Big Boat Racing Academy

Attn:

• Sailing media
• Yacht Clubs
• Yachting Coaches in Australia

Big Boat Racing Team initiates the Big Boat Racing Academy.

Is it not amazing, that Australia, having changed the course of yachting with winning the Americas Cup cannot muster energy and resources to participate in the premier yachting events in the world?

 New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Spain, France, UK, Switzerland, the USA and now even Russia, China, Greece and South Africa have teams in the Americas Cup and Volvo Ocean races, but not Australia.

We have more Australians racing and winning in these events than nearly any other country, but no Australian Entry.  Australians are winning for everyone else than Australia, Just imagine how that must feel, to be a world class sportsman or woman and not being able to represent your country.

‘Having now spent near 10 years living in and loving Australia, I have no doubt that Australia has some of the best yachting talent in the world’, says Ludde Ingvall, skipper of the Nicorette max yachts and now skipper of the YuuZoo Supermaxi and CEO of the Big Boat Racing Team.

Yachting Australia clearly runs a very successful programme to bring our youth to the forefront of yachting, as attested by Olympic and other dinghy results, but we have no structure at present by which our talented youth gets a fair go at Big Boat Racing. 

Firstly we need to offer such Australian Talent the opportunity to experience Big Boats, Big Teams and the ability to experience ‘days at sea’.  

I assume 50% of them will realise that the above is not for them, while 25% will, in my experience not only show the skill, mindset, commitment, team spirit, passion and enthusiasm to potentially be ‘race winners’ on any large racing vessel, being that anything from TP 52’s to Super maxi’s.

If we do not offer the top young talent we have this opportunity we will lose them from the sport or we will lose their possible contribution to Australian Yachting.

At the same time Australia has the capacity to build the most complex, advanced, creative, groundbreaking, high tech vessel which is second to none.

We also have an export dependent economy which even at these difficult global economic times is the envy of the western world.

Surely, if all this can be brought together, Australia should once again be able to become a dominating force in the world of Big Boat Racing.

‘I just don’t get it’, says Ludde Ingvall.

So, here is my challenge to Australian Businesses and hopefully my contribution to the advancement of Australian Big Boat Yachting.

We will as of today start the Big Boat Racing Academy, where my senior team members and I wish to pass on any knowledge we have to the next generation.

 The Big Boat Racing Academy will rely on sponsorship for its income and will work on developing the following skills, with those chosen to participate:

• Seamanship
• Understanding the operation of a Super Maxi
  • From a sailing and manoeuvring point of view.
  • From a technical point of view
  • How to prepare a large vessel for a race
  • How to avoid break downs
  • How to repair the vessel at sea to stay in a competition
  • The essence of working in a large team

We do not intend to have any specific facility, but invite some key Australian yacht clubs and state as well as national coaches to work with us to offer their talented youth a fair go at sailing and understanding the key facets of Big Boat Racing.

We invite young (18-25) top level yachts-men and -women with a proven track record in competitive dinghy and small boat classes to send their CV with references for our consideration.

Please send correspondence to 

ludde@bigboatracing.com.

I very much look forward to sailing with the upcoming talent of Australian yachting.

Regards,

Ludde Ingvall