America’s Cup capsize: Russell Coutts gets it wrong
World's greatest keelboat sailor he may be, but Russell Coutts
shows he has a few things to learn in multihulls, as this spectacular capsize
in the AC45 catamaran shows. Indeed this is new territory for everyone, as the
professional sailing world learns how to tame these scary cats....
“A joke.” That was how Dean Barker summed up his view of the AC45 racing in Venice in May. From a spectator’s point of view, I thought it was fantastic. But the light airs drifting off St Mark’s Square has reopened the debate about which should take precedence in the America’s Cup - the sport, or the show.
Australia’s shock withdrawal from the Cup is just the latest example of what makes following the America’s Cup so frustrating. I’m struggling to buy into Russell Coutts’s vision for a more commercial event, but one thing we can at least celebrate is the proliferation of hydrofoiling sailcraft that are now appearing in the wake of last year’s amazing final.
Even after five Emmy Award nominations for the sensational TV coverage last year, is the America’s Cup really any closer to being a commercially viable brand? I can’t see it myself, but you have to admire Russell Coutts’s tenacity in trying to drag the oldest event in sport into the modern age.
If you’re serious about getting the world to notice the America’s Cup, who better than the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for some wall-to-wall media coverage? That’s what Emirates Team New Zealand enjoyed recently during the royal visit downunder. Shame it wasn’t Sir Ben Ainslie who managed to get the royal visit, although his fledgling campaign seems to be moving along very nicely anyway.
I’ve got my fingers crossed that the Oatleys have more backbone than other recent challengers of record. The wine magnates from downunder are struggling to recruit the top-draw Australians for their fledgling campaign, but they do at least have the power to hold Larry Ellison’s team to the kind of cost-control measures that have long been promised, but which are yet to materialise.