Assignment - The America's Cup

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.

You have a catastrophic blow like the loss of a huge number of very experienced and old campaigners from the team and you're scrambled, we had billionaires up and down syndicate row with money hanging out of their back pockets, flapping under the nose of every available sailor and designer. It was a really, really tough position to be in, and one that in hindsight we didn't recover from...

– Team NZ CEO Ross Blackman on the contributing reasons for Team NZ's failure at the 2003 America's Cup Regatta

Key Cast & Crew

Brett Cammell

Director

Peter Montgomery

Subject

Colin McRae

Executive Producer

Bill Denton

Editor

Kerryanne Evans

Reporter

Mary Durham

Research