The master

Russell Coutts discusses his sailing program for 2005 and talks about his newfound interest in multihulls

Russell Coutts may or may not be the richest sailor in our sport given the rumours and spectulation one hears regarding his settlement with Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli. The most successful sailor in the history of the America's Cup remained tight-lipped regarding any details of this particular episode when we queried him about whether his 'not being allowed to sail for any other team' also meant that his expertise off the water couldn't acquired by another syndicate for the 2007 Cup. 'Not being allowed to sail for any other team' presumably doesn't preclude Coutts from sailing with Alinghi again if the need or the opportunity arose.

In the meantime, free from America's Cup commitments Coutts is behaving a little like a child in a sweet shop; in the fortunate position of being able to do the sailing that makes him happy or stimulates him - providing of course that it doesn't involve sailing in the America's Cup for anyone other than Alinghi.

Often forgotten about Coutts is that he may be a considerably more talented sailor than most mortals and have a higher degree of business acumen, but at the end of the day he is primarily an enthusiastic yachtie with a serious passion for his sport. Aside from being useful behind the wheel of virtually anything that floats, he also has an engineering degree and a technical understanding of boats that enables him to offer race boat projects a seamless interface between their 'sporting' and design teams, an invaluable skill he shares with top Formula One drivers.

2005 finds Russell Coutts with his fingers in many pies from a highly diverse set of racing commitments, a couple of yacht design projects and a ground breaking major new race circuit to get off the ground. With all this on his plate he tries to bemoan the fact that any prospect of his having 'time on his hands' has all but evaporated, but clearly he is loving every minute of Cup freedom.

His most recent success came at the Swedish Match Tour's Elba Cup match race. Although dubbed Team Russell Coutts by the organisers, Coutts was helming for Jes Gram-Hansen and the Dane's match racing team, with whom he has been competing for almost a year now.

So why did he choose to sail with Gram-Hansen? "I actually think Jes is one of the best helmsman out there," says Coutts. "I practised against him a bit, we just did a practice session recently. I tell you what, he is certainly one of the best starters out there on the circuit I race against. We are learning more. He is not used to the whole tactician communication side of things, but each regatta we do we get a bit better. These shifty gusty venues [ie Elba] are good for us in terms of learning. Each time we do one we get a bit better. For me, it reminds me how long those relations take to develop. It is pretty key. Even when someone talks, you get to know if they are really definite or not and that sort of thing helps".

While Coutts has gained a match race crew, for Gram-Hansen and his team they have been impossibly fortunate to learn directly from the world's greatest match racer. "We talk things over and he gives me what his opinion is - I’m talking off the boat more now," says Coutts."And on the boat he is getting better and better at being a tactician, but he is already a really good helmsman, I can tell you. And I really enjoy sailing with the other guys. They are really good sailors. In fact I would be surprised if one of the America’s Cup teams doesn’t start looking at these guys."

As with all his sailing this year, Coutts is taking his pick of the match racing events and at present only plans to compete at the Swedish Match Cup in Marstrand, Sweden in early July and at the King Edward VII Bermuda Gold Cup in October. "I’m not doing that many this year - not by choice, I just have other things on. I can't do Portugal, which I would have liked to have done."

Aside from the match racing, Coutts is doing the full circuit on board the new de Vos/Quantum Sails Reichel-Pugh designed TP52. The boat is supposed to be making its debut this weekend at the first regatta on the Breitling Mediterranean TP52 circuit in Barcelona. Coutts says he is excited by the prospect of racing in this new 'class of the moment'.

"There are going to be 10 or 12 boats on the starting line - what a fleet! We haven't had a fleet of 50 foot boats like that for a while. I think ultimately the class should go owner driver - it worked very successfully in the Farr 40 class. I might be talking myself out of a job here... For that sort of racing I think it would be very good. But it is isn't right now, so I’m going to be driving the boat and my mate Paul Cayard is going to be driving another - the Greek boat with George Andreadis".

In addition to Coutts the Quantum Sails TP52 crew includes Quantum Sails' Larry Leonard, long term Olympic Star sailing veteran Mark Reynolds, Peter Isler as navigator, Jordy Schaver plus Jes Gram-Hansen and members of his match racing team. Coutts says he would like to see less than the present number of 14-15 crew racing on board: "That’s a lot of crew and that’s a lot of cost".

In addition to the match racing and the TP52, Coutts will be sailing once again with Dr Hasso Plattner, this time on the SAP boss' maxZ86 Morning Glory for the Transpac and the Rolex Big Boat Series in San Francsico. "They have put a new keel on the boat and lightened the displacement and changed the mainsail aspect ratio. They are good looking boats to me. I think Morning Glory will be a lot faster downwind from what it was," says Coutts of the boat he has yet to sail. This will not only be his first experience sailing with a canting keel CBTF boat, but the Transpac will also be the longest race he has ever sailed. Maybe this will give him the taste for offshore sailing?

Aside from the match racing, the TP52 and the MaxZ86, Coutts is also doing some Star sailing and will be competing at Kiel week with a Swiss friend. The last time he raced this regatta, he says, was in 1986 or 87 in a Soling. "The legs might feel it a bit, but I’m going to do some training," he says. The Star gets the Coutts thumbs-up: "They sail quite like a big boat: sit them down and they chop pretty nicely and they are powerful. I think it is a great design. Whoever had that initiative to stick that much sail on that boat that early on - good for them: it is a cool boat".



Coutts goes multihull

Still living in Switzerland post-Alinghi, Coutts has now signed up to sail on the Decision 35 Banque Gonet & Cie on his nearby lake when he can this season. Already in his first regatta behind the wheel of a catamaran he finished second in a field of eight, behind top French multihull sailor Loick Peyron on Okalys who Coutts admits "creamed him" in the last race.

"It's really interesting - it is so different to anything I’ve ever done," says Coutts. "I was pretty keen to get into some multihull sailing because I wanted to have a look at what those boats are like. Ultimately I wouldn’t mind having a shot at designing a multihull. It sort of confirmed to me after sailing on the boat that, boy, they are pretty cool boats, especially the Decision 35s because they are fully powered up. They are built quite conservatively, but just the sail area - they’ve got plenty, which I think is a nice way to go now, with the lighter sails, and lighter masts. I think modern boats can do that now, especially with composite rigging coming in".

The only Decision 35 event Coutts has firmly committed to is June's Rolex Bol d'Or overnighter and the top annual event on Lake Geneva. It is also the one event he is least looking forward to. "I really enjoy the short races in these boats," he says.

He believes more Farr 40-type owners should look at this class. "I haven’t had more fun in a while, because you are roaring around the place in light winds. In Europe, whether it is monohulls or multihulls, that is one of the ways to go - to make the boats powerful enough so that they can sail well in light air. We do a lot of sailing in light winds and you can always reduce sail: You could have two difference size mainsails or you could reef, but at least have the boat so that it is fun to sail in 6-7 knots of breeze," he says. These are not only the typical wind strengths you find sailing in the Mediterranean, but also in a lot of places around the States.

"I wonder how many other people would enjoy it: instead of cruising around the course at 7 or 8 knots, if you were doing 12," Coutts ponders. "I remember Tom Blackaller when he got into the Formula 40s, he was saying similar things. I don’t think it is for everyone, but I would like to encourage more people to give it a shot".



On his Decision 35 he is the only pro sailor. He adds that in a breeze the boats would be a handful for even a group of seasoned pros to get around the course. "My learning curve was as about at steep as Mont Blanc," he muses.

Previously reported on thedailysail has been Coutts' day out with Franck Cammas on his state of the art ORMA 60 trimaran Groupama 2. "Those boats are way more advanced in terms of technology [than the Decision 35s]. I was just looking around at the whole thing and I got a ton of ideas just sailing on the boat for a couple of hours. I was very impressed with the canting rig - how easy it is to operate. It sounds obvious to people who have sailed them before, but is not obvious to someone who hasn’t: You don’t need a big complex mechanism to cant the rig, you just let it drop over to leeward before you tack and then you tack it back. They have got slick systems on there and they know how to set their boat up. I was really impressed. I’d love to sail the boat in a lot of breeze. We had 16 knots for a while and that was pretty exciting. I’d love to get out in 20 knots."

Coutts says that he sees the future of the ORMA class as a one design. During his day out on Groupama 2 he says he saw significant speed differencies between the boats. "We were up to two knots faster upwind than the other boats. They have improved things a lot on Groupama. They are a good team with a professional crew and Franck does a pretty good job. I was very impressed with him. It wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn't end up with a Cup team. He has got a good feel for technology - that’s for sure."
In part two of this interview tomorrow we find out more about Coutts design and race creation projects.