Aussie Nathan Outteridge happy to wear black jersey of New Zealand for SailGP in Sydney
Saturday, 24 February 2024
Australian Nathan Outteridge is New Zealand’s interim driver for the SailGP in Sydney
Regular skipper Peter Burling is at home waiting for the birth of his first child
Outteridge says he is happy to wear the black jersey and will again for Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup
SailGP: Event eight; Where: Sydney, Australia; When: Saturday and Sunday at 6pm (NZ time); Live coverage: Three Now.
Nathan Outteridge’s Kiwi kids have been unsure which flag to wave in support of their father. Japan, Denmark, Switzerland and New Zealand have all been unfurled.
The decorated Australian sailor will represent his fourth SailGP team in the series’ fourth season, replacing New Zealand driver Peter Burling for this weekend’s regatta in Sydney.
In fact, skippering New Zealand’s Amokura boat takes the 38-year-old’s tally to three teams this season alone.
While in a more concrete advisory role with Switzerland, he also stepped in for Denmark driver Nicolai Sehested in last month’s Abu Dhabi regatta, finishing ninth.
Like Burling, Sehested was on paternity leave. The regular Kiwi skipper is not in Sydney while waiting for the imminent arrival of his first child.
“I’m the man people call when they have kids,” Outteridge said to a press pack of mostly Australian reporters at the Sydney Opera House on Friday.
The same pack was drawn to Outteridge, an Australian, wearing New Zealand’s famous black colours for a sporting event around the Sydney Harbour where he learned to sail.
More so, too, because the leading Australian and New Zealand boats are separated by only six points ahead of the season’s eighth regatta.
Peppered with questions from the Sydney press, he remained unmoved.
It’s a topic Outteridge, who won gold and silver medals for Australia at the Olympics, is asked about often.
He is married to a New Zealander, his wife Emma, and they have two boys: Jack, 5, and Charlie, 3.
“The Aussie-Kiwi thing. It's still an interesting question. I've lived in New Zealand since 2018 and both of our kids have Kiwi passports,” he told Stuff.
Outteridge will also feature prominently in a New Zealand jersey throughout this year, as a key member of Team New Zealand’s America’s Cup defence in Barcelona.
He has not represented Australia in anything since his gold in the 49er event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He was Japan’s driver in SailGP’s inaugural season in 2019 and joined the Swiss after Japan exited the series in 2022.
While Outteridge’s crossovers are somewhat uncommon, as well as the America’s Cup, SailGP has plenty of sailors representing other nations. It’s a reality of elite sport where teams are not bound by nationality.
Among them are Canada’s driver, Kiwi Phil Robertson, with compatriot Jason Saunders with France, Australian Glenn Ashby with Switzerland and the Japanese Leo Takahashi (raised in Auckland) with the United States.
“It's nation against nation, but it's also a highly professional event and all the best sailors are here racing,” Outteridge said.
“I'm happy to pull on the black jersey and take it on this weekend.”
Many of Team NZ’s crew also represent New Zealand in SailGP, including the revered duo of Burling and Blair Tuke.
“It will be fun. I spend a lot of time with these guys at Team NZ. We speak the same language,” Outteridge said.
It’s an added bonus that Outteridge is familiar with Sydney Harbour and the difficulties awaiting on the water.
He is from Lake Macquarie, about two hours north of Sydney, and made a special note of one feature on the course, Shark Island, which could split the fleet.
Saturday’s forecast for the first of two racing days is expected to bring a stiffer breeze, known as the “southerly buster”, after Friday’s official practice session was cancelled because of the threat of thunderstorms.
Outteridge said the Sydney course would be relatively small for the 10 high-speed F50 foiling catamarans. With good breezes, they can hit top speeds of more than 50 knots.
“It's like racing a car in a car park,” he said.
Christchurch hosts New Zealand’s SailGP event on March 23-24, with three more legs to come in Bermuda, Halifax and New York before the finale in San Francisco in July.
SailGP leaderboard after seven events: Australia 56, New Zealand 50, United States 43, Denmark 43, Spain 42, Great Britain 41, France 38, Canada 37, Germany 16, Switzerland 12.
– Joseph Pearson travelled to Sydney with SailGP