SAILING / RICH ROBERTS : Potential Cup Defenders Face New Fees
Any euphoria that the four survivors felt last month when the America’s Cup Defense Committee excused other potential defenders has vanished.
Nobody was being seeded into the semifinals. Instead, the four “licensed” syndicates learned by mail the next day that they would have to come up with $50,000 by Wednesday and another $50,000 by Oct. 1 to support Partnership for America’s Cup Technology (PACT), the committee-backed design research group, and must provide proof by Oct. 1 that they have a minimum of $6 million in the bank to build their boats.
At the same time, two or three of the excused groups who failed to show an “ability” to raise $6 million by the initial June 28 deadline are refusing to quit--and the committee said they could rejoin the game if their financial prospects dramatically improve.
In other words, nobody is really in or out at this point.
“We’ll do it,” said Larry Klein, skipper and leader of the Triumph America Foundation, “but it bothers me that the rules are changed.”
Rival Peter Isler said: “The October deadline was news to us. I guess they want to ensure they have a strong defense.”
Jerry LaDow, president of Dennis Conner Sports Inc., said: “The syndicates feel they’ve been blindsided. The 50-50 just came out of the blue. We’re not happy about it. It shouldn’t be a deal-breaker for anybody, but it’s an irritant. You wonder, what’s next?”
Bob Spriggs, chief executive officer of the Beach Boys USA syndicate, said: “I’m not seriously concerned. I don’t have a signed contract with any major sponsor in hand, (but) I don’t think the (committee) is going to be in position to really play hardball at that point.”
Indeed, what if there are no $6-million men out there on Oct. 1? Wouldn’t the committee look a little silly with its deadlines?
Spokesman Tom Mitchell said: “I don’t think there’s any doubt that we’re going to play hardball with ‘em. We don’t have time to fool around. Look at the date.”
It takes about six months to build one of the new America’s Cup class boats; none of the Americans has started, and the first world championships are scheduled off San Diego next May, a year ahead of the Cup defense.
Tom Ehman, executive director of the committee, indicated that he is more interested in results than hard-luck stories, adding: “Keep in mind, the defender has lost the last two times out--forgetting (the catamaran defense in) ’88.”
Isler is also concerned that encouraging the excused syndicates to continue to promote themselves is diluting the available corporate sponsorship.
“I don’t think there’s enough to support five superpower-level syndicates,” he said. “Maybe only three.”
Isler has one major backer, Hewlett-Packard. Conner recently signed Cadillac for $3 million, putting him well ahead of the others.
But the Beach Boys are contributing only their name and talent--no money--to their effort, and Klein has yet to announce a major supporter.
There also are misgivings and confusion about PACT, which has the defense syndicates sharing information from research on computerized fluid dynamics applicable to the new class. PACT was the brainchild of John Marshall, Conner’s former design chief who thought the overall defense would be better served by a combined effort in the preliminary design work.
“PACT is not designing a boat,” LaDow said, “(but) the basic question is when does PACT stop? (At some point) syndicates are not going to want to share.”
Some seem already near that point. “We’re told to donate $100,000 to PACT whether we like it or not,” Klein said. “We feel there is something of value in there for us, but we’re doing this (research) on other fronts, too.”
Isler said: “The first round of PACT was really valuable. It honed our computational tools. Now it’s a different game. By October we’ll have a boat under construction. I have a feeling that PACT will dissolve as a matter of course.”
The defense syndicates also have been put on notice to ante up a $150,000 performance bond by July of next year or fold.
It is no surprise that Conner is ahead in fund-raising, capitalizing on the national perception that he is the America’s Cup as he hustles potential sponsors.
“They don’t understand that Dennis isn’t necessarily going to be the defender,” Klein said. “He loves that confusion, and the (committee) isn’t doing much to clear up that confusion.”
Ehman denied that. “We have made it clear to every (potential) sponsor that it’s sharks in the tank. Nobody has any guarantees.”
The Beach Boys will help raise money for developer David Lowery’s team, but Isler is skeptical of that syndicate, despite the presence of veteran Cup campaigner John Bertrand of Newport Beach as skipper.
“I’d rather sail against the Beach Boys than Bertrand,” Isler said. “But they’re just getting started. I’m waiting and seeing.”
Just to cover himself, Isler is saying, I’ll see your Beach Boys and raise you one. He has enlisted David Crosby and Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills and Nash, along with James Taylor, to promote his team.
Will that mean harmony, at last, in the America’s Cup?
Sailing Notes
Nance Frank, who already has posted her U.S. Women’s Challenge entry for the 1993-94 Whitbread Round the World race, is leading the first foreign crew to compete in the All Union Onega Cup Regatta on Lake Onega east of Leningrad. The race started July 26 and is scheduled to end Aug. 5. Frank, unable to compete in the recent Whitbread for lack of money, plans to continue to train with a Soviet all-woman crew until the ’93 event. . . . Oaxaca, Jim Ryley’s Santa Cruz 50 from Santa Cruz, was the overall winner of the West Marine Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, correcting out to 9 days 4 hours 27 minutes 57 seconds from an actual time of 9:11:21:57. It was the first ocean passage for Ryley but the 20th for his navigator, Skip Allan. Gene Twiner’s Santa Cruz 70 sled Kathmandu was first to finish in 8:15:11:08, about 3 1/2 hours ahead of Tim Clark’s Meridian, with Oaxaca next. . . . The Ullman Sails/PHRF championship Regatta is scheduled for Aug. 10-12 out of the Seal Beach Yacht Club, with Alamitos Bay YC the co-host. The event is open to all boats with ratings between zero and 276. Entry fee: $45 before Aug. 1, $60 after Aug. 1.