CUP BLOG: CHRIS DRAPER
Right up until Barcelona 2024, Chris Draper held a unique record in yachting being the only helmsman from Great Britain ever to contest a Louis Vuitton Cup Final. Back in 2013, on the tempestuous waters of San Francisco Bay, Chris steered the Luna Rossa AC72 catamaran, ultimately being defeated by his current employer, Emirates Team New Zealand.
The journey to the America’s Cup has been one of international success for Chris who started sailing at a young age and quickly found himself in the RYA Youth programme in the UK, run by Jim Saltonstall. He was rapid in 420 dinghies, winning both the Youth and Senior National Championships in 1996.
Having transitioned from the youth dinghies up into the Olympic 49er class, he became the ISAF Sailing World Champion in 2003, followed up by European Champion in the class by 2004. In that same year, sailing with Simon Hiscocks, Chris scored the Bronze Medal at the Athens Olympic Games. His sailing journey didn’t stop there, and in 2006 he was crowned world 49er champion, as well as winning the Mumm 30 world championships.
With further successes, including a 49er european championships win in 2010, inevitably he caught the eye of the America’s Cup world and in 2011 was brought into the Team Korea America’s Cup challenge, helming all the events in the AC45 World Series in 2011.
For the following America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) in 2012, Chris joined the two-boat AC45 catamaran programme of Luna Rossa as helmsman. Success came quickly with the Luna Rossa 'Piranha' team winning the first ACWS fleet racing event in Naples, followed by a second in the Venice match-racing regatta soon after. The ‘Piranhas’ went on to win the fleet racing in Newport, Rhode Island that year and placed second in San Francisco.
The following year, Chris was the defeated finalist in the Louis Vuitton Cup, and stayed with the Luna Rossa team until their eventual withdrawal from the 35th America’s Cup in 2015. Thereafter he joined the Softbank Team Japan as Sailing Team Manager, tactician and wing trimmer for the ACWS leading into the 2017 America’s Cup in Bermuda.
After several years on the global foiling circuit, Chris returned to the America’s Cup in 2023 when he was appointed as Head of Performance for Athena Pathway, a program dedicated to preparing British Youth and Women's teams for the 2024 America's Cup regattas.
In May 2025, Chris joined Emirates Team New Zealand for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup in Naples and has been training hard with the team through the antipodean summer. A sailor with incredible natural ability, and capable of both trimming and helming, he’s clearly enjoying his time with the Kiwis as the video above shows and settling into the rhythm of the team as they aim for an unprecedented four-in-a-row in Naples in 2027.
Magnus Wheatley