Andy Rice

Andy Rice

—Senior Contributor

Andy did his first interview while he was campaigning a 470 dinghy on the Olympic circuit. It was a windless ‘no sailing’ day at Hyeres Olympic Regatta in 1990, just a few months after the Berlin Wall came down, with East German sailing star and multiple gold medallist Jochen Schumann. He has been writing about sailing ever since. Andy still races actively today in the one-man Musto Skiff fleet, although the day job is very much writing and live commentating across a range of events around the world. As well as working at the past five Olympic Games, going back to Beijing 2008, Andy has reported at the America’s Cup, The Ocean Race, the Vendée Globe among many other grand prix regattas. Since the start of 2025 he has been writing for The Athletic/New York Times, reporting on the SailGP circuit. At the less glamorous end of the sport Andy also maintains active links with the grass roots dinghy scene as the organiser of the Selden Sailjuice Winter Series, for all those mad dogs and nutters that still want to go racing in the coldest, darkest months of the Great British winter.

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Three legs and an electronic brain: how Ferrari Hypersail will fly (Pt. 2/7)

Foils, a flapped keel and a rudder with ideas of its own – plus a flight controller born in Maranello's road cars. Andy Rice gets up close with the appendages. If the hull is the body of Ferrari Hypersail, the appendages are its...

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Grigio and Giallo: Up close with the finished Ferrari Hypersail hull (Pt. 1/7)

The 100-foot flying monohull is painted, the livery is on and the appendages are in the building. Andy Rice puts on his hard hat and high-vis and goes inside. There is a moment when a boat stops being a project and becomes a...

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Inside the Batmobile: a first look at Ferrari Hypersail

Some weeks the foiling world comes at you in every size. I had just finished two days on the commentary mic at the Kiteboard Grand Slam in Cagliari, Sardinia, where I watched Riccardo Pianosi, the eventual winner of the men's...

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The Tabarly Effect: how one quiet sailor built a nation of ocean racers

Walk the pontoons at Lorient La Base on any weekday and you are in the most concentrated gathering of offshore racing talent on the planet. Ultims, IMOCAs, Class40s and Minis lie moored in the shadow of colossal concrete bunkers...

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The RC44: how Russell Coutts hit a winning formula

Most grand prix sailing classes burn bright and fade fast. Owners arrive, spend heavily, win or lose, and move on to the next shiny thing within three or four seasons. The RC44 has defied that cycle for the best part of two...

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Crispy, capsized and a case of the wrong jib: Day 1 in Naples

Luna Rossa made it look easy on the opening day of the Preliminary Regatta. Everyone else had a slightly more eventful time. The Bay of Naples finally got its racing underway today, and the home favourites wasted no time in...

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One week in: Q&A with The Ocean Race Atlantic’s Niall Myant-Best

On paper the inaugural Ocean Race Atlantic looked like a quick blast east on the back of a low. In practice it has been one of the more brutal transatlantics I can remember watching. Team Malizia led from the gun and looked like...

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USA take Valencia title as one bad race ends Los Gallos’ final hopes

It was very nearly six wins from ten events this season for the Bonds Flying Roos. But then it all fell apart for Tom Slingsby on the final upwind leg of the four-boat medal race in Valencia, handing victory to Taylor Canfield...

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Day 1 Spain SailGP: Los Gallos and Flying Roos lead the way, but light air teams lurking

After Saturday's racing in Valencia, Australia were solid as a rock, and in the other group, Los Gallos wowed the home crowd with the most dominant performance of the day. So, business as usual for those two high-flying teams.  ...

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Denmark is top dog in Friday practice session in Valencia

Friday’s practice racing at the Spain Sail Grand Prix in Valencia offered an interesting glimpse into the 13-boat fleet’s form in light, marginal-foiling breeze. There were three races each for Groups A and B. With conditions...

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Rate the fleet: Andy Rice on Sassnitz SailGP

Despite the gusty, squally conditions on Saturday, Sassnitz repeated the Portsmouth miracle of 13 boats starting the weekend and all 13 completing the weekend. The split fleet racing between Groups A and B really seems to be...

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Black Foils dominate practice day in Sassnitz

The Black Foils from New Zealand set the benchmark on the waters off Sassnitz, after a three-race practice session on Friday afternoon in marginal foiling conditions. Pete Burling’s crew dominated Group A with a 1-1-2 record...

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Andy Rice: A good Worlds for GBR, and a good Worlds for the 470 Class

The future of the 470 as an Olympic class is under scrutiny, as it is for the Nacra 17 catamaran and the men’s and women’s kiteboarding classes. All of them have their obvious weaknesses, the 470 being that it is now the oldest...

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Andy Rice: Slowly does it on the Solent obstacle course

Could there be anything better than racing at the 200th edition of Cowes Week? Especially with the drought-inducing weather that the UK has been basking under lately. For years I’ve been resisting the invite of my old friend,...

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Ainslie gets back on the water for Cowes Week

When I interviewed Ben Ainslie recently for The Foil, he told me he rarely gets a chance to jump in a sailing boat these days. In fact, he couldn’t recall a time that he’s been sailing since the last race of the America’s Cup...

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