Obituary: "Captain Outrageous" is dead

18 September 1977: The twelve-man "Courageous" wins the best-of-seven series 4:0 in the final race of the 26th America's Cup against the Australian "Australia". At the wheel of the aluminium yacht designed by Olin Stephens: Ted Turner from Georgia, known as "Captain Outrageous", who had prevailed against established helmsmen such as Lowell North, Malin Burnham and also Ted Hood and his new-build "Independence" in the American elimination races and had to grudgingly be accepted by the established New York Yacht Club as skipper of the defence. The outsider against the establishment, that was the material that served in part as the basis for "Wind", the Hollywood film by Francis Ford Coppola that is well worth seeing.

Under the table at the press conference

The loud, sometimes noisy man, also known as "The mouth of the south", lives up to his reputation after crossing the finish line. Winning cigar, champagne, schnapps, great unbridled joy. Then the legendary press conference. A crew member hides Turner's bottle of aquavit under the table, he looks for it, slurring his words and swearing, slides under the table, straightens up, bruises himself and continues with the press conference. His crew carries Ted Turner, also known as "Captain Outrageous", out of the room. He was later asked to apologise for his stunt. He didn't have to.

Ted Turner, the legend

Turner made himself a legend with the coup - and the misfire. The gifted sailor Turner looked back to the US magazine Sailing World: "I think the 77 Cup was the highlight of our lives. We were the underdogs and had to sail at the very highest level." The New York Times took it up a notch: "Turner has catapulted from celebrity to superstar".

The man made headlines not only in sailing. He founded the then completely new news channel CNN in 1980, was the owner of the World Championship Wrestling Association, owned the Atlanta Braves baseball team, bought and sold the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film studio, was once the largest private landowner in the United States and was married to actress Jane Fonda. He bred bison (50,000 animals), ran a restaurant chain, was honoured by Time magazine as Man of the Year and was heavily involved in social causes.

Winner also in the Fastnet Race

And he was a gifted sailor, perhaps the best of his generation. Ted Turner won the 1979 Fastnet Race with his "Tenacious", the race in which 15 regatta sailors died. His motto, which can be read on a sign on his desk facing the visitor: "Lead, follow or get out of the way." He was never at a loss for a bon mot. In an interview with the International Business Times, in response to the question "How do you feel at 75?": "It's better than being dead".