The Man Who Pulled off an America’s Cup Miracle | John Bertrand

John Bertrand is the America’s Cup skipper who led Australia to an historic against-the-odds victory over the USA in their own back yard in 1983. It’s been dubbed ‘The Race of the Century’ and is the subject of a Netflix film of the same name.
In the fifth episode in our ‘A Moment in Time’ series of Performance People with the Inside Tack podcast, John takes us inside this incredible story to reveal the thinking, leadership and values which took the Australia II team from plucky underdogs to world champions, against the might of New York Yacht Club.
John also offers his insight into the 2024 America’s Cup and explains why it’s the team that finds a way to learn, develop and innovate the most during competition that will likely win.
Georgie Ainslie’s podcast Performance People sees the sports broadcaster and ainslie + ainslie founder chat to high performing people in sport on how they got to the top and the journey they have been on to get there. Episodes every Tuesday.
Hit subscribe today for the latest.
🎧 Spotify/Apple Music
Is Performance People giving you everything you need? Follow us on the channels below and sign up to our newsletter where you’ll get exclusive content from Georgie and her guests.
www.performance...
/ performance.people
/ performancepeople
/ performancepeoplepodcast
/ performanceppl

[@Ckktopa]

Great interview. thank you !

[@sailingisconservation]

Excellent interview!!

[@mallowe9162]

I remember so clearly ‘that morning, that race’ before going to work. Watching it on the tele and when Hawke said take the day off…I did 😂 Thanks JB

[@romy_showrunnermag]

Amazing interview. The wisdom! Thx

[@ssmith4045]

"Born to Win" as told to Patrick Robinson, the book that won me my sailing career. (along with Stuart Walkers Advanced Racing Tactics) Thankyou JB and the team for 83 and life lessons thereafter.

[@patrickflanagan317]

Australia2 , winning was truly histoic and made me decide to become a boatbuilder all those years ago, I remember sitting in a lecture theater with 30 others watcing the final race. What John diplomaticly didnt day is how the Americans changed the rating and thus the set up of their yacht during the AC to suit the forcast of the next day. I for one are pleased they have nothing to do with the rules because recent history has shown some underarm skullduggery 😜😜. ETNZ are not perfect but along with the Brits as COR its been the cleanest cup yet. I wish the English the best of luck against the Italians, but go ETNZ and Im hoping to see an Aussie team back in the next cycle because you guys are a sporting powerhouse. 👍👍

[@EnglishLawyer]

@18:27 she said "You are not going to win the America's Cup with a safe design". Complete rubbish. Russell Coutts told Bertarelli to run with a conservative boat and he won again. Team NZ wanted to go with radical. The Hula. The NZ boat broke apart and almost sank. Who was right? Radical or safe conservative? I remember Bruce Farr who had designed another yacht and who by the way has never designed a Cup winning boat had the best saying of the Cup..."Why would you want to build a Hula if you didn't want to dance around the rules"? Good onya Brucie.

[@charlesburg4674]

Its similar in Formula1. Best Ingenieurs can only do right with an accurate Feedback from Sailors. The tricky things in fine tuning starts with the Preferences of the „Drivers“ and the Intelligence to read and Interpret the Datas. I like the AC 75 but the Development speed is to low and still a bit Fuzzy Logic 😉

[@JohnDowning-j7j]

John bertrand, was the helmsman in a superior boat, he didnt pull of a miracle, it was a team effort, both on board and on shore. I am sick of only hearing his name regarding australia 11s great victory.

[@VidhyaShahiBam]

Potttt😊

[@Taking_Calls]

They won it once LOL David vs Goliath is New Zealand current holders of the cup and winners of it how many times? Good on him but honestly... why haven't Australia entered since Australia one broke in half and sank against new Zealand in the 90s??? They don't even put any coverage of it here any more it's a joke.

[@SafariNZ]

Yes, it’s baffling, sad and a missed opportunity when it was raced in New Zealand where it would have been much easier and cheaper to mount a challenge. Now it is more a world wide event so much more expensive and benign next door is no longer a big advantage.