HIGH FLYERS
When you push off the dock, your life is in the hands of computers – and the guy piloting the boat out of the water, of course. All the systems on the boat, other than the winches rattling around, rely on computers. You’re very aware that you are now sailing a boat that wholly relies on computer code. But I guess when you’re sitting in an airplane at 40,000 feet, it’s exactly the same.
‘The G forces are huge… you do get thrown around your cockpit a lot’
This is life onboard an AC75, the flying yachts which will be used to challenge for the 2021 America’s Cup. David Carr, or ‘Freddie’ as everyone calls him, is one of Britain’s most experienced America’s Cup sailors and grinder on INEOS Team UK. This is his fifth Cup campaign, having been part of GBR Challenge in the IACC yachts back in 2003. He shifted from big boats to cats for the Extreme Sailing Series, then moved onto the foiling catamarans of the 2013 and 2017 Cup cycles. He talks to Helen Fretter about life as part of the AC75 crew for Ben Ainslie’s British challenge.
A SURREAL MIX
Can anything really prepare you for flying a 75ft monohull? No, not in
