Crisis at Team NZ after walkout

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth have quit Team New Zealand for multimillion-dollar contracts with a Swiss billionaire.

The two America's Cup heroes, who were to have led New Zealand in the 2003 defence, walked out yesterday, ignoring pleas from the remaining NZ syndicate leader, Tom Schnackenberg, for them to stay.

Schnackenberg also tried and failed to convince Swiss-Italian pharmaceutical billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli not to lure Coutts and Butterworth away.

And more may be to come. Former syndicate leader Sir Peter Blake said from England last night that three other team members would go with Coutts and Butterworth.

Team NZ were yesterday trying to resurrect a team shocked and angered by the defections.

One of the crew said the remaining team members had felt "stunned and betrayed" when they gathered at an emergency meeting yesterday.

"These guys have been promising so much - now they've bailed out without saying a word to us and left all the younger people to do it," backup helmsman Cameron Appleton said.

Butterworth and Coutts had urged crew offered big money from overseas syndicates to "hang in" - but were the first to jump ship.

New skipper Dean Barker, the 27-year-old who will run Team NZ with Schnackenberg, admitted he was disappointed by the defections.

With Coutts on a flight from Europe bound for Auckland, Butterworth was left to face the music alone yesterday.

He said that after much "soul searching" the pair had decided they did not want to manage a defence "within the proposed structure."

He refused to elaborate, but it was no secret they were unhappy with the drawn-out handover from the old Team NZ trustees to the new.

Schnackenberg put on a confident face in front of the media yesterday as he introduced Barker and a new trio of trustees.

But later, he said he had found the going tough for the past month after discovering that Coutts was leaving.

Schnackenberg, a highly respected designer and navigator, arrived back in Auckland at 5 am yesterday after touring the United States and Europe with Coutts and Butterworth negotiating deals for Team NZ.

"I haven't slept a lot the last few weeks."

Schnackenberg and one of Team NZ's new trustees, Coutts' close friend Canadian millionaire John Risley, tried to make Coutts and Butterworth reconsider.

"John and I talked to Russell, Brad and Bertarelli trying to convince them to change their minds," Schnackenberg said.

He did not tell Team NZ's "family of five" sponsors in New Zealand "because we thought we might have been able to flip the guys back."

He dropped the bombshell on the sponsors yesterday.

But the sponsors told the incoming trustees, who finally took over from the old guard yesterday morning, that they were committed to supporting New Zealand's Cup defence.

And the Government revealed that it had negotiated a $5.6 million deal with Team NZ in a bid to retain key crew members.

"Clearly we are concerned that we could lose more team members and that is why we've made the announcement now. I hope we can stem the flow," said Sport Minister Trevor Mallard.

Schnackenberg said the Government money - through a sponsorship arrangement with Brand NZ - would enable Team NZ to offer crew contracts next week.

Sir Peter Blake said he was "really disappointed" with Butterworth and Coutts. "If they had said they would go where there was the most money right from the outset, no one would have minded."

He knew of other sailors who would join Coutts and Butterworth in a European challenge.

"I believe what they've been offered is a huge amount. It's not just Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth - there's three other top guys going with them who haven't come out yet."

The skipper and tactician of the last defence have long relationships with a number of the Team NZ crew. Two of them, Simon Daubney and Warwick Fleury, were not at yesterday's crew meeting.

Asked how he would keep Coutts' right-hand men, Schnackenberg said: "It's going to be a very tough thing."

A fortnight ago, Coutts - when asked by the Herald - laughed off a rumour that he had been offered $US8 million to run Bertarelli's syndicate.

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