Alan Smith (sailor)


Alan Smith is a New Zealand sailor who has sailed at the Summer Olympics and in multiple America's Cups.

Sailing career

Born in Matamata, Smith joined New Zealand Challenge for the 1987 Louis Vuitton Cup and was the foredeck boss on KZ 1 during the 1988 America's Cup. He was the bowman for New Zealand Challenge at the 1992 Louis Vuitton Cup.
At the 1995 Louis Vuitton Cup, Smith sailed with oneAustralia.
He sailed with Toshiba during the 1997–98 Whitbread Round the World Race.
He joined Prada Challenge as a coach for the 1999 Louis Vuitton Cup, which they won, and the 2000 America's Cup.
He represented New Zealand at the 2000 Summer Olympics, sailing with Rod Davis and Don Cowie in the Soling class. The team finished second in the fleet races but failed to advance through the match racing round robins.
He sailed with OneWorld Challenge in the 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, before returning to Luna Rossa Challenge for the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup.
He joined Oracle Racing for the 2010 America's Cup, before spending time with Mascalzone Latino, sailing with them in the Louis Vuitton Trophy events.
From 2011 to 2017 he was a team member of Ran racing TP52 and Maxi 72 Inshore Pitman, Offshore Trim.
In 2012 Alan Smith was German Olympic star coach to team :de:Robert Stanjek|Stanjek and :de:Frithjof Kleen|Kleen.
In 2013 he competed in the Middle Sea Race on Morning Glory, his team won the regatta.
In 2015 he joined the Maxi 72, Momo program for Inshore and Offshore Racing including Fastnet and Middle Sea Races. Position aboard included runner trimmer inshore, offshore helming and trimming duties.
He raced the Dragon World Championship 2015 in La Rochelle with Hasso Plattner as his tactician.
From 2015 to 2019 Alan Smith worked as the tactician on SY Rebecca.
In 2016 he sailed as the tactician on Rodney Jones' Farr40 Kindergarten in the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship. The team won the 8th race of the regatta.
In 2017 he was a member of the crew on yacht Proteus in the Maxi 72 Middle Sea Race. which retired early due to damage during that race.
From 2017 to 2018 he took positions as tactician/trim/bow on The Cure in the Australian-based Etchells regattas. The team made four wins in a row.
In 2018 Alan Smith sailed aboard Janda Baik, a DK46, at the Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta as a skipper and tactician.
2019 Phoenix Sailing Team during the .
2019 Yacht Rebecca, and St Barts Bucket.
2019 Etchells Australia events including .
2019 Offshore events with WA based IRC Farr 40 Enterprise, including the winning in Division4.
2020 Etchells Melbourne, Australia.
2020 Phoenix Sailing Team, 2nd place in the Capetown , South Africa.
2020 Yacht Rebecca, .

Personal life

Hobbies include road biking. Since 2004 he participated four times in the annual Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge in New Zealand. The 2019 results are available at . In March 2020, Alan participated in the in South Africa.
Has three children that live in Australia.