Alinghi, America's Cup & Louis Vuitton Cup

Will McCarthy (AUS) ~ Grinder

Photo credit: Ivo Rovira / Alinghi

Photo credit: Ivo Rovira / Alinghi

Photo credit: Ivo Rovira / Alinghi

What does it mean to you to be sailing for Alinghi and defending the America’s Cup?

I feel privileged to be a part of this fantastic team. They're a bunch of great guys who happen to be pretty handy at getting the yacht around the race track. We have a lot of fun!

Alinghi clearly still has what it takes to win. In your opinion, what elements of the team set it apart from the rest?

The People and the hard work! Everyone in this team is pushing themselves to achieve our common goal. It's not just the sailors. We have the best shore team, boat builders, sailmakers, riggers, machinists, engineers, designers, etc… which makes our job on the water that much easier. You don't get to see or hear of these guys much but they are putting in the hard yards. We are lucky, we get to go out and have all the fun!

Can you describe the physical and mental demands that racing at this level has on you?

Being a grinder, my job on the boat is one of the more physical ones. We have trained hard both in the gym and on the water over the past couple of years to be prepared for anything the helmsman can dream up and throw at us. Mentally we all know our jobs very well and have raced at a very high level for a long time so we are well prepared on this front as well.

What do you think will be going through your head when you are lying in bed the night before you race? What parts of the race will you be thinking about the night before the Match?

While lying in bed I will be probably running through a few manoeuvres in my head and hoping the kids or neighbours don't keep me awake.

Describe your role on the boat and how it could make or break the outcome of a race and essentially affect whether or not Alinghi retains the Cup.

The grinders provide the horsepower on the boat to bring the sails in. We are relied upon heavily in most manoeuvres, if we make a mistake with a connection we can lock up the entire boat, which could lose us a race in a tight situation.