Aksel Magdahl (born 6 March 1979, in

Tönsberg The Tönsberg is a hill ridge in the Teutoburg Forest that reaches a height of and lies in the district of Kreis Lippe, Lippe near Oerlinghausen. Hermann's Way runs over the Tönsberg for about 3.5 km. Points of interest Along Hermann's ...

), is a Norwegian

yacht racing Yacht racing is a Sailing (sport), sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course mark ...

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prim ...

, author of the tactics that took the boat Ericsson 3 to the victory in the fifth leg of the

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 ...

. The stage was the longest in the history of the race and it was disputed between the Chinese city of

Qingdao Qingdao, Mandarin: , (Qingdao Mandarin: t͡ɕʰiŋ˧˩ tɒ˥) is a prefecture-level city in the eastern Shandong Province of China. Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, Qingdao was long an important fortress. In 1897, the city was ceded to G ...

and in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Background

In early 1985, master

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and yachtsman Kjell-Rune Magdahl bought an

Optimist dinghy The Optimist is a small, single-handed dinghy sailing, sailing dinghy intended for use by young people up to the age of 15. The Optimist is one of the two most popular sailing dinghies in the world, with over 150,000 boats officially regis ...

for his son Aksel, who had just turned six. The hope was that little Aksel would develop an interest in

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

s and

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

, just like his dad. But Aksel's interest in boats almost never set sail. He sailed his Optimist at home off Tønsberg on the

Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; ) is an inlet in southeastern Norway. The fjord begins at the small village of Bonn in Frogn, Frogn Municipality and stretching northwards to the city of Oslo, and then curving to the east and then south again. It then flows s ...

’s west coast, but at the age of 11, other interests, such as

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

s and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, took the upper hand. When he was 19, he rekindled his interest in

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wa ...

sailing after he completed his

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...

, not in the navy but with an assault team in the Norwegian

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

. Aksel studied

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

at the BI Norwegian School of Management in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, but his sailing career bloomed, and in 2004 two-time

skipper Knut Frostad brought him on board his ORMA60 trimaran Nokia Academy, winning the Nokia Oops Cup total in their first season together. With Nokia Academy he combined his computer skills and sailing talent to become a full-blood professional racing

, and he also managed this project for two of his three years there. It was the same Knut Frostad who, in early 2007, told Aksel that he might be Anders Lewander's and Magnus “Mange” Olsson's first choice as navigator for

Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008–09. Aksel and Mange went on to lead the underdog team Ericsson 3, and the inexperienced team surprised the sailing world with three consecutive third places in the first three legs of the race after solid offshore sailing and some unusual navigation. He applied new decision-making- and analysis techniques and became established as one of the top offshore navigators in his first try. Outside sailing, Aksel won the regional road cycling championship in

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

, Norway in 2011, and is a keen

private pilot A private pilot licence (PPL) or private pilot certificate is a type of pilot licence that allows the holder to act as pilot in command of an aircraft privately (not for remuneration). The basic licence requirements are determined by the Inter ...

Work

2004-´06 Nokia Oops Cup with Team Nokia Academy ORMA60 trimaran 2008-´09 Volvo Ocean Race Participation Fourth place Offshore: Legs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 In-Port: Alicante, Singapore, Boston, Galway, Stockholm 2011-´12 Volvo Ocean Race, Team Sanya Sailing Achievements 2004–Nokia Oops Cup, multihull 60-foot (1st place), SORC (2nd place), North American Championship, Farr40 (3rd place) 2005–Nokia Oops Cup, multihull 60-foot (2nd place), IMS Nationals, mainsail/tactics (Champion) 2004–Nokia Oops Cup, multihull 60-foot (Champion), Faerder-Skagen, multihull record, Soling Nationals (2nd place) 2003–IMS European Championship (2nd place), Several 1st-3rd positions with WCST

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magdahl, Aksel Norwegian male sailors (sport) 1979 births Living people Volvo Ocean Race sailors