Grant Dalton

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Grant Dalton

OBE
Born (1957-07-01) 1 July 1957 (age 66)
Auckland, New Zealand
OccupationSailor

Grant Stanley Dalton OBE (born 1 July 1957) is a New Zealand sailor who has competed in five Whitbread Round the World Races and currently manages Team New Zealand.

Contents

Background

Dalton is a professional sailor who started sailing at the age 8 in the P Class and soon started racing as a member of Maraetai Sailing Club. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1995 New Year Honours, for services to yachting. [1] He was shortlisted in 2001 by the International Sailing Federation for the ISAF World Sailor of the Year Awards.

His other passion away from sailing is motor racing; as an avid F1 fan and with life with Emirates Team New Zealand more settled than a round-the-world campaign, he can now race on the New Zealand motor racing circuit.

Sailing career

Offshore racing

Grant Dalton has raced around the world seven times; the first five as part of the Whitbread Round the World Race later to be called the Volvo Ocean Race. This race has evolved through this time from a race of adventurers to a grand prix yachting event. Dalton has participated in the following major events:

He then skippered and won The Race, a sprint around the world on maxi catamaran Club Med. The race started on 1 January 2001 and finished on 3 March. Club Med broke several records along the way including the distance sailed in 24 hours (656 nautical miles) and the fastest circumnavigation (62 days and 7 hours).

America's Cup

He was called in to restructure and revitalise Team New Zealand after its loss of the America's Cup in February 2003.[ citation needed ]

Motorcycle road racing career

Manx GP & Classic TT

In 2014, at 57 years old, Grant entered the Manx Grand Prix as a newcomer, and also the F1 Classic TT, saying 'I’ve done seven laps around the world and a few America's Cups, but this is the most extreme thing I’ve ever done.' [2]

Dalton's 2014 Classic TT could perhaps best be described as a baptism of fire, given his lack of relevant experience; his best lap in qualifying in 2014 on his F1 Suzuki was 87.799 mph [3] and he did not finish the Classic F1 TT, which was won by fellow Kiwi Bruce Anstey at a race average speed of 121.597 mph, but he was back in 2015 and this time qualified for the F1 TT with a lap of 100.047 mph. [4] He gained a coveted finishers medal for the 2015 Classic F1 TT, with an overall race average speed for the four laps, which includes the time spent stationary in the pits for a gravity-fed refuelling stop, of 97.047 mph. [5]

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References

  1. ↑ "No. 53894". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 31 December 1994. p. 34.
  2. ↑ IOM Today 22 August 2014 Archived 24 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  3. ↑ Classic TT Friday Qualifying Times Bikesport News
  4. ↑ 2015 F1 TT Qualifying – Fastest Laps iomtt.com
  5. ↑ 2015 F1 Classic TT Results iomtt.com
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