Russell Coutts
YACHT online met the conductor of the 35th America's Cup for a face-to-face conversation: Olympic champion, match race ace, yacht designer and cup driver Russell Coutts is considered to be the creator of the modern Ärdes catamaran cup on foils. The 55-year-old pushed through the new cup format against much opposition at the side of two-time cup winner and defender Larry Ellison. Some criticisms of his "America's Cup for the Facebook Generation" have rightly fallen silent, others have remained. YACHT online experienced an open, self-critical and surprisingly relaxed boss in the AC Club on Bermuda with a view of the Great Sound's cup stage, who bows to his opponents - who are also his compatriots.
Mr. Coutts, how are you doing in view of the current cup duel and the poor prospects for your Oracle Team USA, which are 3-0 down against the Kiwis?
Above all, I think it's a shame that it has been so unambiguous so far. We saw so many exciting races in the Challenger Playoffs. It is unfortunate that that is not the case in the final of all places.
Do you think that your team can still approach Emirates Team New Zealand?
Well, the guys are working hard on it. But it's different from four years ago. At the time, I was convinced that Oracle had the better package. They just had to learn to get the most out of it and to sail optimally. This time the kiwifruit clearly have the better package. So the point now is to improve the Oracle package as much as possible. But it is a very steep mountain that you have to climb.
According to Russell Coutts, they have a steep mountain ahead of them if they want to catch up with Emirates Team New Zealand this time as well: Oracle Team USA
What happens if the kiwis win the cup? Do you think any part of your new America's Cup concept will survive?
I have no doubt that as the America's Cup organizer you would do a good job. I'm not sure they would adopt all parts of the concept though. I think good TV coverage will be in their best interests too. I believe they will keep the offshore races. You could change the boats …
… the rumor persists that if the Kiwis win, they might work with an Italian Challenger of Record led by Patrizio Bertelli ("LunRossa") and agree on a monohull with foils. And that, although Bertelli is considered very superstitious and some Italian Cup experts doubt that the Prada patriarch would take on the role of Challenger of Record, because in the history of the Cup a Challenger of Record has never been able to win …
They could change the boats if they think it will make the America's Cup a better event. That is why Oracle introduced the foiling catamarans. We could have continued on AC72 catamarans. Larry just wanted to make a better event out of the cup.
The fact that his team is so far behind was not part of the plan …
No! I spoke to him this week. Of course, he would have preferred it if his team had been more successful. But I think he was most disappointed that we didn't see better, more exciting races last weekend. We all hoped for a good fight. We now hope that Oracle made some good changes in preparation. So far it has been pretty one-sided.
Not good pictures for racing team owners and cup renovators Larry Ellison: His Oracle Team US has only been behind the New Zealanders in the 35th America's Cup match
The rather restrictive set of rules makes big changes, e.g. with the foils, almost impossible, doesn't it?
I think there is a lot that can be improved. The foils too. So you will make changes. We'll have to see if that's enough.
Have you made any decisions that you have made for this America's Cup that you regret?
I don't feel very sorry. For the future I would probably change the boats so that they can also be sailed in winds of 25 knots. I don't think races should be canceled. If you took the current boats, they would have to get a smaller rig for this purpose. In addition, these boats do not perform particularly well in very light winds, they do not look so good. Maybe you could give them a light wind gennaker or something like that. Also, in an ideal world, we would have more teams from more countries. However, it has to be competitive teams with competitive boats. We saw last weekend that if a team is not competitive, then that is not good. That being said, I think our overall package for the 35th America's Cup is pretty good.
For boats of similar quality you would theoretically have to tighten the standard corset even more?
I would think so, yes. On the other hand, we are now sailing the first edition with the new boats. It could move in the right direction with the next edition.
In Part 2 of the interview, Russell Coutts pays homage tomorrow to New Zealand's new sailing star Peter Burling. He says that he had a cheerful dinner with his former intimate enemy Ernesto Bertarelli. Coutts raves about the innovative kiwi culture and his new passion
For this team, the duel for the silver pot is not going according to plan: The defending champions have so far been clearly inferior to the New Zealanders