AMERICA’S CUP UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Fischer Offers to Help Murray

Syd Fischer’s struggling Challenge Australia will fight on, and his group has made itself available to help rival Spirit of Australia, the syndicate head announced Friday at a press briefing.

Fischer said he met with Iain Murray, his counterpart at Spirit of Australia, to offer Murray resources which he said included use of his sail loft and his crew.

“We’re going to try and help him as much as possible,” said Fischer, who added that national pride takes precedence over any differences he and Murray have had in the past. “I don’t class him as the competition now, we’re fellow Australians.”

Of the eight challengers competing in the Louis Vuitton Cup, Murray’s syndicate is currently fifth, and Fischer’s group is eighth and winless. But withdrawing from the trials was never an option.

“In a regatta, you have to tough it out,” he said. “You can’t win everything. Some of the younger blokes are enjoying the experience. I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Both syndicates have been hurt by the collapse of the Australian economy, and Fischer said if he knew then what he knows now, he wouldn’t have come.

“Three-odd years ago, when we started this thing, we didn’t know the Australian economy would fall flat on its face,” he said. “. . . In retrospect, I wouldn’t have done it.”

Fischer said the design of the boat was “completely wrong,” from the beginning and major modifications between rounds did nothing to help a boat he later called a dog.

Fischer, 64, said this would be his last try at the America’s Cup, and he’ll get over this experience.

“I think we were disappointed when we found the boat wasn’t a go, but it’s a bit like when your wife leaves you. You have a look around and say, ‘What the hell, she wasn’t much anyway.’ ”