John Bertrand (sailor, born 1946)

John Edwin Bertrand AO (born 20 December 1946) is a yachtsman from Australia, who skippered Australia II to victory in the 1983 America's Cup, ending 132 years of American supremacy, and the only time Australia has won.[1] Bertrand won the bronze medal in the Finn competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.[2] In 2010 and 2016,[3] he won the world Etchells class sailing championships. He is a life member of both the Royal Brighton Yacht Club in Melbourne, and the Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club.

John Bertrand
AO
Personal information
Full nameJohn Edwin Bertrand
Born20 December 1946 (1946-12-20) (age 76)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Medal record
Sailing
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1976 Montreal Finn class

Biography

John Bertrand was born in Melbourne, Victoria.

He wrote Born to Win, The Power of a Vision, about the 1983 America's Cup victory, including insightful observations on the strategy for an unfavoured team against very long odds. During the 1983 competition, Bertrand and his crew deliberately employed their own psychological strategy ahead of the America's Cup breakthrough in refusing to refer to the all-conquering American team by their names and instead calling their opposition simply "the red boat" in order to mislead the rival.[4] In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Mack Horton, an Australian freestyle swimming champion, admitted the criticism towards another swimmer Sun Yang was a deliberate strategy to try and gain a mental edge on his rival, borrowing from the tactics employed by Bertrand in the lead-up to Australia II's famous triumph in 1983.[5]

Bertrand is the chairman of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame (2005+) and The Alannah and Madeline Foundation (2001+).[6]

He is also the President of Swimming Australia (Oct 2013+).

Honours
  • 26 January 1984: Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in recognition of service to yachting, particularly as skipper of the Australia II in the America's Cup challenge 1983.[7]
  • 10 December 1985: Induction into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame[8]
  • 18 September 1993: Member of the America's Cup Hall of Fame for outstanding achievement in the America's Cup.
  • 14 July 2000: Australian Sports Medal for outstanding achievement in the America's Cup and general contribution
  • 1 January 2001: Centenary Medal for service to Australian society through the sport of Sailing.
  • 2008 Melburnian of the Year for community leadership.
  • 25 October 2013: Awarded an Honorary Doctorate, Victoria University.
  • 10 October 2014: Elevated to Legend of The Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
  • 2014: Bertrand was made a Monash University Vice Chancellor Professorial Fellow.
  • 2016: Upgraded to Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours list. In recognition for sporting administration, in particular swimming and sailing, children's welfare, higher education and mentoring of young people.[9]

Personal

Notes
  1. "John Bertrand". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "John Bertrand". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  3. "John Bertrand wins Etchells Worlds". 10 September 2016. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  4. "John Bertrand: Mack Horton gold medal was a 'defining moment' of Rio Olympics". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 August 2016. Archived from the original on 13 November 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  5. "John Bertrand: Mack Horton gold medal was a 'defining moment' of Rio Olympics". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 August 2016. Archived from the original on 13 November 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  6. "Sport Australia Hall of Fame website". Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  7. "AD84" (PDF). Governor General's Office of Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 April 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  8. "John Bertrand". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 23 July 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  9. "Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia" (PDF). The Queen’s Birthday 2016 Honours List. Governor-General of Australia. 13 June 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  10. "It took an engineer !" (PDF). Monash Reporter. No. 8–83. Monash University. 5 October 1983. Retrieved 16 October 2022. ...performance of a 12·metre yacht sail'. It dealt with jib and mainsail configurations
  11. "John Bertrand - Hall of Fame". Performance, Representation and Engagement Programs. Monash University. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  12. Coveney, Donna (16 March 1994). "Koch to defend America's Cup with Milgram, all-female crew". MIT News. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  13. "Hall of Fame Interview: John Edwin Bertrand". Sailing World. 7 July 2003. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  14. "All in the Same Boat". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  15. Gentry, Arvel. Sailing Aerodynamics: Theory and Practice (PDF). Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  16. Hewett, Jennifer (18 September 2022). "Why lessons from America's Cup win still matter". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 15 October 2022. This is the man whose university mechanical engineering thesis was titled 'The Optimum Angle of Attack of America's Cup Sails', after all – years ahead of his fourth attempt to defeat the New York Yacht Club in Newport in 1983.
  17. Moore, George (2001). Australian Legends. R.I.C. Publications. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-86311-675-6. In 1966 he enrolled at Monash University in Melbourne to take an ... He completed his degree in 1969 and, after marrying Rasa Padgurskis in the same year...

References
  • Bertrand, John; Robinson, Patrick (1985). Born to Win: A Lifelong Struggle to Capture the America's Cup. Hearst Marine Books. ISBN 978-0-688-04349-0.
Sydney : Bantam Books, circa 1985. ISBN 0-553-05118-0
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