John Forbes (born 29, January 1970) is an Australian sailor and has competed at three Olympic Games, winning a bronze at Barcelona 1992 and silver in 2000 at the Sydney Games.
Forbes has won seven World Championships, four European Championships, and ten Australian Championships. He was voted Australian Sailor of the Year four times (91/92, 01/02, 02/03 & 03/04) and is also an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.
Biography
John Forbes was introduced to catamaran sailing on an international level at the age of 12. He and his father Bob went to the USA to compete in the Nacra 5.2 North American Championships in 1982, where they were placed fourth. The following year, John and Bob attended the inaugural Nacra 5.2 World Championship, where they came second. John then traveled to Monterey Bay with fellow Australian David Renouf where they finished 4th place in the Nacra 5.8 North American Championship.
After this "deep-end dunking" as a crew, John took over the helm of various types of catamarans and in 1985 he won Australian Combined High Schools Championship outright together with his brother Rod on a Nacra 5.2 whilst winning a couple of the races in the series on handicap/yardstick as well outright.
With Rod as his crew, John also came 3rd in the 1985 Nacra NSW State Championship, 1st in the 1986 Nacra NSW State Championship, 2nd in the Prindle 18 National Championship, and 4th in the Nacra Australian Championship.
John's first introduction to the International Tornado class was at the Australian Championship 1986/87 in Perth, where, whilst only 16, he helmed his first Tornado catamaran and placed 10th amongst a star-studded fleet including Multi Olympic Gold Medalist Poul Elvstrom, "the Great Dane."
His youthful success and versatility, together with his accumulated competitive experience on different sized catamarans, resulted in him being approached by 1984 Olympic Bronze Medalist Chris Cairns, who asked John to sail with him. Together, they won the Kiel Week Regatta in 1987 followed by a second place in the Tornado class World Championship of 1987.
In 1989, John teamed up with renowned Hobie sailor Rod Waterhouse to win the Australian Tornado Championship with a perfect score, winning all 8 heats. Rod Waterhouse's inability to travel overseas in 1989 led John to join up with longtime sailing rival Mitch Booth, and together they won the 1989 World Championship (Houston, Texas) by an astounding 36 points ahead of Giorgio Zuccoli from Italy. They also won the Australian Tornado Championships in 1990 and 1991.
A role reversal in 1991 saw John again taking over the helm to win the inaugural Nacra 5.8 World Championship (Harvey Bay, Queensland). Mitch and John's credits also include winning the Tornado Australian Championships in 1992, 1993 & 1994 and in 1992 they won their second Tornado World Championship (Perth, Australia).
Gold and Silver medals were also won in the Barcelona Pre-Olympic Games in 1990 and 1991 respectively, and the pair were rewarded when they won a bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. As a result, they were jointly awarded the prestigious 'New South Wales Yachtsman of the Year' trophy in November 1991 and again in 1992. As a final toast, they were again jointly honored with the distinguished award of Ampol Australian Yachtsman of the Year in 1992.
He scored second place at the 1993 Tornado World Championship (Long Beach, USA) and a third place at the 1994 World Championship (Bastard, Sweden).
A twelve-year relationship with the Tornado class had also seen John give back an enormous amount of personal time and effort to both the Australian International Tornado Association (AITA) and the International Tornado Association (ITA). He was elected President of the AITA in 1994 taking over the reins from Dr Peter Blaxland who had been President for the past 20 years. John's significant contributions to the class both nationally and internationally led him to be re-elected again in 1996. At the ITA AGM in Canada in August 1995, John was also elected as President of the ITA in charge of International and Olympic affairs and was also responsible for the election of the new younger and proactive Technical Committee of the ITA.
January 1995 saw a major change to John's Olympic Tornado Campaign with the much publicized break-up with his partner Mitch Booth.
John teamed up with his main competitor and longtime catamaran sailor Darren Bundock who had impressed Forbes during his 1992 Olympic Games Campaign. Together they established a successful two-boat training campaign as part of their lead-up to the 1996 Selection Regattas.