© Chris Cameron/etnz

Emirates Team New Zealand design team member, and catamaran guru, Pete Melvin.

Pete Melvin is considered one of the world’s leading designers of racing multihulls. He’s also a multiple class world and national champion. His company Morrelli & Melvin has designed boats ranging from the record setting 125-foot PlayStation maxi-catamaran to two different world championship-winning A Class catamarans. His partner Gino Morelli was involved in Dennis Conner’s ’88 Cup program with the Stars & Stripes catamaran, and in 2008 Pete began working with Oracle Racing as a sailing coach before moving into design analysis.

© Sander van der Borch/Artemis Racing

Navigator Kevin Hall sails on Artemis Racing's AC45. A modern day America's Cup navigator must be comfortable doing just about anything onboard the boat as the job's traditional responsibilities have become less and less critical during the short-course racing.

In the modern America’s Cup, the traditional navigator—even at it’s most evolved—is an endangered species. With the courses so compact and the boats so hungry for human horsepower, having one person dedicated to tracking the team’s progress around the course and keeping an eye on the competition is a luxury some teams may decide they can't afford. But if four-time America’s Cup veteran Kevin Hall is worried about his position being flicked off the race boat, you wouldn’t know it.

© Bill Records

Ideally you should not only beat your guy at the start but also have a good start yourself.

The fall college sailing season has come to a close, and as the spring approaches so does the exciting challenge of team racing. For college crews, there are varying levels of understanding of what exactly is happening during a team race; a freshman crew is a lot less likely to recognize the patterns and plays than a seasoned upperclassman crew. A huge responsibility for every crew, however, is to keep in mind the fleet-racing aspect of team racing.

© Guilain GRENIER

Brad Webb, lying down on the job, literally, if not figuratively. The AC45s and AC72s are beasts to sail, and they go so fast, that reducing windage, even on the sailors, is crucial to victory.

Brad Webb is one of Oracle Racing’s longest standing crew members. He signed his first contract with the team in November 2000. He was bowman on BMW Oracle Racing ‘s monster tri USA-17 that was victorious against Alinghi in the 33^rd challenge for the America’s Cup.