The Soul

The ‘Samba Pa Ti’ name is synonymous throughout the yacht racing world with close knit, well managed and fiercely competitive campaigns.
Successive ‘Samba Pa Ti’ programmes have emerged victorious in classic international regattas, ranging from convincing wins in classic ocean races like the Jamaica and Transpac races, to short course victories and a World Championship win in the Farr 40 Class.

Most recently the latest ‘Samba Pa Ti’ iteration, has been turning in some impressive performances on the US and European Melges 32 circuits – including winning the illusive overall Boat of the Week at Key West in 2010 and victory at the hotly contested Miami Championship in 2011.

For the 2011 season ‘Samba Pa Ti’ skipper and helmsman John Kilroy has assembled a talented group of sailors from around the world to mount a challenge for the Melges 32 World Championship, which will be fought out in Palma, Majorca this September.

Arguably the most exciting and rewarding one design keelboat around right now, success on the international Melges 32 circuit requires consistently slick crew work, flawless boat handling and total commitment when it comes to hiking. Over and above all that, with even minor racecourse mistakes punished ruthlessly by your competitors, strong mental and physical resilience from the whole team is paramount. As Kilroy himself puts it: “It’s hard to win and really easy for a good team to do poorly. It’s a real tribute to this class and to the competition that you can never take anything for granted.

Having started his sailing career at the tender age of three years old, John Kilroy can truly be described as having yacht racing in his blood. He sailed with his father Jim as part of the crew of the now legendary series of ‘Kialoa’ ocean racing yachts and has clearly taken much of what he learned there into his own campaigns.

Mirroring the ‘Kialoa’ style, the success of subsequent ‘Samba Pa Ti‘ campaigns has been as a result of a strong and consistent team ethic; a succession of highly talented individual sailors melded together with an ‘all for one and one for all‘ attitude. Beyond their fearsomely competitive reputation, the underlying ‘soul’ of a ‘Samba Pa Ti’ campaign has always been, in equal measure, as much about friendship, camaraderie and the pure pleasure of sailing with friends. All who know them, and perhaps especially those who have raced against them, would agree that this latest squad typifies this ethos perfectly.

The quality of the individual sailors in the ‘Samba Pa Ti’ Melges 32 squad is undeniable, but recruiting talented individuals in no way guarantees success – a point which John is all too aware of. “Beyond the actual sailing, the thing I really love is the challenge of putting a team together – getting people who really work well together. This team has come together very well in a short time and it’s going to be fun and exciting to find out how far we can take it.