Lunch with... Sir Russell Coutts - sailing great opens up on fierce rivalries, New Zealand’s place in the world and working with Larry Ellison

This year the Herald’s award-winning newsroom produced a range of first-class journalism, including exploring the NCEA and UE results of every college around NZ , the collapse of the Du Val property empire, revealing claims a former funeral director at Tipene Funerals was swindling grieving clients and charting the 10-year police probe that brought down Wayne Doyle and the Head Hunters . The following article was one of the best-read Premium articles in 2024. The story originally ran in February.

In a rare sit-down interview over lunch, our greatest America’s Cup sailor opens up on family, business, Larry Ellison, Grant Dalton, the Blackheart campaign, NZ’s place in the world and his exasperation with red tape. Shayne Currie reports. On a dreary afternoon, Russell Coutts and his family were wrangling over the TV remote and what to watch on Netflix.



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