Yacht Club Dominates Cup Panel
A seven-member defense committee was announced Saturday by Sail America officials to plan for the next America’s Cup race, scheduled for 1991.
The selection includes four members of the San Diego Yacht Club and ends a dispute between the club and the Sail America Foundation that arose soon after Dennis Conner won the Cup at Fremantle, Australia, in February. Conner, who represented the club, was sponsored by the foundation.
A controversy arose when club officials said the defense should be held in San Diego, while Sail America officials refused to rule out other sites. Sail America is under contract to the club to manage the next Cup race wherever it is held.
In April, Dr. Fred Frye, commodore of the San Diego Yacht Club, said the organization’s board of directors wanted a majority of the defense committee to be club members. On Saturday, the board’s wishes prevailed. Besides the four club members, the other three committee members are recognized as experts in yachting and sporting events.
The committee members representing the San Diego Yacht Club are:
- Gene Trepte, a builder, past chairman of the San Diego Zoological Society and former commodore of the club.
- Kim Fletcher, head of a San Diego-based Home Federal Savings & Loan Assn.
- Charles D. Hope, architect, racing boat owner and former club commodore.
- Gerald Driscoll, a boat builder who is recognized as one of this country’s most experienced yacht skippers.
The three outside members are:
- John K. Marshall, a Maine resident, former president of a sail manufacturing company and chief executive officer of the Sail America Foundation.
- Harry L. Usher, past executive vice president and general manager of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee and past commissioner of the United States Football League.
- Gary Jobson, internationally recognized yachting expert. He served as ESPN commentator for the 1987 America’s Cup races.
Thomas F. Ehman Jr., executive vice president and chief operating officer for Sail America, said the defense committee will probably pick the site for the next races by the first week in November and announce it at the meetings in London of the International Yacht Racing Union--which is the sport’s governing board--and the International 12-Meter Assn.
Choose Date, Type of Boats
Besides picking a site, the defense committee will also choose the date for the next races, the type of boat to be allowed to race, and the method of selecting the defending U.S. yacht, Ehman said.
Other cities that have expressed an interest in being host to the races are San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Ventura, Long Beach, Atlantic City, New Orleans, Newport, R.I., Detroit and New London, Conn.
Critics argue that the normally light winds off San Diego would make for a dull event. However, the San Diego Yacht Club has made its preference for San Diego known, and local politicians and business leaders say the Cup race could bring in as much as $1 billion to the local economy in tourist revenue.
A recent study commissioned by the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce determined that Fremantle, Perth and other cities in Western Australia realized more than $636 million in tourist dollars from holding the races there in February.
With local yacht club members making up a majority on the committee, it would appear that the site to be selected for the next race is a foregone conclusion. However, Frye and other club officials insist that San Diego is not an automatic choice.
The City Council, San Diego Unified Port District and the business community have to convince the defense committee that San Diego is capable of handling a world-class event, they say.
The Challenge--Sports. Page 1.