Wind (film) - Cup Events Transposed To The Film

Cup Events Transposed To The Film

A host of events that occurred in the 1987 America's Cup held off Fremantle Australia were translated into film and presented as events occurring to the characters in the movie, including the following:

• Will Parker striking the buoy while rounding the final mark was taken from Chris Dickson's final race against Stars & Stripes 87 in the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals. Kiwi Magic was just six seconds back of Dennis Conner's boat when Dickson made his only major mistake of the summer, striking the buoy while rounding the final mark. He was obliged to re-round, ending all hope of catching Stars & Stripes 87.
• Jack Neville spearing the "Whomper" was taken from the Defender Semifinal's, when Australia IV introduced a new sail they called the 'genniker', an enormous asymmetrical hybrid that pulled Australia IV even with the leading Kookaburra II. As the Bond team came up, Peter Gilmour luffed hard, spearing Australia IV's genniker and splitting it in two.
• The broken mast of the Platypus occurred to Challenge France in the middle of the third and final challenger rounds robins. Challenge France was unable to continue in the regatta.
• The boat collision occurred in the Defender series, when Australia IV struck Peter Gilmour's Kookaburra II.
• The protests and media briefings occurred multiple times throughout the regatta, and at times were quite contentious.
• Stellan Skarsgård's character is based on Burt Rutan who designed an airfoil for Dennis Conner’s 1988 catamaran “Stars & Stripes”.

In addition, Peter Gilmour, the skipper of Kookaburra II whose aggressive sailing during the defender selection series earned himself a place on the defender boat for the America's Cup, participated in the making of the movie, acting as "Sailing Master". He was on board for all of the sailing sequences, controlled the boat while they were flying the "Whomper", and can be seen in many of the boat scenes, surreptitiously laying a hand on the opposite wheel. Lisa Blackaller, daughter of America's Cup skipper Tom Blackaller, acted as sailing double for Jennifer Grey for the small boat races in the International 14 class at Newport.