Shirley Robertson talks with 2013 America's Cup winner Joey Newton
by Shirley Robertson 13 Sep 03:25 BST
13 September 2026
Joey Newton - Trimmer - Oracle Racing - 2013 America's Cup © Carlo Borlenghi / BMW
This month Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast hosts one of the sport's big name trimmers as Australian multiple America's Cup campaigner Joey Newton joins the double Olympic gold medallist for a look at his life as a professional sailor.
A regular on the pro-sailing circuit for decades now, the young Joey Newton grew up miles from the coast, in central Queensland, but was quickly drawn to the sport. By 2000 Newton was sailing in his first Cup, and campaigned in every edition since, until finishing in the Auckland 2021 Cup...:
"There's a small group of us that did those Cups from 2000 through to my last one, was 2021, and were so fortunate to have sailed all those classes and have been through from the Version 3 Cup boats...the Version 5 monohulls, the huge multihulls and the start of the foiling boats and then to finish off...on a version of (the current America's Cup boats)."
As a child, Newton professes to have grown up obsessed with sailing, and remembers, as a five-year-old, witnessing a moment that would go on to live in America's Cup folklore...:
"I distinctly remember being pulled out of bed and stuck in front of the TV and (my Dad) was like 'You should watch this ', and it was the final run of Australia II and Liberty, and I still remember it."
The pair discuss Newton's progress through the early days of sail design, and the pathway to becoming a professional trimmer, through the match racing circuit and the pressures of needing the prize money, to the early days of his America's Cup career.
Moving from Syd Fisher's 2000 team "Young Australia" through the 2003 Cup with "One World Challenge" and 2007 with "Luna Rossa" by 2010 Joey
was trimming one of the largest sails ever built for Cup competition as he sailed the 2010 Cup with Oracle Team USA's USA 17 giant trimaran...:
"I still kind of think in five or six knots they might be the fastest boats around....and that's when they were really cool, when they were super light. in fifteen, seventeen knots, they were terrifying!"
2010 marked Newton's first Cup win, a feat he would repeat in the much fabled 2013 Cup with Oracle Team USA, but not before some difficult times at a fractured team under intense scrutiny.."
"With all of that going on, and the court case going on, it was literally people inside the team against people inside the team, it was horrific," Newton remembers the approach to the Cup and disciplinary hearings that enveloped the Team, before recounting the fabled comeback in that famous win on San Francisco Bay.
Robertson and Newton discuss the 2013 Cup, and the difficulty of getting the AC72s foiling against the New Zealand Team, before of course getting on to the biggest comeback in sailing history...:
"I remember in our (meeting) the mood was really positive and everyone was confident and chatty and talking about what would happen in the day and we walked past the Kiwi one and it was like death...I know all of those guys, they are fantastic sailors but they were already beaten by that point it felt like."
Newton talks through his move to the British team for the 2021 campaign in Auckland, before discussing the progression of the yachts competing in the Cup and Newton's current roles in the grand prix sailing scene.
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast.
Part One :
Part Two :