Oracle Team USA looks for a three-peat
HAMILTON, BERMUDA — Jimmy Spithill isn’t afraid of a fight.
The 37-year-old Australian skipper of Oracle Team USA will take on all comers, whether it’s from behind the wheel of his fast catamaran in the America’s Cup, in a boxing ring or via lethal mind games at news conferences.
He’s attempting to win a third straight America’s Cup with Oracle Team USA, the powerhouse squad owned by software billionaire Larry Ellison.
Spithill’s opponent starting today on Bermuda’s Great Sound is Emirates Team New Zealand, which is looking to atone for its 2013 collapse.
One of the more intriguing matchups, besides how the teams’ 50-foot catamarans compare and how well the crews sail them, is how Team New Zealand helmsman Peter Burling, a 26-yearold America’s Cup rookie, holds up against Spithill.
Spithill has never lacked confidence, whether it was as the 20-year-old skipper of a bare-bones Aussie challenge in the 2000 America’s Cup, or at age 30 becoming the youngest skipper to win sailing’s biggest prize.
In 2013, he helped lead one of the greatest comebacks in sports, when Oracle, down 8-1 at match point to the Kiwis, won eight straight races on San Francisco Bay to retain the oldest trophy in international sports.
“When I look around me and look at my teammates, I have a lot of confidence. There are a lot of great guys, guys that aren’t afraid of a fight and guys that no matter what the situation, good or bad, they’re not going anywhere,” Spithill said Friday. “They’re going to be there when we need them.”