Iain Percy, OBE, is back in Sydney, 23 years after he won an Olympic gold medal in sailing’s Finn class. This time he is competing with scores of others hoping to decarbonise the maritime industry.

Despite his fame as a sailor – he won a second gold in Beijing, and silver in London – the 47-year-old Englishman is not backing wind power. He believes the solution is in electricity and an adaptation of the active hydrofoils he helped develop for the America’s Cup and the international SailGP competition.