SailGP 2025 / « C'est un énorme travail d'équipe » Point de mi-saison du PDG de SailGP, Russell Coutts
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00:00Hey there, I'm here at SailGP Technologies
00:02with CEO Russell Coutts.
00:04A bit unusual for me to actually get to interview you.
00:06Russell, I'm obviously at the SailGP Productions
00:09normally during the show and you're on site.
00:12We're here, like you see behind us,
00:13everyone working so hard.
00:14It's an amazing facility we've got here,
00:16but I guess we can't ignore the fact
00:18that it's pretty disappointing to not be heading to Rio.
00:21Pretty heart-wrenching decision, I'd imagine,
00:23for you to have to make.
00:24How did it feel to have to make that
00:26and why exactly did we have to make the call not to go there?
00:28Well, it was unfortunate that we had to cancel the Rio event.
00:32Once we got to the bottom that we had an issue
00:35with the shear webs of the wing sails,
00:38then it was a no-brainer.
00:40There was only one thing to do and that was fix it.
00:42Yeah, okay, and I can see in the background
00:43there's an awful lot of wings.
00:45There's an awful lot of people working very hard
00:46to get these wings ready.
00:48What's the situation with the wings
00:50and how are we looking with New York in mind?
00:52Well, the new shear webs that are going in
00:54are approximately twice as strong as the old shear webs.
00:57Whilst we are, you know, going to get more information
01:00on the loads and so forth and strain gauge the wings,
01:03we've taken a very conservative approach
01:05in terms of, okay, let's just make sure
01:08that we fix this once and for all.
01:12It's very little compromise.
01:13I mean, it's a few kilograms heavier,
01:16but much, much stronger.
01:18Pretty good timing.
01:19You talk about nice weather.
01:20It's sunny here.
01:21There's a good breeze.
01:22And we're only a few miles away from Portsmouth,
01:23so that's kind of got me excited
01:25wearing a few events away.
01:26New York's going to be huge,
01:27but take it back to Auckland.
01:29I wasn't able to be there, but you were there.
01:31So how did it feel to see that crowd
01:33and that atmosphere?
01:34It was a little snapshot of where
01:37we want to take Sale GP to
01:40for all events in the future.
01:41And I think you'll see a similar crowd,
01:44maybe a slightly bigger crowd in Portsmouth.
01:46We're hoping so.
01:47So judging by the ticket sales,
01:49it looks like that'll be the case.
01:50So that's exciting.
01:53And I'm really looking forward
01:56to delivering a great event there
01:59because the fans here love their sports.
02:03They love their water sports.
02:06So it's going to be great
02:08to have a big crowd in Portsmouth
02:10and put on a great event.
02:12And hopefully we get some strong wins
02:14like we're doing in Auckland.
02:16And, you know, that crowd's fully entertained.
02:19Yeah, that's right.
02:19And I suppose on a story point of view,
02:21which is maybe a little bit more
02:22the side of it I'm coming from these days,
02:24and Dylan Fletcher and Giles Scott,
02:26the drivers swapping seats
02:28and that confrontation's been a great story this year.
02:30What other stories have you enjoyed
02:31from a racing perspective?
02:33Well, there's been lots of them.
02:35You know, I mean, really,
02:37Dylan started off the season really hot, didn't he?
02:40You know, I mean, that was amazing.
02:42Him jumping in, I mean, he's with a fantastic team.
02:46We all know that.
02:47But to jump in, driver of an F50,
02:51not the easiest, you know, challenge you could face.
02:54And, you know, he was leading the season
02:56after three events.
02:58Fell off a little bit in these last events,
03:00but, you know, still right in there.
03:04I mean, the Australians, very tough, obviously.
03:07But the good thing is that you're starting
03:09to see teams like the French, you know, coming through.
03:12I think clearly the Spanish are now, you know,
03:16showing they're a quality team.
03:17I mean, they won the league last year.
03:19You kind of expect that,
03:21but they're just reinforcing that this year, I think.
03:23And they look to me like they're going to get stronger
03:25and stronger this year.
03:26They've got youth on their side.
03:29You know, they're still one of the youngest teams,
03:32if not maybe the youngest in the league
03:35and stacked full of talent.
03:39How good are they going to be in two seasons' time?
03:42You know, I mean, that's the challenge
03:45that some of the teams with the older athletes have got.
03:49Some of those older athletes, I know from personal experience,
03:53it's probably going to be hard for them
03:55to see the improvement that the young athletes
03:58on the Spanish team are going to see over the next few years.
04:01So, you know, I think that's going to be a challenge
04:03for some of these teams.
04:04And if I were them, I'd be bringing on,
04:06I'd be looking hard to bring on some new talent
04:08and start to get that, bring that on stream now,
04:11get those new sailors trained
04:13so that you're in a position to compete with the Spanish.
04:16You could easily see them dominating
04:18like the Australians have done for the last seasons.
04:21Especially if the other teams sit back
04:23and just wait for their older sailors
04:26to kind of serve out their terms.
04:28Yeah, we saw that with Canada, didn't we,
04:30in Auckland, unable to sail
04:31because they didn't have a deep enough squad
04:33to kind of cover the loss on it.
04:35Exactly.
04:35And there's plenty of young talent out there now.
04:37You know, and a lot of these countries
04:40have got, you know,
04:42have got their talent in bucket loads
04:45and it's just a matter of now
04:46of bringing them in
04:48and, you know, upskilling them on an F50, of course,
04:52you know, and this style of racing.
04:54Yeah.
04:54And the Seafoil seem fun.
04:55Seems to have almost been a little bit of a leveler.
04:57Do you think that's partly responsible
04:59for five events and five different teams winning
05:01or is that just the competitiveness of the fleet?
05:04Well, it's kind of been a leveler in some regards,
05:08but I was on a conference call with Paul Beaker,
05:12one of our designers,
05:13and Tom Slingsby.
05:16And they were talking about the T-foils.
05:18And I was just hugely impressed
05:21by the knowledge Tom has of those T-foils.
05:26And they're actually quite reserved.
05:28You know, like a couple of times during the conversation,
05:31he said,
05:32I don't want to give away too much.
05:33And I was thinking,
05:35well, you know, everyone can see your data.
05:37So there must be some things in there
05:38that they think they know
05:40and they also believe that the others don't know
05:43that's giving them this performance advantage, you know?
05:46Yeah.
05:47And I guess it's all very well having the data,
05:48but you've got to know the question to ask it
05:50to get the answer out.
05:51Yeah, well, precisely.
05:52You know, and, you know,
05:53they're probably clever enough
05:55to only use it when they need it to.
05:58You know, so you could imagine
05:59if he was that reserved
06:02talking to our principal designer,
06:03who I would inherently trust
06:06not to spread that around, you know,
06:08then, you know,
06:11clearly they're probably smart enough
06:12to disguise it, you know,
06:13in terms of only using
06:16some of those features
06:17when they really feel they need to.
06:18Yeah, well, I guess one final question
06:20which probably everyone's interested in is
06:21what's the mid-season appraisal
06:23for the commentary team?
06:24Great.
06:25Yeah, well, the audience is going up,
06:27as you know.
06:27So, yeah, I think,
06:30look, fans are enjoying the broadcast
06:32and this is,
06:34of course, you know,
06:35we set out to entertain
06:38the general sports fan,
06:40the racing fan,
06:42the people that really aren't
06:44that knowledgeable about sailboat racing.
06:47We set out to entertain them as well
06:49and I think it's,
06:51it's,
06:52so far,
06:53it's proven to be successful,
06:54you know,
06:54the audience is growing enormously
06:56and these are certainly
06:57the highest audience figures
06:59I've seen
06:59for a live sailing product
07:02in all my years
07:03of being involved
07:04in, you know,
07:05both competition
07:06and running events.
07:07So, encouraging size.
07:08Oh, thanks very much, Russell.
07:09Well, hopefully see you in Portsmouth.
07:11Thanks for your time.
07:12Take care.
07:12Bye.