Cutler riding a wave of success in lead-up to cup

By JULIE ASH

Chances are when Dean Barker and Team New Zealand line up against the challenger for the America's Cup in February they will come up against a fellow Kiwi.

New Zealand's ability to breed world-class sailors means nearly every team on "syndicate row" has at least one New Zealander.

There are David Barnes at GBR, Gavin Brady at Prada, Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth at Alinghi, Craig Monk at OneWorld and at Oracle Racing there is 40-year-old John Cutler - a three-time world match-racing champion, a 1988 Olympic bronze medallist in the Finn Class and a three-time America's Cup competitor.

Four months from the Louis Vuitton Challenger series, life at Cutler's Oracle Racing couldn't be better.

Their two 2003-generation cup boats have arrived in Auckland and crew member Peter Holmberg has just won the Swedish Match Tour with an Oracle team that included Cutler.

"Peter and the team's success is a big boost for the syndicate. When you are winning it is a good feeling for the whole team," said Cutler, who is Oracle's sailing operations manager.

"There were other skippers saying there is a difference in the bigger boats, which just reinforces how important it is to do well in these events. It is all match racing and pushing and improving your skills."

Oracle's first new boat, USA71, was christened last week while their second boat, USA76, also in Auckland, will be launched in the next month.

Cutler said the arrival of new boats is a milestone in any campaign.

"To come up with USA71 and USA76 it has taken more than 300 sailboat races recorded on our Oracle database.

"The design team have tried and tested over 400 different hull combinations to derive the final product."

Utilising computer simulation, they have tallied several million races. This is an incredible feat and the feeling around here is electric."

Yes, but are the boats fast?

"I hope so," he laughs.

"As we approach the Louis Vuitton series the teams do have some informal racing to gauge how fast you are. But you really don't know until the first race.

"We have ... quite a bit of racing to do to get the boats and ourselves ready for October 1."

Cutler, born in Manchester, England, in 1962, moved to Auckland with his family when he was 13.

His first weekend in New Zealand was spent sailing at Murray's Bay.

"They were having a learn-to-sail weekend where they were taking people for rides in boats.

" ... I quite enjoyed it and it went on from there."

A former Westlake Boys High School student, Cutler started in the P Class before moving on to the Starlings, Lasers and Finns.

"My first good result was in the 1977 Tauranga Cup, which was the national P Class Championships.

"I finished fourth. Chris Dickson won the event, and Russell Coutts was second.

"We all go back a long way."

His association with the America's Cup began in 1990 when he was invited to go to Japan to the Nippon Challenge with Dickson.

"That was really my first experience with big boats," he said.

Cutler was tactician aboard Nippon in 1992 and helmsman in 1995.

From Nippon he went on to work for Dawn Riley on America True in the last cup.

"We had a great bunch of people at America True. We didn't really go into it with any great expectations, we didn't get caught up in all the politics of it.

"Dawn was great to work for. We all had a great time there."

This time around he is with software giant Larry Ellison's Oracle Racing - possibly the wealthiest team on the block.

A qualified chemical and materials engineer, Cutler's job as Oracle's director of sailing meant he was responsible for hiring sailors and is now involved with all departments that work with the sailing team, such as the shore team, the guys that drive the tenders, and the designers.

"I have always wanted to be part of a team that was well funded, had a strong design team and a strong sailing team where nothing is compromised.

"We have the best possible people here so for me it has been everything I have hoped for."