Sir Russell Coutts attacks local officials after dolphins cancel SailGP racing in Christchurch
Sunday, 24 March 2024
SailGP chief executive Sir Russell Coutts slammed local officials for protocols placed on Christchurch’s event in the series.
Saturday’s racing was cancelled because of dolphins on the course at Lyttelton Harbour.
Racing went ahead in full on Sunday and New Zealand won the match race to top the SailGP standings.
SailGP chief executive Sir Russell Coutts launched an extraordinary attack on local officials in Christchurch after Saturday’s first day of racing at Lyttelton Harbour was cancelled because of dolphins.
Hours before the second day of racing was due to start on Sunday, Coutts slammed several organisations for protocols placed on the sailing series, including the Department of Conservation (DOC), Canterbury’s environmental authority ECan, the Ngāti Wheke iwi and Lyttelton Port Company.
He singled out ECan harbourmaster Guy Harris for restrictions he said did not allow teams enough practice time on the water ahead of this weekend’s regatta.
The start of the event on Saturday was delayed by more than 90 minutes after dolphins were sighted on the course. Racing was abandoned for the day and left teams, sailors and spectators frustrated.
Few would have been as disappointed as Coutts, the decorated 62-year-old Kiwi sailor in charge of SailGP.
He read out a long, uninterrupted statement that lasted about five minutes on NewstalkZB and put the future of the Kiwi event in the series in major doubt. Sailing on Sunday did go ahead without any dolphin sightings.
“SailGP operates all over the world. There is no doubt there are marine mammals in all the locations that we race. We've never had an incident in 35 events,” Coutts said.
He said their people and the sailors care deeply about the marine environment, marine conservation and the overall environment, but that additional protocols they had to follow in Christchurch had been problematic.
“SailGP has had this extreme marine mammal mandatory protocol forced upon it, demanded by DOC, ECan and Ngāti Wheke for this event,” Coutts said.
“Other harbour users, including commercial, are not subjected to such protocol. In particular, Guy Harris, the harbourmaster, has been extremely restrictive in prohibiting practice for the international teams.”
Coutts said the teams desperately wanted to practice on the water on Sunday morning but were denied without any reason given.
“Yesterday was another example of there being no balance in the decision-making, another example of New Zealand being handcuffed by unprecedented layers of bureaucracy and red tape,” Coutts said.
Harris was not available for comment when approached by Stuff.
His office issued a statement instead, saying his responsibility was to mitigate risk to everyone on the water.
“The location of the SailGP race makes this particularly complex due to the port activity, size of the harbour, ferries, recreational boats and the speed of the race boats themselves. Race plans and approvals are rigorous to ensure the safety of people and vessels,” the statement said.
It also said requests from SailGP officials to bring the race times forward on Sunday had to be carefully considered. An 11am request was not approved and was pushed back to 1:30pm, but SailGP stuck with the original start time of 3pm on Sunday.
“This call sits with the harbourmaster’s office and it was made having weighed up all options to maintain navigation safety standards for the public and those racing. The right decision was made by the harbourmaster – accommodating an earlier start but not compromising safety,” the statement said.
As for the dolphins, Coutts said they would have been aware of the boats. The SailGP’s F50 foiling catamarans hit top speeds of nearly 100kph.
“The dolphins are extremely intelligent mammals and are inherently aware of the boats around them,” he said.
Environmentalists raised concerns about the presence of dolphins in the build-up to the event in Lyttelton Harbour.
DOC released a statement on behalf of Henry Weston, their deputy director-general of operations, in response to Coutts.
Weston said their role was to advocate for marine wildlife and the Hector’s dolphins in the area, who are in calving season, are a protected species. It is illegal to harass or disturb them.
“DOC does not have a role in permitting or allowing the race to go ahead,” Weston said.
“SailGP has chosen to hold its event in a marine mammal sanctuary that was established for the protection of Hector’s dolphins. This decision to hold the event there was made in the full knowledge that protection of the dolphins from the impact of boats will be paramount.”
Coutts said his and the teams’ frustrations were deep and could impact the future of a SailGP event in New Zealand which brings more than $5 million into the local economy.
“Almost all of the people here in Christchurch are incredibly supportive and positive. I would like to thank them,” he added.
“I feel sorry for fans and local businesses that this event has been so disruptive.”
Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke and ChristchurchNZ, the city’s tourism arm, also released a joint statement in response to Coutts. They, too, referenced the decision to stage racing in a mammal sanctuary.
“Our iwi and hapū are part of Ōtautahi community and we want to see our beautiful city succeed. Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke would have loved to see racing happen too while ensuring the protection of precious nationally vulnerable Upokohue/Hector’s dolphins” said Mishele Radford, the chair of Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke.
“The involvement of Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke was to review and provide input into the Marine Mammal Management Plan (MMMP). We do not have a role in implementing the MMMP.”
Loren Aberhart, ChristchurchNZ’s general manager of destination and attraction, added: “We all want SailGP to succeed in our city and to be able to race while also protecting our native species. We are totally pumped to see racing today on a beautiful afternoon in Lyttelton and of course to see the Black Foils take out the win.”
Coutts launched SailGP in 2019 and in this season New Zealand are among the 10 teams competing in events around the world.
The other teams are Australia, who have been winners in its three editions, the United States, Denmark, Spain, Great Britain, France, Canada, Germany and Switzerland.
New Zealand beat Canada and France on Sunday in the match race final to win the Christchurch event for the first time.
Lyttelton Harbour has been host for New Zealand’s two regattas and was a late replacement for Auckland this year.