The Red Bulletin June 2020 (US)

76
Yachtsman, 40, AUS.
Spithill dreamed of an America’s Cup win
from the age of 4. At 30, he became the
youngest skipper to take the trophy.
James
Spithill
Spithill’s Luna Rossa team loses the mast of its AC75 foiling monohull in choppy waters during America’s Cup training off the
coast of Marina di Capitana, Sardinia. Thankfully, there was no major damage to the mast and no injury to the crew.
BRETT HEMMINGS/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, LUNA ROSSA/CARLO BORLENGHI RUTH MORGAN
“Champion teams
are able to respond
to tough times”
Victory is everything to the two-time
America’s Cup winner. But to get there
he’s learned how to embrace failure, too.
“Sport is rewarding and fulfilling in so many ways,”
says yachtsman Jimmy Spithill. “One of the best
things it can teach you is to get back up again after
a tough setback. The America’s Cup has been the
most brutal yet honest platform for me. There’s
no second place—the podium isn’t celebrated.
Anything short of victory is failure.
“That pressure pushes engineering, design and
construction to the limit, to breaking point. The
fact is, if you don’t have a few setbacks along the
way it’s likely you’re not pushing the envelope.
“In this environment, you don’t get to really
know someone when you’re winning; you learn what
they’re made of in tough times. You see who’s able to
be honest and learn from it and, more importantly,
grow stronger. That’s where leaders are made: They
use it as an education and an opportunity to make
themselves better people and teammates.
“I’ve seen it in every campaign I’ve done,
famously during the San Francisco round of the
America’s Cup [in 2013, when Spithill’s Oracle
Team USA staged an incredible comeback, winning
eight consecutive races to go from 8-1 down to a
9-8 series win]. I’ve seen it during this current
America’s Cup campaign, when structural failures
meant [current team] Luna Rossa dropping the
mast and ripping the front of the boat off. In both
cases, our mistakes didn’t make us weaker or cost us
the trophy; it brought us together, forced us to learn.
It made us stronger as a team. Champions and
champion teams are able to respond to tough times.
“Right now, the entire planet has a real fight on its
hands. If we look at lessons learned from sport, we
can use this as an opportunity to be candid, honest,
and come back stronger and smarter for the future.”
lunarossachallenge.com
THE RED BULLETIN 81