The need for speed

When children grow up they tend to try a few sports before settling on one that really pulls their focus, and for New Zealand’s Micah Wilkinson it was no different. In Wilkinson’s case it just had to be one thing, fast.

It’s no surprise that with speed at the forefront of his thinking, Wilkinson is sailing the Nacra 17, the superfast multihull class with helm Olivia Mackay. Whilst the wind hasn’t picked up at Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland to let the multihull fly, Wilkinson may not have been here at all.

“I started when I was about six,” begins Wilkinson. “I did it for a couple of years and loved it. Then I actually got a bit bored of it through high school. I did some other stuff. Played rugby, went adventure racing, tried go-karting, a bit of everything. But I came back to sailing eventually and I’ve been Olympic campaign for about a year and a half now.”

Being from rugby loving New Zealand his head was turned by the team sport, “Where I’m from rugby is everything. At school my friends definitely made fun a little bit because of my sailing. I still did rugby, but now I have left school and doing well I think they’d think twice about making fun now.”

It wasn’t just rugby that could have taken Wilkinson away from sailing. The thrill seeking youngster felt the need for something a little faster, “I did go-karting for a bit. It’s more rugged than sailing. Not a lot of rules. Quite easy to take people out,” he says with a wicked laugh.

“I love the speed of karting and the intensity but there wasn’t much funding. Motorsport is next level expensive compared to sailing. It also ended up I wasn’t that good at it, it turns out I was good at sailing so I stuck to that.”

With Wilkinson finally focused on sailing and knowing where his talents lie, there was an obvious synergy between his personality and the draw of the multihull, “Why go slow when you can go fast. Everyone loves going fast don’t they? I guess I can be bit of a maniac at times and I just love going fast. The Nacra is the fastest. It’s the obvious choice really. The most fun. I just love being on the water going fast.”

As a young team in the Nacra 17 fleet, Wilkinson and Mackay have realistic targets when it comes to their future, “Our goal was never Rio [2016], it was always Tokyo [2020]. Everyone is fighting for Rio and we are just here learning what we can underneath them.”

Taking the opportunity to learn has paid off and the team have already tasted some success in another version of cat sailing, the Red Bull Foiling Generation. In the New Zealand leg of the series held in Auckland from 4-6 March 2016, Mackay and Wilkinson won the right to represent their country in the Newport, USA final later in the year.

With the evidence to prove it, the mixed crew partnership has certainly been working for the pair, but when it comes down to who leads the team, Wilkinson knows his place, “She’s the boss, there is no denying that. I just pull the ropes and do what I’m told.”

With his ‘boss’, at a young age in a relatively new Olympic class fleet, learning without pressure and having a clear aim of a Tokyo 2020 place seems like a good recipe for Wilkinson and helm Mackay.

If the partnership stays strong and Wilkinson’s hunt for speed continues this team will be ones to watch in the coming years and his school friends will definitely have to think twice before they make fun again.

RESULTS / ENTRIES
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