AMERICA’S CUP NOTEBOOK : ACOC Rejects Connecticut Effort

So you want to enter the trials to defend the America’s Cup . . .

Does the expression “snowball’s chance . . .” convey the message?

Those weren’t the exact words the America’s Cup Organizing Committee used in its polite rejection of the Connecticut-based Independence Group’s bid to form a defense syndicate for America’s Cup 1992, but they were close.

“They have a lot of interest and a lot of enthusiasm, but little else,” Tom Ehman, the ACOC’s executive vice president, said Friday afternoon at a press conference at the San Diego Marriott. “There’s no way they can meet the criteria the other two met and continue to meet.”

Those criteria, at minimum, include sailing and design teams, a business plan, plans for syndicate facilities in San Diego and $6 million in raised funds.

A.A. (Al) Constantine, Fred Peters and Yves Marie de Tanton, partners representing the Independence Group, met with the ACOC Defense Committee for two hours Thursday afternoon to discuss the possibility of becoming the third U.S. defense group, joining underfunded Team Dennis Conner and Bill Koch’s America-3, which recently lost co-skipper and vice president Gary Jobson to philosophical differences.

Constantine, president of Offshore Yachts in South Norwalk, Conn., said his group left Thursday’s meeting with the impression that the ACOC had neither accepted nor rejected its proposal, rather that the committee had tabled it for further discussion.

“There was no definitive answer; it was somewhat puzzling,” said Constantine, who said he was equally puzzled to read a newspaper account Friday morning that said the Independence Group’s bid had been rejected.

“When you come 3,000 miles to get an answer, you’re disappointed to read it in the morning paper,” he said.

Constantine said the ACOC had encouraged him to meet with Team Dennis Conner, which he did Friday morning, and America-3 to discuss the possibilities of joining forces. Constantine said he left that meeting encouraged, but he was vague as to its outcome.

“We bounced around a lot of ideas,” Constantine said. “But we won’t say anything until we see what (each side) wants to do.”

Which, at this point, is undetermined. The Independence Group didn’t go home with its tail between its legs, but it would like the ACOC’s blessing--or at least the right to be on the starting line when the trials roll around in January--before it proceeds any further.

“If we do appear on the starting line, we have to know that they’ll let us race,” Constantine said.

But that isn’t for the Defense Committee to decide. What the rejection means is that the Connecticut group is not officially recognized by the ACOC and cannot use the America’s Cup name to raise funds. However, as long as an entry meets the requirements of the International America’s Cup Class, it’s not up to the ACOC to stop them, Ehman said.

“If someone shows up with a legal IACC boat, they can race,” said Ehman, who compared the chances of it happening to those of him becoming the Queen of England. “They’re enthusiastic and well meaning, but what are the chances of them getting a boat on the water to race in the defense trials? Next to zero.”

That it can’t prepare a boat in time is a point the Independence Group strongly refutes. Peters is CEO of Albin Marine Inc., a company that produces sailboats and motor yachts. Having dabbled in designs since 1988, Peters said the group could have a boat on the water in four months.

“We’ve been fooling around with designs for three years,” Peters said. “We could definitely have one ready in 120 days.”

Said Constantine: “We’ve told the (San Diego) Yacht Club we can build a boat. We already have considerable financial contributions from very reliable companies.”

He estimated that nearly 100 companies have committed close to $7 1/2 million but as his group met certain criteria, the ACOC would put other hurdles in its way.

“I don’t think they expected us to come with what we came with,” he said. “We provided more than any other syndicate.”

Ehman said letters of credit were ambiguous, at best.

“They showed us some letters, but nothing that amounted to what they would need,” he said.

Constantine, asked point-blank if he believed his group was being squeezed out of a shot at the trials, said he didn’t want to get into a war of words with the ACOC and he’s not threatening court dates, but . . .

“That’s the impression we’re getting,” he said. “They’re going to come out of this with a black eye. People are asking me, ‘Why aren’t there more Americans out there?’ They refused to give us a license, saying that don’t want another T-shirt syndicate. That’s not our approach. They have the right to interrogate people, but I think they’ve gone beyond that. We waived our right to use America’s Cup name, logos, we’re not interested in any of that.”

Nonsense, Ehman said.

“The first thing they go and do is send out press kit with the name America’s Cup on it. We’re obligated to protect that.”

As yet, Constantine and Peters, who both said they have a lot of sailing experience, have no sailing team, but that they could assemble a top-notch crew on a moment’s notice.

“I’ve read that Peter Isler would be interested in joining a crew,” Constantine said. “I can guarantee you we could have 100 of the best sailors in the would on our doorstep if a call went out.”

America’s Cup officials expressed doubt whether Soviet and Yugoslav challengers will compete next year.

The Soviets have an aluminum boat and are building one of carbon-fiber, while the Yugoslavs have a wooden boat. Neither has a boat in San Diego but both insist that political instability at home has not deterred their plans to compete.

However, Ehman said, “To me, the chances of either group being here have to be long at this point.”

That would leave only nine challengers from eight countries, following the dropout of Japan’s Bengal Bay syndicate last week.

Times staff writer Rich Roberts contributed to this story.