Simmer has won the America’s Cup three times in a career that spans four decades. In 1983 Simmer was the young, 26-year-old navigator on board the historic challenger Australia II, the boat that achieved the impossible dream and broke the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year long grip on the America’s Cup.
Since that famous victory Simmer could fairly be accused of having made a career of the America’s Cup as he has been involved in a variety of roles across no fewer than nine subsequent campaigns.
A co-owner of North Sails Australia for 17 years Simmer finally gave up managing the sailmaking business in 2000 to become Design Coordinator for the Swiss America’s Cup Challenger Alinghi. The ensuing match in 2003 against Team New Zealand saw him collect his second Louis Vuitton Cup win and his second America’s Cup winner’s medal before moving up to assume the position of Alinghi Co-Managing Director and Design Team Coordinator, and winning his third Cup in 2007.
Not to be put off by his team’s defeat in 2010 against BMW ORACLE Racing’s wing-masted monster trimaran, Simmer, one of the most highly regarded, competitive and sought after personalities in the Cup’s long history moved in 2012 to take up responsibilities as General Manager of ORACLE Team USA, a role that now gives him day-to-day operational responsibility for the America’s Cup defense later this year in San Francisco.
The America’s Cup Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, jointly organized by the Herreshoff Marine Museum and Louis Vuitton, will take place in San Francisco on the evening of Monday, 5th August at the de Young Museum in San Francisco during the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series.
