Who are Chris Draper and Seb Menzies?

For Team New Zealand to defend the America’s Cup in 2027, they will need to do it without 3-time winning skipper Peter Burling. With the keys handed to his 2024 co-helm Nathan Outteridge, the question then was who would be on the wheel across the boat.

The newly appointed skipper has let it be known that Chris Draper and Seb Menzies (above) will be getting that opportunity as the team begins training in their AC75 on the Hauraki Gulf, Auckland. Here’s some background on the candidates:

Seb Menzies
Seb began his ascent by winning the 2017 Optimist Class National Championship, and then partnered with Blake McGlashan to win the 2018 420 World Open Championship, a feat they nearly repeated in 2019 where they scored a silver.

That year though (2019) they won the coveted Hempel Youth Sailing World Championships in Gdynia, Poland. After a transition to the 29er skiff class, by 2022, Seb was European Champion and the logical step was to move up to the Olympic 49er class.

Sailing with crew George Lee Rush, they are the 2025 49er European Champions, having won in Thessaloniki, Greece. Seb has also placed a respectable 4th at the 2024 Moth World Championship in Manly, New Zealand.

He got his first taste of the big time as co-helm in the 2024 Youth America’s Cup, and now has gotten his call up to the major leagues.  “We are learning so much off the more senior guys already,” he remarked. “It is cool to be amongst them and getting stuck into the simulator and really looking forward to getting into the AC75.”

Chris Draper
Right up until Barcelona 2024, Chris held a unique record in yachting being the only helmsman from Great Britain ever to contest a Louis Vuitton Cup Final. Back in 2013, he helmed the Luna Rossa AC72 catamaran, ultimately being defeated by his current employer, Emirates Team New Zealand.

The journey to the America’s Cup has been one of international success for Chris who started sailing at a young age and quickly found himself in the RYA Youth programme, run by Jim Saltonstall. He was rapid in 420 dinghies, winning both the Youth and Senior National Championships in 1996.

Having transitioned from the youth dinghies up into the Olympic 49er Class, he was the 2003 World Champion, followed up by European Champion in the class by 2004. In that same year, sailing with Simon Hiscocks, Chris scored the Bronze Medal at the Athens Olympic Games. His sailing journey didn’t stop there, and in 2006 he was crowned 49er World Champion, as well as winning the Mumm 30 World Championship.

Further successes followed, including a 49er European championship win in 2010, and inevitably he caught the eye of the America’s Cup world. In 2011, he was brought into the Team Korea America’s Cup challenge, helming all the events in the AC45 World Series in 2011. With the America’s Cup World Series in place for 2012, Chris joined the two-boat catamaran program of Luna Rossa as helmsman.

Success came quickly with the Luna Rossa Piranha team, winning the first ACWS fleet racing event in Naples, followed by a second in the Venice regatta match-racing soon after. The ‘Piranhas’ went on to win the fleet racing in Newport, Rhode Island that year and placed second in San Francisco.

The following year, Chris was the defeated finalist in the Louis Vuitton Cup and stayed with the Luna Rossa team until their eventual withdrawal from the 35th America’s Cup in 2015. Thereafter he joined the Softbank Team Japan as Sailing Team Manager, Tactician, and Wing Trimmer for the America’s Cup World Series leading into the 2017 America’s Cup in Bermuda.

After several years on the global foiling circuit, Chris returned to the America’s Cup in 2023 when he was appointed as Head of Performance for Athena Pathway, a program dedicated to preparing British Youth and Women’s teams for the 2024 America’s Cup regattas.

In May 2025, Chris joined Emirates Team New Zealand for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup in Naples and will contest for the co-helm spot as one of two non-nationals permitted.

Details: https://www.americascup.com/

Defender New Zealand and Challenger of Record from Great Britain confirmed the Protocol for the 38th America’s Cup on August 12, 2025. The close of the initial entry period was October 31, 2025, with late entries considered up to March 31, 2026. If no USA team participates in the 38th America’s Cup, it will be the first time in the event’s 175-year history.

Current entrants:
• Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) – Defender
• Athena Racing (GBR) – Challenger of Record
• Luna Rossa (ITA) – Challenger
• Tudor Team Alinghi (SUI) – Challenger
• K-Challenge (FRA) – Challenger

After the 2024 event, Barcelona, Spain declined hosting another edition, with the venue moved to Naples, Italy. Challenger racing begins in the spring before the 38th Match on July 10-18, 2027.

Preliminary Regattas:*
May 21-24 – Cagliari, Sardinia

* More to be announced.

Source: America’s Cup, Scuttlebutt