So much unsaid as Cup heroes sail away

By PETER CALDER

The last time the same faces had sat behind a table festooned with microphones, they were smiling, full of the pride of America's Cup victory.

But the men who sat down yesterday in front of a Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron pennant, faced the press grimly.

The smiles, when they came, were wry at best, or forced and sickly. And what was said was so much less eloquent than what was left unsaid.

The man who said the least was Bradley William Butterworth. He sidled in like an afterthought, at first inconspicuous among the suits of commodores and trustees.

For the first time anyone could remember, he was not dressed in the Team New Zealand colours with the logo of the "family of five" sponsors in a line on the breast. Soberly kitted out in a dark suit and a rather hurriedly knotted silver tie, he was there to say he was leaving the family that had brought such pride and pleasure to the nation.

His statement "on behalf of myself and Russell Coutts" said that "with regret and sadness" they were leaving the team organisation.

"I can assure you that our decision was made only after the most intensive consideration and personal soul-searching. It is certainly the hardest decision either of us has ever had to make. We have reached the conclusion that we do not want to manage a defence within the proposed structure."

He read head-down, in a monotone, stumbling slightly over the words as he characterised what he was doing as "stepping aside" to allow other stars to shine. He observed, mildly perhaps, that New Zealanders would be surprised.

And he finished by formally declining further questions. He and Coutts had "faced up to a situation, made a decision and moved on," he said. "There was nothing more to say."

With that he pushed his chair back from the table, as if to distance himself from proceedings. But he was not out of the limelight yet.

Sports broadcaster Murray Deaker probably spoke for most of the country when he waved a copy of Butterworth's statement in the air and lamented that "this doesn't answer anything for me at all."

"I'm staggered," he said. "Are you going to another syndicate? Why the hell have you bailed out? Personally I don't think it's on. The whole country's been behind you in a big way."

Butterworth spread his hands in a helpless shrug and kept his own counsel.

Further along the table, Tom Schnackenberg squeezed a smile from under his spectacular moustache and put on a brave face. He did not see what was happening as a betrayal "because that's a negative thing to do," he said.

Even when he allowed that "it is possible to turn aside big-buck offers in favour of the pull" of something higher, he would not be drawn into admitting it was a veiled criticism. No one wanted to use the B-word, but the sense of betrayal was heavy in the air.

Onward and upward, the men in suits were saying. The cameras swivelled towards them and Butterworth - who had had the courage to front and the grit to stay seated after he had said his piece - stole furtive glances round the room.

Outside, the New Zealand flag, raised high on the Harbour Bridge at the height of the cup defence, fluttered in the evening breeze. But it was hard to escape the impression that it did so heavily, a little more limply than before.

* Aucklanders greeted the news with disbelief.

Glenn Williams, a 14-year-old who sails a Starling at the Takapuna Yacht Club, was devastated. "I would have thought they'd have a bit of loyalty and stuck together."

Patrons at Team Magic Bar - where the walls are covered with photographs of Coutts and Butterworth - were stunned.

Rob Barrett feared the outcome of New Zealand's next challenge. "It's quite a shame that we've lost these key men ... but I feel even sorrier for those guys left in Team New Zealand because it's just got that much harder to retain the Cup."

Simon Wilde was sure money was behind the split. "The really sad thing is that greed has caused all this. It's a monetary disagreement between the two factions, no more no less."

America's Cup feature