Jimmy’s customary comeback rings only half-true
“We’ve been here before and we know what to do.”
It’s the familiar refrain we’ve come to expect from Jimmy Spithill during this America’s Cup regatta.
Whether he was trying to spook nervous Kiwi fans or rally his own troops onboard Oracle, Spithill continued to trot out the same message in the face of doubters who believed the American defender was doomed in the battle to keep the Auld Mug.
But how true is the bullish Australian’s claim? We checked it out — and discovered it’s only half-true.
The Aussie brains trust is still with Oracle, four years on from what was described as “the greatest comeback in the history of sport” when the Americans came from 8-1 down to win the Cup.
Spithill, the face and voice of Oracle, was there four years ago as was his tactician Tom Slingsby.
Along with wing trimmer Kyle Langford, the pair are part of an allAustralian afterguard. Langford was the youngest athlete to take part in the San Francisco regatta.
There are three other crew mem- bers who tasted success with the Auld Mug over Dean Barker’s Team NZ — taking it to six in total who can relate to Spithill’s mantra.
They are Aussie trimmer Joey Newton, American Rome Kirby, who can fill the role of trimmer, tactician and grinder, and former Sydney-toHobart race winner Sam Newton.
But the others on board the Ameri- can defender are all newcomers.
They include leading American tactician Andrew Campbell, an Olympian who joined the team after watching them win in San Francisco, and grinder Ky Hurst, a seven-times Aussie surf ironman champion who joined Oracle in 2015.
The American pair of bowman/ grinder Matt Cassidy and grinder Cooper Dressler are also new additions along with Aussies wing trimmer Tom Johnson and grinder Graeme Spence.
The two Kiwis onboard Oracle are Louis Sinclair and Kinley Fowler, neither of whom were on the boat in 2013.
New Zealand-born, Caribbeanraised Sinclair, 25, is Oracle’s youngest team member and has sailed alongside Spithill in two Sydney-to-Hobart races. Fowler, also Kiwi-born, grew up in Australia. He was part of Oracle’s shore team in San Francisco but is on the boat this time.
That means eight of the crew are in unfamiliar territory compared to Spithill and the five who were part of the triumph in San Francisco.