Ray Davies

My early years in Mairangi Bay on the North Shore in Auckland lent itself to all water sports and from a young age, sailing became my passion, based at Murray’s Bay Sailing Club. After finishing school and running my own electrician business, the opportunity arose to jump into the professional sailing scene and there I have stayed. I have been been a professional sailor now for over 27 years and for the last 21 with Emirates Team New Zealand. My roles have varied within the team including strategist, tactician, helmsman, coach and in the Bermuda and Auckland campaigns working closely with the design team to formulate the boat that won. I get great satisfaction from working with the design team to formulate how the boat can gain the most in speed and performance on the water, something the team has had great success in over the years: coming up with many innovations from being the first to create a foiling boat, to powering the boat with bikes and ‘PlayStation controllers’. Other achievements in my career include winning the Volvo Ocean Race, Sydney to Hobart, Admirals Cup, TP52 and RC44 series’ and Maxi world championships. Sailing will always be a huge part of my daily life and I recently built a 12foot skiff (Cherub) in my garage, with my son Hugo, which I am using to teach my son to sail and race. I am also the coach of the New Zealand SailGP team and I will continue my role as coach for Team New Zealand’s Americas cup defence in Barcelona 2024.