There's not much Sir Russell Coutts hasn't achieved in the sport of modern day yacht racing - from the Olympic Games, Match Racing and America's Cups, he's one of the sport's most successful athletes, but he's also one of sailing's big innovators, a man with a drive and determination to leave his sport in a much better place today, than where it was when he first started competing.

On the race course, Coutts was a fierce and ruthless competitor.  His early career saw him win an Olympic gold medal and multiple Match Racing World Championships, before an inevitable move to the world of the America's Cup.  He successfully challenged and then defended the oldest trophy  in world sport for his home nation of New Zealand, but then shocked the sailing world by moving to Swiss challenger Alinghi.  By the time Alinghi lifted the Cup in Auckland, Coutts had won it three times, but remarkably had never lost a Cup match.  His Cup career then saw another move, to the American BMW Oracle Team, for whom he masterminded two further Cup wins, the last, in 2013, seeing the famous come back from an 8-1 defecit on 72ft foiling multi hulls out on San Francisco Bay, an event watched by millions world wide.

Away from the race course, Coutts is seen by many as one of sailing's real visionaries.  His drive and determination behind the wheel have transposed to the boardroom, where he has been masterminding the advancement of sailing in a bid to increase it's appeal to a younger generation, and make it a truly viable spectator sport.  Most recently Coutts has initiated the exciting Sail GP championships, a series of races held in the world's fastest race boats, but run with a view to the maximisation of broadcasting opportunity and spectator experience.

Robertson and Coutts discuss his past, his hopes for the future and his love of the sport in an honest and revealing hour of chat that sees one of the sport's most well known characters clearly demonstrate that after a lifetime spent out on the water, his passion for sailing today is as strong as it's ever been.Support the show

Series 1 - Ep6 - Russell Coutts

In depth and personal interviews from the leading characters of Sailing's diverse competitive arena, hosted by the sport's leading media personality, double Olympic gold medallist, Shirley Robertson. From inside the closed doors of the America's Cup, to the pressures and excitement of the Olympic race course, the danger and jeopardy of racing non-stop around the planet to the ultimate quest for the world's fastest sailing boat, Shirley Robertson sits down and talks all things sailing with the brightest lights in the sport.

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Tales from Sailing Folk Lore with British Adventurer Pete Goss

This month, Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast talks to British offshore adventurer Pete Goss, an accomplished offshore sailor famed for executing one of the bravest solo ocean rescues of all time.

Talking at his home in the south west corner of the UK, Robertson and Goss kick their discussion off with chat about his formative years, his time in the British Marines, and how, in the nineteen nineties,  he found a love of offshore sailing through Chay Blyth's British Steel Challenge, a round the world yacht race that was the forbearer to today's amateur offshore circumnavigation events.  Goss was an instructor and skipper on the first event, and it was during that time, he hatched a plan to enter the Vendee Globe, the legendary non stop solo offshore race also, in the mid nineties, in it's infancy.

As one of the first British entrants in the then famously French race, Goss' tales of pre-internet sponsorship gathering are inspiring, and with a new boat, he managed to make the start line, for the third running of the race.  What followed was one of the most brutal editions the Vendee Globe has ever seen.  Of the sixteen boats that crossed the start line, just six finished.  Tragically, one competitor, Canadian Gerry Roufs was lost at sea,  but it was the rescue of French sailor Raphael Dinelli that for several days between Christmas and New Year 1996, was headline news around the world.

Pete's telling of the rescue, his memories of the vicious Southern Ocean storm, and his fight to find Dinelli's rapidly sinking boat are compelling.  At times emotional, Goss describes how he first heard the mayday while himself fighting for survival in the relentless storm, and how his radio comms with the Royal Australian Airforce eventually led him to the boat...:

"The plane that had dropped him a raft came down to me, and they came up on the VHF so I remember chatting to them, and I said 'How many people are involved', because I was still  seventy miles away or whatever, 'how many people are involved in the rescue', and he just said 'It's you!'"

With guidance from the Royal Australian Airforce plane, Goss found Dinelli's life raft and in a heaving Southern Ocean swell, somehow effected the rescue of a near death Raphael Dinelli.  He had arrived just in time...:

"I met the pilot and the navigator (of the RAAF plane) a year later at the boat show and from the air they saw this figure clamber into the raft and then the boat just ghosted away and disappeared underneath it."

It's an emotional and intense telling of a remarkable story, that continues into the second part of this two part podcast, as Pete sails on, determined to finish his Vendee Globe - in Part 2 Robertson discusses the impact he rescue had on Goss, before going on to discuss his next major project, the famous TEam Philips multihull project.Support the show

Series 4 - Ep17 - Pete Goss Part 1

Tales from Sailing Folk Lore with British Adventurer Pete Goss

This month, Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast talks to British offshore adventurer Pete Goss, an accomplished offshore sailor famed for executing one of the bravest solo ocean rescues of all time.

Talking at his home in the south west corner of the UK, in Part 1 Robertson and Goss kick their discussion off with chat about his formative years, his time in the British Marines, and how, in the nineteen nineties,  he found a love of offshore sailing through Chay Blyth's British Steel Challenge.  Episode 1 goes on to see the pair discuss the dramatic ocean rescue that took place in Pete's 1996 Vendee Globe race, as he recalls the events oc Christmas 1996 that saw him rescue French sailor Raphael Dinelli.

It's an emotional and intense telling of a remarkable story, that continues into tis episode, the second part of this two part podcast, as Pete sails on, determined to finish his Vendee Globe.

His return saw him awarded an MBE from Her Majesty the Queen, and the Legion d'Honneur by then French President Jacques Chirac.  Undeterred, Goss immediately launched his next project, taking part in Bruno Peyron's ambitious concept, "The Race".

To take on the no-rules round the world challenge, Goss built one of the most futuristic race boats the sport had ever seen.  His insights into the project, and the theories behind his Team Philips multihull are fascinating.  With an educational division and a free visitors' centre that saw over 1.2million visitors, Pete's pride in the project is clear to see.  Sadly, just weeks before the New Year start of The Race, the project abruptly ended, after the catastrophic loss of the catamaran in a violent North Atlantic storm.

Throughout his career Pete Goss has embarked on a multitude of groundbreaking projects, and while this edition sees him concentrate on two of his more famous endeavours, he also discusses the delightful "Spirit of Mystery" project, a challenge born from Cornish folk lore that ended up in the recreation of one of the bravest offshore navigations of the 1800s.Support the show

Series 4 - Ep18 - Pete Goss Part 2

This month, Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast hosts one of offshore sailing's most accomplished names, as multiple world record holder Brian Thompson drops in for a two part chat about being one of the fastest offshore sailors on the planet.

This is the second part of a two part chat with a man who, by his own admission, doesn't even know himself how many offshore World Records he's held.  In Part 1 they discuss his multiple record setting antics, from Trans-Atlantics to circumnavigations, the final figure is up in the forties, a fact Brian attributes to a long time spent sailing with American adventurer Steve Fossett.

In this part, the second edition ofthe two part podcast, Thompson discusses his 2008 Vendee Globe campaign, reealing how his succsful solo circumnavigation was something of a repair project for much of the race.

The pair also go on to discuss Brian's role in the succesful Jules Verne record attempt on French offshore legend Loick Peyron's Banque Populaire V, a circumnavigation that set a forty five day, thirteen hour record that stood for five years.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.Support the show

Series 4 - Ep16 - Brian Thompson Part 2

This month, Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast hosts one of offshore sailing's most accomplished names, as multiple world record holder Brian Thompson drops in for a two part chat about being one of the fastest offshore sailors on the planet.

By his own admission, multihull expert Brian Thompson doesn't even know himself how many offshore World Records he's held, but in his opening chat with Robertson, the modest British sailor does admit to knowing for a fact that no one in sailing has ever held more than he has!  From Trans-Atlantics to circumnavigations, the final figure is up in the forties, a fact Brian attributes to a long time spent sailing with American adventurer Steve Fossett...:

"Steve was a remarkable guy who was obsessed, and fascinated with breaking world records, and not just in sailing, but in all sorts of sports, so I think it all started with him, and we probably got fifteen world records with Steve, and later on with Lloyd Thornburg on Phaedo, we got another ten. Sometimes I've done the same record multiple times...round Britain three times, round the world twice, so in all I've probably broken near forty world records!"

Further into this first Episode, Robertson and Thompson discuss Brian's first circumnavigation record onboard Fossett's PlayStation, called Cheyenne at the time of the record attempt, and his growing ability to safely sail big boats fast in big seas.  It's now something that Thompson is well known for, and as his career developed, he was in increasing demand, finding himself on a star studded  ABN AMRO I as stand in helm for a southern ocean Volvo Ocean Race leg that would prove pivotal to the team's overall Race win...:

"I really concentrate on getting a maximum VMG where there is a sweet spot where if you go half a degree lower you're just going to fall of the cliff and stop.  You could be a little bit higher, and you're doing a nice boat speed, and it's all very easy but to be gaining that extra one or two degrees of depth you have to play with fire, and I really enjoy that!"

Into Part 2 and the sailing chat continues as Brian reveals the many difficulties experienced throughout much of his solo Vendee Globe campaign of 2008, before moving onto his sensational Jules Verne record onboard Loick Peyron's Banque Populaire V, a forty five day, thirteen hour record that stood for five years.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.Support the show

Series 4 - Ep15 - Brian Thompson Part 1

This month, Shirley Robertson heads to Barcelona to interview some of the key personnel from American Magic, the New York Yacht Club's challenger to the 37th America's Cup.

Embarking on their second America's Cup challenge, American Magic are a team rich in sailing talent, with a roster boasting a mix of some of the most experienced campaigners and some of the sport's brightest rising stars.

Robertson starts the two part podcast with one of the sailing team's newest signings, co-helm Tom Slingsby. A previous winner of the Cup in 2013, Slingsby joins the team as co-helm with Paul Goodison, creating a mouth watering combination that sees two of Olympic Laser sailing's fiercest of rivals come together in the Cup's new "dual helm" configuration.  As Slingsby admits, it's a setup the pair are still figuring out...:

"Goody and I for sure, we have different ways of racing, I might be a bit more aggressive probably and a bit more into boat on boat sailing and Goody, his way is to go fast and make sure that we're sailing the boat at optimum, and we'll sail away from them that way.  It's just going to be a blend...who knows how that's going to work, we're still working on it honestly!"

Robertson also talks to sailing super coach Tom Burnham, the man tasked with getting the most out of American Magic's talent pool, before spending time sailing the AC40 simulator with rising star Harry Melges.

In Part two of this edition Robertson gets things underway with Slingsby's co-helm, Paul Goodison.  One time Olympic team mates, Goodison and Robertson reflect on the legacy of the team's AC36 campaign in Auckland, a challenge cruelly cut short by dramatic capsize, before discussing the intricacies of the twin helm setup, in a chat that reflects the rising confidence of the team.

"I think we've got a real chance.  I think...there is a belief that we are good enough on our day to do this and to get over the final line and I think if we get a boat that we think we're going to receive... and we race to the level we know we're able to then I think on our day we're going to be right there."

Part two continues with a discussion on AC75 design, as Robertson talks to American Magic design team member David Oliver, before moving on to Riley Gibbs, another of the team's rising young stars.  Robertson's final guest is the mastermind behind American Magic, Terry Hutchinson, himself embarking on his sixth America's Cup campaign.  Robertson and Hutchinson discuss what kind of racing we're likely to see in next year's Cup, as well as the make up of the new look American Magic sailing team.

This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley’s own website - www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast. The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact podcast@shirleyrobertson.com.Support the show

Series 1 - Ep6 - Russell Coutts

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