Cup favourites?

Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth spoke to James Boyd about the Alinghi team's prospects

Coutts has clearly relished working with a new set of designers and also has much praised for multiple Olympic medallist Jochen Schuman who is part of the afterguard. "He comes from a different background in sailing," says Coutts. "He’s focused a lot on one designs but just by coming at aspects from a different angle, there’s been several developments in terms of technology that Jochen has contributed to and certainly in the way we sail the boat, and that affects sail design quite a bit, so that’s been great. There are probably five significant things that he’s brought to the program in a technological sense."

With Coutts and Butterworth leaving Team New Zealand for Alinghi and many other of the older guard also taking up lucrative contracts with foreign teams, it would seem that the playing field has been levelled. Coutts points out that in fact the playing was already pretty level.

"I'm not sure that Team New Zealand was that far ahead on the technology stakes last time," says Coutts. "I think there were one or two things that were certainly better about the Team New Zealand boats. They perhaps weren't as far ahead as what was perceived, certainly a 5-0 result on the water helped create that perception. But I think certainly the group was very good, but there were other good teams around and certainly working with the diverse group we have this time, there is no question that they were other ideas that were worth pursuing."

Alinghi are in the Cup long term as Coutts maintains that so much infrastructure is put in place for mount a campaign, there is little reason to do just once. "We had to rebuild a sailing team and that takes a while. You’ve effectively got to build two teams in these modern America’s Cup campaigns, because you’ve got to be able to go out and test the boats, race the boats and effectively be able to train in house."

Tommorrow in part 2 of this interview Brad and Russell look at Team New Zealand