Russell Coutts

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Russell Coutts (Sardinia Rolex Cup, Porto Cervo , 2006)

Sir Russell Coutts KNZM CBE (born March 1, 1962 in Wellington ) is a New Zealand sailor and sailing yacht designer. He also organizes sailing competitions.

biography

Sir Russell Coutts learned to sail at the age of six in the children's P-class. Although he also played golf extensively, he decided to go sailing. Russell Coutts is an engineering graduate and has built sailing yachts.

He won the America's Cup five times (1995 and 2000 for New Zealand, 2003 for Switzerland, 2010 and 2013 for the USA) . In 1995 he won this most important of all sailing trophies with the yacht “Black Magic”, in 2000 with “New Zealand”, 2003 with Alinghi and in 2010 with the trimaran “USA”. In 2013, his team Oracle finally defended the America's Cup on the new AC72 catamaran in the Bay of San Francisco against the New Zealand team, for which his successor Dean Barker acted as skipper and helmsman. The change as skipper from "Team New Zealand" to "Alinghi" in 2000 brought Russell Coutts a lot of criticism in his home country New Zealand, which went as far as accusation of treason. Due to internal quarrels, he left the Alinghi team after winning the cup in 2003. According to the statutes of the cup, he was not allowed to sign with any other syndicate until the end of the following cup cycle in 2007.

As helmsman, Russell Coutts achieved a total of 14 wins in the America's Cup and thus leads one victory in front of Dennis Conner in the all-time leaderboard . He is still the only skipper who is unbeaten with 14 wins in a row. In the last race of the America's Cup in 2000 he left the wheel to his future successor at Team New Zealand Dean Barker .

In 2005 he devoted himself to the development of the new boat class RC 44 with the yacht designer Andrej Justin .

In 2007 Paul Cayard , Russell Coutts and João Lagos announced an annual sailing competition, the World Sailing League .

After the America's Cup 2007 Russell Coutts signed with the BMW-Oracle Racing Team of the US software billionaire Larry Ellison as CEO for the next cup. He was also one of the negotiators in the litigation between BMW Oracle Racing and defending champion Alinghi.

After the New York Supreme Court decided in the legal dispute between the two syndicates that BMW Oracle Racing was the legitimate challenger of Alinghi, Russell Coutts presented his new team: In addition to Coutts, James Spithill work as helmsman, John Kostecki as tactician, Hemish Pepper and other well-known sailing stars for the team.

After a long legal battle, the 33rd America's Cup was held off the coast of Valencia in February 2010. The trimaran "USA" with James Spithill as helmsman won 2-0 against defender Alinghi. In the first of the two races, Coutts, like financier Ellison, left the boat shortly before the start to save weight in the light winds. In the second and decisive race on Sunday, February 14th, both were on board when the USA won the cup back after 15 years.

As CEO of the Oracle Racing team - BMW left after winning the Cup in 2010 - Coutts played a key role in the organization and design of the 34th America's Cup, which took place in September 2013 off the American coast in San Francisco Bay.

Oracle Racing managed to catch up 8-1 behind Emirates Team New Zealand in the longest Americas Cup match in history and successfully defend the cup. Although Coutts was not on board himself, both skipper James Spithill and team owner and software tycoon Larry Ellison saw in him the man who had made it possible to make up a 1: 8 deficit.

Sailing successes

  • 1981 world champion, Finn dinghy ; ISAF World Youth Champion
  • 1984 gold medal , Olympic Games, Los Angeles , USA, Finn dinghy
  • 1992 world champion, match racing
  • 1993 World Champion, Match Racing,
  • 1993 Admiral's Cup winner, yacht " Pinta "
  • 1995 Louis Vuitton Cup winner, Team New Zealand, yacht "Black Magic" in San Diego , USA, (37 wins, 1 loss)
  • 1995 America's Cup winner, Team New Zealand, yacht "Black Magic" in San Diego , USA, (5 to 0)
  • 1996 World Champion, Match Racing
  • 2000 America's Cup winner, Team New Zealand in Auckland , New Zealand, (5 to 0)
  • 2001 World Champion, 12 m JI, Cowes , GB
  • 2001 World Champion, Farr 40, Southampton , GB
  • 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup winner, Team Alinghi in Auckland (26 wins, 4 losses)
  • 2003 America's Cup winner, Team Alinghi in Auckland (5 to 0)
  • 2006 World Champion, Farr 40, Newport (Rhode Island) , USA
  • 2007 World Champion, TP 52
  • 2010 America's Cup winner, Team BMW Oracle Racing in Valencia , Spain, (2 to 0)
  • 2013 America's Cup winner, Team Oracle Racing in San Francisco, USA, (9 to 8)

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Coutts fired , yacht.de, July 27, 2004. Access: June 1, 2007
  2. ↑ "If this guy doesn't want to do his job, we have a problem", yacht.de, June 22, 2004, accessed June 1, 2007
  3. ^ Dispute between Bertarelli and Coutts settled , Blick, March 24, 2005, accessed June 1, 2007
  4. ↑ RC 44 history (s) ( Memento of the original from June 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / rc44.com
  5. ↑ About the Designers - Andrej Justin . Coutts Justin , 2006, archived from the original on September 27, 2007 ; accessed on September 9, 2014 (English, original website no longer available).
  6. ↑ World Sailing League Unveils Speed ​​Machine Design . International Media: brandRapport , July 27, 2007, archived from the original on September 27, 2007 ; accessed on September 9, 2014 (English, original website no longer available).
  7. ^ Resurgent Spithill sings Russell Coutts praises
  8. ↑ It was like a fairy tale
  9. ^ Russell Coutts - Successful competitive sailor. segeln-wissen.de, accessed on October 6, 2012 .
  10. ↑ America's Cup Hall of Fame: Russell Coutts.Retrieved July 22, 2009
personal data
SURNAME Coutts, Russell
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Zealand sailor and sailing yacht designer
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Wellington