Who Can Take On Oracle?

Which man has what it takes to win the 35th America’s Cup? BOB FISHER talks to all the Cup skippers to get the measure of the men.

The skipper of Oracle Team USA cuts a self-assured figure as he smiles for the cameras. Underneath his trademark cap-and-sunnies attire, you can see every inch of him is wired. As both the youngest skipper to have ever competed in – and the youngest helm to have ever won – the America’s Cup, Aussie-born Jimmy Spithill is no stranger to pressure. His ability to deal with that translates into an intensely competitive streak and a ruthless precision out on the water. If Spithill manages to successfully defend sporting’s oldest trophy in Bermuda this month, it will be a hat trick, after wins in 2010 and 2013.

Ask him if that’s possible and of course, the answer comes back a positive. And Spithill has every reason to be confident. Why wouldn’t he?

His team, Oracle Team USA, starts with every advantage, having been the first to establish a base in the America’s Cup Village in Bermuda and thereby are familiar with the conditions. Add to that, Oracle has elected to support Softbank Team Japan in every respect, thereby providing themselves with a trial horse against which they have been able to tune their boat without having to build the second boat they were permitted under the Rules of the Competition.