00:00And welcome to another edition of Three Big Questions
00:05as we get you ready for the next event at SailGP.
00:08It will be the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix Portsmouth
00:11alongside Stevie Morrison and Hannah Diamond
00:13and of course the CEO of SailGP, Russell Coutts.
00:16I am Todd Harris.
00:17Russell, thanks for joining us.
00:18First and foremost, I guess the question I have for you is
00:20how important is it that SailGP come back to British waters?
00:24Well, it's really important, obviously.
00:26You know, I think the intention was to always come back
00:29we've just taken some time to get the new venue, you know, going
00:35and we're thrilled with Portsmouth.
00:38The grandstands look amazing.
00:40It's going to be a great weekend, I think.
00:43And we talk a lot, Russell, about the results
00:45and how important it is for these teams to keep progressing.
00:48We talk a lot about the differences between the top of the fleet
00:50and the bottom of the fleet.
00:51That's kind of easy to see.
00:52But those teams are really fighting it out to climb the leaderboard
00:55to make it into that grand final.
00:56Where do you see the differences in those teams
00:58and the teams at the top at the moment?
01:00Yeah, well, clearly Australia is still, I think, the form team.
01:06I mean, Spain is challenging that form now.
01:08And the big difference I see this year is Spain's going really well
01:13in the stronger winds.
01:14So they've clearly, you know, reached that point
01:17where they've had enough time in the boat.
01:18I think their flight controller, Joel Rodriguez,
01:24is grossly under, let's say, estimated in the big scheme of things.
01:31I think, you know, in my opinion, sits right alongside Jason Waterhouse.
01:37You know, so they've now got that aspect to it.
01:39Their handling's good.
01:41Positioning around the course is good.
01:43So I think they're right in the mix.
01:46They've got this new program that, you know, I've been talking about
01:49that maps the disturbed wind, you know, which is really cool.
01:55So I think they've really worked hard at the interaction between the coaches
02:00and the booth and the sailors on the water.
02:03So, yeah, they're very, very strong.
02:05I think Canada's strong too.
02:07You know, like on the T-4s in particular, like we're on the L-4s in New York
02:11and they just didn't perform.
02:12But I think on the T-4s, they're really good.
02:18So, yeah, I'd say that to me, they're the three-form teams.
02:22Obviously, France is, you know, has good moments recently
02:26and particularly when they're on the 18-metre wing, you know.
02:30So we might see that on Sunday.
02:33I think they're very strong.
02:35Yeah, and Russell, it's actually, we got to go down to Portsmouth yesterday.
02:37Quite rare for us to get out of the, out of SailGP Productions and down.
02:41And I was quite taken aback by how big the stand is,
02:44having not been to a SailGP venue for a while.
02:46So that was pretty cool to see from our side how big the actual on-site show is.
02:51But, yeah, you allude to the sort of Canadian set-up
02:54and I suppose home waters feel like there's quite a bit of pressure maybe on the British.
02:57And in some ways, the Canadians with Giles Scott
02:59and that Dylan Fletcher-Giles rivalry.
03:02Do you sort of see someone currently coming out on that?
03:05Are you enjoying that?
03:06Yeah, I think the British, you know,
03:09they started the season incredibly strong
03:11and they've somehow lost their mojo in the last few events.
03:17I don't really know why that is.
03:18There's boat handling errors.
03:20Dylan hasn't been starting well, you know.
03:24I don't particularly see them coming back this event.
03:27I hope they do.
03:28You know, I hope I'm wrong.
03:29But, you know, it's hard to come back straight away from, you know,
03:36they've gone pretty deep downhill, you know, in the last two events.
03:40So I think they'll be looking just to get some consistency back.
03:43You know, I would, if I was their coach,
03:46I'd be, you know, obviously not telling them that, you know,
03:50there's a big mountain to climb now.
03:52But probably just to get some consistency back and, you know,
03:57just have a good result, this event to, you know,
04:01set a platform for the future.
04:02I hope I'm wrong, by the way.
04:04You know, I hope they put it together and they win the event.
04:09But I honestly can't see it.
04:11As you look at the overall season,
04:13and we just passed the halfway point,
04:14and we've got two events coming up that we've never been to before,
04:17of course, going to Sassanitz and Geneva in Switzerland.
04:19Is your phone constantly ringing?
04:22And you don't have to share specifics,
04:23but people want CLGP to come to their town?
04:26Oh, for sure, yeah.
04:27No, we've got more, you know,
04:30more requests for venues than we have venues,
04:33like the scheduled slots.
04:35We want to keep it at 13 events for the next two seasons.
04:39So, yeah, it's a nice situation to have, you know,
04:44and as we're building it,
04:45obviously we'd love to have an event in Italy.
04:47So, that's probably the next big focus for us.
04:52The big question I've got.
04:53Classic Todd Harris, Todd.
04:54It's three big questions.
04:55That's four.
04:56That's four.
04:58How often do you get the CEO of CLGP to join you in three big questions?
05:01So, we might go to five.
05:02Last question for me is,
05:04I just saw the movie F1,
05:05and I immediately thought of,
05:07when is CLGP going to have a movie like that?
05:09Because it seems like it fits that form perfectly.
05:11Well, obviously, you know,
05:12we've just launched Uncharted,
05:13which I think was a great, you know,
05:15three-part documentary series.
05:17So, I think we will do more.
05:20There's some great stories that are in CLGP right now.
05:25I mean, you look at Brazil,
05:27you know, that would make a great story, wouldn't it?
05:29Oh, absolutely.
05:30Particularly in a year's time.
05:31Yes.
05:31Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:32When whatever happens, happens.
05:34And, you know,
05:34just following them on that journey,
05:36it's going to be fascinating.
05:39And some of the new joint teams
05:40that are about to join the league,
05:42it's going to provide another dimension as well.
05:45Not allowed to say, Tom,
05:46because I know we all wanted to ask him that one,
05:48but he's probably not allowed to tell us.
05:50Russell, appreciate your time.
05:51Thanks for popping in.
05:52We wish you the very best of luck.
05:53That's three big questions,
05:55plus a few bonus questions as well.
05:56As we get you ready for this weekend's racing,
05:58again, we make the halfway point turn,
06:00and now we're on to the Emirates Great Britain
06:02Sail Grand Prix Portsmouth.
06:04So on behalf of Stevie Morrison,
06:05Hannah Diamond, Todd Harris,
06:06and the CEO of SailGP, Russell Coots,
06:08we hope you enjoy the racing.
06:09We'll wrap things up
06:10when it all gets finished on Sunday.
