Former US SailGP driver and CEO Jimmy Spithill will fill in for the Australia SailGP team this weekend.
The Australian, who was born in Pittwater, north of Sydney, will steer the Flying Roo at this weekend's Dubai Sail Grand Prix in the absence of skipper Tom Slingsby — who will miss the event to be present at the birth of his first child.
Spithill has not competed for his native land since 2001 but is in an intermission as he prepares to spearhead the incoming Italy team, and is relishing switching allegiances depending on the direction of his career.
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"Like a lot of professional sports, you see sailors from different nationalities rotate around different teams, like in the America's Cup," Spithill told Wide World of Sports.
"It's just professional sport. I left Australia 20 years ago, that was the last time I competed for Australia. I've been competing for the majority of my time for the US and then for the last few years for Italy in the America's Cup.
"I'm really excited to put on the green and gold and get out there and jump in for Tom."
Having departed the US team when its sale was finalised last month, Spithill thought his final appearance this season had come at the Spain Sail Grand Prix where the US claimed its first win of 2023.
He says it was "a nice surprise" to be asked to step in by his friend and previous crewmate in Slingsby.
"This is the best competition in the world in our sport in terms of talent and the level of racing," he said.
"As an athlete, you have to be very fortunate to do this — very few athletes in our sport get the chance to race at this level, so I've just jumped at the chance."
The US team was sold to a group of investors including Uber founder Ryan McKillen, boxer Deontay Wilder and two-time world champion sailor Mike Buckley.
With the privatisation of the US team, Spithill can take a controlling interest in founding an Italian team.
"When I took over the US team after season one, the team had just finished last and had no sponsors. Over the next few seasons we were able to take the team to the grand final [in season two], secure multiple wins and add a bunch of fantastic sponsors," he said.
"Then to go through and get the team to the sale process, which was the goal all along, was just awesome.
"Now I get to apply all that I've learned and get to do it all again with the Italian team, and that's a pretty exciting prospect.
"I know the Italian market well currently representing Italy in this next America's Cup and I represented the nation in the last America's Cup.
"It's got some of the best emerging talent coming through from an athlete point of view and the fans are as passionate and loyal as you get.
"It's a really exciting time and great to see the growth in SailGP."
Spithill hopes to have the Italy team in shipshape for next season.
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"Our plan is to be on the start line in season five," he says.
"Looking at SailGP, and it hasn't been around that long, to see growth, the investment, some of the owners and evaluations, man, it's a pretty exciting time for the sport."
SailGP is hoping to expand its fleet to 12 teams with Italy alongside another yet unknown team joining the competition.
Discussions are still being held as to who the 12th entry will be.
Stepping into the Australian set-up for Dubai, Spithill is excited to test his experience in a different environment.
"It's going to be awesome," he said.
"The Aussie team is the benchmark in SailGP — their results do the talking and no one else has been able to get their hand on the trophy since the competition started.
"It's an awesome opportunity. It'll be great to learn from this squad, and I'm fortunate that I have raced with a number of the guys in the past in America's Cup teams."
The Australian team is yet to win an event this season but remains at the top of the rankings having made the final on all five occasions.
With Spithill having won his last event with the US team, he is motivated to help get the Aussies a good, consistent result before Slingsby returns.
"Consistency is the name of the game at SailGP," he says.
"That is what you want, you want to keep posting consistent results at events because the trophy is handed over in the grand final where the top three teams from the season go through to a winner-takes-all format.
"So the Australians are doing an awesome job of just being consistent and building a good lead.
"And that's my goal this weekend, to try and fit in as seamlessly as I can and just try to get the team a consistent result to contribute to their season."
Racing gets under way on the waters of Dubai at 9pm AEDT on Saturday.
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