America’s Cup : Eagle GM Is Asked to Quit--Two Other Staff Members Resign
Troubled Eagle, slimming down for the second round of America’s Cup challenge trials, has taken 900 pounds off its keel and a few hundred more off its shore operation with the departure of three people from its headquarters in Fremantle, Australia.
General Manager Gerry Driscoll, a veteran cup racer and San Diego boat builder, was asked to resign Tuesday. Robin Fuger, shore operations manager and a veteran of six America’s Cup campaigns, and Dolores Virtue, public relations-protocol officer, followed voluntarily.
Skipper Rod Davis apparently was not involved in the developments.
Syndicate officials in Newport Beach said that the moves had nothing to do with Eagle’s financial problems or its disappointing 4-8 performance in the first round. They denied a report from Fremantle that the boat was withdrawing from the competition.
“We have just spent $350,000 in new equipment for the second round,” syndicate president Gary Thomson said.
John Griffith, the syndicate’s press relations officer, 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 replied: “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.”
On Tuesday night, Driscoll 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., and unavailable for comment.
“But he agrees that more than changes in the boat will be necessary to improve its performance,” 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.”
Davis said he didn’t think Driscoll was criticizing his work at the helm.
“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.”
Davis also said that although 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 half a 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.
America’s Cup Notes Kookaburra II (7-3) ended the first defender series Tuesday by beating the once mighty Australia III (4-6) by 2 minutes 9 seconds, prompting Alan Bond’s camp to finally admit its No. 2 boat is outdated. “We have to make a decision whether to bring it forward a generation,” said Warren Jones, Australia syndicate director, 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) retained sole possession of first place with the withdrawal of Eastern Australia’s Steak ‘n Kidney, 0-10, 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.