Rainbow team on the learning curve - Hear from some of the new crew

Most of the Rainbow team are new to the boat and some to J Class racing. Two of the biggest smiles at Superyacht Cup Palma at the start of the summer were worn by Ben Saxton, strategist, and Bradley McLaughlin, one of the Bowmen, both successful regulars with Rainbow owner Peter Harrison’s Jolt crew. 

Both McLaughlin and Saxton are new to the J Class. 

“I did a couple of weeks on an old schooner called Eleonora in Cowes years ago. But this is just another level. It's unbelievable. I'm one of the bowmen on Rainbow, so I back up Mickey Müller. It's been good fun. I’m learning a lot and loving it.” McLaughlin explains, “It's been about learning the systems, working together as a team. There's 30 odd of us on the boat, so it's amazing how much you've got to work together and get things done. You can't really do much on your own, so you've got to have some mates with you.”
‍

He, like former Nacra 17 World Champion Saxton, sails on Jolt. 

‍
“I sail on the Jolt 72, so I do mid-bow and sewer on there. I'm backing up Juanpa (bowman Juanpa Marcos) here as Mickey's moved forward from the pit, so it's been quite cool to go from that onto here with the same group of people and keep that core group together”.

Bradley’s pathway to J Class racing includes sailing on the TP52 Gladiator, “I grew up sailing on the Solent on the Isle of Wight in a place called Fishbourne. I went and did four years sailing in New Zealand out of the New Zealand Yacht Squadron doing some match racing. Then got asked to come back to the Gladiator programme as the mid-bow. From there, just from being in the right place at the right time and getting to know people and a bit of networking, I managed to go and do some other cool projects.

Sailing on Rainbow realises a long time dream, “It's definitely a highlight, that's for sure. Growing up, you always dream of going J Class Yacht  sailing. It's the stuff you watch as a kid and watch it all on YouTube. For sure, that was my thing. It's always been a bucket list thing for me to do. The J Class came to the Solent when I was sailing the Eleonora in 2015. Just watching them sail around the Solent was unbelievable. I love it. It's definitely up there as one of the highlights in sailing, that's for sure.

‍
“My sailing ambition certainly includes beating the Svea guys and to get some good results with this crew. I just want to get the best results we can get.”

“I think we've got a really good group of guys on board. Peter's a great owner, he looks after us very well. Matty Adams has done a really good job at putting the team together and managing us. I think the camaraderie and the group of people we've got is really cool. It's like a group of mates that are going sailing, which is pretty special. It's not always easy when you've got so many.” 

‍
Working the bow is one of the high pressure jobs on the J Class.  

“The most stressful part on Rainbow would probably be going out to the end of the pole. Gybing maneuvers is always quite hard work for us. But it's what you live for, right? It's part of the reason why you do it. It gives you a good buzz, that's for sure, it is pretty wild in the big breeze. The first race we did bearing away in 25 knots of breeze. The big S-sail was pretty wild. It puts a smile on your face. You look behind and everyone is loving it. 

Ben Saxton has worked his way up from Olympic classes and sportsboats, also sailing with the Jolt team.  

‍
“Palma was my first regatta in a J and shall we say it lived up to expectations, it's pretty cool. If you like sailing I think you know about the Js, everyone knows about the Js. Obviously there were a quite a few of them racing a few years ago but now we've had two boats here in Palma and there will be three boats in Saint Tropez so the momentum is growing again.” ‍

He explains, “I'm a strategist on Rainbow, often I'm the tactician rather than strategist but it's really nice working with a tactician as good and as experienced as Ed Baird. Ed's actually remarkably calm. He’s one of the calmest and he wants the usual stuff, if I can be helpful I'll be helpful, if I can't be helpful I'll stay quiet.”

“I provide big picture help, what would I do, what's the big picture pointing out the main things. On super yachts, this is my first time doing the strategist role because I've always been the tactician before but I feel very at home.”

“I joined the Jolt team for the Admirals Cup last year, was tactician on the 40-footer boat for the Admirals Cup. There's lots of people that were on the 52, the bigger boat at the Admirals Cup last year, and then now I'm sailing on the 72 with Jolt as well, and there's a lot of the 72 guys on Rainbow.” ‍

‍
He highlights the key strength of the Jolt-Rainbow team, “Everyone works very hard to do well, but If there was one word you'd say it's probably competency. Everyone's working hard, but everyone's very good at what they do and there's kind of a lot of calm respect and competency going on. Now hopefully we learn quite quickly how to get the last few percentages out of these J Class Yachts.”