'Larrikin' Bond took on US might for Cup

The America's Cup typified Alan Bond's determination to tackle anything, and do it his way.

History, the New York elite and three heavy defeats in the world's most exclusive sporting event didn't deter the sign writer turned billionaire.

In 1983, at the fourth attempt, Bond's boat Australia II prised the America's Cup from the Americans for the first time in 132 years.

"It was the larrikin in Alan Bond that really upset the tradition of the New York Yacht club," Australian sailing great and current America's Cup Regatta Director Iain Murray said.

"The little Aussie battler took on the might of the east coast of America and beat them at their own game."

Australia II skipper John Bertrand recalled the extraordinary moment the then 34-year-old Bond first challenged for the cup in 1974, up to the team's eventual win after a series of "hammerings".

"It was a slaughter," Bertrand told 2GB of that first regatta in `74.

"He initially didn't know much about sailing, but he had a global view.

"The fact that the Americans had dominated, it was the monopoly and the yacht club and power base of Wall Street, all of that stuff. So that was intriguing for the man."

Bond, who died on Monday in Perth, will also be remembered as Australia's biggest corporate criminal, sentenced to four years jail in 1996 for fraud.

But Bob Hawke, the prime minister who revelled in that 1983 victory, said Bond's America's Cup triumph should earn him a positive legacy.

"It's impossible to overstate just how much he lifted the spirits of Australia," Mr Hawke said on Friday.

Australia II crewman Colin Beashel remembers Bond as a good leader who let people get on with the job, while readily embracing new ideas.

"He was always reasonably inspirational, up-beat and he certainly allowed people to get on with their jobs and gave people the confidence to do their jobs to the best of their ability," he told AAP.

Beashel said his chase for the cup was tenacious, and Bond did not shy away from new ideas and technologies.

Both Beashel and Bertrand last saw Bond at the 30 year anniversary of their win in 2013, along with Mr Hawke and the whole crew.

"There was his sense of contentment amongst his boys, his America's Cup team. I took great pride in that I must say," Bertrand said.

Bertrand said the businessman did it tough when he was sent to prison in 1997 for siphoning $1.2 billion to prop up the ailing Bond Corporation.

"The motivation of most people, and certainly Alan, was peer-recognition. To go bankrupt, go to jail the whole bit, it was a massive, massive downturn for the man."

Mr Hawke thanked Bond for providing him with one of the highlights of 1983 and one the most quoted lines of his term.

"Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum", Mr Hawke said while celebrating the win at Australia II's home, the Royal Perth Yacht Club, in 1983.