SailGP 2025 / « C'est un énorme travail d'équipe »  Point de mi-saison du PDG de SailGP, Russell Coutts - Vidéo Dailymotion

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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.

SailGP 2025 / « C'est un énorme travail d'équipe » Point de mi-saison du PDG de SailGP, Russell Coutts

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