A podcast about the international yacht racing scene featuring exclusive interviews with the sport's top sailors and influencers. Hosted by British sailing journalist Justin Chisholm – editor of the Yacht Racing Life website.
On the latest episode of the Yacht Racing Life Podcast Justin Chisholm’s guest is the British double Olympic gold-medallist sailor Giles Scott.
Aside from his Olympic triumphs Giles is also an multiple America’s Cup veteran – including taking part in the last three consecutive British challenges – and recently stepped into the role of skipper of the Northstar Canada team for the fifth season of SailGP.
During the interview – recorded in early January 2025 – Giles talks about his earliest days in sailing as a youngster who initially had no interest in racing and had to be bribed to compete by his mum.
He also discuss his approach to Olympic campaigning and talks through his very different run ups to his two Olympic gold medal victories at the Rio and Tokyo Games, as well as diving into his experiences with INEOS Britannia in last year’s 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona, before closing the interview with some chat about his high profile SailGP transfer from the British Emirates GBR squad to the Canadians.
Justin Chisholm is joined by fellow-British sailing writer Magnus Wheatley (Rule69 Blog) as the pair give their independent analysis of the second SailGP event of Season 5 which took place in spectacular style in Auckland, New Zealand last weekend.
Cover image © Felix Diemer for SailGP
Justin Chisholm’s guest is American professional sailor and coach, Tom Burnham, who takes on a fascinating deep dive into the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic syndicate’s recent challenge for the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona.
During the interview Tom shares his thoughts on the relative merits of the Shared Reconnaissance programme, explains the key elements of his role as the American syndicate’s head coach, describes what goes on aboard the coach boat during a typical training day, as well as giving his assessment of how AC37 played out between the six teams on the waters of the Mediterranean off Barcelona last summer.
All this plus loads more fascinating insight makes it an interview that America’s Cup fans absolutely won’t want to miss.
Justin Chisholm’s guest is the renowned Portuguese sailing photographer Ricardo Pinto.
Ricardo is one of the most prolific shooters in the business right now and his work from around the world at our sport’s keystone regattas will be familiar to anyone following professional sailboat racing.
From the ocean going IMOCAs of the Vendée Globe and The Ocean Race, to the supercharged fast foilers of Sail GP and the America’s Cup, Ricardo’s stunning images help bring these events to life for sailing fans everywhere.
Ricardo’s pure passion – both for sailing and his chosen profession – shines through throughout the interview where he illustrates the skill, hard work and dedication that goes into becoming one of the world’s best yachting photographers.
Ever wondered what it’s like to be in charge of an America’s Cup chase boat? Right at the very heart of the on the water battle - nobody, other than the AC75 sailors themselves, gets a closer vantage point on the white hot racing action.
Justin Chisholm’s guest on this episode of the Yacht Racing Life Podcast is Tony Quinn – chase boat driver for the British INEOS Britannia America’s Cup syndicate that last year in Barcelona Spain won the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series and took on the Defender Emirates Team New Zealand in the 37th America’s Cup Match.
In the interview Tony shares what the high pressure chase boat driver role is all about and gives us a behind the scenes look at real life inside the highly professional environment of an America’s Cup team.
British Olympic gold medallist and America’s Cup sailor Paul Goodison returns for his second appearance on the Yacht Racing Life Podcast.
Goodison needs very little introduction to most sailing fans. He is an Olympic gold medal winner in the Laser class, a three time Moth world champion and a veteran now of three America’s Cup campaigns – the latest of which was his second go around with the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic syndicate at the 37th Cup in Barcelona last year.
Sadly things did not go as planned for him, as a serious accident aboard the American AC75 after racing early in the competition – in which he broke five ribs – ruled him out of any further participation.
Despite this setback he was quickly back at the American Magic base doing whatever he could to help the team’s progress through the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Series.
The interview features some fantastic insider insight into American Magic’s Barcelona campaign – including Goodison's working and personal relationship with co-helmsman and previous fierce Olympic rival Tom Slingsby – but begins with an update on his recovery and an explanation of exactly how the accident happened.
During the summer of 2024 Irish solo offshore skipper Tom Dolan joined an exclusive club when he became only the third non-French sailor to win the hallowed Solitaire du Figaro regatta.
His achievement is all the more impressive given that he did not come from a sailing family or grow up close to the sea.
In fact, Tom was brought up on a farm in the middle of Ireland and his first sailing experience was on a shallow lake aboard a battered old wooden dinghy on which he and his father taught themselves to sail.
An inauspicious start to a professional sailing career perhaps, but Tom had been well and truly bitten by the sailing bug.
Despite studying agricultural science at college he soon felt the pull of the sea and that led him to a bold move to Concarneau in northern France – the epicentre of the French offshore racing scene.
After teaching himself French and cutting his teeth in the Mini class he moved up onto the Figaro circuit where he set his sights on one day winning the Solitaire du Figaro trophy – one of yacht racing’s landmark events.
We caught up with Tom to find out the full story of his auspicious victory.
Justin Chisholm chats to Newport, Rhode Island-based Sailing World magazine editor David Reed.
Australian-born Luke Parkinson is a high-performance sailor who has carved out an enviable career for himself in the ocean racing world – having won The Ocean Race 2014-15 with Ian Walker's Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing – and as an expert protagonist of the art of foiling in both SailGP and the America's Cup - with Ben Ainslie's Emirates Team GBR and INEOS Britannia, respectively.
During a wide-ranging conversation Luke talks about his early days as a young sailor, his aspirations of following in the footsteps of his Olympic gold medal winning sister Tessa, his ongoing passion for ocean racing, his first experience in of racing around the world, as well as his thoughts on the America's Cup and SailGP.
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