KEY POINTS:
The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series was Kiwi sailor Hamish Pepper's first campaign with BMWOracle, but it was not the winning start he would have hoped for, with the American syndicate knocked out in the Challenger final by Alinghi.
This campaign was a chance of sorts for Pepper to lay to rest the ghosts of 2003, when he was a member of Team New Zealand's disastrous America's Cup campaign in which the Kiwis were comprehensively beaten by Alinghi 5-0.
During the regatta, Pepper suffered the added humiliation of being kicked off the boat after making a bad call in race two.
After walking out on Team New Zealand, Pepper linked up with Mascalzone Latino for their 2007 Cup campaign, but much of his focus over that time was on his star campaign.
Pepper linked up with Carl Williams to race the double-handed men's keelboat class in 2006, and the New Zealand duo took this class littered with sailing legends by storm, winning the prestigious Star World Championship in their rookie year.
Pepper, who Williams represented New Zealand in the star class at last year's Olympics, joined Oracle as their tactician after the Beijing Games, while Williams was brought on board as a grinder.
What are your goals for this year?
One to be a good husband to my wife Annabel and my son Saxon (17 months). And probably to just improve my sailing career.
What inspired you to embark on a career in sailing?
Probably back in the 90s when both Dean Barker and I were kind of top of the laser class and the next stage for us was to travel overseas and go to the world championships and we kind of got the bug to try to succeed in a competitive world class. And once we started travelling we realised it was a hell of a lot of fun, meeting great people and going to great places and I just started to really enjoy sailing. From there we sort of decided to focus on trying to qualify for the Atlanta Olympics and that was when Team New Zealand won the America's Cup in 1995. Both Dean and I were involved back in 1993, and we got the chance to join the team again for the defence, and that's probably when I thought there was a career to be made in sailing. Not so much that I thought it was going to be a money-spinner, but I just really loved the fact that I could earn money doing what I love. At the end of the day it's the love for the game that keeps you driven and makes you want to succeed.
When you were 13, were there any other sports you fancied yourself as a future star in?
I used to play rugby and I used to play tennis, and with Ray Davies we used to hit the golf ball around the Pupuke Golf Club, and stuff like that but it was probably around 13-14 that sailing became a full-year sport for me and I kind of had to give up on the other sports to concentrate on sailing.
Describe your job.
Basically I guess I'm the person who gets a lot of information from a lot of different areas and I'm the one who has to spit out a result or idea and feed this information to the helmsman. So I get information from the strategist on the wind, on the waves, on the tides, and then from the navigator on the course and then from the trimmers and the feeling about the wind, then I look at the other boat and try to make a decision on that.
What's the best thing about your job?
Just the people you sail with I think. I'm lucky with the likes of obviously Russell and the other Kiwis on board, and the Australians on board, and the Italians on board. Probably the best thing about that is the environment on board, the friends you make. We've got a good team and we have a lot of fun.
And the worst?
Being wet and salty all the time, and probably getting 1000 wrinkles a day from the sun.
How much control do you have personally over whether your team wins or loses?
I have a little bit of control. The helmsman is a very, very important job on the boat and then the tactician is probably the next most important. But in saying that, your whole team is so valuable, each person on the boat contributes in a way it's like an orchestra, if one is out of tune, the whole boat is out of tune.
Do you think rugby gets too much coverage in New Zealand?
Rugby's our national sport and it has been for a long, long time. I think sailing is up there as well and we get a lot of recognition as New Zealand sailors around the world. But the rugby players what they do on the field and for New Zealand is fantastic too.
What is the proudest achievement of your sporting career?
Probably winning the star worlds [2006]. I won a few worlds with different people and I think winning that I was particularly pleased because it was more kind of my own programme and I tried and tried so many times with the lasers and different classes and to succeed there with Carl [Williams] was pretty special.
And the worst moment?
Hmm, there've been a lot of those. America's Cup 2003 has to play right up there, obviously with the result and to be taken off the boat was a pretty dark patch for me. But to get back in to sailing again at the level I am now is pretty pleasing.
What's the one career ambition you want to realise before you retire?
To be part of a winning America's Cup team is right up there, to win a medal at the Olympics is right up there, I think both of those go hand in hand. I've got a massive desire to win in London now, as I did in Beijing, but also to be on the boat of a winning America's Cup team is pretty special. The people you sail against and the calibre of sailing right now in the America's Cup is so strong that it'll be pretty special.
If you weren't a sailor, what would you be doing?
I'd probably be in development of some sort or probably an architect or something like that. My father and brother are both architects and I guess I have a strong desire to create in terms of property or something like that. I love what my father and brother do when they're designing and creating a house or a building and one day I'd like to do that and see a creation put together.
Who in the world do you most admire and why?
Obviously in sailing there are a lot of people I admire, but what Sir Peter Blake has done for sailing in New Zealand and for the world I greatly admire. I think his legacy definitely lives on and is strong within New Zealand sailing ties. I really respect him as a person and as a leader and it's just a shame he's not part of our lives any more.
CV
* 1995 Won Match Racing worlds
* 1996 Competed in his first Olympic Games, representing New Zealand in the laser class, finishing 10th
* 2000 Part of Team New Zealand's successful America's Cup defence in Auckland. Also won World Match Racing Champs
* 2003 Tactician for Team New Zealand's 2003 defence
* 2004 Represented New Zealand at the Athens Olympics in the laser class (7th)
* 2006 Won star World Champs with Carl Williams
* 2008 Competed in the star class at the Beijing Olympics (9th)
* 2009 Tactician aboard BMWOracle Racing for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, making it through to the Challenger final
