The Herreshoff Marine Museum and the America’s Cup Hall of Fame announced that the 2024 class of inductees for the America’s Cup Hall of Fame will be comprised of a journalist, a pit man, a navigator and a genoa trimmer who come from four different countries. Josh Belsky, Bob Fisher, Kevin Shoebridge and Juan Vila will be honored on October 14, 2024, at the America’s Cup Hall of Fame Induction gala at Spain’s Maritime Museum of Barcelona. 

“This year’s class reflects the America’s Cup’s intent to foster ‘friendly competition between foreign countries’,” said America’s Cup Hall of Fame Selection Committee Chair Steven Tsuchiya. “We’re honoring four individuals—from four different nations—united by their genuine affection for each other and for yachting’s greatest prize.” 

The America’s Cup Hall of Fame has inducted over a hundred individuals since its founding in 1992. Candidates eligible for consideration include members of the crew, designers, builders, syndicate leaders, supporters, chroniclers, and other individuals of merit. 

“What a great group!”, said America’s Cup Hall of Fame President & Executive Director Bill Lynn. “We have a journalist, a pit man, a navigator and a genoa trimmer who are all among the best in the world at what they do (or did!), and their home countries have all played a pivotal role in the history of the Cup.  The only tough part is that Bob Fisher won’t be there for what promises to be an unforgettable celebration in Barcelona.”

The four inductees are:

Josh Belsky (USA) (b. 1966)

Josh Belsky is a United States sailor who has competed with five America’s Cup teams, winning three times. Belsky hails from Rye, New York, and grew up racing Dyer Dhows, Blue Jays, Lasers, Solings, Shields and J24s.

Belskey credits John Thomson, Jr., owner of the IOR50 Infinity, as his most significant sailing mentor. Thomson guided Josh in his participation in the 1992 San Diego series of the America’s Cup. Belsky served as a pit person on America3 and Stars & Stripes for U.S. teams. He later sailed on Ef Language, skippered by Paul Cayard during the 1998 Whitbread Round-The-World-Race. Belsky was again part of a winning America’s Cup team under Ernesto Bertarelli, while representing the Société Nautique de Genève.

Belsky is now retired from professional yacht racing, and is an avid skier and kite surfer. He splits his time between Aspen, Colorado, and Hood River, Oregon.

Bob Fisher (GBR) (1935 – 2021)

Bob Fisher won his first race at the age of two, helmed by his father, in a Brightlingsea One-Design. Raised in Essex on England’s East Coast, his love of sailing was influenced by his location as well as the America’s Cup. The Cup became a significant part of Fisher’s life, leading him to author An Absorbing Interest, published in 2007, about every race in his career.

An Absorbing Interest was one of 31 books written or co-authored by Fisher, along with his magnum opus Catamaran Sailing, which he published in 1968. Fisher won the Hornet and Fireball dinghy World Championships in 1958, 1970 and 1966, as well as the Little America’s Cup (1967), the IYRU (now World Sailing) trials for a new Olympic catamaran (Tornado) and Class 1V in the two-handed Round Britain & Ireland Race with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in 1989.

Broadcasting was a large part of Fisher’s career, producing for the BBC and later as a commentator. He embraced the freedom of freelance work and attended every America’s Cup match from 1974 to 2017. Fisher was well known and well-respected, and was known to wager with Jim Hardy at the Black Pearl Bar in Newport, Rhode Island. He was broadcasting on Australia’s ABC network when Australia II defeated Liberty in the historic 1983 match. Fisher is widely read in The Guardian and The Observer newspapers along with countless magazines around the world.

Kevin Shoebridge (NZL) (b. 1963)

Kevin Shoebridge is a four-time winner of the America’s Cup with immense experience. Nicknamed “Shoebie,” he is currently in his tenth America’s Cup campaign of a 40-year career.

Shoebridge competed in the Michael Fay-led New Zealand Challenge in 1986 as a sail trimmer for KZ-7 Kiwi Magic for the 1987 America’s Cup cycle in Fremantle. The New Zealanders had won 38 consecutive races in the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series before they were beaten by Stars & Stripes in the Finals. Shoebridge and his team secured New Zealand’s first America’s Cup victory in San Diego in 1995, and again in 2000, defeating Luna Rossa. Shoebridge then joined One World (USA) for the 2003 America’s Cup in Auckland, though they were eliminated.

As a co-leader of Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ), Shoebie supervised the design, construction, sailing operations and logistics as the Cup transitioned from monohulls to AC72 wing-sailed foiling catamarans. In 2013, ETNZ faced Oracle Team USA in what would be the longest-ever America’s Cup match. Oracle prevailed.

ETNZ returned to the race in 2017 with more innovations, winning that year. ETNZ developed the radical AC75 foiling monohull class for the 2021 and 2024 America’s Cups, which the team successfully defended in 2021. Shoebridge remains the Chief Operations Officer of the Cup, and was part of one of the most successful teams in Cup history.

Juan Vila (ESP) (b. 1961)

Since 1992, Juan Vila has participated in ten consecutive Cup cycles, from San Diego to the current cycle in his hometown of Barcelona. He has competed in five America’s Cup matches and has won three times—in 2003 and 2007 with the Swiss team Alinghi, and later with Oracle Team USA in 2013.

Vila began sailing at age eight on keelboats on the Mediterranean and began competing in the Whitbread Around the World Race right out of university. He specialized in navigation, a critical role aboard yachts before the adoption of GPS in yacht racing. Vila’s first job aboard an America’s Cup vessel was navigator, which he did aboard España ’92, Rijoa de España (1995), and Bravo España (2000). Vila then joined Ernesto Bertarelli’s Swiss challenger Alinghi for the 2003 Cup cycle. The 2003 Cup victory remains Vila’s favorite, as it was his first Cup win and because he helped bring the Auld Mug to Europe for the first time in the sport’s history.

In 2007, Vila achieved his second Cup victory as the navigator of Alinghi’s SUI100 in Valencia, Spain. His third Cup win came while sailing aboard Oracle Team USA in 2013. More recently, Vila served with Ineos Team UK in the AC75 class in 2021. Vila has raced five times in the Ocean Race from 1989-90, and later in 2002 with Illbruck, becoming the first Spanish sailor to win the race. He also won the Jules Verne Trophy in 2012 on the 40-meter trimaran Banque Populaire V.