America's Cup: The Freo Files - Erle Williams on wintering over

8:25 AM Fri 25 Feb 2011 GMT

'22yr old, Erle Williams in his element, driving Flyer hard in the Southern Ocean in the 1981/82 Whitbread' Onne van der Wal/PPL Click Here to view large photo

Erle Williams is one of the hard men of New Zealand sailing. A chip off the old block. Erle was a watch captain aboard Whitbread line honours winner at the age of just 22years old. Less than four years later he was bowman aboard KZ-7 in the Louis Vuitton Cup. Here he tells PJ Montgomery how the Kiwis, under the baton of Michael Fay and whip of Laurent Esquier and friends, rose from not having a 12 Metre yacht to being Louis Vuitton Cup finalists in just over 12 months. That route included being the only challenger ...

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by Sail-World Archives