Tom Slingsby insists his now infamous critique of the SailGP's younger yachtsmen was only meant as a bit of Aussie "tough love".
But the barb has motivated rivals to ambush Slingsby in Sydney this weekend, with French driver Quentin Delapierre declaring pressure is beginning to mount on the champion Australian boat.
Ahead of last month's Abu Dhabi SailGP, 39-year-old Slingsby caused a stir when he said the tour's younger generation weren't pushing their elders on the water.
Slingsby's Australia has won all three seasons of the SailGP competition so far and leads the fourth edition heading into the eighth of 13 events this weekend.
Jimmy Spithill and Ben Ainslie, both in their 40s, have been two of the other dominant skippers with the American and Great British teams.
"I think some of the younger generation haven't stepped up to the plate as much as they could have," Slingsby said on the Racing On The Edge documentary.
Slingsby later said Australia's seventh-placed finish at the Abu Dhabi GP last month was "karma" for making his thoughts known.
His remarks were again in focus during the Sydney Sail GP's launch press conference at the Sydney Opera House on Friday.
The Olympic Gold Medallist joked that he had "a career after this is a motivational speaker".
"I hope it motivates. I didn't mean anything mean by it," Slingsby said of his critique.
"I remember when I was going for the Olympics and I got told by a guy, 'You'll never qualify for the Olympics' and all that did was serve as more motivation.
"In Australia, we call it tough love."
But the comments were digested differently by some of the younger bucks in the fleet.
SailGP's youngest driver Sebastien Schneiter, 28, has not yet led Switzerland to the podium but said his crew's desire for greatness could not be questioned.
"It was really painful to watch that documentary," he said.
"We don't want to be in that position, we want to be able to challenge Tom and all the top guys much more than what we're doing so far.
"I was a bit surprised hearing that we don't want it. I think it's clearly the opposite.
"We're going this weekend extra motivated. Thanks Tom, for that."
Amid lighter air than Slingsby would have liked, Australia hasn't won an overall event this season but has finished on the podium in six of seven.
New Zealand has won the past two events and trails first-placed Australia by only six points on the overall leaderboard, so could take top spot by Sunday night.
Quentin Delapierre, who led France to victory in last year's Sydney SailGP, believed Slingsby was under pressure.
"I think so," he said.
"He is looking for his best often and he didn't find it at the moment.
"I think this season will be a little bit challenging for everyone. The Kiwis are coming just behind the Aussies. We just have to catch up."
