We’re greeted on the quayside by Team Manager Murray, a calm, smiling figure, who’s been sailing with Neville for seven years now and manages the boat fulltime. Think of him as a Jean Todt in foul weather gear and you might be close to the type of abilities he has to have to keep this ship on track during the season. He’s full of reassurance as he invites us on-board. The first impression is of a purposeful, pure racing machine, a craft that has been designed without compromise to be the fastest yacht on the waves. There are no extras on this boat. It bristles with clusters of LCD screens everywhere to provide crew members with a sheaf of real-time information whatever their position on the boat. Murray invites us to ‘stow’ our equipment, which involves dropping it through a flush hatch on the deck into a darkened void which looks like it is filled a mass of sails and rope. These guys don’t cater for passengers. He explains some basics about the yacht although most of this goes straight over our heads. Our first plan is to make sure we don’t get in the way.

We gingerly explore the boat, the towering mast thrusts upwards into the clear blue sky as crew members on electric winches dart up and down at breakneck speed preparing the yacht for the sea. Below decks it is all, irredeemably and totally functional; there is no ‘galley’ or rest area. One has to crouch low and clamber over huge piles of sails – all of which seem to be part of a well organised system – despite the chaotic appearance. Stowing 44 metre long sails which weigh around 80 kilos each, and have to be available to be hoisted at a seconds notice in a raging sea, is no simple feat. A system of lines (ropes) that drags them rapidly through ducting running the length of the boat is incorporated into the carbon fibre design. Hard to quite work the method out – but fortunately the crew who flit across this mass of canvas like agile spiders seem to know what they’re doing. It is also noticeable how everything is carbon fibre – even down to details such as the handrails and instrument bezels. The steps down below are polished carbon fibre, carefully moulded for maximum effect – a work of art.

A big modern racing maxi like Alfa Romeo is a floating physics lab, a very careful blend of science, intuition, force vectors, wind loading, levers and pulleys and leverage machines, all of which must be mastered by a crew that knows without being told precisely what to do in every condition. And the head of this beautiful piece of gear is Neville Crichton, who acts as conductor to a symphony of man and machine which will be played out on moving, often momentous seas.

The boat leaves the jetty with typically professional precision and glides into the harbour. Neville will be joining the yacht today very shortly; he’s currently with the organisers. The crew has a core of Australian and New Zealand sailors, supplemented for the race by a number of new faces. A briefing is held for all crew members, led by Tommy Braidwood, the ‘coordinator’. The utter professionalism is immediately evident. “Let’s get on with it, we have a big programme to get through today,” he says, “Let’s not be stopping talking about the old days.” The new and the returning faces are straight into the groove. Everyone is numbered off; these guys have names like ‘Nitro’, ‘Jono’ and ‘Dingo’ and they look like they’ve just walked off a Foster TV commercial. Big and burly blokes, at 13 stone I feel very fragile in this company. “Nev likes numbering to be done,” Tommy says, adding for the benefit of the new members, that the skipper is a perfectionist; “he likes everything done just right”. The boat is certainly perfect, the attention to detail amazing. “Let’s keep him happy,” Tommy concludes. Perfectionism is something to be encouraged at this level—to be imperfect can not only cost a race, it can create a very difficult at-sea condition (i.e. a catastrophe). Let’s not forget this is very serious business, despite the fact that it’s conducted on a multi-million dollar platform.

Alfa Romeo continues to move under the power of its 230 bhp Yanmar diesel engine, which also powers the winches and keel, the latter having to shift through 90 tonnes of water each time it is adjusted. When not in use the ships propellers retract like landing gear on a plane for minimal drag. Despite being constantly in use, this diesel engine only consumes about 40 litres of fuel a day. We glide past the new ‘Spinnaker Tower’ on the Portsmouth waterfront which seems at first glance to be ‘mini’ version of the renown Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, world-famous for its similarity to a sail; while the huge grey naval vessels, including an aircraft carrier, moored up, are a reminder of this port’s historic naval traditions.

Alfa Romeo’s RIB [Rubber Inflatable Boat, a small inflatable support craft] comes into view, bouncing across the waves. Our skipper, Neville Crichton, jumps onboard. He has the bluff, rugged look of a man of the sea. Almost immediately he comes over to welcome us onto his yacht, shake our hands, invite us to look around, and briefly explain today’s programme. It’s a very nice touch, so often in these situations the ‘big’ man eventually finds time to speak to you for a few seconds.
 

Just thirty seconds after coming aboard, it’s obvious why Neville is so successful—he has the infallible touch of the born leader, a man who commands respect by respecting others. Crichton himself is every bit as amazing as his racing yacht, with a life story that would be worthy of the silver screen. Most of us paddle our way through life, with mild ambitions, reaching for attainable goals and without thinking too far outside the box. A very small handful of people though are destined to achieve what most of us don’t even dream, and on the way tackle rearing adversity head on. Neville Crichton is one of those people.

Neville was afflicted by throat cancer when he was just 30 years old and was given a couple of months to live, despite having a complete larynectomy and more than 35 operations. However in the never-say-die (literally) style of this man he fought back against the cancer and beat it. It left him, though, unable to talk and having to breathe through a hole in his throat. Not one to be overawed by circumstance he developed a method of speech for people who have had this operation, in conjunction with US doctors, and now thousands of people worldwide can talk because of the pioneering work he did. Just one thing though - if he falls in the water he will drown instantly as the water will go straight into his lungs via the hole in his chest. He has no gag reflex. Does that bother him – not a chance! The boat’s second tactician Ado Stead tells me – in typically understated fashion, “Nev says if he falls, fish him out and hold him upside down – and try shaking him.” Men like these see adversity as another box to be checked. Just the type of guy to take up big time yacht racing.

Success in sport is mirrored by business success. Born in New Zealand, Neville started life working at car dealerships. In 1972 his desire to run his own business resulted in him acquiring an ailing used car operation which he developed in a short period of time into an American and European prestige car dealership. With skill and determination, he built it into the largest non-franchised operation in the country.

His involvement in exotic cars led him into motorsport and he won a host of major motor race events throughout the country before finally moving to Honolulu in 1977 where he acquired the Mazda distributorship for the state of Hawaii. Ultimately his arrival in Hawaii revolutionized the state’s car retail business. He embarked upon a series of innovative marketing initiatives that saw his dealership operations setting new standards in the USA with his Mazda distributorship becoming the largest in the nation. The company expanded to incorporate a number of new car retail outlets that represented Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Porsche, MG and Audi in addition to Mazda. As a result of the volume of business being conducted he opened a number of used car supermarkets and quickly dominated the state’s used car industry.

The same drive and determination that took Neville Crichton to the top of the car business in Hawaii also led to success in the sport of sailing. He successfully competed in a number of major off-shore yacht races with his own yachts which included the prestigious Clipper Cup, the Kenwood Cup series and the American Big Boat series. He also competed in a number of other major international races including the Admiral’s Cup series in England and quickly earned a reputation as one of the world’s foremost yachtsmen.

Looking for new challenges both in business and sport, Neville Crichton sold his Hawaiian interests in 1982 and moved back to New Zealand where he acquired a group of Ford dealerships that were in difficulty. Under his stewardship, he turned them into the country’s largest Ford dealership. Once again he entered motorsport enthusiastically, winning the 1984 and 1985 New Zealand National Championships. His competitive yachting prowess was again demonstrated in 1992 when he sailed one of his own yachts in the 1992 World Two Ton Cup.

At this time he established a ship building company in order to develop and manufacture a number of major ocean-going yachts which offered a new standard of quality and sailing performance not previously seen on the international market. He withdrew, however, from the marine industry as a result of a sell-out to his staff but remains a consultant for the company that continues to be one of the most respected luxury sailboat manufacturers in the world.

In moving his interest towards Australia, he purchased the total shareholding of Ateco Holdings Pty Ltd which at the time held large volumes of Completely Built Up (CBU) vehicle quotas and had long term potential as a major vehicle importer. Under his direction, Ateco has developed into one of the big three Australian independent car importers. Today he is not only responsible for Alfa Romeo in Australia and New Zealand, but also Fiat, Fiat Professional, Ferrari and Maserati. And if the rumours are true, in the not too distant future he will add Lancia to the portfolio. All Fiat’s eggs are piled into one basket “down under”. It’s a very solid basket.

by Edd Ellison