FROM SAIL MARKER TO DREAM MARKER
At age eight in his parent’s house in Whangarei, two hours north of Auckland, New Zealand, Mike Sanderson drew a picture of an oceangoing racing yacht with himself at the wheel. In the handwritten caption he solemnly declared intention to one day “be the captain of a round the world boat”.
Twenty-seven years later, at the age of 34, he became the youngest skipper to win the Volvo Ocean Race when he led his hand-picked crew aboard the Volvo 70 ABN AMRO 1 to a comprehensive victory in the 2005-06 edition of the gruelling race around the world.
Prior to that to that landmark achievement Sanderson had already completed two round the world races – winning one and finishing second in the other – and skippered the revolutionary 140ft carbon ketch Mari Cha IV on its 2004 record setting six-day transatlantic crossing.
Those successes and others over the years have established Sanderson as an iconic figure in the international sailing world. He is a regular in the afterguards of the world’s most high-profile grand prix and superyacht campaigns – boats like the high-tech Maxi 70 Bella Mente, and Aquarius, the stunning new 56m Royal Huisman modern classic which he steered at this year’s St Barths Bucket regatta.
Sanderson made his first step towards a career in professional sailing when he left school to join the North Sails loft in Auckland and in recent years he has made a return to
