|
SCUTTLEBUTT No. 561 - May 3, 2000
AMERICA'S CUP
AUCKLAND, NZ - Russell Coutts expects to lose a couple of Team New Zealand
sailors to chequebook raids from rival America's Cup syndicates. It seems
inevitable that some of the crew from the successful defence will be lured
away by million-dollar offers from bigger-budget American and European
interests. But Coutts, one of the new leaders of Team New Zealand, says he
will fight to keep his team together - and find out if these offers are
coming from genuine syndicates.
"None of these teams have entered the Cup yet, except for Italy," he said
from New York yesterday. "Are they real teams? There's nothing to
substantiate whether these offers that have been presented to our guys are
real. To be honest, there will be some changes, and it is Team New
Zealand's job to manage their way through them. But we do know that no one
in our team has gone yet."
A Team New Zealand lawyer, Sean Reeves has left, however, to manage the
Seattle syndicate which has accosted most of the top-line black boat crew
with offers at least doubling what they earned last time. No one knows who
has the money behind the new challenge - Netscape multi-millionaire Jim
Clark has denied his involvement.
Right now, Team New Zealand have little to offer their men but
reassurances, while the sign-over arrangements from the old trust to the
new are still being negotiated. Coutts said the handover would take place
within the month, and then Team New Zealand could offer contracts to their
sailors.
The offers, some rumoured to be well over $1 million, will push up the
sailors' asking price, but Coutts could see good in that. "The nice thing
about people being approached is the high value it has placed on these
people," he said. "At least we have that problem now - we certainly didn't
after 1992. The fact that this event was so successful has prompted a lot
of influential people, who came down to see the Cup, to want to be involved
in it."
Coutts said he had known about the offers since soon after the Cup was won
in March, and the crew members had been open about them. "But it's not as
though people have been sitting on their butts doing nothing," he said.
"There has already been a lot of work go into the salary budget - we are
taking these pressures into account." - Suzanne McFadden, NZ Herald
Full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sports/
MORE AMERICA'S CUP
(Following are several excerpts from Tim Jeffrey's story in UK's Daily
Telegraph about the America's Cup bidding wars.)
Speculation over the future of Team New Zealand, the first syndicate
outside the United States to retain the America's Cup, has now embraced
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates as the Cup community attempts to identify the
American now offering lucrative contracts to the cream of TNZ sailors and
designers.
All that is known is that Sean Reeves, the two-time Olympic sailor, lawyer
and former rules adviser to TNZ, is acting as agent for an unnamed
American, that the challenge will be based in Seattle and the secretive
backer visited New Zealand in January.
Then Auckland was awash with billionaires attending the latter stages of
elimination trials, including 1992 winner Bill Koch, the de Vos family from
the Amway direct-selling operation, venture capitalist Tom Perkins and
Netscape chairman Jim Clark. While these men could not have been more
public in their interest, Gates' visit was not widely known until after the
Cup had ended.
Clark has denied he is ready to mount a challenge for America's Cup 2003,
despite emerging as a potential backer of Paul Cayard's AmericaOne team in
the last Cup. Koch believes Clark is not the mystery moneyman. One reason
given for the individual wanting to remain anonymous is that Cayard and
Dennis Conner have sought funding from him in the past.
Whoever it is, the repercussions for Team New Zealand are immense. Toast of
their nation two months ago when a million people in four cities turned out
to celebrate their second successive America's Cup victory, TNZ is now
afflicted by conflicting pressures as the new guard of Russell Coutts, Brad
Butterworth and Tom Schnackenberg battle for the funds to keep their team
together. Speculation is rife in Auckland as to who has been signed up.
Some believe designer Laurie Davidson, a former Seattle resident, has gone
for US$2.5 million. What is known is that Reeves has approached 20 of the
30-strong sailing squad.
For Coutts' 'A' team sailors, including mastman Matthew Mason and grinders
Andy Taylor and Craig Monk, initial offers of a US$40,000 signing-on fee
and six-year deal at $120,000 per year have jumped to $100,000 and $250,000
plus a $400,000 bonus for reaching the challenger finals.
Butterworth has been approached by Italy's Prada team while Dean Barker,
Coutts' first reserve helmsman, is considered the most likely to be lured
away, probably to Europe. Torben Grael, and to a lesser extent Francesco de
Angelis' security at Prada is under threat, especially as the Italian team
are one of four groups to have targeted Australian Peter Gilmour. - Tim
Jeffery, Daily Telegraph, UK
There is much more on the website:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=001648423620749&rtmo=QxmL0SLR&atmo=99999999
&pg=/et/00/5/3/soyots03.html
ALLEGATIONS OF GROSS MISCONDUCT
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - Adam Beashel, the man at the centre of an Olympic
sailing selection row, has a new fight on his hands following an adverse
finding against him by a protest committee convened by the NSW Yachting
Federation.The committee upheld a protest under rule 69 of the rules of
racing (Allegations of Gross Misconduct). Beashel is expected to appeal.
The federation and Beashel have agreed to keep details of the protest
confidential until after the appeal. But the federation's George Anderson
confirmed yesterday the finding had been made and that an appeal was
expected. Anderson said they had agreed to keep the matter confidential
because: "Adam is a professional sailor and he needs to be able to explore
all legal avenues."
Rule 69 enables a protest committee to take action when, from its
observations or a report received, it believes that a competitor "may have
committed a breach of a rule or of good manners or sportsmanship or may
have brought the sport into disrepute".
The penalties open to a committee hearing a rule 69 protest can include
suspending a sailor permanently or for a specific period from an event
conducted under the auspices of the International Yachting Federation, the
peak body of world sailing. Beashel is believed to be overseas and could
not be contacted by the Herald. - Alan Kennedy, The Sydney Morning Herald
Full story: http://www.smh.com.au/news/0005/02/sport/sport17.html
SOLING STUFF
* US Soling Championship - Final Results (24 boats): 1. Ed Baird, Tom
Burnham, Dean Brenner (11 points) 2. Rod Davis, Cowfe, Smith, (NZL) (11) 3.
Jeff Madrigali, Craig Healy, Hartwell Jordan (18) 4. Matt Mendleblatt,
Anderson, Richardson (22) 5. Horton, Herlihy, Buttner (25)
Complete results: http://www.ussailing.org/News/solingnational00.htm
* Soling Olympic Trials Fleet Qualifier - Standings after three races (19
boats): 1. Horton, Herlihy, Buttner (5 points) 2. Madrigali, Healy, Jordan
(10) 3. Baird, Brenner, Burnham (11) 4. Mendleblatt, Anderson, Richardson (12)
Complete standings: http://www.ussailing.org/News/solingolympictrial.htm
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net)
Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250
words max) or to exclude personal attacks. But only one letter per subject,
so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree.
--From Hugh Elliot Chairman, Committee on Sailors with Special Needs
United States Sailing Association - It is disappointing, but not
unexpected, that United Airlines and the United States Olympic Committee
should, once again, neglect all of the Paralympic sports and, specially,
the 2000 Paralympic Yachting Team.
In 1999, we (Sailors with Special Needs Committee) asked United for some
help with tickets for the USA Team that was competing in the IFDS World
Championship in Cadiz, Spain. United took forever to reject our request
and, under the terms of the USOC Joint Marketing Agreement, we were
prohibited from asking our friends at American Airlines for help.
I, for one, am not impressed and will fly on "friendlier skies" when I can.
-- From Greg Tice - Just a thought on the cancellation of the Havana Cup...
Thanks a bunch Elian.
-- From Scott Truesdell - How will the military's removal of "Selective
Availability" effect sailors? If the sailors are smart, not very much.
The scrambled precision of the old GPS signals was sufficient to find
buoys, breakwaters, fishing spots and every other traditional navigation
goal. For those who wanted to push the envelope of what GPS was capable of,
one could add a differential receiver and navigate your way right into your
slip or perform advanced performance analysis.
Now that selective availability has been turned off, the full accuracy of
the system will be available to everyone with an entry-level hand-held
receiver. It seems likely that sailing instrument manufacturers will
enhance the capabilities of their products to take advantage of this
universally available accuracy. The agencies which have supplied
differential beacons will probably decommission the transmitters. Therein
lies a potential problem.
The military can still activate SA as necessary, for example, during any
upgrade of the DEFence CONdition. If one were depending on the maximum
accuracy of GPS and it were suddenly reduced, it is possible to find
oneself in a less-than-ideal situation. With no more differential beacons
to fill in the gaps, boaters are still at the mercy of the military for GPS
accuracy. The remedy is to keep timely logs on paper and have backup
non-GPS navigational capability. This, in fact, hasn't changed since last
week.
The removal of SA is a good thing. However, it does not relieve us of
taking responsibility for "where we're at."
-- From Andrew Burton That's great! Wealthy Americans buying Team New
Zealand. I almost fell off my chair laughing. Now maybe those rumors I keep
hearing about Dennis establishing residency in NZ and contending for the
defense will come out. What a scenario: TNZ as a whole gets bought up and
comes back as a challenger while Dennis Conner is picked as the defender. I
love this sport! Some advice for those who are outraged at the prospect:
Remember it's just a sailboat race. It's not life.
-- From Ben Mitchell - I certainly hope that the rumors of American
businessmen trying to "purchase" Team New Zealand, are just that, rumors.
In my many years of yachting one of the unfortunate consequences of the
growth in our sport and increased financial commitment required to
participate has been the loss of the tradition in yachting. Sailboat
racing has so many variables that winning every time is really not an
option. The number of times I have seen a relatively new owner to the
sport, who has not won a particular race, behave like a spoiled ten year
old is amazing.
Everyone should salute Team New Zealand for their past two America's Cup
campaigns and congratulate them on a job well done. To go in with a large
sum of money to jump start an American team full of Kiwis is not only an
insult to Americans but New Zealanders as well.
If that kind of money is really out there for an all out American America's
Cup campaign, it's too bad the people who have their hand on the purse
string have no long tradition in their sailing careers to understand the
meaning of competition in a historical yachting sense.
It doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out what Dennis Conner or
Paul Cayard or a host of other talented American sailors could do with an
unlimited budget. Look what Bill Koch did in 1992 with his wallet wide open.
-- From Douglas Holthaus - Rumour has it that one of the Team NZ guys
recently tried to pay his mortgage with one of those medals they gave the
America's Cup winners - you guessed it, the bank manager laughed him out
the door and he's now pounding nails to pay his bills. And to think that
less than two months ago this guy and his mates were parading through
Auckland before a hundred thousand plus cheering countrymen.
With all the money made and America's Cup branding rights granted, there
should have been enough left-over so that guys who actually sailed NZL 60
would have received more than what I pay the guy who washes my boat. The
"new" Team New Zealand can't have it both ways: either keep the toys being
purchased from the "old" team or sell them off in order to pay competitive
wages; either that or have none left to sail the boats!
Far from a "corporate raid", the new American syndicate is about
responsible financial recognition of what is required to build a winning
team from scratch in the fine tradition established in 1992 by Bill Koch
and in 2000 by Prada. Hopefully the world will appreciate and respect the
opportunity being extended to select New Zealander and other world-class
individuals to finally capitalize on their hard-earned sailing and design
skills while they're still young enough to do so. Besides, if a 6 year
Cuban old boy can find fame and fortune on these shores why can't a bunch
of hard-working Kiwis?
-- From Craig Fletcher - A letter to all the people who think buying a team
is "A crass humiliation of American Yachting." GROW UP. The Americas Cup is
about money and power. The Corinthian ways of the past are great for
amateur yachting, not the Americas Cup. Lets take off the gloves, stop
being so nice and bring the Cup back where it belongs.
-- From Skip Coggin - Let's leave the America's Cup as it was, competed for
by nationals of each country. I personally feel that its OK to share
technology from country to country, to keep the races competitive and
worldwide interest high. When it becomes a money competition only, with no
national identity or integrity, it becomes just another race for another
trophy. That would be a shame and a loss for the worldwide sailing community.
-- From Peter Godfrey - Well, if they'll sell out their country for mere $,
you have pretty good evidence of just where the Cup has fallen. Or has the
Telegraph joined the London tabloids?
SINGLEHANDED SAILING
Just weeks remain before the 4 June start of the EUROPE 1 NEW MAN STAR from
Plymouth, UK, when nearly 100 singlehanded sailing boats from 14 countries
will set off across the Atlantic. This classic singlehanded race, the
father of all singlehanded events, links the old world with the new, taking
the fleet to a finish-line off Newport, Rhode Island, the mythical American
sailing centre, some 2800 miles from the start line off Plymouth Breakwater
in the West of England.
The dangers of North Atlantic gales, icebergs near the direct route coupled
with commercial shipping and fishing fleets, along with the hazards of fog,
landfall and the many sandbanks and islands that surround the approach to
American East Coast, face all competitors as they attempt to find the
quickest route to the finish line.
Mixing the toughest of the professional end of the sport of sailing with
the lifetime ambitions of more than 50 amateur entries, the EUROPE 1 NEW
MAN STAR (formerly known as the OSTAR) represents the Wimbledon of the
singlehanded sailing world - there are many events on the circuit, but this
is the one to win. One of the most interesting features of the race is the
ability of the amateurs to be able to gauge themselves beside the top of
the sport, and the EUROPE 1 NEW MAN STAR is one of very few events where
this is really possible. - Marcus Hutchinson
Official website: http://www.europe1newmanstar.com
INDUSTRY NEWS
North Marine Group announced the appointment of Ken Read to Vice-President
of North Sails. Operating under the banner of North Marine Group, which is
the entity overseeing all parts of North including Cloth, One-Design, Sri
Lanka, 3DL, and others, North Sails makes up the largest single component
of the group.
While North Sails has many parts to it including panel sail manufacturing,
PRG, Service, North U, and others, it's the selling and marketing of sails
on which Read will focus his energies in concert with Gary Weisman,
President of North Sails.
PROTEST
Protest forms can now be downloaded from US Sailing, using Adobe Acrobat:
http://www.ussailing.org/racemgt/ussapf2.pdf
CORRECTING THE CORRECTION
Yesterday we stated that Taxi Dancer - not Pyewacket - was the second
monohull to finish the Newport to Ensenada Race. The curmudgeon got that
information straight from several of the crewmembers on Taxi. However, the
official results show Pyewacket as the race's second finisher. Hmmm?
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
If you remember the '60s, you probably weren't really there.
|
| |