Eagle GM Is Asked to Quit : Two Others Follow Driscoll Resignation
Gerry Driscoll, general manager of Eagle’s troubled entry in the America’s Cup challenge trials, was asked to resign Tuesday, and two other officials at its headquarters in Fremantle, Australia left voluntarily.
After Driscoll--a veteran cup racer and well-known San Diego boat builder--quit, shore operations manager Robin Fuger and public relations-protocol officer Dolores Virtue offered their resignations.
Skipper Rod Davis apparently was not involved.
Syndicate officials in Newport Beach said the moves had nothing to do with Eagle’s financial problems or 4-8 first-round performance and denied a report from Fremantle that the boat would withdraw from competition.
“We have just spent $350,000 in new equipment for the second round,” President Gary Thomson said.
John S. Griffith Jr., director of public relations and marketing, said: “This is something that has been happening for about three weeks.”
L.J. Edgcomb, a syndicate board member who had been serving as liaison between Driscoll and the boat crew, will assume Driscoll’s duties.
Griffith said: “We had several of our board members down there the last few days and they thought L.J. should take over. He’s been out on the courses watching the boats every day.”
Asked how often Driscoll had been out, Griffith said: “Not once.
“Gerry had definite ideas. Ours didn’t mesh with how Gerry thought a 12-meter campaign should be run. He had a lot of opinions. Some of those were voiced at the media center. I think we felt that there was room for improvement.”
Driscoll had told reporters in Fremantle earlier: “I don’t think the boat is being sailed to its full potential right now.”
Tuesday night he told The Times he had recommended crew changes, apparently because he thought Eagle’s tactics needed improvement.
“Some people are winning, I don’t think the difference is they are burning anybody off with boat speed,” Driscoll said. “Tom Blackaller and Paul Cayard (on USA) are doing an exceptionally good job on tactics. I don’t think their boat is all that fast from what we’ve seen in straight-line sail testing with them.”
Johan Valentijn, who designed Eagle, was en route home to Newport, R.I. on personal business and unavailable for comment.
“But he agrees that more than changes in the boat will be necessary to improve its performance,” Driscoll said.
Driscoll also indicated that Fuger’s resignation was tied to his departure.
“There’s a certain continuity in what our feelings are,” Driscoll said.
As for his not being on the race courses, Driscoll said: “I saw some of it on TV, and you get information (about tactics) from people who were on the course.”
Driscoll said he would stay in Fremantle for the rest of the America’s Cup and “enjoy myself.”
Davis didn’t think his work was being criticized.
“There’s no problem between Gerry and me,” Davis said. “We get along just fine. I would tend to say that no boat is being sailed to its full potential.”
Virtue said Davis was “a super guy and a wonderful helmsman.”
Davis also said that though the upheaval is “unfortunate, 12-meter campaigns go through these things, and they always survive ‘em. I don’t want to point fingers at anybody. I just want to get going and sail the boat.”
Davis said he felt the boat was sailing better since several changes were made last week, removing nearly a half-ton of ballast from the keel and installing a lighter mast and boom and a deeper rudder.
“We had more lead than anybody else before,” Davis said. “Now we’re close to what the other boats are. We don’t know if we went too far or didn’t go far enough, but my hunch is that the boat’s better.”
America’s Cup Notes
Kookaburra II (7-3) ended the first defender series Tuesday by beating Australia III (4-6) by 2 minutes and 9 seconds, prompting Alan Bond’s camp to finally admit their No. 2 boat is outdated. “We have to make a decision whether to bring it forward a generation,” said Australia syndicate director Warren Jones of the defending 12-meter world champion. The 14-month-old Australia III was defeated in all four races against Kevin Parry’s Kookaburras during the 10-day series. Kookaburra III (9-1) remained in first place when Eastern Australia’s Steak’n Kidney (0-10) forfeited in order to start modifications for the second round. Australia IV (8-2) left South Australia (2-8) a decisive 2:08 behind in the freshening 10- to 16-knot winds.