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We're here with HMS
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warrior for a special edition of the Performance
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People podcast, brought to you by JP Morgan.
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And the reason for that is we want to tell a story.
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What happened in San Francisco in the America's
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Cup, September 2013,
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and how it led to sell JP's origins to tell that tale.
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We're going to rely on the three key protagonists that day
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who won the America's Cup for America,
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and are also heavily involved in SailGP future.
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They are SailGP co-founder Sir Russell Coutts,
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Jemmy Spithill, the Team Italy Red bull,
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SailGP team co-owner and co-founder, and Sir Ben Ainslie.
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The Emirates GBR SailGP team co-owner and co-founder.
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So in 2013,
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Oracle Team USA retained the America's Cup, but only just.
0:49
The action that unfolded in San Francisco
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in the weeks of September 2013 has since been described
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as just that, the greatest sporting comeback.
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So if you picked up a newspaper somewhere in New Zealand
0:59
on the morning of the 26th of September.
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The day after that victory and the day after that. Kiwis.
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The fact they defeated the Kiwis nine eight to take the old mug.
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You would have read about how Sir Russell Coutts had masterminded that victory
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and saved the day, turned the fortunes
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around of the American team.
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If you happen to go past the newsstand in Australia,
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Jemmy Spithill was the saviour of the day.
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What a skipper to have out of sight
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the enemy and piled all the pressure
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onto the other side when the backs were well and truly
1:28
against the wall, resulting in the comeback of all comebacks.
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And here in Britain, even the tabloids wrote about a yacht race
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unlike any other, making Sir Ben Ainslie front page news.
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And let's face it, sailing doesn't often get front page,
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so that was pretty impressive by all feats.
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A knight in shining armour coming to the rescue of a beleaguered team.
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And I think there's probably a little bit of truth
1:50
in all of those headlines, but there is a lot more besides as well.
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So for the next 30 minutes or so, we thought we'd
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sort of dig in to the heart of everything
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to find out what exactly happened in those weeks of battle.
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Was there a defining moment where things came together?
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What makes a winning team,
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and where really was the mast actually held together
2:09
by super glue in in the race
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that defined everything and decided the America's Cup.
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So lots to unpack.
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We're also going to round up
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how we got here, because the cup was such a big part of that
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and where we are right now where SailGP is concerned.
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So Russell, I guess take us back to staring down.
2:28
In fact, look, you're staring down a gun barrel right now,
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so let's take you back to that 2013 moment
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where you're staring, staring down the gun barrel of 81
2:38
at the time against the Kiwis.
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What was the sentiment? What were you feeling?
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And and actually just give us some context to the whole campaign.
2:45
What were the expectations going in?
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Well, first of all, I would say
2:50
in all honesty,
2:52
Jemmy Spithill was probably the only one that believed that we could turn it around.
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I just wanted to get a few race wins under our belt
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to make it less embarrassing.
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You know, like if somebody had said to me at that stage
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and this is sad to say, but it's the truth.
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Somebody had said to me, I'll give you eight, four.
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I'd say, take that.
3:09
That's nine four.
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Should I take that? Done. You know, I just want to.
3:13
I just didn't want it to be nine one,
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you know, and and lose like that.
3:18
So, um, but it was a remarkable turnaround.
3:22
And and what I'd say is,
3:24
yeah, there were a number of factors to it,
3:27
but the expectations going into the event,
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I mean, did you know it was going to be that hard?
3:30
Did you have any idea it was going to be that tricky?
3:33
We were worried.
3:35
You know, the Kiwis looked fast.
3:37
They they and we'd had some setbacks.
3:41
Jemmy decided to go out in a storm one day
3:43
and capsize the boat and wrecked it.
3:45
So that didn't help.
3:46
That set us back about three months.
3:49
You know very much a thing to do for the
3:52
for the as an Australian, but wasn't the smartest thing
3:56
either I've ever seen. But anyway.
3:58
Yeah. So, so so they, they
3:60
we were worried about them from day one actually.
4:03
Or I was Jemmy. Just just tell us it from your perspective.
4:05
Like Russell said, you wrecked a boat going into the campaign.
4:08
But but genuinely, how were you guys feeling.
4:11
Because you knew what had sort of happened in the lead up to that
4:13
and how dominant they'd been against Luna
4:15
Rossa in the lead up to the Cup match.
4:17
Yeah. Well, I think one thing was
4:19
we all think foiling is quite normal now.
4:22
You know, when you look at wing foiling, you look at the F-15s out there.
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Well, that wasn't the case back then.
4:27
And in actual fact, the Kiwis were the first team
4:31
to really master that.
4:33
And they did it down in New Zealand.
4:35
And it was so much of a shock that someone took a photograph
4:39
down in New Zealand off this place called North Head,
4:41
and it was the Kiwis foiling
4:43
back to the base into Auckland Harbour.
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We all saw this photo, and there was a debate in the team
4:49
on whether or not that was photoshopped, you know,
4:52
and that's how outrageous it seemed to us.
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But then after some time, no, they are actually foiling.
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Holy shit. We better get our act together and figure out how to do that,
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because that looks quite fast.
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And, um, I probably rushed us into it.
5:06
And before you knew it, we actually had a huge crash out
5:08
in San Francisco Bay.
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This was, I think, maybe the fifth day of sailing.
5:13
And as Russell said,
5:15
I mean, it was an episode.
5:17
We got dragged out offshore off the coast of, of, uh,
5:20
San Francisco, out under the bridge, a complete ride off.
5:24
And and what it did in a development game.
5:28
It we lost time, you know,
5:29
and you just can't by the time
5:31
they're not going to delay the race for you.
5:32
And that was critical time.
5:34
So going into the race, we knew that
5:36
the Kiwis had a lot more time.
5:38
They had already figured out foiling earlier than us,
5:41
and they had been racing and the challenger series.
5:43
So we really were starting and on the back foot.
5:47
Ben, you you weren't supposed to be on the boat.
5:50
I mean, we'll get to that in just a minute, but where were you
5:53
when Jemmy stacked it with this one?
5:55
I was actually on a golf course.
5:59
And, uh.
6:00
Yeah, I got this, uh, message on my phone.
6:02
I was about a couple of hundred miles away
6:04
in a very nice golf course called Pebble Beach.
6:06
I got this message on my phone saying
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boat capsized,
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semi wrecks drifting out to sea.
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Everyone get to the dock fast.
6:14
And it's not much I can do about that.
6:16
So put my phone back in my pocket and carry on playing golf.
6:19
But, um, Jemmy and Russell probably don't know that until now.
6:23
But I mean, when Jemmy says, you know,
6:26
you saw this photo of this boat and it was foiling,
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I mean, that, you know, just put that in context.
6:31
I mean, the job that you guys had to do
6:33
to get back, to even get remotely close to them,
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knowing that that was sort of a new development in the game.
6:38
And we what did that what did that feel like for the whole team?
6:41
Yeah, it's really interesting. I mean, firstly, it was a phenomenal effort
6:44
even to just salvage what was left and get it back to the dock.
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A huge, huge team effort.
6:48
And as frustrating as Jemmy says it was in terms of the development time
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and you can't get it back.
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I think what you often find in these scenarios
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and ultimately what got the team through in the end
6:59
when it came to the competition was the galvanising effect of something like that again.
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You can either just, you know, throw the towel and say, well, we're cooked.
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You know, there's no way we can come back from this
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or you can fight and keep pushing.
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And the team very much did that under Jemmy and Russell's leadership.
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And I think again as it
7:17
when push came to shove at the end of the competition,
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that had a big, big impact.
7:21
So after day three it was four down basically.
7:25
So alarm bells are starting to ring.
7:27
And then there's this sort of postponement card that gets pulled.
7:30
So just tell us a little bit about that, Russell,
7:32
and why you decided to pull it at that time.
7:34
And actually how much that changed things
7:36
and what you needed to do to get back on track.
7:38
Yeah. Well, um,
7:41
uh, it was pretty obvious things weren't going well.
7:44
And we were making we were,
7:47
we actually had a boat that potentially was
7:49
we knew was faster than theirs.
7:51
It had a better, better aerodynamic package,
7:55
but we knew that we were behind
7:58
in terms of the sailing development,
8:01
and we weren't sailing at best technically.
8:04
And the guy that was onboard the boat doing the tactics was
8:08
was a really top tactician, you know.
8:11
But in sports, if you start to lose confidence,
8:15
it's really hard to get that back
8:17
in the middle of a tough series like that.
8:19
So we felt we needed to make a change.
8:21
It was, to be honest with you, it was as good as Ben
8:24
as it was a highly desperate move because Ben had never,
8:27
never used that the technical equipment
8:30
as a tactician on board the boat before.
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And so, so what were you thinking?
8:35
Like how how did that conversation unfold, where you went?
8:38
Do you know what? Let's just shove him on.
8:40
We were kind of thinking,
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we can't get too much worse than this, you know?
8:44
And and we but we also knew that Ben's pretty damn good, you know,
8:48
and if anyone was going to turn it around
8:50
and b b be him, you know, so we thought there was a better chance
8:54
than sticking with what we had, That.
8:57
That feels like a complete hospital pass. Ben, if you're you.
9:00
I mean, I remember because we'd got together at that point,
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and I remember him coming back to the apartment in San Francisco
9:06
with this iPad and going,
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I've got to figure out how to use this in the next 12 hours
9:10
because we're back in cop action.
9:12
So just sort of talk people through actually what you had to do
9:15
and the fact, like Russell alluded to, you hadn't done it before.
9:18
You didn't know what you were using.
9:20
Yeah, I mean, it's true.
9:21
There were a few people that were saying to me,
9:23
messaging me, you know, what are you doing?
9:25
This is is a complete hospital pass.
9:27
But but it was
9:29
you know, I'd only been with the team for ten, 12 months,
9:32
but it was a it was a it was a great team.
9:36
The challenges that you'd seen, everyone had gone through in the work ethic
9:39
that was going into it.
9:40
Uh, you know, of course you're going to step up
9:42
if asked John, who was the tactician.
9:45
JC really, as Russell says, super talented sailor.
9:48
And I have to say, he did a phenomenal job
9:51
because as frustrated as he would have been,
9:54
there was a whole lot of stuff that I didn't know
9:56
I'd actually never been a tactician on any boat, let alone in America's Cup boat.
9:59
Jemmy and I had never sailed together.
10:01
We'd raced against each other,
10:03
and so there was a lot of unknowns.
10:05
And to answer the question, the tactical app,
10:07
which was effectively an iPad sewn into the life jacket.
10:10
In those days, I had absolutely no idea
10:13
what half of the data in that meant or how it was presented.
10:16
So I did a bit of cramming with Jake John.
10:19
He was really good. You know, we got together.
10:21
He taught me through it, and for sure it took a bit of time
10:24
to get to grips with it and to really fit in with the team.
10:26
But, you know, again, I have to say, you know, huge credit to Jemmy.
10:30
Thomas Slingsby was also at the back of the boat
10:32
and the rest of the team for just making it work somehow.
10:36
Anyway, we made it work.
10:38
Yeah. And what's interesting about what you say there
10:40
is that you two have always been like rivals.
10:42
Like real rivals on the water, like no love lost.
10:45
And then suddenly you find yourself in a situation
10:48
where you've got to pull together
10:50
and, you know, as two leaders,
10:52
two macho men, you've got to somehow find a way to get through that
10:56
and team together to be the best possible version of yourself.
10:59
So, Jemmy, just talk me through that.
11:01
What did you think when Russell went?
11:02
He's getting on the boat with you.
11:04
I think at that stage it was.
11:06
It was obvious it wasn't working on the boat.
11:09
And, uh, you know, we weren't sailing the boat that well.
11:13
There was a few things we needed to change and get better at,
11:15
but at the same time, our decisions were not great.
11:18
And then, you know, when we looked at it, we said, well,
11:20
we've got this guy sitting there on the land.
11:22
He's won more Olympic medals than anyone in the sport world championships.
11:27
Yeah, this guy could be a pretty good option.
11:29
Um, not a bad guy to bring in off the bench.
11:32
So, yeah, it was.
11:34
Yeah. I think one of the coolest things in sports is at this stage,
11:38
Ben and I had just been going head to head for,
11:41
you know, a number of years.
11:42
And if I think of the people that I love racing, it's
11:46
both of these guys because they're absolutely relentless.
11:49
You know, they mate, you know, they might come across as polite
11:52
and they may be Sir Ben and Sir
11:55
Russell, I can tell you, you get these guys on the battlefield.
11:59
I've never frigging brutal.
12:00
I've never. I've reviewed and allowed
12:02
and I've never run you into a committee vote before.
12:07
But I at the end of the day,
12:11
I mean, the guys, I love racing these guys
12:13
because they are relentless.
12:16
You know, they hold. No, they just go for the kill.
12:18
And I love that.
12:19
So then when you're in a situation like that
12:22
where you're in the fight of your life, man,
12:24
pretty happy to have a guy like that next to me on the boat.
12:27
And then as, as Ben said, between he and Tom Slingsby,
12:30
it was one of these unique moments where it just worked
12:33
between the three of us, and we just bought in and we're like, okay,
12:36
we're going to have to start fighting our way out of this corner.
12:39
And there was just this mutual respect.
12:41
And, uh, yeah, it's one of the coolest things with sport.
12:43
Who would have. We never would have thought we probably would ever have the opportunity
12:47
to to race together.
12:49
But I mean, for me, it was one of the highlights of my career.
12:52
So it was. Yeah. Sport does that.
12:54
Yeah. Except it didn't do it straight away,
12:56
because then you came out and you went six nothing down.
12:59
So then it was like, okay, what were the conversations
13:01
like with Larry Ellison at that time?
13:04
I mean, he's obviously the founder of of SailGP
13:07
and a huge sailing fan and had backed the Cup multiple times.
13:11
I mean, what was he saying to you at that moment in time?
13:14
Yeah, it's really interesting.
13:16
As I said, we we really believe
13:18
that the boat was potentially faster.
13:22
Um, so it really didn't make sense
13:25
that it that it wouldn't be.
13:27
And it's,
13:28
you know, over those races, even though we were still losing,
13:31
we were definitely making big jumps.
13:34
And so you could you could actually see, as I said, I could see,
13:38
see us at least winning a few races and making it less embarrassing.
13:42
So so that was that was what it was.
13:44
Things did start to turn around, as you rightly say.
13:47
You're seven one down, but looking faster and crucially, back to winning ways.
13:51
Ben, just talk about the Kiwi doc.
13:53
And as you started to put races on the board
13:56
and he started to win stuff.
13:58
What did that begin to look like as
13:60
you went past the Kiwi dock day by day?
14:02
Yeah. So I mean, uh,
14:05
just I'm sure there are some Kiwis in the audience here.
14:08
So this isn't a Kiwi bashing session.
14:10
And, uh, I think, as we said, they
14:11
that you at Jimmy's okay with that,
14:13
but they did do a phenomenal job.
14:15
And, uh, you know, as you said,
14:17
got themselves up to eight nil up,
14:19
but we, we sort of started this comeback
14:22
and then I can't remember which day it was.
14:24
And we were towing out to the racecourse
14:25
and we had to tow past the Kiwi dock.
14:27
And I said to Jemmy, hey, why don't we just go
14:30
past the Kiwi base and give those guys a bit of a wave?
14:34
And he said, oh yeah, okay.
14:35
So we went in there and gave them a wave,
14:38
and there were a bunch of them stood at the end of their dock.
14:40
So we gave them a wave and we, we
14:43
we definitely didn't get a wave back.
14:45
We got quite the opposite.
14:46
I think it was either 1 or 2 fingers.
14:48
Um, yeah.
14:50
So anyway, next day we sort of
14:52
do the same thing and, you know, same sort of response.
14:55
And it sort of became a bit of a habit.
14:56
But it's funny, the more races that we won, the less
15:00
the less of the Kiwi team were at the end of the dock.
15:02
And then of course, we got to this final winner takes all race
15:07
and we towed past the Kiwi Kiwi dock
15:09
and there was there were no Kiwis on the dock.
15:12
So I think that gave a good sense
15:14
of the mindset within, within that camp.
15:16
And that talks to Jemmy I guess as well.
15:18
Like the mindset of of elite sport.
15:21
You know, how much of it is what's going on up here
15:23
as well as actually what's going on,
15:25
you know, physically in the heat of battle.
15:27
So that press conference
15:30
that we saw a little bit of earlier on where you alluded to,
15:33
well, actually you talk through it because it's better
15:35
coming from you than it is coming from me.
15:37
But did you dream that up beforehand
15:39
or was that off the cuff, like, how did that sort of emerge?
15:42
No, it was more I mean, Ben kind of alluded to it
15:44
that as a team, you you, um,
15:47
ironically, I thought the big accident,
15:50
which was my fault, the big crash,
15:52
although it put us on the back foot big time.
15:55
At the same time, there was one benefit and that was
15:57
we got to see the team in a really tough moment
15:60
and the team, as Ben said, had to galvanise.
16:02
Or we could have either just said,
16:04
oh, that's an excuse and the race is over, which honestly,
16:07
a few people probably did or okay,
16:09
how are we going to get ourselves out of this?
16:11
How are we going to respond and fight back?
16:13
So from that point of view, when we got to this situation,
16:17
we'd kind of already been through
16:18
a couple of tough moments and we kind of knew
16:20
we could rely on each other.
16:22
And then Ben and I and and a couple of others,
16:25
we had to daily basis face up to the press conference.
16:28
And obviously there's a huge Kiwi contingent of media
16:31
and all of the questions were directed at us.
16:34
All they wanted to talk about was us losing.
16:37
And after a certain while, I was just like, bugger it, you know?
16:41
Well, let's talk about you losing, you know, like what?
16:43
You know, what about a few guys lost?
16:44
So I mean, you're at match point.
16:47
Um, so it was, it was just at that point, I'm like, that's it.
16:51
You know, um, I'm, I'm sick of them
16:53
talking about our team as losers
16:57
and thinking that we can't win.
16:59
I think we still can, you know.
17:00
And so, yeah, that's what it came down to.
17:02
It was just getting sick and tired of the New Zealand media,
17:06
which probably Russell has had some experience there I know plenty.
17:10
So, so d10 I mean, you know,
17:12
JP Morgan talk a lot about defining moments.
17:14
And this was one of those absolute sliding doors moments
17:17
because the Kiwis had a lead of more than a kilometre, something like that.
17:22
But then the clock happened.
17:24
It was the weather and the clock and everything else. And
17:25
they and they timed out.
17:27
I mean, when something like that happens, do you dare to dream?
17:31
Yeah.
17:32
Well, the, the, uh, broadcaster New Zealand said that.
17:37
Oh, this just shows the whole thing's rigged.
17:39
And, you know, the rules are all rigged and so forth.
17:42
But in actual fact, it was that they just exceeded the time limit.
17:45
You know, so it was incredibly
17:48
you could imagine being so close to victory
17:50
because they only missed by what, a third of a leg or something.
17:54
90s. 90s.
17:56
And they would have one.
17:58
And and and the time limit of three.
18:00
You could imagine being so close.
18:02
You can almost. You've almost got it.
18:05
I'm sure they were opening champagne bottles in New Zealand.
18:07
And then all of a sudden, oh, the race is over.
18:10
Time has expired, you know.
18:12
So yeah, it probably was pretty tough
18:15
psychologically for them, I think.
18:17
And I guess in moments like that, Jemmy,
18:18
you wonder if you can come back from that because that kind of
18:21
can really break a person
18:23
or a team in a moment like that.
18:25
And so you find a way back to eight eight.
18:29
And did you feel after that that you know,
18:31
the impossible can happen and we could clinch this, but for the superglue story.
18:36
I mean, what's the what's the truth to that.
18:38
Yeah. I mean, I think that was probably the hardest race for everyone,
18:41
because when you finally sort of climb
18:43
this summit and you get level to eight
18:45
all, then it's like, well, to make that comeback and then drop the ball.
18:51
I mean that, you know.
18:52
So I think that's really when there was starting
18:54
to be a bit of pressure felt on the team.
18:57
But as a lot of people may not know
18:59
how we would do this, we would take the boats
19:02
to the big spectator dock and there would be a dock out show.
19:06
So it'd be like a rugby team coming out of the tunnel
19:08
and the athletes would go on, go on the boat,
19:11
and we get about 40 minutes of sailing before the race.
19:13
So we off we, we did this.
19:15
We got on the boat as soon as we sheet it on out in the racecourse.
19:18
Just a huge carbon fibre sound bang like an explosion.
19:22
And we'd broken this system in the wing.
19:25
So anyway, we had to sit there with a chase boat
19:28
and then one of the boat,
19:30
our head shore guy tugboat came on and a few other guys
19:34
and they just up the rig and they are.
19:36
Meanwhile, Team New Zealand is just doing laps, just warming up on the racetrack.
19:40
The clock's ticking down.
19:41
Ben and I just sort of looking at our watches like,
19:44
I mean, is this is it really going to go down like this?
19:46
You know, we've finally got here and I'll never forget Ben.
19:49
And I was sort of looking at the screen and discussing
19:51
or trying to distract ourselves, looking at the weather.
19:53
And then someone just started grinding carbon fibre
19:56
on the back of the boat with an angle grinder, just.
19:59
And they're sending it up. And we just looked at one
20:01
another and just started laughing, you know,
20:03
and that sort of kind of defused it a bit.
20:05
But anyway, Jeff, who was up there injecting this, uh, this, this,
20:09
they call it meth, but it's like a high grade, um, resin.
20:13
He comes down. There's literally a few minutes to go
20:15
before the entry comes back to us, and he goes,
20:17
hey, guys, the resin is still going off.
20:20
You know, it hasn't yet cured.
20:22
Just take it easy.
20:23
You know, for the next sort of 15 minutes or so and we're like,
20:26
oh yeah, no problem Jeff.
20:27
Yeah. But no, literally off
20:30
we went 40 knots straight into the start and that was it.
20:32
But it, it if it wasn't for Jeff and Mark and that team
20:38
man, it just goes to show how reliant you are.
20:40
You know on this team around around the athletes as well.
20:44
And we uh and we we
20:46
so we got off the start then we and we and then we're going
20:49
hurtling across the reach I don't know what speed you know.
20:52
Felt like a million miles an hour.
20:54
And, uh. And then we stuffed it.
20:56
And I think everyone on the boat.
20:58
Came off the foil and everything on the boat,
21:00
then loads up, you know, huge amount.
21:03
And we were just that,
21:04
like, it felt like it was about a minute of time
21:07
where we were just waiting for this thing
21:09
to just blow up and thank God it held together.
21:11
That was probably the scariest moment of the whole thing for most of us.
21:14
What were you thinking at that time, Russell?
21:17
Did you know all of this was happening?
21:18
Oh, yeah.
21:20
Oh, yeah.
21:21
You know when when, uh,
21:23
when Jeff was up the rig and and he had a glue gun,
21:27
and and he just was up there, and he was
21:29
he was shaking and moving around and shaking
21:32
and just trying to glue all these pieces.
21:34
Afterwards, it just looked like a patchwork.
21:37
You know, it just stuck pieces on, just trying to hold it together.
21:40
Looked really rough, didn't it?
21:42
And, and but it held together somehow.
21:44
But but I sort of thought what else can possibly,
21:47
you know, can go wrong at that point anyway?
21:50
we weren't confident it would hold together, but it did somehow.
21:54
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is elite sport
21:56
for you at the highest possible level of competition,
21:59
but typical of most winning sports people.
22:02
So this lot all sort of packed up
22:04
after a big night that night and shipped out,
22:06
and they haven't really talked about it too much since,
22:09
which is why we really wanted to get stuck into it this evening.
22:12
But I guess in summary, Ben, how would you sort of
22:14
sum up that that campaign before we sort of move on to
22:17
what has now become,
22:18
you know, the platform that you all, you all sit on, which is SailGP?
22:22
Yeah. I think we all just look back on that.
22:25
Anyone who was involved with that, uh, that cup,
22:28
it was just one of those incredible moments in time.
22:31
Just to be a part of it,
22:33
uh, was was just a privilege, really,
22:37
because it was wasn't an easy campaign.
22:40
As Jemmy said, lots of things went wrong.
22:42
Everyone had to dig deep massively to, to pull through,
22:46
uh, and then to pull through the competition like that
22:49
and to be in that moment.
22:51
Uh, and I think it's something that, you know,
22:54
you come away, you often hear about rugby teams
22:56
and they have a reunion 20 or 30 years later.
22:59
And hopefully we'll do do that some sometime down the road.
23:02
We we tried we had a little thing in Barcelona last year.
23:06
But you just remember those moments
23:09
with a good group of people and and pulling through something quite remarkable.
23:13
So it's very special.
23:14
Jemmy at any point you feel sorry for the Kiwis?
23:16
Never. Not once, not once.
23:20
But but again, funny enough, like as Ben saying,
23:23
um, you know, during that time,
23:26
the, uh, Dean Barker, who was steering the other boat,
23:28
I literally wanted to kill that guy.
23:30
I did, you know, I'm going to be honest with you,
23:33
but I've got to say, after that
23:34
we became really good friends.
23:37
And I think when I think back as a kid
23:39
playing rugby or doing those sporting things,
23:41
I mean, that's one of the coolest things I think there is that.
23:44
Yeah, of course, like we all have,
23:46
you want to go out there and really beat the other guy
23:49
and really kill them on the field.
23:51
But at the end, to be able to come back
23:54
and, you know, show some respect.
23:56
And for Dean and I, we're in the same role.
23:58
So effectively we knew the pressure that both was going on.
24:02
He had the weight of a nation.
24:03
He was at that point.
24:05
But the beauty of sport, I think, is not only the internal relationships
24:09
you build in the team, it's also with your competitors.
24:12
And that's something I think has been missing until I've seen SailGP.
24:17
I've got to tell you the culture in SailGP
24:20
and looking at the competitors
24:21
and the fact that we're in this pit lane side by side,
24:25
it's it's the best I've seen.
24:26
And it reminds me of, you know, playing in a rugby team
24:30
that it's it's so healthy.
24:31
At the end of the race, you'll see all of the teams
24:33
are really quite stoked if another team's done
24:35
well or, you know, when Martin won the race.
24:38
All of us were stoked and went up and
24:40
and so that to me is a sign of a very healthy competition.
24:44
And I guess, Russell, for you as a as a co-founder of this circuit,
24:48
I mean, this is what you and Larry
24:50
Ellison envisaged all those years ago
24:52
that you wanted to sort of turn the cup into.
24:55
And you've now got it with SailGP,
24:57
which is this circuit that operates year
24:58
in and year out with the guys at the absolute
25:01
top of their top of their game being able to sail on these boats.
25:05
Yeah, sure.
25:07
But, but but I tell you what, the thing I want to go back to
25:09
though, is a story I, Ben, just reminded me about that
25:14
hand-waving, hand-waving story where they're going past the dock.
25:17
And I was I was thinking to myself years before that,
25:21
when I was racing in the America's Cup,
25:24
and it reminded me how fierce the media can be, you know?
25:28
So, um, that was the year that the Australian boat,
25:31
Jemmy broke in half and sank to the bottom of the ocean. Don't remember it.
25:35
Yeah. And and anyway, we were sailing past them,
25:40
I think just prior to that.
25:44
And Brad Butterworth, my tactician, did
25:47
a similar wave at the Australian crew,
25:50
and they took that gesture
25:52
to be something more than a wave.
25:54
And anyway, the Australian media got hold of this and at the press conference
25:58
they said they quizzed them about it and they said Brad,
26:01
they said you were giving a hand gesture to the Australian team.
26:07
What was all that about? And he said, well yes, it's in.
26:09
It's in the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron handbook,
26:12
a friendly way that competitors are passing by.
26:18
Oh, God.
26:19
Honestly.
26:21
SailGP 2019
26:24
the first of the of five now seasons.
26:27
How important was it to get these two on board?
26:30
Why do you need people like Jemmy, people like Ben
26:32
in the mix to to really ramp up
26:34
what you're doing here with SailGP?
26:37
Well, the great thing about these two
26:38
sitting to my left is that they were obviously,
26:42
you know, incredible sailors and still are.
26:45
Um, but they've now transitioned into, you know,
26:49
and how great it is to be able to continue your sport in another role.
26:53
I'm certainly loving what I'm doing today.
26:56
It says it's such a challenge to try and bring sailing
26:59
to a much wider audience.
27:01
And but these two guys,
27:04
you know, taking ownership in their teams and so forth.
27:06
It's just another dimension and being able to be involved in,
27:10
in the sport that you love.
27:12
You know, onwards, I think I think it's just fantastic.
27:15
And and the fact that they're, you know,
27:17
doing such a great job with their teams as well,
27:20
you know, both commercially and obviously as is sort of,
27:24
um, as a, as advisors
27:27
and bringing these new athletes on, I think it's fantastic.
27:31
It's exactly what the sport needs.
27:33
Um, Jemmy, how tricky is it not to be on the boat?
27:37
I mean, when you watch what they were doing out there today,
27:40
great conditions, like, you know, champagne style stuff.
27:43
I mean, are you aching to be back out there,
27:46
or are you very happy to have made this transition.
27:49
It depends like its death, I think, Ben shares.
27:52
It's very, very challenging watching
27:54
when you're used to being in the battle on the boat
27:57
and, uh, but but at the same time,
28:01
I mean, you know, leading on from what Russell was saying.
28:03
I mean, to
28:05
to have the opportunity as an athlete to,
28:08
to have a career on the water and racing,
28:11
but then have the opportunity to get involved in the ownership of the team.
28:14
And we've never seen anything like that in sailing.
28:17
This really is the first time, and it's really the first time
28:20
I believe you'd actually want to be an owner, you know, in the sport.
28:23
I mean, if someone offered you a shareholding in the Cup,
28:26
I'm not sure I'd be taking it, you know?
28:27
Sorry, Brent, but, um,
28:29
but but working on that one.
28:32
But but this is a complete game changer in that end as well.
28:35
And and why I think that's really important
28:38
is you look at other sports and you do see that, you know,
28:40
you see athletes that are very successful on the field of play,
28:44
but then they continue to evolve
28:46
and like Russell said, reinvent themselves
28:49
and even get involved in the ownership of the team.
28:52
So I think that's a great thing in our sport,
28:55
because when you look at the next generation of guys and girls coming through,
28:59
they can see that that's not a pipe dream now.
29:01
Like we're living examples here that it can happen.
29:03
And that's thanks to, you know, Russell's vision and Larry's vision.
29:07
But I think that's just awesome because, you know,
29:09
you think of like Martin Grail or Ruggiero Teeter
29:12
and these awesome athletes coming through.
29:14
That's actually something that could happen.
29:16
And what an awesome thing for a career
29:18
that you don't just have the sporting part of your career,
29:21
you actually have the option as well
29:23
to continue it, as Russell said.
29:25
Ben, what's been the biggest lesson today
29:27
about ownership of a SailGP team?
29:30
What have you learned most of the business of this sport?
29:34
Yeah, look, it's been a fascinating journey.
29:36
And as Jemmy and Russell have said, to have those opportunities,
29:40
I think the big thing about it is, is still the team.
29:43
Doesn't matter if it's the team on the water,
29:45
it's also the team off the water.
29:47
The commercial team, the management team,
29:50
the technical team helping
29:52
make it all come together.
29:53
And you know, that's that's really critical.
29:56
Yes. You've got to be winning races
29:57
and you've got to be at the front of the league
29:59
as much as you possibly can be.
30:00
We know how tough that is.
30:02
Um, but if you've got the team behind that backing it up,
30:06
then you can really start making some great headway.
30:08
And I think it's, you know,
30:10
I'll defer to Russell, but I think this is, you know, just really still
30:14
it's only it's season five, but it's still the beginning for SailGP.
30:17
There's just an incredible opportunity ahead of us.
30:19
When you look at all of the support, all of the interest,
30:22
I know Russell's out there with new franchises
30:25
going out to auction.
30:27
Uh, still a couple of the existing franchises that are that are on the market.
30:31
But the interest in those is just phenomenal.
30:33
So I think it bodes well, you know, for everyone involved with SailGP.
30:37
And it's fantastic for sailing because until SailGP,
30:41
there hasn't been a global annual circuit that is really commercially viable.
30:45
So, uh, Yeah. Thank you.
30:47
Thank you. Russell. So season five.
30:50
But where are we going from here? I mean, are we. Are we looking?
30:52
I mean, we call it formula one on the water.
30:54
Is that what we're aiming for?
30:55
Are we going to get a drive to Survive series? Are we?
30:58
Now that we've got some Australian Hollywood powerhouses involved.
31:00
You've watched uncharted.
31:02
I have, I've seen. I've seen it.
31:04
That's the first one.
31:05
If you haven't watched uncharted, watch it.
31:07
It's a great three part docu series on the on Jemmy. On Jemmy.
31:11
The guy sitting alongside me.
31:13
Um, yeah, we had to from here, I think, I think.
31:16
Yeah, it's really exciting. We've got a
31:18
we've put the next two teams out to bid,
31:21
and, um, that process will be concluded middle of next month,
31:26
so we'll know what those two teams are.
31:29
Um, exciting.
31:31
You know, I mean, there's there's, uh,
31:33
lots of interest in those teams.
31:35
Um, if somebody had have said to me,
31:38
uh, even a year ago,
31:41
but I'll, I'll go back and make it even three,
31:43
three years ago that a sailing team
31:47
where you don't own the boat
31:51
or the assets would be worth $75 million.
31:55
I would have said, you're dreaming.
31:58
And that is the reality today.
31:59
You know, it's just it's just incredible the growth.
32:02
And I think, um, I think that's that's going to continue.
32:05
We're going to go to 20 teams.
32:08
Uh, today when you watch the racing.
32:11
You saw 12 boats racing on the course.
32:13
And the future you'll see two groups
32:16
and the distant future you'll see two groups of ten.
32:19
So when one race finishes, there'll be a short break for, uh, broadcast
32:24
advertising and so forth, and then we'll be straight into the next race.
32:28
And over time, as the teams become more,
32:32
um, commercially viable,
32:34
um, we'll increase the number of events.
32:37
And obviously, all of those teams are one home home events.
32:40
So eventually you can imagine Formula one currently does,
32:43
what, 24 events a season.
32:46
I could see us being close to that sometime in the distant future.
32:50
Not for quite some time. We'll stick to 13 events for a while,
32:53
but, um, in the distant future, that's where it'll end up.
32:56
Let's just talk about then the action on the water this weekend,
32:59
because both of your teams are in the mix for tomorrow's final.
33:02
Is still both of them in there.
33:04
Great day for the British team on home waters in front of that home crowd.
33:08
What's that going to do for Dylan and the team?
33:09
Being ahead of what is hopefully going to be a stellar day of racing tomorrow?
33:13
Yeah, the team did brilliantly today.
33:15
I mean, they really wanted to turn it on for the home crowd
33:18
and it's been a while since we've raced here in Portsmouth.
33:20
And you know they really did that.
33:23
So you know hats off and just fantastic day racing.
33:27
And to put these sorts of conditions on well ordered tomorrow
33:30
I think there's a bit more breeze coming potentially,
33:32
which will be even more exciting for both for the teams and for the spectators.
33:36
But yeah, it's uh, you know, that's the nature of SailGP
33:39
is that there are so many you've got
33:41
you really do have the world's best sailors,
33:43
and the standard is so high and it's very easy.
33:46
Just one little slip and you're down the back of the fleet.
33:49
And so we've seen that, you know again.
33:51
The team did a brilliant job today.
33:52
They still got to finish it off tomorrow to get into that grand final.
33:55
And then anything's possible.
33:57
So uh looking forward to it.
33:59
Really looking forward to it.
33:60
Uh, Jemmy, you're a big one for team talks.
34:02
You're going to do one of those tomorrow morning in front of your lot.
34:05
No, no, they're good enough.
34:07
I tell you, I'm always impressed with the next generation.
34:10
I mean, they are, with respect, so much more advanced.
34:14
When we were kids, especially Russell.
34:16
He's a lot older than Ben and I, but, um, it's just incredible.
34:20
Like their education, the way they approach it,
34:22
they really leave no stone unturned.
34:24
And if I look at, you know, our driver, Ruggiero,
34:27
you know, back to back Olympic champion,
34:30
um, and some of the talent we've got on the boat.
34:33
So I definitely don't need to give them any talks.
34:35
They know what's going on, but we are the newest team.
34:37
We've got the least amount of hours and we have to follow a process.
34:41
You know, as Ben said, they're racing the very best teams in the world
34:45
and in high level sport, there's no shortcut.
34:47
Or should there be?
34:49
So our guys are in the mix, which is a great result for us.
34:52
You know, our goal as a team is to try
34:54
and make our first final to get there.
34:56
But full credit to Ben's team today because they did an awesome job.
34:60
See that was a team talk in itself. That'll do.
35:03
Just roll that one out for the masses tomorrow.
35:05
That's perfect.
35:06
Big thank you to JP Morgan
35:08
for putting on this live podcast for us.
35:10
They've come full circle with Ben as well
35:12
because it takes us back to 2013 when they were sponsoring him
35:15
and are here today in SailGP
35:17
colours as well, which is fantastic to say to see.
35:20
So thank you very much to those guys.
35:22
Thank you as well, of course to Sir Russell Coutts, Jemmy Spittal
35:25
and Sir Ben Ainslie for being with us tonight. Thanks, guys.
