Gavin Brady looks ahead to the 33rd America's Cup

by Rob Kothe, Sail-World on 15 Aug 2007
BMW Oracle Racing's tactician from the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup, Gavin Brady, is sailing with Karl Kwok at Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week ahead of the Hamilton Island Race Week

Sail-World talked to him yesterday: ‘I am just enjoying doing this and sailing with Karl (Kwok) again, on this boat. Everyone has told me that Hamilton is one of the best regattas in the world. The Reichel Pugh 45 seems like this is the right sized boat to have a lot of fun with in Australia.'

The next America's Cup is just a week away from heading back to the US Court sytem, as one of the key players in Valencia, Brady was philosphical about the latest developments.

'Obviously going through a bit of a transition where the protocol and there are some disputes about that obviously. The Golden Gate yacht club put in the challenge in the multi-hull and that is all to be resolved.

'So it is a chance for everyone, I think there will be a big regrouping in the cup game this time around. What teams stay and what teams go and who does what. I’ve not signed anything at this stage, I am still working with Larry on projects.

'We are doing the Big Boat Series and no matter what class is going to be. At the end of the day the neat thing with Larry is that he actually has a passion for the sport. He loves sailing and he loves racing.

'A year ago we did the Alliance cup together and had a lot of fun with that and actually had a respectable result. '

As the owner of BMW Oracle Racing, Larry Ellison often takes abit of flak for sailing on the boat, in spite of manuy years racing at the top level. How does Brady feel about Ellison sailing on the America's Cupper, and does he make a contribution?

'He is a good sailor,' is Brady's quick comment. 'When everyone knows what is going to happen he can step on a boat and be a contributor on the race boat. He does a good job with the navigation and he understands the game.

'He is a methodical guy, you’ll often do a race and 3 or 4 hours after the race get a phone call saying 'what if you had have done that?' and 99% of the time he is right.

'I’ve had the same experience with George Collins and the same with Karl. I mean look at today, it was our best result of the regatta and Karl was on board.

'I think sometimes it just settles the group down. They put their resources in the right places and they get more out of the people.'

On the subject of World Match Racing Circuit:' We have done two (world match racing) regattas so far this year. I’ve not really done a lot these past years with the cup and tacticians and all that.

'We did the last two we got 3rd in Portugal and 5th in Sweden. It just comes down to sponsorship. If we can get the sponsorship to do it we will. It is expensive to do that now.

Will the BMW Oracle team join the Match Racing Tour, we asked?

'It will be Russell’s call, Larry is very involved in the team but he knows when you hire someone you have to leave them to make decisions. He has hired the best in the world for a reason. I am sure Russell will want to put a team on the circuit, it makes sense.

'Russell and I did the TransPac two circuit and the Med Cup last year together. He was helmsman I was tactician and I sailed with him a few times on the 44 class.

'I was actually a grinder on board. We know each other pretty well on the sailing side of things.'

Will BMW Oracle Racing be behind in preparation for the next cup,

'The big thing right now is putting the key people in place, that is where the focus is.

'We shouldn’t be the last ones to know. That is what the dispute is about, the challengers including Team New Zealand have been very supportive of the challenge to the protocol.

T'he America’s Cup has got to the point where is truly is an international event.

'At the end of the day the challenge was even an option until Larry sat down and said well this isn’t good for our team, it is not good for any team and it is not good for the sport and that is really what this is all about.

'You’ve got to get this to a point where you can go and get a new sponsor, start a new team and know that you will get bang for your buck. With a protocol like that how would a beginner team get into this game?

'You’d have to say the first time around we are just there to make up the numbers and the second time we’ll have a shot at it. That is pretty tough for a team to go into it like that. It is hard, we shouldn’t lose teams like that.

'It would be a shame to lose teams because of a protocol that would severely help the big teams. The aim is to even the playing field but the reality is that the harder you make it for teams the easier you make it for the big teams who have the time and infrastructure to work around those rules.

'That isn’t where Larry wants the sport to go. He wants to win the damn thing and make a difference. He wants to be remembered as the guy that won the cup and that made the America’s Cup even better.

'I think it is coming together now but it all takes time. It is a balance between putting the core crew together and at the same time that crew has to work with a design team and a management team. It is not just a matter of putting things together, they have to be built together.

'A team builds a team and then you get the right chemistry. That is something that Russell is very focused on, there is so much talent out there in the world, there are so many good teams, so many good professional sailors but there aren’t that many teams that get the chemistry right. I think he is pretty good, he is patient he isn’t rushing into it.

'It seems that NZ sailors are out there in all the teams but it is changing as guys are getting older. A lot of people saw BMW Oracle last time as a predominately NZ team but if you looked around it was a very international team. I think there will always be a pretty international flavour to it and I don’t see that changing.'