Moving Parts - Meteorologist and Performance Manager Juan Vila

Juan Vila is INEOS TEAM UK’s ‘eye in the sky’. As the team’s meteorologist he is responsible for helping the team plan anything related to the weather, whether that be briefing the sailing team on what to expect on race day to inform the team’s racing strategy right through to letting the crane manager know what the wind conditions are to support him when lifting Britannia into the water. To help him do so Juan not only has all the latest weather data and tools available to him, but he is also able to call on a lifetime of experience in the world of sailing.

Juan grew up in Barcelona and, like a lot of INEOS TEAM UK, first got into sailing at a young age. That early passion ultimately drove Juan to become one of the, if not the, most decorated Spanish sailor of all time.

Indeed, Juan is the only Spanish sailor to have won both a round-the-world race with stopovers (in 2001-02 with the Illbruck Challenge) as well as the America’s Cup (twice, with Alinghi in AC31 and Oracle in AC34). After over 30 years in professional sailing, the majority of which he spent onboard yachts as a navigator, Juan has a remarkable and unrivalled CV which includes eight America’s Cup campaigns, five Volve Ocean Races, and two Jules Verne attempts.

That vast amount of experience navigating some of the world’s most difficult oceans has certainly prepared Juan well for his current role as meteorologist with INEOS TEAM UK.

“The transition from a navigator to meteorologist is a typical one”, explained Juan, “through my experience as a navigator I developed a strong knowledge of meteorology, wind-forecasting, currents, waves and so forth. Then, alongside that, as navigator you learn how to use that information to devise your strategy and planning for the race”.

As INEOS TEAM UK’s meteorologist, Juan has now stepped off the boat. His role, however, is more important than ever, and now has a direct impact on the majority of the team, from the operations team through to the design team and the sailing team.

“As meteorologist my role is really to help the team day-by-day across all operations. Firstly, of course, on a sailing day the sailing team will want to know what to expect. In that case I will start in the morning, go through all my available weather data and weather models, and prepare a forecast. We will then brief the team and go through that information to help them make decisions to plan the day.

“Taking a step back, however, the forecasting is also important in our planning and scheduling. As a team we have to make sure that we can identify the right windows when to sail, and to then use those days as best we can, or, on the flipside, when not to sail and when to instead schedule maintenance days.

“Then, stepping even further back, the first part of the weather forecasting process is to have an input in the design process itself. That is very important for us as it is crucial to the team’s success to get the designs right. My role in that process is to collect as much data as we can from observation sites in Auckland that feed us data from around the racecourses for this America’s Cup and analyse that data.

“Each team receives the same data but then on top of that we run our own high-resolution models and through that develop a good database and a strong understanding of where the patterns and the winds are. This information is then fed into the design team and helps them analyse, for example, what range of winds to design for, and that ultimately helps the team draw the parameters for their design decisions.”

Juan’s role with the team’s America’s Cup challenge, is therefore no doubt a crucial one. As the team gets closer to competing, however, the role of an America’s Cup meteorologist shifts and becomes even more important to the team’s success. Once the racing period begins, the team will call upon Juan’s weather data, models and vast amount of sailing nous to inform both the boat’s racing configurations as well as tactical decisions on race day itself.

“Looking ahead to the racing period, the first configuration decision we will have to make for each race that is impacted by the weather is the foil package. Typically, in previous Cups, we could change the foils quite late on in the process. Now, however, the rules have changed, and the decision needs to be made in the long range, five days out before the race starts. That might favour more all-round foil packages rather than anything too specific, but it also puts more pressure on my role and the long-range forecasting models we have in place. As meteorologist it will be my responsibility to analyse the long-range forecast and identify any patterns that we may be able to take advantage of with our foil packages.

“A short-range forecast decision, on the other hand, will be the sail selection. That is typically decided on the race day. Then, finally, the shortest-range forecast of all will be when we are ready to race and the final briefing. In that briefing we will go through the weather conditions on the racecourse, from the wind fields through to the currents and waves and set our strategy for the race.”

Once racing begins, Juan and the team move into full analysis mode, closely monitoring the race and the conditions to analyse where any potential gains can be made. As soon as each race finishes, Juan and the team will be able to give the crew immediate feedback to support them with the strategy and tactics for the following race. It is a task in which any decision can have a direct impact on the outcome of the America’s Cup, and therefore one that inevitably comes with enormous pressure.

“I do feel the pressure, especially in competition when there is an important decision to be made, but I enjoy it. I get nervous now thinking about it but not on the race day itself. In that competition scenario you are 100% focussed on what you need to do to get the job done.

“Of course, when you are talking about unpredictable nature of weather, no decision will ever involve a 100% probability, but you need to put the trust in your information and expertise to give the team what you believe, based on all the data and the models, will be the most likely scenario.”

The 36th America’s Cup will be Juan’s ninth in what has been an incredible career for the most experienced Spanish sailor of all time. His drive to win the Cup, however, has never faltered, and Juan simply cannot wait to get to Auckland.

“To me, the America’s Cup is the best competition in sailing. It is amazing to be part of a team like INEOS TEAM UK. The level of technology involved now in the Cup and the focus of everyone in the team is great to see and brilliant to be a small part of.

“We have been analysing and studying Auckland weather patterns for several years now so it will be very exciting to finally get out there and get sailing in the Auckland harbour against our competitors. For a meteorologist it is definitely a tricky place to sail, with complex wind patterns and frequent local wind changes, but, for me, that makes it all the more exciting. It’s a place that I know well and love.”