Russell Coutts sacked by Alinghi

8.25am

New Zealand America's Cup hero Russell Coutts has been sacked by the Swiss Alinghi team for repeatedly "violating his duties".

"Team Alinghi is left with no choice but to terminate its contract with Russell Coutts," the team said in a statement today.

Coutts and Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli had been arguing for several weeks over Coutts' duties with the team but the team said today that repeated violations by Coutts of his duties had led to his sacking.

Coutts refused to helm Alinghi in Newport, America, and had also refused to sail with the Team Alinghi crew at recent regattas in Marstrand, Sweden, Trieste, Italy and in Lisbon, Portugal, where the regattas were about to commence.

"This constitutes a clear violation of his employment contract," the team said.

"Furthermore, in various press statements made early July, he declared that he was no longer part of the Alinghi Team."

The team statement said it was also particularly damaging that Coutts was involved in the planning and development of a new race series which was incompatible with his responsibilities and duties.

"In his capacity as a member of the board of Alinghi Holdings, Russell Coutts manoeuvred himself into an inextricable conflict of interest.

"As a result, Alinghi had no recourse but to terminate its co-operation with Russell Coutts, effective immediately," Alinghi said.

Last month, Bertarelli said he would resist any move to allow Coutts to join another campaign.

Coutts could have trouble joining another syndicate because of his background in design, although Bertarelli said that was "not necessarily" the case.

He said he would resist any attempt by Coutts to join a rival syndicate.

"Right now I need to protect the team more than anything," he said.

"I don't want to find myself in a Team New Zealand situation (when Bertarelli hired Coutts away from the cup holders in 2000).

"Frankly, and fortunately, I think I drafted my contracts a little better than Team New Zealand."

Bertarelli could not explain Coutts' unhappiness, but did not believe it was to do with their relationship, money or Coutts' position in the decision-making hierarchy.

Coutts had also refused to helm the Alinghi yacht at the UBS Trophy regatta in Newport, Rhode Island, which upset Bertarelli.

"For me to find that he doesn't want to jump on an Alinghi boat is a bit of surprise, given that what I basically hired him for was helming," Bertarelli said.

"If the guy doesn't want to do his basic task, we have a bit of problem."

Coutts is thought to have wanted more say in the running of the America's Cup event.

Coutts, the most successful sailor in America's Cup history, skippered the Alinghi yacht to a 5-0 victory over defending champion Team New Zealand in Auckland last year.

Coutts also said last month that there were "differences in management direction" between himself and Bertarelli and they were in mediation over an America's Cup rule that restricted sailors moving from one team to another.

Alinghi has two other helmsmen -- Peter Holmberg and Jochen Schuemann.

The next America's Cup competition will be held off Valencia, Spain, in 2007.

NewstalkZB yachting commentator Peter Montgomery said Coutts was told by an Alinghi lawyer and not by Bertarelli that he had been sacked.

He said Coutts and Bertarelli were not talking because of their dispute but it was anticipated Coutts would have left before he could have been sacked by Alinghi.

"I think that will surprise a lot of people because people thought the move to move on would probably come from Coutts," Montgomery said today.

He said Coutts had the impression he would have a major role in the event and wanted to change the event, possibly to bigger 30m off-the-wind boats rather than the traditional 24m boats.

He said Coutts was sidelined when he had no part on the event.

"A lot of the expectation he was told he would have has not eventuated and when Coutts feels aggrieved we know what happens.

"He has taken a stand but in the end, the final cut has come from Bertarelli and Coutts had been left wondering where does this leave him financially," Montgomery said.

- NZPA