Magnus Wheatley interviews sailing legend John Bertrand
by Magnus Wheatley 25 Jan 2004 11:36 GMT
The skipper that wrestled the America’s Cup from American hands back in 1983 and ended the longest running winning streak in sporting history was down at the Skandia Geelong Regatta in Melbourne and Magnus Wheatley caught up with him for a chat about the regatta and the health of Australian and world sailing.
MW: John you’re a veteran of many regattas around the world and obviously you were there at the ultimate regatta, the 2001 AC jubilee in Cowes, but how does the Skandia Geelong regatta rate now?
JB: Well clearly it’s a very impressive opportunity here, there are a lot of boats, a lot of people and a lot of history involved in the regatta. It’s now half way between the transition of mum’s and dad’s to what we know as Skandia Cowes Week and that’s a big statement to make but I think it’s pretty accurate. With Skandia getting involved that’s clearly going to give it a lot of momentum, an extra push and it’s setting up to be a pretty spectacular event in Australia. It’s an exciting time for sure…
MW: Clearly Skandia’s involvement has taken it to another level and as stated this is year one of a five year plan, what can you see as a vision for the regatta?
JB: I’d say there will be double the number of boats fairly rapidly and clearly the infrastructure to support that has to be able to be ratcheted up at the same pace. I suspect that the organisers are very tuned into that challenge but the template is there in what’s been achieved with Skandia Cowes Week and so it’s not as if they’re having to reinvent the wheel. I think the next level of activity will be in getting corporate Australia involved and getting charter boats in place for the corporates to build their teams similar to what we see in Cowes and I think probably in the next couple of years we’ll see the who’s who of corporate Australia entertaining their guests here.
MW: A lot of these events live and die by the quality of the field that comes out and I suppose the media and us guys are culpable for wanting to see the glamour boats but do you think that Corio Bay with its depth restrictions can really compete with Skandia Cowes Week?
JB: It’s interesting, I was sailing aboard the super-maxi Skandia today and there wasn’t a real issue in terms of depth. I mean the afterguard knew where they could and couldn’t sail so it wasn’t a major…What’s nice about it here is that it’s always flat water so people don’t get seasick and that’s a real plus over what you see on the Solent…but no I don’t see a water restriction it’s more the infrastructure which will grow with more sophistication and more back up but that will only happen with time.
MW: So what are your sailing plans now? Are you retired? I know you’ve still got ‘Two saints and a magpie’ (Etchells)…
JB: Yes I’ve still got that boat and I very much enjoy the Etchells. We’re campaigning for the world championships that are down here in August at Mooloolaba and we’ve got the New South Wales and Victorian championships and I’ll probably go to the New Zealand nationals so I’m still doing a lot of sailing. Interestingly enough, I was sailing aboard Skandia today and the core members of that team are all good Etchells sailors and their skill really showed up-We had 20 knots of breeze and had 24 knots out of the boat downhill on a square run and you know the Etchells guys were sailing that boat like there was no tomorrow!
MW: Can I ask you about wider issues in sailing and in particular sponsorship as it’s such a hot topic. How is Australia faring in terms of say the America’s Cup and the Volvo?
JB: Well the America’s Cup is still a long way off and clearly we know that it’s a AUS$100 million program and 75% of that has to come from one entrepreneur who is basically saying ‘I’ll be dead in 10, 20, 30 years time, what better way to spend my money!’ then the final 25% can come from corporate Australia…we don’t have enough multi billionaires here in Australia though to ratchet up for the AC at this stage I don’t think. However the Volvo is a very different opportunity and it’s potentially just as big from a media point of view as the Cup because it goes for 8 months and I think there’s a real opportunity to get a Volvo campaign off the ground here. In fact Grant Wharrington and the guys off Skandia are leading that charge with the success they’ve had in the Sydney-Hobart and I know it’s the case that there’s a very high level of activity going on right now and I’d be very surprised if we don’t pull it off.
MW: There seems to be a trend now these days to building big line-honours winning super-maxis, do you think that’s healthy for the sport as it’s almost saying ‘to hell with the rules’?
JB: I think it is and the reason I say that is because the sport needs publicity, radio television print etc and big boats get that publicity. If people are concerned about so-called professionalism then all they have to do is go down one layer in sailing and you’ll find amateur racing very quickly. I think we need the superstars, the heroes and the boats that capture the public’s imagination. Take the Sydney-Hobart-Line honours is where it’s at and let’s face it, forget about handicap racing if you want profile and sponsorship but those things draw the media and I think that’s key as sailing is competing against other sports that are highly competitive (soccer, cricket, basketball etc all around the world) and so we need these super-maxis to be the point of difference and capture the press imagination.
MW: Do you believe the claims of AC management that a Cup in Europe will take the competition to a huge other level?
JB: No question. The Europeans love the prestige of the America’s Cup. The concept of the pedigree of the America’s Cup aligns beautifully with the old-world traditions of Europe and I think clearly the Swiss and the Spanish will host a beautiful event in Valencia. If people are concerned about the amount of money well hey that’s what the America’s Cup is all about and there are enough multi-billionaires out there who are crazy enough to give it a go and that’s what the America’s Cup epitomises.
MW: John Bertrand, thank you very much for taking the time to talk.
JB: No problems…any time.