For the first time in more than two decades, the America’s Cup will not involve Sir Russell Coutts. It’s like Punch without Judy.
Coutts is the most successful helmsman in the event’s 167-year history, an Olympic gold medallist, 12 times world champion and twice Sailor of the Year award winner.
When Grant Dalton and Peter Burling swooped on the Auld Mug with remorseless intention in Bermuda two years ago, Coutts finally succumbed to a rare position – coming second.
Post-Bermuda, he moved home but not to be part of the 36th America’s Cup regatta in Auckland’s harbour in 2021.
Instead he began investing time with a philanthropic bent not normally associated with his ruthless sailing image. A recent Sky TV documentary revealed a softer side, highlighting his development work with young sailors in his commodore role at the Manly Yacht Club on Auckland’s Hibiscus Coast.
Coutts left Team New Zealand after its 2000 defence to join Swiss syndicate Alinghi, which defeated Team New Zealand in 2003. He then joined Oracle Team USA in 2007, managing its 2010 triumph against Alinghi, the 2013 defence against Team New Zealand and its unsuccessful defence against the Kiwi group in Bermuda in 2017.
Coutts was well rewarded by Oracle boss Larry Ellison during his successful years at the helm, building significant real estate assets in Auckland and Central Otago.
Ellison has also stood behind him since the Bermuda defeat and, while he may not be involved in the 2021 Cup, Sir Russell has still found a way to remain relevant to top-class sailing through the American billionaire.
This year he and Ellison successfully launched an ambitious international series titled SailGP, which features match and fleet racing among the modified foiling catamarans used in the 2017 America’s Cup.
Six teams from Australia, the US, the UK, France, Japan and China are contesting the inaugural series, which launched successfully in Sydney in April and is being billed as a “Formula 1” series on water.
Coutts sees the series as a pathway for young sailors and the series complementing rather than competing with the America’s Cup. He said he would love to see a New Zealand team in his series.
2018: $65 million
Rawdon Christie was talking to Sir Russell Coutts on August 9, 2019.