50 Breeze Magazine
80 and Bouzaid is still at full throttle ahead By Ivor Wilkins • Photo by Hamish Ross Milestone birthdays are opportunities for reflection, but on turning 80 Chris Bouzaid – whose life of achievement offers much to reflect on – remains firmly focused on what lies ahead. “I don’t see much point in looking back,” says Bouzaid, whose well-charted sailing achievements include groundbreaking victories in the One Ton Cup and Sydney-Hobart Race, among others. “Memories are wonderful things, but looking at things you are still going to do are far more important.” On both sides of a yarn-filled birthday bash at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in April – attended by sailing luminaries from New Zealand and Australia – his calendar brimmed with things to do, places to go. Shortly before arriving in New Zealand, he had been in the Caribbean, racing on the 49m Vitters ketch Meraki with his son, Richard, and a full works team from Doyle Sails in the St Barths Bucket superyacht regatta. “I posted on Facebook that you know you are on a big yacht when it takes two people to carry an empty sail bag,” he chuckles. First stop after the Squadron celebration was a visit to Australia to see his showjumping grand-daughter, Georgia, competing in an equestrian event with a new horse. Even in this arena, sailing connections are not far away. Georgia’s trainer is John Winning’s daughter. The Winning family are prominent in Australian sailing. They currently charter the supermaxi Andoo Comanche and took line honours in this year’s Sydney Hobart. John Winning Snr, known as ‘Woody’, in his seventies continues to race in the highly competitive 18ft skiff scene, in which he has
Chris and Lydia Bouzaid enjoying a sail aboard the Logan classic, Rainbow, during his birthday visit to Auckland.
played a prominent role for four decades. He and his son, John Jnr – who now runs the family construction empire – enjoy a strong rivalry in the super athletic class. One nostalgia trip Bouzaid is allowing himself is a visit to Lord Howe Island. “In many ways, my first real memories date back to Lord Howe Island, where my mother ran a guest house,” he says. “I lived there for several months when I was a seven-year-old, but I have never been back. “I have sailed past it several times, but never stopped. When I went there as a child, I remember flying in on a small flying boat. We landed in the lagoon and a couple of kids rowed out in a dinghy to take us ashore. “The fishing was fantastic. The permanent population was tiny, maybe 50 inhabitants, with occasional tourists. Most of the inhabitants
never left, but while I was there, one took a trip to Sydney. He was so overwhelmed, he barely left his hotel room. “Earlier, when I was five, my mother also ran a guest house on Norfolk Island. Most of what I know from Norfolk Island is stuff I was told, not what I actually remember myself.” With his Antipodean activities ticked off, Bouzaid is in a hurry to get back home to the USA in time to re-launch his classic 30 Square Metre yacht Bijou II for a summer of racing in Maine. Bijou II is a new acquisition. “We were skiing in Utah last March,” he says. “I still ski every year, but not as aggressively as I used to. Anyway, while we were stormbound for a bit, I found some old yachting magazines and saw this boat advertised for sale in Seattle. “I called the owner and bought it. It is a