A chat with Russell Coutts
By Sean Downey

Photo © Thierry Martinez

One of the perks of working for YachtRacing.com is getting the chance to speak with the leaders of our sport. One person, in particular, rises to the top as a true gentleman and wonderful ambassador:

Russell Coutts, gold medal Olympian, match racing champion, successful America's Cup challenger and defender, took time from his busy schedule to speak with us.

Q: What do you think of the consensus favoring Team Alinghi going into the Louis Vuitton Cup?

RC: I'm not sure whether there's much value to that. Look at world cup soccer look at Wimbledon, look at all the big sporting events this year and none of the favorites have done any good. So if we are one of the favorites, hopefully we don't continue on with the tradition of this year.

I think people are looking toward some of the so called "bigger syndicates" to perform but, the reality is that this is an America's Cup probably like no other in that all of the teams have done a fair amount of preparation. And a fair amount is probably a little bit of an understatement really, I mean all of the teams have been sailing well over probably 18 months, some of them in older boats and all of them have built new boats early.

They all seem to have well-organized programs. You know this is going to be very, very competitive and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see one of the so-called smaller teams, and you know I say that a little tongue in cheek because there are real no real small teams this time, do really well.

Q: On the subject of smaller teams, when we asked Paul Cayard to rank the competition he ranked Alinghi at the top, stating, quote:
"[Switzerland's] Alinghi [led by Coutts] is gonna be tough because they have the most solid sailing team that's been through the most battles together, [along with] a number of AmericaOne guys that are there. The big question mark for them is what are they gonna get for their boat? The Auckland venue will help them because it's a very tricky venue, not just a one-way racetrack. There is opportunity for good tactics, good starts, good match racing skills to make up for a slight deficit in boat speed."
What is your reaction to his statements?

RC: Well you know with regards to both parts of that question of the design and sailing one. When you look around these groups all of them have strong sailing teams. You know, there's not any of the teams that are particularly weak. They've all got strong people and skills in their team.

As a collection of sailors in big boats, you wouldn't have much more a competitive environment than what you have now. So, I don't think that there's much more that distinguishes our team much from the others in terms to sailing ability. We do have a fair bit of experience I think which could help us, mind you, in terms of generating new ideas and looking at things from a different angle. We do have a lot of new people as well, and some of the new teams, particularly teams like the British and such, could actually benefit from that providing that they have enough experience within their group and I'm sure they have.

Now the design teams, frankly, I don't know why we get such a low rating. When you look at our design team, I think we have some very solid performers in there with a pretty wide experience base again. A lot of them are from a collection of backgrounds and have a pretty diverse range of experience. So, I think we will be very competitive in terms of design and I believe we'll be in there in terms of sailing.

But, the proof is after October, and without knowing exactly what the others have been developing and what they've done. For sure I'm pretty happy with what we've achieved and in some ways surprised at some of the improvements we've made. That's really the fascinating thing about this Cup. If you look at it quite honestly, nobody can pick a winner at this stage.

Some think they can...

RC: Well some people think they can but I've read various reports that I certainly disagree with. I look back to say 1992 when everyone wrote Bill Koch off, and they won easily, and in 1995 when nobody really rated Team New Zealand at that stage, I think we were ranked 5th by a poll of international journalists. Then in 2000 quite a few people were picking Prada to beat New Zealand. So, for me it's a new thing to be picked in a team that's up near the top and we'll see if it's a reality or not, but for me it really doesn't matter a whole lot at this stage.

Q: Team New Zealand has stated that if they were to lose the Cup, they would be unable to challenge in the next series. Some may attribute this to the loss of key members of the team, including yourself and the tragic death of Sir Peter Blake. What are your true feelings about possibly taking the cup away from your compatriots in New Zealand?

RC: Well, the first part to that is I'm not sure that the assumption that Team New Zealand couldn't continue with the team. I saw the interview with Tom Schnackenberg on TV and I believe he said, that may be a possibility, we may have to face reality and it may be that we cannot continue this team.

I think for sure it would be tough but it was tough in 1995 after Micheal Faye stepped out of the picture and we really didn't have a solid collection of sponsors until Peter Blake and the other guys managed to sign them up. So, that was up in the air for a long, long time but somehow they managed to do it. I think with a fair amount of determination and perhaps a different style of campaign, it could be done.

The good thing about Team New Zealand is that they have a good base of young guys in there that are pretty committed to being with that team. So, if you've got that, there's no reason why you couldn't do it on perhaps a smaller scale and still be very, very competitive. Don't forget there's a lot of experience in that group and they could take a few shortcuts if they had to.

Q: In regards to the second part, how would it affect you being with Alinghi and taking the cup from New Zealand?

RC: Well, I mean, you've got to be bigger than that, really. This has developed into a fantastic international sport. To be honest with you, it's been happening for a while now. There were some, shall we call them, "high profile" moves this time, but by no means are they the first moves. Let's be honest about it, there's been people spreading around teams for quite a while now. In fact if you look at the 1995 Team New Zealand team, we had quite a few foreign designers on our team. Actually we had a significant foreign design input.

So, at the time when we decided to move, I was probably one of the ones fighting to keep Team New Zealand as it was, probably harder than anyone else. But, with the benefit of hind site you look at it now and what has happened to this event and the fact that we do have such a number of teams on a pretty even basis. That's got to be good for the event doesn't it? And, if it's good for the event, in the long term, it's got to be good for sailing. And, as I sit here, I'm not sure that I was thinking that at the time I left. But, now I think there's a tremendous amount of positives that have come out of it.

Q: You mentioned the young sailors in New Zealand. You were a mentor to Dean Barker in the last Cup, even letting him drive the final and deciding match in 2000. This year he finished ahead of you in the Swedish Match Cup. Do you think you trained him too well?

RC: (Laughs) Maybe! No, they have developed into a fantastic team. He's got a collection of guys around him and they're sailing very, very well. In fact their performance at the Swedish Match Cup was one of the better ones I've seen on the tour in quite a while. They'll be hard to beet for sure and it will send a signal out that Team New Zealand won't be easy to beat. In fact, as most of us on the inside have known all along, they are going to be very hard to beat.

Q: How would you rank the fleet of challengers?

RC: Without knowing exactly what they've come up with in terms of design, it's hard to rate them. I think they've all got strengths and weaknesses. I view this as kind of like the Olympics in a lot of ways in that in the years before the Olympics, quite often certain crews that are putting in more time in than anyone else and [have] reached a better skill level will tend to dominate. Then as everyone starts to come to their peak performance leading into the Olympics, you start to see some changes. You start to see some other crews coming up and matching the so-called "favorites" to use your earlier term.

I see that happening in the Cup these days. There's been such a change and such a greater level of preparation gone into it, and thought, that a lot of these teams that previously may have been uncompetitive have raised their game. So, for me it's pretty hard to pick who the semi-finalists would be.

Q: Why is Team New Zealand going after One World regarding boat design and not Team Alinghi?

RC: Well, there's been no accusations against Alinghi, because there isn't anything there. Bear in mind that there is some subtle differences, in that we didn't hire any designers from Team New Zealand. However, I think a lot of the play around this issue has been over-reaction in some ways.

I look at a guy like Laurie Davidson and I think he's done some tremendously good things for Team New Zealand over the years. I think he came up with what I can recall a very, very significant idea for 1995 and certainly his bow idea for 2000 was probably the significant idea of the whole design program.

So, to now turn around and say that he's stealing those concepts is hard for me to stomach in some ways. But, I really question the relevance of some of that stuff. Laurie could probably draw NZL 60, in fact he would be able to, within a millimeter or so anyway. I doubt whether he would have to steal designs to do so.

Q: In your opinion what is/is not intellectual property? Has there ever been a time when you had to "bite your tongue" in regards to boat design?

RC: I think that everyone's conscious of it. If you look at most of the modern boats, they are completely different to that scene in 2000. And in some ways if you started out with an approach that you were going to copy somebody, then you wouldn't necessarily be able to better them.

I think most of the teams would have looked at what they thought were successful elements of Team New Zealand in 2000, just as Team New Zealand did with America(cubed) and we had people like Doug Peterson on our team and so forth, but, we were very, very conscience at that stage about the intellectual property issues. But, we still sort of looked at the concepts if you like, and I think most of the teams would have done that this time.

I doubt whether anyone would come up with something the same or I'd venture to say a design even similar, because development goes on and different people have different opinions and you may in fact get different test results. Test results meaning via time tank or via the other methods. So, perhaps some of it's made out to be a little bit of an over-reaction particularly in some of the media sources.

Q: How do you feel about two of the world's top sailors, Chris Dickson and Paul Cayard, being sidelined from the Cup when they are still technically a part of the Oracle/BMW Racing team?

RC: Well, I mean, I don't know the details so I don't know if they actually are sidelined. I just read what's in the press. I've got a tremendous amount of respect for both of them. So, obviously if you go out and race either of them you tend to take life seriously(Laughs), if you don't you're probably going to regret it.

I think it's a shame that somebody like Cayard is not involved because I think he's very, very good for the event. There's no question that he's a good competitor, I think he's also a good ambassador for the sport in a lot of ways. It's a shame really at his stage if he has been "put on ice", so to speak, because how many more cups will him and I have? It's an interesting question isn't it?

Q: Cayard is racing on the Farr 40's and in the Star Class in the mean time. Do you envy him?

RC: Oh no, I think for me, although I like that style of sailing, in fact I love that style of sailing, I certainly wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now. I mean this is going to be a fantastic event. I think it will be the best event yet in America's Cup history for sure. Particularly when we get on with the sailing it's going to be a great event.

Q: Does your contract with Ernesto Bertarelli extend beyond the 2003 America's Cup?

RC: Ah, that's private isn't it?(Laughs)

I will say that it's highly likely. I'm certainly enjoying my time here as have a lot of us. Again, with the benefit of hind site, I wouldn't have necessarily said this when I first started with Alinghi, but I think it's been a great move for us, and certainly for me.

I've enjoyed putting the new team together and being part of a new team and working with some new people. That's been fun, so I think it's highly likely you'll see quite a few of us continue.

Q: Two more questions given to me from your friend Rich Roberts to ask:

Has your golf game gone up or down while in Switzerland?

RC: (Laughs) How's Rich's game? The golf game is going pretty well, actually. We just had some time off and I've been playing some great courses in Europe although it's going to take a little bit of a set back over the next few months. I won't get as much time, but I'm enjoying life, that's for sure.

Q: He also wanted to know how you rated your skiing too.

RC: Not as good as the Swiss!

Thank you Russell for you time. It has been a pleasure speaking with you and we at YachtRacing.com wish Team Alinghi the best of luck!