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Assignment - The America's Cup

2003 47m Television
  • News/Current Affairs
  • Sport

As soon as Team NZ lifted the 2000 America's Cup, dramas engulfed the sailors and management. Current affairs programme Assignment investigates the decision by skipper Russell Coutts and tactician Brad Butterworth to join billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi syndicate. What followed was an exodus of Kiwi sailors to the Swiss-based franchise. Reporter Kerryanne Evans interviews Coutts, Butterworth and Team NZ trustee Ralph Norris about the events that splintered a winning team. Businessman Douglas Myers (a backer of Sir Peter Blake) does not hold back his opinions on Coutts' decision.