Mike Buckley: We Have To Find Consistency
U.S. SailGP Team co-founder, CEO and Strategist Mike Buckley discusses the first quarter of the 2024/25 season
Published 04/25/2025
Co-owner, CEO and Strategist Mike Buckley says the U.S. SailGP Team is focused on progress on and off the water, in the belief results will follow if the process is good.
It has been a mixed start for the team, which recorded an impressive third-place finish at the opening event of the season in Dubai. With a quarter of the season gone before the cancellation of the ENEL Rio Sail Grand Prix, Mike assessed the campaign so far.
“The one word to describe the first quarter of our season on the water is inconsistent,” he said. “I think that is normal for a new team. Albeit one that we are putting all our effort into changing. So the highs are being on the podium at a race and knowing that when we all do our jobs well, we can, in fact, compete.
“On the other side of that coin, when we don't do our jobs well, the pendulum swings the other way. The good of that is we know we can do it. It's not a dream. It's there, there's real proof that shows that we can do it. We have to find it within ourselves to do it on a consistent level - consistency is everything.”
Mike continued: “I think everybody wants to focus on the results and we get it… we are not remotely satisfied with our results, but what I am truly focused on is, are we learning and are we progressing? These are the only metrics that a new team should be focused on in the first full year as a group, ‘Are we progressing on the racecourse and in our business?’
“The answer in our business is yes. We're bringing on absolutely fantastic partners. On the racecourse, I would say we have learned a ton and have moments with enormous progress, but we have also had a few days that we would all like to forget. Learning remotely is a challenge in between races, we have shown that when we are together training prior to an event things get a little easier.”
The team should have been preparing for the inaugural SailGP event in South America next weekend (May 3-4) but the decision was reluctantly taken to cancel the race in Rio as a precautionary measure after a
defect was discovered in wingsails across the fleet
.But Mike and the U.S. SailGP Team are refusing to feel sorry for themselves. He explained: “This is obviously a pretty unprecedented length of time without being on the water together. I think you could kind of compare it to the Formula 1 summer break.
“It's a time to kind of regroup, refocus and focus on continuing to grow our business, focus on improving our racing team, study what went well and what went poorly the first quarter of the season. It also gives us some time in our home market before what we think is our premiere event of the season, New York City.
“We're extremely disappointed not to be racing in Rio right now. But there was nothing we could do about it, and so we're using it to our advantage.”
In the meantime, the U.S. SailGP Team has strengthened its roster with the addition of Michael Menninger, who will be with the team for the first time in the Empire State at the start of June (7-8).
Discussing the addition of Menninger, Mike said: “Michael is somebody who has had a heck of a career in every boat he's raced in and was doing the America's Cup previously.
Read more: Michael Menninger Joins U.S. SailGP Team
“He was unavailable when we started this but he’s someone I've stayed close to and the timing was right now. We're excited to bring his skill set from the America’s Cup to our team. He’ll be there for New York and we'll probably ease him into it. He'll be learning the boat, learning the comms, learning the tech, all that sort of stuff – which I suspect will be a pretty quick process for him.
“The boats aren't too different from the AC75s and AC40s which he's been sailing in the last few years. He's the best available American and we’re really excited to have him on the team. Taylor (Canfield) and Michael and I won a World Championship together not too many years ago, so it's exciting to come together again.”
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