Yachting: Russell World primed for action

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Russell Coutts makes no apologies for hiding from the public eye in the final countdown to the America's Cup.

The Team New Zealand's skipper has shunned interviews in the last two months and avoided public appearances.

It won't have won him friends - but the way he sees it, it could win the America's Cup.

"I don't have to win a popularity contest. We will be judged on whether we win or lose," he said in a rare interview.

"I haven't been answering phone calls for a while now. My mobile phone is switched off.

"But I have to focus now. If I'm distracted by wee side issues I won't be as prepared on the start line as I should be on day one."

Coutts was supposed to devote Saturday to his son Grayson. But the 11-year-old ran around the Team New Zealand base with a friend while Dad gave a few final interviews before the Cup match, now just five days away.

"I haven't been accessible to the media lately. I really just want to get in here and think of things," he said.

"I'm quite happy to talk today, because I know what's going on now. We're ready now."

The wait to see Coutts is an hour and a half - not an unusual delay. He has been in meetings trying to settle the sailing rules for the match and apologises genuinely for being late.

His brain is totally switched on to the Cup. He is entering the zone his crewmates call "Russell World."

It is not a new phenomenon. He explains that he likes time to himself to get ready for racing - even at home. Apparently his wife, Jenny, is very understanding.

"She comes from a sporting family - her dad [Peter Little] went to the Olympics in athletics and her mum [Jo] played golf in the British Open," Coutts said.

"I've been watching lots of videos, even by myself at night, with the sound turned off. I'm thinking about the racing constantly.

"I feel more secure when I know I'm properly prepared."

He still finds time, though, to play golf, and will probably get another round in with tactician Brad Butterworth before the weekend.

"If I want to get out of here, we'll go out and have a knock around the golf course. But the first thing you get asked when you arrive is: 'Shouldn't you guys be out practising?'"

Coutts has struggled with illness and injury over the past few years - recurring glandular fever and a back problem.

But he is adamant that he is on top of all that and is in peak condition to steer the black boat come Saturday.

"I'm back swimming now. I haven't been able to run for a while, I don't want to aggravate my back," he said.

"But the best thing is that I've got my energy back now. For a whole year before I found out I had glandular fever, I was so tired.

"I used to work longer hours than what I've been able to do lately. I need more sleep these days."

But what if next week Coutts is not up to scratch behind the wheel - physically or mentally? He is both captain and selector of the team, so who gets to decide if he takes the field or not?

"We'll decide the crew as a group. We're all aware of where we are.

"We have been 0-3 down in matchracing and been able to win 4-3. We'll deal with these sorts of issues as a team."

It isn't easy keeping a team together for four years before they finally get to play. Coutts admits there have been niggles, but points out that no one has left Team New Zealand in that time.

"Internal competition fuels the problems. But we have probably operated more like a family would approach its problems.

"You have to be honest, objective and open. You've got to use tact, even though that is not one of my strengths."

It is up to Coutts' crew to hold it all together on the racecourse now their chance has finally come.