JB's Role
Date of Birth: August 7, 1961
Birthplace: USA
Nationality: American
Position: Design Team, Aerodynamics
An experienced dinghy sailor who has campaigned twice for Olympic selection, JB is one of the world’s leading sail designers, having helped revolutionize the way downwind sails are designed and analyzed.
For ORACLE Racing, JB works on integrating aerodynamic research into design and performance.
“America’s Cup technology interests me because the design-to-real-life-cycle is accelerated and provides immediate feedback for the sailor and designer,” says JB, who’s been involved with Cup teams since the late 1990s.
“Creating new performance-oriented designs and seeing them used to their full and sometimes surprising potential is very rewarding.”
JB skippered a Flying Dutchman campaign throughout the 1980s in the hopes of making the Olympics. He won a bronze medal in the 1986 Goodwill Games and the 1987 Pre-Olympic Regatta, but missed out on making the U.S. Sailing Team.
His impact on downwind sail design and research came through groundbreaking techniques.
In 2000 he outlined the process for a computer-based wind tunnel by coupling computer codes with Finite Element Analysis (FEA). His second paper came in 2006 as a member of the ORACLE Racing design team.
“The second paper described the first ever wireless pressure measurement for sails,” says JB. “We created a system that could measure, record and view real-time pressure reading from sails.”
Career Highlights
2010: 33rd America’s Cup, ORACLE Racing, winner
2007: Louis Vuitton Cup, ORACLE Racing, semifinalist
2003: Louis Vuitton Cup, Team Dennis Conner, quarterfinalist