Despite Infighting, Soviet Group Intends to Sail in America’s Cup

Two days after major upheaval hit their rival syndicate, a representative of the Red Star ’92 effort said his group still intends to represent the Soviet Union in the America’s Cup.

The country’s inaugural America’s Cup campaign has been undermined by bickering between two syndicates, the Age of Russia and Red Star ’92. The unrest has fueled speculation as to whether a delegate can be picked and a boat built in time to sail in January’s challenger trials.

Kalev Vapper, an Estonian journalist, said it can. And he predicted it will be Red Star ‘92, the syndicate for which he is handling public relations. Vapper said the group plans to have its boat in San Diego on Dec. 21.

“We now have official documentation in America’s Cup Organizing Committee that we are the only legal challenger from Russia to America’s Cup ‘92,” Vapper said Saturday morning, moments before he boarded a plane for New York at Lindbergh Field. “From the highest sports committee and the highest sports officials in all Russia and the Ocean Racing Club of St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), this is the only club that (can) give the challenge.”

The chairman of the Challenger of Record Committee said recently he wouldn’t take entries from both Russia and Estonia, leaving two syndicates in a nasty battle for one challenger spot.

The split from the original Red Star Syndicate, which was formed in September 1988, came late in the summer, soon after Estonia broke away from the Soviet Union. Oleg Larionov, the original boat designer, formed Red Star ’92 after he had had a falling out with Red Star Syndicate Coach Ernst Grakovsky. When Larionov left, he took some key players with him, including co-skipper Sergei Borodinov.

Meanwhile, Grakovsky and holdovers from the original syndicate renamed their syndicate the Age of Russia last month. Like Red Star ‘92, it considers itself the legitimate challenger from the Soviet Union and even produced a letter from Vice President Alexander Rutskoi saying as much, or so it appeared.

“When this phony syndicate (Age of Russia) from Moscow says they have support from the vice president of Russia, that’s absolute nonsense,” Vapper said.

Earlier this week, Age of Russia lost skipper Guram Biganishvili, marketing director Sergei Savchenko and American representative Doug Smith, who all resigned because “we can no longer make the representation of the syndicate that we wanted to,” said Smith, who was accused by Larionov of forging the letter.

Chris Drake, a local yacht broker who has recently befriended the Red Star ’92 syndicate, said he has seen the letter and questions its veracity.

“The document in question is the one signed by vice president and it’s not on letterhead,” said Drake, who has also seen all the documentation by Red Star ’92 that he said proves it is the syndicate recognized by the government.

“I’ve been in two ACOC meetings and I’ve been able to look at all the documents,” said Drake. “. . . Red Star looks like it’s the viable syndicate. All the documents have been dated and numbered under the crest of the government, from the chairman of the State Sports Committee of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.”

Because it is based in Estonia--and its boat is being built in Tallinn, Estonia--Red Star ’92 has been identified as an Estonia challenge, a notion it finds offensive.

“Talks about the Estonia challenge is absolutely nonsense,” Vapper said. “I am Estonian myself. I would very much like to come here myself with the Estonian challenge as we have a very great tradition in sailing and seamanship. But this challenge was made by Ocean Racing Club of St. Petersburg and it’s the only challenge of the club.”

Yapper addressed rumors that lack of hard currency and raw materials has stalled production on the carbon fiber boat.

“Absolute lies,” he said. “We have enough carbon fiber to build 2 1/2 America’s Cup boats. “And we’re ready to come even if there’s no money from abroad. If we need more (money), we can get it,” from the Baltic National Republic Bank.

Smith, who worked for the original syndicate two years before his resignation, said there is virtually no chance of the two sides working in harmony to make a Soviet Union America’s Cup challenge a reality.

“They seemed bent on destroying each other,” Smith said. “There’s too much hatred to come to a compromise to get a boat here. I don’t think there’s any possibility of a reconciliation.

“These hatreds go back to 1968, with the invasion of the Soviet Union into Czechoslovakia. People involved in those groups, down through the years, have been quiet until the Estonia independence movement started. When Estonia announced their independence, these hatreds flared up and accusations began. There’s been some violence. I see no chance of a compromise.”