Today things are very different. Champion sailors are young and used to making decisions at high speed. They've grown up racing modern, ultrafast dinghies and catamarans. In the 35th America's Cup, the 26-year-old Peter Burling became the youngest ever skipper to lift the 'Auld Mug', and he had the youngest team behind him.
In 2017 Peter Burling also had one of the youngest performance engineers at the Cup. Elise Beavis was one of the lead designers of the AC75, giving the team a powerful combination of youth and experience.
You also don't have to be a crusty old sea dog to captain a waka hourua. India Tabellini was just 25 years old when she was skipper of Fa’afaite, and sailed 4,300km from Tahiti to Tauranga!
Join Noe as she finds out what the skipper does onboard the waka, and learns what it takes to follow in India's footsteps.
Thanks to Team New Zealand's incredible innovations, their boat Te Rehutai can travel at about the same speed as a car on the motorway! What clean, green energy source can provide them both with power? Find out in Part 4 - Powered By Nature.
We have created some fun 'Powered by Youth' activities. To find out more take a look at Part 3 - Things To Do.
