America's Cup 2010 - Australian's soar to victory

by John Bertrand on 18 Sep 2010 America's Cup 2010 - Well, the Americas Cup win was our Everest. It stopped the nation. The win is still considered one of the most memorable events in modern Australian sports history.

That's hard to top! This Etchells world championship for me is quite different. In winning the Americas Cup I don't have anything left to prove.

So my motivation, my interest in sailing is different. This is all about putting a world class team together and flying with the eagles! I'm in a very privileged position in that people like Ben Ainslie, Andrew Palfrey and young Tom Slingsby want to go race with me.

These guys are at the top of their game. Ben is Ben, simply the most successful Olympian in the modern era, Andrew is absolutely world class and Tommy is a younger version of Ben.

So sailing with Andrew and Tom in this last series, is like flying with perhaps Jonathon Livingston Seagull....'higher, further, faster.'

The boat is quiet, whatever is said, is super accurate and whenever we make mistakes we all understand, because we've all been there, seen it all before and so instead, we just get on with it. It's the unspoken in which I delight. There's so much knowledge on the boat.

So how important was the win? Great, but I loved the journey more. I loved putting the project together, racing at the highest level with these fantastic guys.

The result followed. If you haven't read Jonathon Livingston Seagull, read it. Then you'll understand. In fact looking back on it, 'ol Jonathon was a key inspiration for our Americas Cup win.

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