July 9, 2007
Former Monarch is one of two Americans on Kiwi cup teamBy CHRISTOPHER CLAREY, The New York Times© June 29, 2007Last updated: 11:19 PM
VALENCIA, SPAIN
How do you take two proud Americans like Kevin Hall and Terry Hutchinson and turn them into something that might pass for Kiwis?
"First of all, no high-fives," said Ray Davies, a strategist with Emirates Team New Zealand.
The next phase involves mastering the essentials of rugby union and cricket for those bonding sessions around the big screen.
"I figured it all out with the rugby. Occasionally I ask questions," said Hutchinson, a two-time collegiate Sailor of the Year at Old Dominion in the 1980s. "Cricket, on the other hand... "
No, all has not been smooth sailing for the only two true outsiders on Team New Zealand's 17-man race crew, but at this advanced stage of the America's Cup, it is safe to pronounce the cultural experiment a success.
After the nightmarish experience of Team New Zealand at the last Cup, when its equipment and dignity broke down amid a sweep by Alinghi, the new leaders, Grant Dalton and Kevin Shoebridge, wanted fresh talent and fresh ideas in their afterguard to supplement their core group of Kiwis bent on redemption.
The result has been a convincing three-year run through the pre-regattas and the challengers' series known as the Louis Vuitton Cup and a 2-2 tie with Alinghi in the best-of-nine America's Cup, which resumes today.
"It's been great for us to be able to look outside our own borders to strengthen the team, because we needed to," said Shoebridge, New Zealand's director of sailing and operations. "A lot of Kiwis had either gone to Alinghi or Oracle or to other teams, so we needed to bolster up our own numbers with experience that we didn't have in the country at the time."
Hutchinson, the team's tactician, is a compact, occasionally combustible 39-year-old package of nervous energy from Annapolis, Md., who exudes the back-slapping self-confidence of a Navy pilot.
Hall, the navigator, is a more reflective 38-year-old. The son of doctors from Ventura, Calif., he chooses his words and conclusions with care, perhaps because sailing success was a bonus after suffering from testicular cancer in his early 20s.
"That pretty much turned everything upside down for me for a little while," Hall said. "That said, looking back, it changed me a lot for the better, and it's a little bit clichéd perhaps, but it very much was a gift and an opportunity in the sense that I really had to stare my priorities in the face and decide what they were."
Before joining the Kiwis, Hutchinson and Hall had sailed in two America's Cups in New Zealand. They began with Paul Cayard's AmericaOne team in 1999 and then were part of different American syndicates in 2002. Hutchinson called tactics for Team Dennis Conner, and Hall navigated for the Seattle-based OneWorld Challenge.
Hall and Hutchinson have known each other since 1984, when they both competed in a national youth regatta in Milwaukee. They were sometimes rivals in college, when Hall was at Brown and Hutchinson was at ODU.
Both have been among the best and brightest American sailors for years, with Hutchinson winning three world championships and Hall competing in the 2004 Olympics in the Finn Class. But with American options and influence much more limited during this Cup cycle, both decided that after living in New Zealand it was time to sail for New Zealand.
Hutchinson joined the team in June 2004 after becoming frustrated with the pace of negotiations with BMW Oracle Racing, the San Francisco-based challenger owned by software mogul Larry Ellison and run by New Zealander Chris Dickson.
"We went back and forth, probably two phone calls and probably six e-mails from April to the end of May," Hutchinson said. "I was asked to write what I perceived as a job description, so I did all that and they dragged their feet. I went back to them and said, 'I've got an opportunity with Team New Zealand and my first choice would be to sail for an American team.' And Chris Dickson came back with a response that, 'We'd like you to hold off, but we can't make a decision right now.' So as far as I was concerned, there was my answer."
Dickson no longer has a job after BMW Oracle crashed out in the semifinals of the Vuitton Cup, and Hutchinson clearly takes satisfaction in having picked the right horse.
"I'm as red, white and blue as they come," Hutchinson said. "I have a huge amount of internal national pride for the U.S., and at the same time I have a huge amount of respect and pride in the fact we are representing a nation of 3-1/2 million people who are passionate about sailing."
He added: "We had an open house in New Zealand where 10,000 people walked through the base, and you met people who traveled to Auckland and their sole purpose was to meet the team. And you got to talk to these people, and you got to realize the importance of what we were doing to the country as a whole. How can you not be moved by that type of situation?"
The nationalistic tenor of the Kiwi campaign has made it all the more important that Hutchinson and Hall assimilate. Adam Beashel, another member of the afterguard, is Australian but holds a New Zealand passport. The 14 other men on board are all Kiwis.
"I think it's taken a while, but eventually Terry and Kevin really grasped hold of Kiwi-ness," Davies said with a laugh. "We almost had to hold our hands together before one of our early races and do the 'Three, two, one, hup!' out of the huddle. But that didn't last too long, and Terry has been fantastic. He's got incredible intensity when he's out there on the water and has all the respect from the Kiwis."
That still doesn't stop them from calling Hutchinson "Seppo," a term of alleged endearment for Americans Down Under that is short for "septic tank."
"That's all right; I have my ways of getting back at them," Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson, a self-confessed hothead, arrived knowing that he had to temper his behavior in a group where the tone is generally more understated.
"I think I was potentially a high-risk candidate for Grant, so when I came into this team I was hugely aware of any perceived labels I had with me, and some of it was true," he said. "I've had to curtail some of my emotional side, because I knew the culture wouldn't stand for it, and the best thing about it is that it's by far made me a better sailor. You're not being distracted by an emotion you don't have time for, getting caught up in the moment instead of just thinking through everything clearly."
For Hall, adapting has been more about adjusting his antenna.
"They communicate a lot, the Kiwis, but a lot of it is a little bit roundabout," he said. "It's not, 'Great job' or 'Terrible job.' It's a little bit in a making-fun-of-somebody-but-you're-actually-quite-serious-about-it way. And it takes a long time to learn the scale of what's been discussed, and that's been the challenge."
It is hardly the biggest challenge Hall has faced in his sailing career. His cancer not only caused him to lose both his testicles, it has also complicated his professional life. It requires him to seek special exemption from the International Olympic Committee to receive the weekly injections of testosterone that he no longer produces naturally after his surgeries but that remains a banned substance for athletes.
While Hall was working through those issues on his way to the 2004 Olympics, he was also going through the process of adopting a child with his wife, Amanda.
"It dredged up a lot of this stuff again, because I was trying to get the eligibility," Hall said. "So it was all right back in my face."
The Halls have since adopted two boys, now 2 years and 8 months, and the family has set up temporary base in Valencia. So have Hutchinson and his wife and three children, who range in age from 3 to 8 and are all enrolled in Spanish schools.
That, Hutchinson says, is much more of a culture shock than having to learn not to high-five.
"The truth is, the All Blacks (New Zealand's rugby squad) high-five, so I don't quite buy into it," Hutchinson said. "I think the guys make a bigger deal out of it than it actually is."
NOTE On HutchinsonTerry Hutchinson was a four time Collegiate Sailing All-American at ODU.He was the 1989 and 1990 Collegite Sailor of the Year and was inductedinto the ODU Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.
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