fivepointfive - April 2023

GAVIN MCKINNEY INTERVIEW
The Weekend Warrior
…and being ‘killed’ by Bond
Gavin McKinney has spent half a century sailing 5.5 Metres and he is still
looking for that little extra speed. Here he talks about his time in the class,
how it has developed, what the future holds, about being ‘killed’ by James
Bond and about his latest boat.
It’s not unusual to find some fascinating characters in
the 5.5 Metre class, but one with perhaps more than
his fair share of stories to tell is Gavin McKinney. He
is alleged to have taken part in more 5.5 Metre world
championships than any other sailor and started his
5.5 Metre days crewing for the legendary Bobby Symonette.
In a professional capacity, he is one of the world’s foremost
underwater cameraman, working on numerous blockbuster
films including The Abyss and five James Bond films,
including doubling for, and getting killed by 007.
He has recently acquired his fifth 5.5 Metre, and while
he acknowledges he is a weekend warrior, he is still fiercely
competitive. After winning the Scandinavian Gold Cup as crew
for Bobby Symonette in 1977, 1982 and 1983, then twice as helm
in 2000 and 2001, he says the high point was winning the world
championship as helm in 2017, after some 40 years sailing the boat.
Getting into sailing was like riding a bike. “Growing up in
the Bahamas in the 1950s and 1960s, we didn’t have all the
distractions that are everywhere today. For me there was bicycle
riding, swimming and sailing. It just happened. Plus my father
and grandfather sailed.”
With Bobby Symonette as his stepfather, it was probably only
a matter of time before Gavin started to get involved in the 5.5
Metre class. “He had been involved in the 5s for many years. He
was the first person to build a new 5.5 Metre after it was removed
from the Olympics. Some people thought it would be the end of
the class when they were taken out of the Olympics. It is safe to
say there would be no Bahamian 5.5 Metres if it wasn’t for the
influence of Bobby. In fact, if it was not for him the class may
have collapsed after the 1968 Olympics.”
“As a teenager being invited to compete internationally was a
no brainer. I would have done it in any boat, but even at that age
the 5.5 Metre was a hard boat to forget once I sailed on one. For
whatever reason Bobby continued to include me. It was such an
exciting and sophisticated boat. Of course, the boats were very
different then compared to what they are like today. The boats
we raced in the 1970s and 1980s now seem old fashioned, but
at the time they felt so modern.”
Outside of the 5.5 Metre class, “I also sailed other small
boats, including the Laser, Sunfish and the Snipe Class, all of
which I still compete in.”
The boats from The Bahamas made an impression in the
1960s and 1970s with Bobby Symonette’s first Gold Cup win in
1974, followed by two more in 1882 and 1983 with Gavin as crew.
“For many years I sailed with Bobby and Bob Levin. Even
though Bob did not race with Durward Knowles, he was very
much a part of keeping Durward’s boat organised when Durward
won the Gold medal in the Stars in Tokyo in 1964. Bob also
46 • fivepointfive • APRIL 2023