Nichols to Run Cost-Conscious America’s Cup ’95

Cost containment was the topic Thursday when the San Diego Yacht Club announced its board of directors for America’s Cup ’95.

Commodore Fred Delaney introduced Chuck Nichols as the president of America’s Cup ‘95, the organization formed by the San Diego Yacht Club to stage the regatta.

Nichols, a senior vice president at Science Applications International Corp., will take a leave of absence beginning Nov. 1, at which time he will begin full-time work on the sailboat race.

He will be the only paid person on the board of directors, which includes chairman Sandy Purdon, director of challenger relations Gerry Driscoll and defender representative Bill Koch. The board also seeks a volunteer director of race management, a position it hopes to fill by the end of the year.

Purdon, the immediate past commodore of the yacht club, said the SDYC looked nationwide and internationally for a president but decided on a person from its own back yard.

“Chuck has a lot of experience running an efficient organization and a lot of experience in controlling costs, which is an important quality he brings to the table,” he said. “It’s also nice that he’s a yacht club member and an avid sailor.”

Nichols, a principal organizer of the Partnership for America’s Cup Technology, became involved in the America’s Cup in 1983, when he felt SAIC could offer technological help to the yacht club.

The priority is “to run a first-rate regatta and events associated with it, while the SDYC successfully defends the America’s Cup,” Nichols said. “We want (a regatta) the community can be proud of, but one which is on budget. We don’t spend what we don’t have.”

San Diego was all smiles when Koch’s America 3 defeated Italy’s Il Moro di Venezia to retain the Cup, but the good cheer faded once the bills rolled in.

Nichols spelled out issues the board must address immediately.

“We need to lay out a time-phase budget, work with the board in getting a central facility located and get the event packaged so we can work with TV and sponsors and licensees,” he said.

America’s Cup ’95 replaces the financially beleaguered America’s Cup Organizing Committee, which is trying to settle $3.3 million in debt from this year’s races through the San Diego Wholesale Credit Assn. The SDYC isn’t accountable for any of the debts incurred by the ACOC because they are separate entities.

So far, the SDYC has accepted challenger applications from France, Spain, Italy and Japan. Although some of the yacht clubs filed under different names, they are essentially the same syndicates that challenged for the ’92 Cup.

On Tuesday, SDYC received a deposit of $75,000 from the Australian-based Southern Cross Yacht Club, headed by John Bertrand. Its approval is subject to acceptance of its bylaws and other information required by the Deed of Gift.

Deadline for the challenger applications is Nov. 12, which Delaney said would not be extended, as the board expects to have between six to eight challengers in place. Potential American defenders have no such deadline.

A cost reduction committee sent out a report that recommended ways to keep costs of the regatta down. Delaney said the board will look at it, but cost containment within the syndicates would be difficult to enforce.

“If someone wants to spend $100 million, they can do it,” he said. “It would be nice to think we can go back 20 years and do it on a million-dollar budget, but I don’t think you’re going to see it.”

Issues such as how many boats can be built and how many people can be hired are questions the board may consider.

David Dick, a San Diego-based representative of Koch, said finances will dictate whether Koch will enter the 1995 race.

“I do know Bill will have an active role in 1995,” Dick said. “It remains to be seen if it will be as a defender. A lot of it depends on the cost.”