Coutts breaks silence on break-up

By HELEN TUNNAH

Russell Coutts has broken his lengthy silence on the reasons he quit Team New Zealand, saying he wants to "clear the air" and return to sailing.

Coutts, who steered Team New Zealand to two America's Cup wins before quitting and joining Swiss team Alinghi, says he struggled for years to draw up an agreement so a new management team could take over from Sir Peter Blake.

Two years of talks with the team's former trustees amounted to nothing, and ended with Brad Butterworth and other long-time crew members being "humiliatingly" shut out of Team NZ's compound when the locks were changed, says Coutts.

He was "absolutely not" negotiating to leave Team NZ for Alinghi before the end of the last cup. He held talks with Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli in early May 2000 and he and Butterworth said they were leaving two weeks later, a decision which stunned New Zealanders.

Coutts' new team race challenge for the America's Cup in two weeks.

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

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