America’s Cup Racing Comes To Hudson River With N.J. Native On Team USA

Oracle Team USA, the yacht set to compete in this upcoming weekend’s America Cup World Series, will be guided by a young sailor who has several years of experience sailing, racing and capsizing boats in Barnegat Bay in New Jersey.

America’s Cup Racing Comes To Hudson River With N.J. Native On Team USA

Toms River, New Jersey native Andrew Campbell said his job, as tactician of a yacht that can reach speeds over 40 miles per hour, in his words, is to “help feed information to the helmsman and contribute strategic advice so that the boat is tactically best positioned to gain around the course.”

The America’s Cup will come to the Hudson River, staging two days of races between Lower Manhattan and Jersey City. The event is part of a series to help determine who will challenge Team USA in Bermuda for the Cup. Team USA will participate, even though they automatically qualify for the finals following their come-from-behind victory in the 2013 America’s Cup.

The boats are in the AC45F class, which the America’s Cup describes as a “one-design catamaran powered by a wing sail that flies above the water on foils and is sailed by a crew of five.”

Campbell began his sailing days as a young boy in the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association, and learned the basic skills needed to be self-reliant when sailing alone or with one other person. For him, this weekend is a homecoming.

At age eight his family moved from Toms River to San Diego where the weather is nearly perfect year round. But as Campbell said in an email, “the uniquely Jersey thing I miss the most is really how sailors make the most of their season…. The summer is so good in NJ that you don’t waste a minute of it. I do envy the feeling of a season culminating with championship events. I think it builds a strong sailing community in areas the Barnegat Bay.”

Following a practice day on Friday starting at noon, the races will take place both on Saturday and Sunday on a tight course in the lower Hudson River. Campbell also added, regarding the race, “It will be a small course but the boats and format are conditioned to do a lot of maneuvering. The stadium-style format is what we train for and the challenge is something we look forward to.”

The races begin at 2pm on Saturday and Sunday with three races each day. For event information and viewing locations, visit the America’s Cup website.

PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND – JULY 25: Oracle Team USA pass the Solent Fort during Day Three of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series on July 25, 2015 in Portsmouth, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)