Neal McDonald (born 22 July 1963) is a British

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

who has competed in seven

Volvo Ocean Race The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Rac ...

Sailing career

Born in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, McDonald is a qualified naval architect and a member of the

Royal Corps of Naval Constructors The Royal Corps of Naval Constructors (RCNC) is an institution of the British Royal Navy and Admiralty for training in naval architecture, marine, electrical and weapon engineering. It was established by Order in Council in August 1883, on the r ...

. He represented

Great Britain at the 1988 Summer Olympics Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. 345 competitors, 219 men and 126 women, took part in 191 events in 22 sports. British athletes have competed in every ...

, sailing a

Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Dut ...

with

Roger Yeoman Roger Yeoman (born 15 January 1957) is a British sailor. He competed in the Flying Dutchman event at the 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul ...

. They placed sixth in the event. He then won the 1989

International 14 The International 14 is a British racing sailboat, crewed by two sailors. The class was established in 1928. The boat is a developmental sailing class and so the design rules and the boats themselves have changed dramatically over time to keep ...

World Championship with his brother, Duncan McDonald before campaigning in the 49er class, becoming European Champion. McDonald first sailed in the

Whitbread Round the World Race The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Rac ...

during the 1993-94 event on ''

Fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...

''. The boat broke its mast twice in the first 24 hours of the race, and ended up retiring. At the

1995 Louis Vuitton Cup The 4th Louis Vuitton Cup was held in San Diego, United States in 1995. The winner, Team New Zealand, went on to challenge for and win the 1995 America's Cup. The teams Originally ten challengers from seven nations submitted bids to compete for t ...

, McDonald was the mainsail trimmer and tactician for ''Sydney ’95''. He competed in the 1997–98 Whitbread Round the World Race on ''

Silk Cut Silk Cut is a British brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Gallaher Group, a division of Japan Tobacco. The packaging is characterised by a distinctive stark white packet with the brand name in a purple, blue, red, silver, wh ...

'' before sailing The Race in 2000/1 aboard

Grant Dalton Grant Stanley Dalton (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. Background Dalton is a professional sailor who started sailing at the age 8 in th ...

's ''

Club Med Club Med SAS, commonly known as Club Med and previously known as Club Méditerranée SA, is a French travel and tourism operator headquartered in Paris, specializing in all-inclusive holidays. Founded in 1950, the company has been primarily o ...

''. ''Club Med'' won The Race. He then briefly joining ''

GBR Challenge GBR or GbR may refer to: Organisations * GbR (german: Gesellschaft bürgerlichen Rechts, link=no), a form of business entity in Germany * General Botha Regiment, an infantry regiment of the South African Army * Great Britain at the Olympics (Te ...

'' to help them prepare for the

2003 Louis Vuitton Cup The 6th Louis Vuitton Cup was held in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2003. The winner, Alinghi, went on to challenge for and win the 2003 America's Cup. The teams The Yacht Club Punta Ala was the challenger of record. Alinghi Founded by Swiss bus ...

. He left the team to concentrate on preparation for the 2001–02 Volvo Ocean Race, which he sailed with ''

Assa Abloy Assa Abloy AB is a Swedish conglomerate whose offerings include products and services related to locks, doors, gates, and entrance automation. Related products and services include controlling access and confirming identities with keys, cards, ...

''. McDonald was promoted to skipper of ''Assa Abloy'' at the end of the first leg, replacing

Roy Heiner Roy Heiner (born 22 November 1960, in Virginia, Free State, South Africa) is a sailor from the Netherlands, who represented his country at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Pusan. Heiner took 7th place in the Finn. In 1992 Summer Olympics, Barcelona H ...

. With co-skipper

Mark Rudiger Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fin ...

, ''Assa Abloy'' finished second, winning three of the legs - including leg 3 which was the 2001 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. His wife,

Lisa McDonald Lisa McDonald (born 9 July 1974) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician, who was a member of Seanad Éireann from 2007 to 2011. She was a county councillor on Wexford County Council from 2004 to 2007. She was an unsuccessful candidate at the 200 ...

, was the skipper of another entrant, ''

Amer Sports Too ''Amer Sports Too'' is a Volvo Ocean 60 The Whitbread 60 (W60), later known as the Volvo Ocean 60 (VO60), was a class of ocean racing yacht built to a " box rule" specifying key design parameters of the 10 smaller yachts which took part the ...

''. For the 2005–06 Volvo Ocean Race, McDonald was the skipper of the '' Ericsson Racing Team''. ''Ericsson Racing Team'' was beset by technical problems and, after three poor legs, McDonald was demoted to watch captain for leg 5, being replaced by

John Kostecki John Paul Kostecki (born July 7, 1964) is an American competitive sailor of Polish descent. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He started his sailing career in the San Francisco Bay, California. Events World Championships Kostecki won a n ...

. Following the leg, McDonald was promoted back to skipper for the rest of the race. He then joined

Victory Challenge Victory Challenge was a Swedish yacht racing team that competed in 2003 America's Cup and 2007 America's Cup. The team was initiated in 1999 by Swedish businessman Jan Stenbeck, and after his death in August 2002, his son Hugo Stenbeck took over. ...

for the

2007 Louis Vuitton Cup The 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup held in Valencia, Spain, from April 16 to June 6 was the event used to select the challenger for the 2007 America's Cup. Eleven potential challengers competed in the competition which consisted of two round robins, ...

, where he was their traveller and strategist. He was then a watch captain with '' Green Dragon Racing Team'' for the 2008–09 Volvo Ocean Race. McDonald completed his sixth Volvo Ocean Race with '' Team Telefónica'' in 2011-12, again as a watch captain. Following the race he announced his retirement. He accepted an on-shore role for the 2014–15 Volvo Ocean Race, being appointed the performance manager for '' Azzam''. However, he joined the sailing crew for leg 3, replacing an injured Phil Harmer. He has been appointed the sports and performance director of ''

Mapfre Mapfre, S.A. (, officially typeset MAPFRE) is a Spanish multinational insurance company, based in Majadahonda, Madrid. The name comes from the old mutual origin of the company (''Mutualidad de la Agrupación de Propietarios de Fincas Rústicas ...

'' for the 2017–18 Volvo Ocean Race.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Neal 1963 births Living people British male sailors (sport) Sportspeople from Brighton Sailors at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Flying Dutchman Olympic sailors for Great Britain Volvo Ocean Race sailors 1995 America's Cup sailors 2007 America's Cup sailors International 14 class world champions World champions in sailing for Great Britain