations to be more involved in this campaign in the long run?

MJ: At this stage my schedule is pretty much full till July 2006 so that effectively rules me out unless the management decide they want to keep a slot open for me till then, which I seriously doubt as that is impractical for the development of the team. That still does not mean that I would not love to line up on the start line wearing my country's colours.

SS: As a professional sailor what is the ratio of boat work and maintenance to actually sailing and racing?

MJ: There is an old saying that for every 1 hour of sailing, you have to put in 10 hours of work. That's not far wrong.

SS: To what extent does physical fitness determine your ability to function on a modern maxi yacht? Is your fitness program as intense as that of, say, a professional rugby player?

MJ: The modern maxi yachts are extreme. I am involved with the new Z 86's as bowman, and I have to say these are the most physical boats I have ever sailed. Everybody has a different training schedule developed over the years to suit each individual, but there is no better training than actually being on the boat. I would not say I am as fanatical on fitness as an international rugby player. A rugby player's career will span around 10 years if he is lucky. If a pro sailor is smart with his training, he can keep at it until he is 50 or so.

SS: Is it just another job or do you still get a kick out of going yacht racing? MJ: I still get butterflies in my stomach on race days, weather I'm going out to the start of a Southern Ocean Volvo leg, or to race 1 of Lipton Cup. It's awesome!

SS: A hot topic in local sailing circles at the moment is the pressure our Optimist sailors get put under to qualify for and perform at world championship events. You operate at pretty much the leading edge of our sport. How important really is a background of junior racing to a successful career as a professional racing yachtsman?

MJ: A dinghy racing background is the best foundation one can lay for a career in the sport. I have been watching the performance of the South African junior sailors for some time and believe that there are great things being done to nurture these kids. There is a fine line between pushing a child to perform at his or her personal best, and ruining the experience for them in which case they often give up sailing. I am a firm believer that we all sail for fun. If we enjoy winning, we will do everything we can to win more races. If pressure to perform is too great, where's the fun in that?

SS: You are, I am told, involved in a campaign for the next Volvo Race. Do you anticipate that the new class to be used for this race, the Volvo 70, will result in a closer or more spread fleet than we saw in the last race where the boats were, for the most part, pretty close most of the way around the course?

MJ: I would think that the boats will be more spread out than the 2003/4 race. The reason for this is that the last generation of V.O 60's were a result of at least 4 generations of full scale testing. Thus they were much more refined and optimised within the rule. Another reason is that these new boats are going to be quite a bit faster, and it wont take long for boats on slightly different courses to end up very far apart. Finally, with the new rule, design wise we are at the beginning of a very steep learning curve, and different concepts could end up to be very different speed on the racecourse.

SS: With the crew number significantly reduced and the boat significantly bigger how much tougher physically do you think this race is going to be than the last one?

MJ: Of course that's difficult to accurately predict, but my feeling is that crews are going to have to take a step up physically and most importantly mentally from the last one.

SS: The Southern Ocean is, by all accounts, a pretty miserable place to go. Why do you keep on going back?

MJ: Picture the fastest downwind sailing you have ever done. Lots of breeze, big waves. Awesome!! Problem is that you always run out of runway or you're too far from the harbour and have to turn around to go back. Now think about doing that for 2 weeks non-stop until you're sick of it and want to go slow for a while. That's why I go back.

SS: Sounds great, where do I sign up??

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us.