The 2024 inductees for the America’s Cup Corridor of Fame shall be Josh Belsky (USA), Bob Fisher (GBR), Kevin Shoebridge (NZL), and Juan Vila (ESP). They are going to be honored at an induction gala on the Maritime Museum of Barcelona on October 14, 2024 in Barcelona, Spain.
“This 12 months’s class displays the America’s Cup’s intent to foster ‘pleasant competitors between overseas nations’,” famous Choice Committee Chair Steven Tsuchiya. “We’re honoring 4 people—from 4 completely different nations—united by their real affection for one another and for yachting’s best prize.”
The America’s Cup Corridor of Fame has inducted over a hundred individuals since its founding in 1992. Candidates eligible for consideration embrace members of the crew, designers, builders, syndicate leaders, supporters, chroniclers, and different people of advantage. Every nominee is judged on the idea of excellent skill, worldwide recognition, character, efficiency, and contributions to the game.
“Now we have a journalist, a pit man, a navigator, and a genoa trimmer who’re all among the many greatest on the planet at what they do – or did – and their dwelling nations have all performed a pivotal position within the historical past of the Cup,” mentioned Govt Director Invoice Lynn.
America’s Cup Corridor of Fame Inductees, Class of 2024:
Josh Belsky (USA) (b. 1966)
Josh Belsky sailed with 5 America’s Cup groups, profitable the Cup 3 times.
He started crusing at age 5 along with his household in his hometown of Rye, NY, in addition to in Edgartown, MA, and Jamestown, RI. He grew up racing on Dyer Dhows, Blue Jays, Lasers, Solings, Shields, and J/24s. In the summertime of 1974, as an impressionable eight-year-old, Belsky witnessed the America’s Cup for the primary time; from that time on, he adopted each Cup match in individual through the New York Yacht Membership’s defenses in Newport.
Within the mid-Nineteen Eighties, he studied at St. Lawrence College—the place he graduated in 1989 with a B.A. in Sociology and Geography—and started crusing internationally aboard Maxi and IOR boats. Belsky credit John Thomson, Jr., proprietor of the IOR50 Infinity, as his most vital crusing mentor. Thomson guided him within the thrilling, high-stakes world of grand prix crusing, which, in flip, led to his participation within the 1992 America’s Cup in San Diego, CA.
Led by skipper/proprietor Invoice Koch, and with Buddy Melges on the helm, Belsky served as a pit individual on America3 which efficiently defended the Cup for the San Diego Yacht Membership. In 1995, he sailed with skipper Dennis Conner on Stars & Stripes, profitable the Defender Trials however dropping the match to Staff New Zealand’s Black Magic. Tactician Tom Whidden recollects, “Josh is among the most targeted, hardworking, and competent sailors I’ve ever sailed with.”
In 1998, Belsky, crusing for EF Language with skipper Paul Cayard, received the grueling Whitbread Spherical-The-World-Race. On the heels of that success, Cayard invited him to hitch the AmericaOne syndicate for the 2000 America’s Cup in Auckland. Though they managed to achieve the finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup, the crew misplaced a intently contested collection to the Prada Problem, 5-4.
Belsky closed his America’s Cup profession with Ernesto Bertarelli’s Alinghi, representing the Société Nautique de Genève. With that crew, he would win two extra Cup matches, in 2003 as challenger and in 2007 as defender.
He not solely served as a crewmember but in addition a liaison between designers, sailors, and builders. He facilitated the method of optimizing the deck structure of his crew’s boats, balancing the designers’ imaginative and prescient, the crew’s wants, and the practicalities of development.
Retired from skilled yacht racing, Belsky is at present an avid skier and kite surfer splitting his time between Aspen, CO and Hood River, OR.
Bob Fisher (GBR) (1935-2021)
Bob Fisher received his first race on the age of two in a Brightlingsea One-Design helmed by his father. Fisher’s childhood dwelling in Essex on England’s East Coast profoundly influenced his love of crusing, significantly the America’s Cup.
Brightlingsea was a village the place the watermen fished for a lot of the 12 months earlier than turning out in Guernsey sweaters embroidered with “Shamrock V RUYC” as they crewed on J-Class yachts in regatta season.
The America’s Cup grew to become a major a part of Fisher’s life, culminating in his two-volume work, An Absorbing Curiosity, revealed in 2007. The 544-page historical past grew to become an authoritative work for each Match from 1851 to 2007. It consists of exhaustive extracts from correspondence between many Cup rivals, some made public for the primary time because of his 15 years of analysis in archives and interviews.
It was considered one of 31 books he wrote or co-authored, his America’s Cup magnum opus each bit the usual reference which Catamaran Crusing, considered one of his very first from 1968, had been. It was written along with his shut good friend and future Olympic Gold medalist Reg White, coinciding with Fisher’s personal extremely profitable racing.
He received World Championships within the Hornet (1958, 1970) and Fireball (1966) dinghies, the Little America’s Cup (1967), the IYRU (now World Crusing) trials for a brand new Olympic catamaran (Twister), and Class 1V within the two-handed Spherical Britain & Eire Race with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in 1989.
Broadcasting additionally fashioned a major a part of his profession. He was a producer for the BBC, and, later, as a commentator; his wealthy baritone voice was acquainted on tv and radio. The fifth race of the 1970 match between Gretel II and Intrepid was his initiation to the America’s Cup. That one race was on a regular basis his employment permitted.
Decided to alter that, Fisher embraced the liberty of freelancing and by no means missed an America’s Cup Match from 1974 to 2017. He additionally attended many of the Cup’s preliminary collection, together with the 2020 races within the new AC75s in Auckland.
He knew everybody, and everybody knew him, as colourful characters gravitate towards one another. He arrived 4 weeks earlier than the 1974 Match and completely immersed himself within the Newport summer time. On the Black Pearl bar, he wagered with Jim Hardy for a case of port, with Tom Blackaller as witness, that syndicate head Alan Bond would appoint Hardy as skipper of Southern Cross. Fisher received the guess.
He broadcast reside on Australia’s ABC when Australia II defeated Liberty within the epoch-defining 1983 Match. His prodigious output noticed him extensively learn in The Guardian and The Observer newspapers in addition to numerous magazines around the globe.
Kevin Shoebridge (NZL) (b. 1963)
Kevin Shoebridge is a four-time winner of the America’s Cup. Vastly skilled, he’s identified for his quiet demeanor, clear communication, collaborative administration model, and talent to get issues executed. “Shoebie” is at present in his tenth America’s Cup marketing campaign of a 40-year profession.
He joined the Michael Fay-led New Zealand Problem in 1986 as a sail trimmer for KZ-7 Kiwi Magic for the 1987 America’s Cup cycle in Fremantle. The Kiwis had received 38 consecutive races within the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger collection earlier than being overwhelmed by Stars & Stripes within the Finals.
Shoebridge rejoined the New Zealand Problem in 1992, crusing as a genoa trimmer aboard NZL-20, which controversially didn’t progress past the Last of the Louis Vuitton Cup. His Lion NZ/Steinlager 2 skipper, Peter Blake, joined the NZ Problem to help with administration in mid-1991. Shoebie stayed with Blake when he and shut affiliate Alan Sefton fashioned Staff New Zealand from the inspiration of the Cup campaigns led by Michael Fay.
He was once more again in a genoa trimmer position for New Zealand’s first America’s Cup victory, in San Diego in 1995. He and his crew received once more in 2000, defeating Luna Rossa to realize the first-ever profitable Cup protection outdoors the US.
With Peter Blake’s departure and the Kiwi crew’s partial breakup after the 2000 America’s Cup, Shoebridge joined One World (USA) for the 2003 America’s Cup in Auckland. They have been eradicated within the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals.
He rejoined Staff New Zealand in Could 2003 in his present senior administration position after Dalton took over as CEO following the ignominious loss to Alinghi within the 2003 protection. Shoebie labored in a administration partnership with Dalton and was liable for the crusing operations because the crew was rebuilt. The now Emirates Staff New Zealand (ETNZ) was the Challenger for the 2007 America’s Cup, held in Valencia. Alinghi defeated the Kiwis 5-2.
As a co-leader of ETNZ, Shoebridge supervised the design, development, crusing operations, and logistics because the Cup transitioned after Valencia from monohulls to the AC72 wing-sailed foiling catamarans. The operations group grew to become famous for its lateral pondering which developed the breakthrough foiling 72-foot multihull as an alternative of a displacement design contemplated by the AC72 class rule. In 2013, ETNZ confronted Oracle Staff USA within the longest-ever America’s Cup match, the end result of which was determined by the nineteenth race with Oracle prevailing.
However that bitter loss didn’t cease ETNZ. As an alternative, the crew returned with extra improvements and willpower. Through the use of superior efficiency prediction/simulation instruments and cyclors, the crew gained the profitable edge within the 2017 America’s Cup. ETNZ used the identical efficiency instruments to develop the unconventional AC75 foiling monohull class for the 2021 and 2024 America’s Cups. The crew efficiently defended the Cup in 2021.
For the thirty seventh America’s Cup, Shoebridge stays the Chief Operations Officer—a job he has held beneath completely different job titles for 20 years—of one of the crucial profitable groups in Cup historical past.
Juan Vila (ESP) (b. 1961)
Juan Vila has participated in a formidable ten consecutive Cup cycles, from the 1992 collection held in San Diego to the present cycle in his hometown of Barcelona. Over time, he has competed in 5 America’s Cup matches and has been victorious 3 times—in 2003 and 2007 with the Swiss crew Alinghi, and in 2013 with Oracle Staff USA.
He started crusing at age eight and honed abilities in his teenage years on keelboats on the Mediterranean. After graduating from the Universitat Politècnica de Barcelona with a level in Civil Engineering, he started competing within the Whitbread Across the World Race. Given his affinity for technical topics, he determined to focus on navigation, an vital position aboard yachts particularly earlier than the adoption of GPS in yacht racing.
Vila started his lengthy profession within the America’s Cup because the navigator of the IACC boats of Spain’s three challenges: España ’92, Rioja De España (1995), and Bravo España (2000). Given Spain’s departure from Cup after the 2000 collection, he accepted Brad Butterworth’s invitation to hitch Ernesto Bertarelli’s Swiss challenger Alinghi for the 2003 Cup cycle.
“Juan has all the time been a particular expertise, greater than only a navigator,” noticed Butterworth. “He’s an all-round sailor, all the time obtainable on deck in lengthy races and, for me, a tactical expertise to assist any resolution—and only a nice man to have in your crew.”
Vila served on the trial horse for Alinghi’s 2003 crew, noting their victory stays his favourite, given it was his first Cup win and since he helped carry the Auld Mug to Europe for the primary time within the sport’s lengthy historical past.
In 2007, he was the navigator of Alinghi’s SUI100, reaching his second Cup victory along with his crew’s profitable protection in Valencia, Spain. Whereas he and his fellow Alinghi crew members misplaced the Cup within the 2010 match, it didn’t dampen his pursuit of the trophy.
Having caught “America’s Cup fever”, he continued his quest because the meteorologist and electronics/navigational programs advisor for Oracle Staff USA’s Cup campaigns in 2013 and 2017. The crew’s thrilling come-from-behind victory in 2013 earned him his third Cup win.
Within the present period of the AC75 Class, Vila served with INEOS Staff UK in 2021, however with Ernesto Bertarelli’s return to the Cup for the 2024 cycle, he rejoined his outdated crew—now Alinghi Crimson Bull Racing—because the crew meteorologist and efficiency analyst.
Exterior of the America’s Cup, Vila has achieved excellent offshore racing achievements. He has raced 5 instances in The Ocean Race (previously the Whitbread and the Volvo Ocean Race) starting within the 1989-90 version.
In 2002 with Illbruck, he grew to become the primary Spanish sailor to win this grueling around-the-world race. In 2012, Vila received the Jules Verne Trophy with a continuous circumnavigation of 45 days, 13 hours, and 42 minutes on board the 40-meter-long trimaran Banque Populaire V skippered by Loïck Peyron.
America’s Cup Corridor of Fame Choice Committee
R. Steven Tsuchiya, Chairman
Margherita Bottini
John S. Burnham
Brad Butterworth
William Collier
Richard Gladwell
Jack Griffin
Halsey C. Herreshoff
Tim Jeffery
Gary Jobson
Andrew Johns
Murray Jones
William H. Dyer Jones
John Lammerts van Bueren
Ken McAlpine
Elizabeth E. Meyer
Shirley Robertson
Blue Robinson
Hamish Ross
Mike Toppa
Bruno Troublé
Tom Whidden
Supply: ACHOF
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