The Captain’s Role: making the whole greater than the sum of its parts

The SSL Gold Cup Brasil is fast approaching, and it’s the time to ensure crewwork is flawless and, most importantly, the individual sailors are galvanised into a team. This is when each nation’s Captain comes to the fore, using their skill and experience to help each sailor shine, utilising their unique talents.

Some of the most accomplished sailors on the planet have the honour of leading their nation at the ‘Copa do Mundo da Vela’, and Australia’s John Bertrand is regarded as one of the very best of all time.

In 1983 Bertrand skippered Australia II to victory in the America's Cup, achieving what no team had ever done, by defeating the Americans, ending the 132 year streak and, to this day, it is the only time Australia has won the Auld Mug.

Before his America’s Cup exploits he was a Finn sailor, medalling in the Montreal Olympic Games. This is where he evolved his mindset which turned him from solo sailor to one of the ultimate team players and the leader that he is today.

“Probably the biggest life lesson that I learned in terms of international competition was actually the 1976 Games and I finished up with a bronze medal, which I’m very proud of, because the Australian Olympic Team across all sports - swimming, athletics, everything - only won three medals in that Games and mine was one of them,” he said.

It was a tough time for Australian sport, and John was rightly proud of his achievement, but he knew that at the very highest level it is psychology which separates the great from the good. He drew on his experience to push himself to the next level, a move that changed the landscape of America’s Cup sailing.

“I concluded after winning the bronze that I could have won the Olympic gold just as easily if I had been mentally tougher, and the road to mental toughness was intriguing for me as an academic, with a Master of Science from MIT in Boston, possibly the best engineering science school in the world,” he continued. “In hindsight that was a key part of our ability to win the America’s Cup, because without that mental toughness - you can’t practice, you’ve got to learn it through the school of hard knocks - we may not have made better decisions than the opposition when it really counted, such as that final race of the America’s Cup.”

Defending SSL Gold Cup Champions Hungary are led by the charismatic Zsombor Berecz, who guided his team to glory in Gran Canaria in 2023, and he has always leaned into the underdog role, overcoming all the obstacles in his way. Like Bertrand, he has an Olympic medal in the Finn class, winning silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games, but his approach to the psychology of his own sailing, and that of the team he leads, is different, yet no less effective.

“I gained extra confidence when I saw a guy with ten masts, ten different sails, two boats, a huge support team and everything that you can dream of as an athlete. This was always giving me an extra boost. I don't even have sailing shoes, and I thought  ‘I’m gonna beat you’, and this was my belief during my own sailing career,” he said. “As a team I think we have the same view. We respect our opponents - we know they are great sailors - and most likely individually they are even better sailors than us, but we have confidence in ourselves and our abilities.”

Bertrand builds his teams and draws the strengths via the school of hard knocks, learning from mistakes and using experience to make the right calls at the right time. Berecz successfully took a group of sailors who, on paper, didn’t have the same skills or experience as some of the more established nations, but knew that with belief and trust in one another they could achieve anything.

The Hungarian Shamans were the story of the inaugural SSL Gold Cup. They came in at the 1/16 Finals, in a group that included the impressive Tahiti team, having to make their way through a ‘group of death’ 1/8 Finals where they faced the USA, Argentina and Malaysia, and then stunned some of the highest seeded teams in the Quarter Finals, where highly-fancied Netherlands, Chile and German teams were their opponents, to make it through to the Semis where they took on sailing powerhouse nations Spain, New Zealand and France, then the Finals, where they sailed with a confidence and calmness to defeat Italy, The Netherlands and host nation Spain.

It was a performance which put Hungarian sailing on the global stage and elevated Berecz’s reputation in the sport to new heights. He is the first to say that the performance was down to his team, and therein lies his strength. Personal glory wasn’t on his agenda, it was all about the Hungarian Shamans, representing his country and making his nation proud.

The teams have been practising hard ahead of this year’s event, and time on the SSL 47 yachts at the headquarters in Grandson, Switzerland, has been key to make a team cohesive and learning the necessary skills to make them go fast, as John Bertrand explains, as well as reinforcing his love of the event’s concept:

“We have limited time on these boats and they’re complex in terms of having nine people on the boat, working in synchronisation. During practice the most important thing is familiarisation with the characteristics of these boats. They’re just fantastic and let me just say the organisation of this dream which has been put together is fabulous.”

So we’re nearly set for the main event. Forty nations, a fleet of stunning one design yachts, and the natural amphitheatre of Rio de Janeiro as the stadium. At the second SSL Gold Cup, the ‘Copa do Mundo da Vela’, we will undoubtedly see some of the best team sailing, and every single minute will be livestreamed for your enjoyment.

The three last remaining slots will be contested for at the Pan American Qualifier this week, before the main event gets underway on 19th November.