Port District, Sail America Resolve Differences

It was a time for reconciliation Tuesday between the Sail America Foundation--the group organizing San Diego’s America’s Cup defense--and the Board of Port Commissioners, which will pay the multimillion-dollar bill to provide facilities for sailing’s most famous regatta scheduled for 1991.

Two weeks ago, a confused and embarrassed Port District was caught off-guard when it discovered that various America’s Cup officials--from the San Diego Yacht Club to a local architectural firm--strongly favored making San Diego Bay’s East Basin the central location for the regatta.

Adding to the confusion was the attempt by Hope Consulting Group--an architectural company--to receive a no-bid contract for environmental and design work in East Basin because of what it described as tight time constraints.

Caught Unaware

Since the Port District is the landlord in the basin and must approve any plans for its use, it caused much concern when several commissioners seemed completely unaware that the East Basin was considered the best site to house most of the racing yachts.

The news prompted Port District Executive Director Don Nay to angrily challenge Sail America’s authority to choose the site and organize the defense without consulting the commission. “Why did we hear about it last?” Nay demanded. “We’re hearing about a proposal from an architect (on what) you’ve already decided to do.”

Even though the commissioners eventually ordered Port District staff members to seek bids from companies interested in doing environmental studies and preliminary design work in East Basin, some America’s Cup officials said later they had assumed too much. They also said they hadn’t laid enough groundwork with the commissioners, even though Port District Chairman Dan Larsen had for months been the port’s America’s Cup point man and had met privately with other leaders of the defense effort to discuss using East Basin.

Bad Impression

Worse, some America’s Cup officials said privately, the confusion gave the public the impression that relations between Sail America and the Port District--two key partners in putting on the defense--were off to a rocky start.

In the last two weeks, though, the two sides have made amends, and on Tuesday, Thomas F. Ehman, Sail America’s chief operating officer, led the commissioners through a lengthy description, complete with the help of an overhead projector, of Sail America’s responsibilities. He called the relationship between Sail America and the Port District “a parity arrangement” and said he was there to “dispel any confusion.”

Ehman said his group had no “preconceived notions” of where Cup facilities should be built. He said he was as surprised as everyone else by Hope Consulting Group’s request for a no-bid contract. And Ehman came with help in the form of County Supervisor Brian Bilbray, who heads the civic America’s Cup Task Force, and Gerry Driscoll, chairman of the America’s Cup Committee, the group that selected San Diego as the site of the regatta.

“Everyone has to feel comfortable with each other . . . and the goals,” Bilbray told the commissioners. “We have to make sure we all get our lines of communications down.”

Making Amends

Ehman, talking to reporters later, said he recently met with Nay and Larsen over breakfast to smooth over any resentment left from the meeting two weeks ago. “We sat down and they found out I wasn’t a bad guy and they weren’t bad guys,” Ehman said.

“I felt bad for the port” commissioners at the last hearing, Ehman said, saying that relations between the two groups are fine. “I feel a lot better,” he said.

At the urging of both Sail America and Commissioner Bill Rick, who said he didn’t want more “big surprises to shock the system,” the Port District selected Larsen to act as its formal liaison with Sail America.

America’s Cup Museum

In other Cup-related action, Dennis Conner’s idea of creating an 8,100-square-foot America’s Cup Museum on the B Street Pier will be formally studied by the Port District, which will then report back to the commissioners. At that time, if there are no snags, the commissioners will approve both the concept of the museum and formal lease documents.

E. Miles Harvey, Conner’s attorney who made the museum presentation on behalf of San Diego’s America’s Cup Museum, a nonprofit corporation, said the plan is to open a museum, which would contain much of Conner’s personal Cup memorabilia, as well as an art gallery and gift shop, on Feb. 1.

Harvey placed the cost of converting the pier, which is used as a cruise ship terminal, at $300,000.