Louis Vuitton’s master of America’s Cup ceremonies – and former Cup skipper – Bruno Troublé talks to Blue Robinson about why he remains a happy, if slightly nervous punter.
Seahorse: Bruno, what does the America’s Cup mean to you?
Bruno Troublé: I think it’s my life. I changed my life really because of the Cup. I used to be a lawyer in Paris – which was boring, but my father was a lawyer and his father was a lawyer so it was an old practice, and being an only son with three sisters… I understood early that I had to take over my father’s business, because in France you cannot sell a law firm. If you stop you stop. Then in 1968 there was the student revolution in France so, at 22, suddenly I thought, ‘What am I doing?’
Actually, I continued with the law for a few more years… but I was so bored. Eventually I did decide to change my life and sail as much as I could; and I managed to do some business at the same time, bringing Louis Vuitton to the Cup in 1982. That was the best move of my life. Since then I have not missed any – any – race day in the America’s Cup.
So, yes, I love and am very passionate about the America’s Cup. People believe Louis Vuitton is in sport and in sailing – no! Louis Vuitton is not in sailing: Louis Vuitton is attached to something very special and the America’s Cup is now a part of the Louis Vuitton DNA, because when we started in 1983 we were lucky that Australia went on to win the America’s Cup after winning the very first Louis Vuitton Cup. The coverage was huge – particularly in the United States, so we were extremely fortunate.
Since then the Cup has travelled from Newport to Perth to San Diego to Auckland and so on – and there has been no permanent body involved, so Louis Vuitton had been the guardian of the event over the year
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When the French brand returns to the Cup in 2013 it will be to a very different picture to the majestic elegance of the 11 ACC yachts that fought it out to challenge Alinghi in Valencia four years ago; a small handful of AC72 cats may not have the presence of these 25-tonne monsters but expect them to achieve more front pages
