Yachting: Macbeth a local Incredible Hulk

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

They said it couldn't be done.

But Team New Zealand have turned a finely tuned athlete who had never sailed a boat into a hulking grinder ready for the America's Cup.

Jonathan Macbeth was a leading multisport athlete spotted when Sir Peter Blake bought a kayak from him.

After a year, much of it trialing on the black boats without pay, Macbeth was hired to help to defend the Cup.

He then packed on a whopping 24kg to become one of the strong guys in the engine room of the boat.

"We have a rarity right here - they said it couldn't be done," said trimmer Simon Daubney.

"We tried to do it in previous America's Cups - like KZ7 - got a big guy and tried to teach him to grind. It never worked.

"For someone with such limited sailing experience to go as far as he has is unbelievable.

"But he has picked it up so well, because he is smart and asked all the right questions."

Macbeth, aged 26, realised quickly that the way to become part of the team was to "keep my head down and stay out of trouble."

"It was important to make a real effort to listen to these guys," he said.

"I knew nothing before.

"The boys take care of me, and show me what to do. There are so many guys backing you up when things get rough - there's always someone to lean on. "The thing is, we've all got a common goal - to keep the Cup."

Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts recognised Macbeth's focus and verve early on, but did not give him an answer for a year.

"We made our personnel decisions very slowly - we had to get the right guys," he said.

"But if you ask any guy around here, they will give him a heap of praise.

"He will race on America's Cup boats, if not this time then in the future."

Coutts has said that the grinders, who have one of the most physically demanding jobs on the Cup boats, may be swapped around during the matches to keep them fresh. But Macbeth would not be cut up if he did not sail on the raceboat this time.

"It's a real experience game, and I'm just one of the new boys. This cup is so important for us," he said.

"My whole attitude is to learn as much as I can. I'd do a round-the-world race - if someone would take me."

Macbeth has given up his other sporting passions to concentrate on grinding. He missed last weekend's Coast to Coast, an event in which he finished fourth in 1997. His body is not the right shape any more.

His crewmates have nicknamed him "the Great Tractor Macbeth" for his massive weight gain - from 79kg to 103kg.

Said a crewmate: "He's gone from being the Ferrari of athletes to a Massey Ferguson tractor."