Team Origin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| TEAMORIGIN | |
 TEAMORIGIN |
|
| Yacht Club: | Royal Thames Yacht Club |
|---|---|
| Nation: |  United Kingdom |
| Team Principal: | Sir Keith Mills |
| Skipper: | Ben Ainslie |
| Established: | 2007 |
| Victories: | None |
| Sail Numbers: | GBR-75 |
Team Origin is Great Britain's bid to compete in the 33rd and 34th America's Cups. The syndicate was founded by Sir Keith Mills, the man behind London's successful 2012 Olympic bid, while 2006 ISAF World Sailor of the Year Mike Sanderson has been appointed as Team Director.
They have also announced a partnership with the Royal Thames Yacht Club to be their official challenging yacht club, a requirement of all teams prior to entering the America's Cup.
Britain's involvement in the America's Cup dates back to the very start when the Aurora lost out to the America in the inaugural running back in 1851, however they have never actually won the event.
Contents |
[edit] History
Sir Keith Mills initially announced his intention to create a team to challenge for the Americas' Cup on the 4th of January 2007, and announced the decision to appoint Mike Sanderson as Team Director on March 29th 2007. In May of the same year, Team Origin announced it was becoming a partner of the RYA Onboard scheme, which has over 60 centres across the UK. Mike Sanderson commented at the time that he hoped to "raise awareness and participation of the sport.
Less than a month later, it was announced that Team Origin would be partnering the Royal Thames Yacht Club (of which Sir Keith Mills is a member), supposedly because of its balance between old and new, tradition and technology, and also its central location in Hammersmith, London.
After its acquisition of SUI-75 in May 2007, an almost identical boat to SUI-64, which was used by the Swiss to win the 31st Americas' Cup match, all that was missing was the crew, the majority of which were announced in September 2007 (See below).
In December 2007 the team announced its intention to scale-back activities in anticipation of legal wrangling causing significant delays to the 33rd Cup's schedule, anticipating that 2009's cup would be delayed by at least 2 years.
[edit] Team Members
Management:
| Role | Name | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Team Principal | Sir Keith Mills | GBR |
| Partner and Investor | Charles Dunstone | GBR |
| Team Director | Mike Sanderson |  NZ |
Boat Crew:
| Role | Name | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Helmsman | Ben Ainslie | GBR |
| Tactician | Iain Percy | GBR |
| Strategist/Traveller | Robert Greenhalgh | GBR |
| Navigator | Ian Moore | GBR |
| Strategist and Aft Grinder | Andrew Simpson | GBR |
| Mainsheet Trimmer | Neal McDonald | GBR |
| Trimmer | Robert Naismith | NZ |
| Grinder | Chris Brittle | GBR |
| Grinder | David Carr | GBR |
| Grinder | Ian Weighell | GBR |
| Grinder | Pawel Bielecki |  POL |
| Mastman | Julien Cressant |  FRA |
| Mastman | George Skuodas | GBR |
| Mid Bowman | Kevin Batten | NZ |
| Bowman | Justin Slattery |  IRL |
| Bowman | Matt Cornwell | GBR |
| Boat Captain | Nick Bice |  AUS |
[edit] Boats
In May 2007 TEAMORIGIN announced that they had purchased SUI-75, the training and testing boat used by current America's Cup holders Alinghi. It was rebranded GBR-75 during the 32nd America's Cup in Valencia, and sailed in TEAMORIGIN livery for the first time on Saturday 14th July, 2007, off Port America, Valencia, Spain.
[edit] External links
- Official Website of TEAMORIGIN
- Mike Sanderson Team Director
- The Afterguard Independent America's Cup blog with specific interest in TEAMORIGIN
