Jimmy Spithill is arguably one of the world’s greatest skippers: the youngest and double winner of the America’s Cup, the oceanic version of Formula 1; winner of the Sydney Hobart; multiple world champion in match and fleet racing… the list goes on. And on a day off he’ll paddleboard 32 miles through Hawaiian double overhead waves.
Jimmy is a rare talent, a sailor of superlatives. But he doesn’t want to be just one of the best, he wants to be the very best. And that requires more than just talent alone. It requires the ability to pursue his goals without ignoring even the smallest details and developments and reacting in a flash. This combination of talent and focus have transformed him from the teenage sailing prodigy from his home in Elvina Bay in North Australia, to the two-time winner of the America’s Cup.
Here he tells his rags-to-riches story of fierce determination, court cases, seasickness, crashed boats and cars, alcohol, the greatest comeback ever in sporting history and the dramatic 2017 America’s Cup defence. All of it contributed to turning a quiet, bullied, water-loving blue-collar redhead born in Sydney into one of sailing’s biggest rockstars.
Far from the official media-trained account so often found in the closed-off world of the America’s Cup, Jimmy’s open, honest style gives us a rare insight into what goes on inside the head of a man at the top of his game. A compelling read, with many lessons in leadership, teamwork and achieving your dreams, no matter how impossible they might seem.
»Jimmy Spithill knows something about beating the odds, and the cocksure Australian might have the stuff to pull it off.«
Douglas Robson, USA Today