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Engineer Gets Once-In-a-Lifetime Opportunity

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Terrel Silvers, age 59, often dreamed of sailing in the America's Cup, but now his dream is going to become a reality. Silvers recently won a design contest sponsored by AmericaOne (an America's Cup 2000 syndicate), Hewlett-Packard and Engineering-e.com (a division of MacNeal Schwendler Corporation). He designed a new jib halyard lock that will be used on AmericaOne's America's Cup 2000 boat. The reward for winning this contest is a spot on the AmericaOne crew.

"It's more than a dream of a lifetime," said Silvers. "Everybody dreams of this, but there's a remote chance of it actually happening."

Silvers is a manager of equipment engineering at Ameron. Over 120 designs were entered in the contest, but Silvers used his background in physics and tossed in a little creativity to come up with the winning design.

The jib is a small sail that is used in addition to the main sail. The halyard is the rope that is used to raise the sail. The mechanism that Silvers designed will automatically lock the jib in place once it reaches the top of the mast. There are no moving parts involved, which means they won't having to worry about parts failing.

Silvers bought a sailboat after college and enjoyed recreational sailing for many years, but eventually getting married and starting a family meant took priority over sailing. He now lives in Iowa Park, Texas, far from the waters he once enjoyed. Even though he hasn't sailed in over ten years, he still considers it one of his passions.

Soon he and his wife will be flown to Auckland, New Zealand, site of the America's Cup competition, where all of their meals and accommodations will be paid for. Silvers will be the "17th crew member" on AmericaOne's boat which will be competing in the Louis Vuitton Round Robin I races, the preliminary races for the America's Cup.

"I'm anxious to meet the crew and designers," said Silvers. "It's almost unbelievable. It will register when I step on the boat."

Some competitors expected to have a chance at winning the prestigious sailing trophy include AmericaOne (U.S.), AmericaTrue (U.S.), Prada (Italy) and Team New Zealand (New Zealand). It should be a fast-paced, action-filled event as the world's most experienced crews and fastest boats zip across the water in Auckland, New Zealand. Only one crew will take the trophy home, but be sure to follow along as teams are eliminated from the event one by one until only one emerges as the best in the world.

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