Face-to-Face: Andy Hindley

We talk to Powerboat P1's Racing and Event Director, about his background as a sailing competitor and event organiser for the Volvo Ocean Race, how he got involved with Powerboat P1, and his vision for its future

In the busy world of Powerboat P1, Racing and Event Director Andy Hindley is busier than most. When I suggest to him that, to be successful in the sort of wide-ranging role he has, it requires the persona of a benign dictator quality, he laughs: “That’s a nice way to be if you can manage it.”

The seemingly simple role of ‘Racing and Event Director’ is actually the lynchpin between Powerboat P1’s numerous other departments, ensuring that the commercial and branding team’s objectives are combined with the operations department’s ability to organise and run events, all while keeping the accounting department happy. Add in the fact that the Racing and Event Director has to set rules and regulations, and run races that keep the multitude of teams and manufacturers happy, and you can see why Andy is a man much in demand – both in the office and on events.

Andy’s on-water career began in earnest when he was working for the Ministry of Defence in Portsmouth after being sponsored by them while studying Physics and Electronics at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. “I’d done a lot of outdoor and adventure pursuits at school and through university – basically sailing, mountaineering and ice-climbing,” he explains. “I was more into climbing – Scotland, Wales, Austria, Italy and Spitzbergen, in the north of Norway. But, when I moved to Portsmouth, I used to sail more as I was right on the Solent.

“There was an opportunity to go on the British Steel Challenge [later renamed the BT Global Challenge] – the round-the-world race that was set up by Chay Blyth in 1992/3. I gave up my day job to go and do that. In the four-year gap to the next event, I was a training skipper for about 180 people, then I did the event again as skipper for ‘Save the Children’in 1996/7 [ultimately finishing third]. That was an interesting few years. Three weeks on, and one week off, just constant sailing.

But it was the sinking of the Team Philips giant catamaran (on which Andy was navigator and second-in-command) in a freak mid-Atlantic storm in 2000 that changed Andy’s life in more ways than one. “That was the only time I’ve ever thought ‘This could be it’,” Andy recalls. “And I was basically out of a job overnight. A friend told me there was a job at Volvo that might suit me, though.”

Far from being a job building Swedish saloons, this was a job that took Andy’s sailing competition experience and moved it into event management with the newly renamed Volvo Ocean Race. After the first event in 2001, Andy was promoted to the role of Race Director and, over the next five years, re-defined the way the event was run. Clearly with much success, as the event’s globally renowned profile attests.

But, after seven years, Andy was keen to explore new horizons. “The Volvo Ocean Race was an interesting challenge,” he explains. “You’ve got to make sure you give them the best event within the constraints of budget, time and location. You’re in charge of writing race instructions and event programmes. But I was looking to move for several reasons. It was still a challenging job, because there was something new every day, but I needed a total change. Seven years was enough.

“I was approached about Powerboat P1, and decided it was worth finding out more. The first question [Chairman] Asif [Rangoonwala] asked me was why I wanted to leave an exceptionally safe job with a Swedish company, who look after employees extremely well. But, for me, the exciting thing about Powerboat P1 was the potential that it had, given the new management team, and the fact that – in the last five years – the championship hadn’t moved as far forward as it should have done.

“The biggest challenge was learning a totally new environment in a very short space of time,” Andy continues. “I started in March 2008 – just two months before the first race – so we were very quickly on event, making decisions, when we’d never even been to a race before. We then had four events in two months, and – for everyone in Powerboat P1 – three of them were totally new venues, which makes it a big test for everyone. Only in Malta could we benefit from previous experience holding the event.

One of Andy’s short-term aims for the Powerboat P1 championship has been tightening up Powerboat P1’s rulebook. “The regulations for sailing are more in advance of powerboat racing’s rules, but they’ve had more time to evolve and become more definitive,” he says. “The UIM rules are full of holes because of the way they were developed, and we’re trying to change that for the better of the sport. I don’t want to write it so that it outlaws anything or alienates anyone, but it needs someone to take it by the scruff of the neck.”

Long-term, though, Andy’s aim is on further improving how events are organised. “The first thing I wanted to do was get the basics in order, particularly on the sporting side,” Andy says. “Once that’s up and running, and everything is safe, secure and competitive for the teams, then you can start looking at the bigger picture. We’ve still got a few things to sort, but we’re a long way there.”

Which brings us back to the idea of having to be a benign dictator, balancing the needs of teams, manufacturers, sponsors and event organisers. “Running this championship is a very delicate balance,” Andy admits. “You’ve got the venues to consider, the quality of the show and the image of the championship, and the sporting aspect. You’ve got diesel boats versus petrol boats. You’ve got big boats, versus little boats. You’ve got the balance between shorter courses, and long straights that allow the boats to stretch their legs.

“Being a benign dictator is a nice way to be if you can manage it. Someone has to set the rules, but you have to do it for the betterment of the teams and the manufacturers. You absolutely have to listen to them, but then judge what’s best for everyone. It will be absolutely nothing without the teams there, but we’ve got a lot of new interest for next year and that’s really satisfying.”