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10:43 PM Mon 11 May 2009 GMT
Sunday morning 10 May (NZT) the top rating SportsWorld program on Newstalk ZB ran an extended 'conversation' with BMW Oracle skipper and CEO Russell Coutts. Here we present an edited transcript of that 'conversation'.
The long discussion touched on a number of points, including the efforts to arrange meetings and a dialog with Alinghi and Societe Nautique de Geneve, the speed that has been reached in BOR90, and his thoughts on that 90ft multihull.
The full SportsWorld show can be heard by clicking hereand forward tracking to about 30 minutes into the audio. Note this link will be overwritten on Sunday 17 May. Top New Zealand and international yachting broadcaster, Peter Montgomery, hosts SportsWorld on Newstalk ZB at 0800hrs every Sunday morning, the show can be viewed in delay or via live streaming at www.newstalk.co.nz
Interview Transcript: Russell Coutts on Sportsworld
Peter Montgomery: With respect to those who have been meeting or communicating since the court decision, without Larry Allison and Ernesto Bertarelli, how can you have any resolution and compromise to get the America's Cup back on track?
Russell Coutts: Obviously with Larry and Ernesto they need to reach a situation that is acceptable to them, but I know from Larry Allison's perspective if we had of been happy to make agreement on the points that we needed to we could look them in the eye and say that this was going to be a fair event. He probably would have been happy with that.
PM: Grant Dalton keeps saying Alinghi is the villain in all of this. Are they?
RC: From our perspective we've certainly tried. We've put numerous proposals to them in writing and to date we haven't received any response to those proposals in writing. We haven't even really had the chance to sit down and discuss the issues with them. The only time that I've been involved in anything like that was in a teleconference with Hamish Ross and Brad and I think Melinda Erkelens (General Counsel Golden Gate YC) and Tom Ehman (Head of external Affairs, BMW Oracle Racing) were there on our side as well. At that stage, this was way back prior to the court decision, I honestly thought that the thing would be settled and we would be in a monohull conventional America's Cup competition. It's hugely unfortunate I believe that that didn't happen. When I look at many of the proposals that have been made there hasn't really been a good reason given as to what was unacceptable about those proposals.
PM: The British and many other challengers that are involved with Alinghi trying to get together a project if they won the court case which they didn't - they claim that Alinghi have got off their high horse and modified an awful lot from what their demands of course that we know they acknowledge themselves were wrong and which set you challenging them.
RC: There were quite a few teams that were anxious to get things solved. A lot of them are relying on commercial sponsorship to exist. I think it's fair to say that there were some teams out there if not quite a few of them that would have been prepared to almost take any position just to get the thing settled. We weren't in that situation. We wanted it settled properly and frankly needed the wording of the rules to be properly addressed. I don't think it's reasonable to expect people to spend vast amounts of money on these campaigns which is what invariably happens if some of the fundamental issues aren't adequately addressed. Some of them - I believe in fact all of them - were pretty simple issues to solve. When you look back at our proposals that were put in writing, it's difficult to actually identify anything there that's unreasonable. And nobody's ever said when you keep going back to those - nobody's ever given us a good answer as to what was unreasonable about any of those offers to fix things.
PM: Sir Keith Mills the boss of the British Origin Challenge - he was talking between both you and Alinghi. He reckons it was just an ant's whisker from getting agreement. Is that right?
RC: Very much so. Just after the first court decision we combined with a lot of the other prominent teams and put together an offer to resolve things and suggested wording in each clause of the document to move things forward. There was something like ten points in that document, all relatively easy fixers.
PM: Why if it was so close didn't it happen? Is the fault on both sides?
RC: I guess it's really hard to understand why we couldn't have had a meeting at that stage to nut out those final issues. As everyone involved in it knows it was down to one or two issues. We didn't even get the chance to meet and finally resolve it. Melinda Erkelens was talking to Lucien Masmejan (General Counsel SNG/Alinghi) at that stage and we thought it was about to be solved and then Lucien Masmejan cut off negotiations and said we're not going to resolve this.
PM: And even higher than them was Ernesto and Larry meeting. There's just no chance of them meeting and it looks like you're on target now for racing these giant multihulls?
RC: That seems to be the situation. There's been a lot of he said, you said sort of things that have been stated at various times. It's one of the reasons why in this latest meeting we wanted an independent observer there to record the facts and give the facts of what was said and what was being discussed and so forth out there to the other people that are interested and competing in the event and also members of the media and so forth so that they get the true picture so that you don't get the situation where both parties walk out of the meeting and said this and the other side claims no they said this. There's a lot of mixed communication. We felt it was important to be transparent and open in those discussions, particularly at this stage.
PM: Are you concerned about what it's doing to the sport you love and what this thing could do to friendships?
RC: Absolutely. Of course I think all most everyone wanted to see a conventional event go ahead. The last event was a fantastic event. One of the positions that we've taken to solve it is why don't we just adopt those rules? They worked so well last time. Why not go back to that? It was a fantastic event. Obviously with a few of the good ideas that have come out since the cost cutting measures and so forth I think are all good initiatives. I haven't got a good answer as to why that wouldn't work.
PM: Tell us about this huge multihull that you've been sailing in San Diego. We assume that Alinghi is coming out with something to match it.
RC: There's no doubt that they are one of a kind machines and you're probably never going to see machines like that in the future. In our lifetime the technology involved is just incredible. The boats are very fast and spectacular. No doubt people interested in technology and fast boats are going to be turned on by this. Whether or not it's the right forum for America's Cup is open to debate, but as a design project it's definitely appealing to some of the designers.
PM: Have you done 32 knots in eight knots of wind?
RC: It's true that we've certainly done more than 30 knots, and it doesn't take much wind to go more than 30 knots. It's incredible. These things are so powerful; they've got so much stability; they're so light. Enormous sail planes, obviously. There have been a lot of multihulls built maybe offshore oriented multihulls, but to have inshore around the buoys races built to this scale is just another dimension.
PM: Do you have a moment where you're sad about the stalemate that the America's Cup is in or do you think this is about a principle and that I'm a part of Oracle with Larry Allison and we're going to stand and not bend over?
RC: Certainly the rules as they were, were not acceptable to Larry and the people in Oracle took a good hard look at our position throughout the last period of dispute and at no time have we reached a position where we felt that we could compromise enough to or make suggestions that could get the thing back on track at least without the other side moving. For example we accepted the latest design rule. Obviously all the cost cutting measures that were put in place were good suggestions and so forth, but there were other fundamental things with those rules that weren't changed that are important for any sports event, we believe. When you start compromising on those sorts of things then I believe you're really starting to change the event dramatically - change the sport in a bad way. I think most people who compete in these big sporting events and the people that like to watch it like to watch a real event - a sporting event that's governed under a set of rules that gives enough equality between the contestants to actually have a real competition. Once you start compromising those key values I think you're losing a lot.
PM: The key thing now coming up is the decision on when the next match will be: next February or May. Russell has said he will not be aboard the Oracle. I reminded Russell that 25 years ago this August he won his Olympic Gold Medal.
RC: The times have moved on, that's for sure. It's been a fantastic run for me. I've had a lot of great moments in the sport and a lot of great adventures travelling and living overseas. Looking back on Los Angeles it's still a special memory for sure. That was a turning point somewhat in my sailing career and it was an unexpected result for me. I knew I had a chance but to win the actual gold medal was - I was clearly not the favourite going into that event. But I had a great regatta and great memories ever since.
PM: It's regularly written in the sailing media that you're the most influential sailor in modern times. Does that embarrass you particularly since you've come out of the closet with your design ability with your RC44s?
RC: There have been a lot of great sailors, so it's hard to compare performance, but I've enjoyed my time in the sport. I've had some good success and for the most part I've tried to let the results do the talking. That's not to say that I haven't said some stupid things over the years but I've enjoyed being in these competitions. I still enjoy competing at the top and trying to win races; it still gets my adrenalin going and it's still fun to be sailing at that level. And I'm still competing at a good level. There are certain parts where I might not be as sharp as I once was, but for the most part I could still win races and still win regattas.
PM: The fire in your Arrowtown property and the death of your property manager was a sad thing to come home to.
RC: Of course. It was an absolute tragedy. You can rebuild a house, that's the least of our concerns. Just a sad day for a lot of people and I guess the good thing was I was able to be at Phil's funeral and it's a fantastic community down there. He was involved in the local Arrowtown school as is his wife Helen and the support that they got was just something to be seen. The community down there really gets behind each other and it's great to head down to the South Island every now and then and see that.
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