GBR
Challenge ready to go again (03/01/03)
(source
: GBR
Challenge)
Over the past two months the GBR Challenge
Management Team has been reviewing the 2000 - 2003 campaign
and developing ongoing plans and budgets for a second
campaign based on the two possible outcomes of this
31st America’s Cup Match between Team New Zealand and
Alinghi of Switzerland.
Peter Harrison, Founder and Chairman, and other members
of the GBR Challenge Management Team announced today
a plan for a conditional second challenge which focuses
on two areas:
- A design and development programme
- A plan to attract commercial partners to participate
in the next campaign
"We are committed to ensuring that GBR Challenge
is in the best possible position to progress forward",
Peter Harrison commented."The experience we have
gained in this New Zealand campaign is invaluable and
we all know that to win, there is no substitute for
ongoing momentum and participation."
The design and commercial partnership programmes will
start in the UK in April 2003 and will be led by Derek
Clark and Leslie Ryan respectively.
As Peter Harrison announced at the January 2003 London
Boat Show, it is his intention to put together a second
challenge but he has made this conditional upon attracting
commercial partners to work with the team in meeting
the funding objectives and to share in the benefits
resulting from such involvement.
Leslie Ryan, Head of Sponsorship and Marketing, explained
"For this current campaign we were successful in
attracting 32 sponsors from a standing start to support
us – mainly as goods in kind deals with some cash contribution
all amounting to around £3m worth of support".
"In going forward we obviously need to raise our
game and attract more substantial commercial partners.
We now have the benefit of a track record together with
a possible 3 to 4 year period ahead of us in which to
attract commercial partners to work with us".
"We need to use this time sensibly to need to assess
our past approach to attracting commercial partners
to GBR Challenge and package together a compelling proposal
– whenever and wherever the next America’s Cup is to
be held."
Following on from the completion of the team’s testing
programme to Christmas 2002, the GBR Challenge Management
Team have put together both a 12 and an 18 month plan
based upon what might be a 3 or a 4 year campaign depending
on the outcome of the racing.
Derek Clark, GBR Challenge Design Co-ordinator, commented
"Our design team has been working here in Auckland
since the completion of our testing and race programme.
Our learning over the last 3 months has been invaluable".
"This announcement is a great boost to the whole
team and will provide an excellent platform for success
in the next America’s Cup."
Design team members include Rob Humphreys, Phil Morrison
and Akihiro Kanai. Confidential discussions are also
underway with a view to strengthening that team with
current America’s Cup designers but for obvious reasons
these discussions are confidential at this stage.
There will be no sailing programme in the plan for 2003
and schedules will only be decided when the next America’s
Cup Defender, venue and timing are known.
GBR Challenge is very keen to retain and build on the
talent and experience they have developed within the
sailing team and during this year the sailors will be
able to pursue their own programmes before the longer
term schedule is finalised and a team pulled back together.
Ian Walker, Skipper, commented "The entire GBR
Challenge team have been involved in a review process
which has been invaluable. Understandably there is no
sailing programme in the plan for 2003. The focus will
be on design and fundraising and the sailing activities
will be defined once more is known about the next event.
For that reason I intend to pursue my interest in the
Olympics and other sailing projects".
"My close relationship with Peter Harrison and
the team will continue – one of my ambitions is still
to be part of a winning British America’s Cup Team."
The advantage to GBR Challenge of continuing into a
second challenge will undoubtedly be the fact that they
are starting off with the two current AC boats and a
considerable database of experience and performance
together with the basis of a talented design team.
The America’s Cup is essentially a design technology
race and GBR Challenge has demonstrated that they could
put together a very successful sailing team in only
18 months. The emphasis in this initial programme is
on continuing design development in which key members
of the sailing team are involved.
Peter
Harrison faces crucial year (01/08/03) (Source
: BBC)
GBR Challenge supremo Peter Harrison knows the
next 12 months could be make-or-break if he is to realise
his dream of competing in the next America's Cup.
The entrepreneur shelled out about £22m on Britain's
first America's Cup challenge for 15 years. The team
eventually lost to Dennis Conner's experienced Stars
and Stripes team in the quarter-finals of the Louis
Vuitton Cup in Auckland in November 2002.
Harrison is desperate to have another crack at what
he calls the "World Cup of sailing", and says he is
willing to finance at least another year of the campaign.
But he admits he may walk away if no other sponsors
come forward to share the cost of the project.
"At the moment I've put all the key things in place
as if we are going forward," Harrison told BBC. "It
doesn't make sense to shut up shop. "It's going to be
a tough decision but at the end of 12 months I'm going
to have to question whether I go through it all again
on my own or say 'I'm not going any further'."
When GBR Challenge crashed out of the Cup, the majority
of the sailing team were released to pursue other projects.
But Harrison is injecting a further £4.5m into GBR Challenge
in 2003 to keep a core team of designers working on
developing the boats in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
He will also consider buying in top designers from outside
the GBR Challenge set up. "It is a technology race.
You have to have competent crews and fit people, and
you have to get the tactics and the weather right,"
he said. "But you still have to have a speedy boat and
we were just a little bit off the pace."
Meanwhile, he will resume his search through the business
world for partners.
"Second time around we'll have a much better chance,
though I'm not saying we'll win," said Harrison. "It
could be a long haul and I don't know whether I'll be
up for that. "But if we can get sufficient partners
with us I'll feel reenergised to go forward."
GBR
Challenge training session is over (12/21/02) (Source
: GBR
Challenge)
The crew of GBR Challenge completed their training
session in Auckland and the team is now busy packing
the boats up and de-mobilizing the operations base which
shuts down as the activities relocate to England by
the end of January.
For the last 3-4 weeks the Team have been completing
their two boat testing programme between GBR 70 and
78 and the testing programme is now complete. GBR 78
sailed for the last time in this campaign on Tuesday
17th December with Peter Harrison on board.
GBR 52 already shrunk wrapped and in storage and GBR
70 off its keel and being prepared to travel. The three
Yacht belonging to GBR and containers will now being
shipped to Cowes, on the Isle of Wight.
The team members are starting to scatter now with quite
a few doing the Sydney to Hobart, a few others off to
Key West, some more flying back to UK for Christmas
and some staying out here and off touring to explore
this beautiful country of New Zealand.
There will be a team of around 10-15 people staying
here in Auckland working for GBR Challenge to the end
of the event overseeing the pack-up, keeping a close
eye on racing, entertaining guests on the hospitality
boat and continuing to learn and live the experience
of the Louis Vuitton Finals and America’s Cup Match.
"The team achieved such a great deal in such a
short time period and the key to continuity is to make
sure that we can move forward again", GBR said.
"The key to the challenge progressing will be for
us to find sponsors and additional financial support
the next time around to support Peter Harrison in his
quest to bring the Cup back to Great Britain".
Three years is to go before the start of the next Louis
Vuitton Cup (commencing 2005), and each hour of work,
both at sea and on shore, is extremely valuable for
the team in their mission to reach the goals that have
been set.
Life along ‘Syndicate Row’ changes daily with now only
3 challengers left in and the biggest shock a few days
back with Prada being eliminated.
Mascalzone Latino are long gone and their base is being
used as a great party venue for many Auckland functions,
the French and Swedish have pretty much packed up by
now and intend to be out by Christmas.
GBR Challenge and Stars and Stripes are into pack-up
mode but will have a presence here till the end of the
event, and Prada have yet to announce their plans but
are still getting over the emotion of it all.
GBR
Challenge bid still afloat (11/26/02) (Source
: BBC)
GBR Challenge are back on the water and their America's
Cup future is still afloat despite a disappointing quarter-final
elimination by Team Dennis Conner in the challenger
series.
Team tactician Adrian Stead said that "a lot of positives"
had come out of Britain's first Cup campaign for 15
years and, although GBR finished only seventh of nine
boats in the Louis Vuitton Cup, he expects the bid to
bounce back strongly when the event is next held in
three or four years.
"The short-term plan is that we'll sail in Auckland
for the next three weeks, evaluating our two boats and,
in particular Wight Magic, which we never got to race,"
said Stead. "Then we'll pack up here, ship everything
back to Cowes and go from there".
Syndicate boss Peter Harrison has indicated that he
wants to keep GBR Challenge going, so the Team will
spend a lot of time debriefing.
"We'll find out what we did well and what we could have
done better. "And we'll make sure that we make the most
of all the knowledge that we've gleaned from this event."
Stead admits that the team will now break up to an extent.
"It's unliklely that we'll all keep working beyond Christmas.
It's up to GBR if they want to rehire certain people.
"Some may be looked at by other syndicates and some
may choose to do other things", he said. "We'll
have to wait and see."
But the experienced tactician strongly believes that
it is worth mounting another America's Cup Challenge.
"We've done our learning curve to get back in the game
and now we need to sit down and discuss what needs to
be done to take it to another level", he explained.
"We need to be prepared to buy in designers and information
in order to cut years off the development process."
Stead knows that knowledge comes at a high price, as
evidenced by the high-profile signing of skipper Russell
Coutts to Swiss bid Alinghi.
"We've spent about £22m this time and Alinghi have spent
almost three times that. But they have greatly increased
their odds of success."
Whatever decisions Harrison now takes for GBR Challenge,
he knows that his next chance to win the Auld Mug is
a long way off.
"If the Kiwis keep the America's Cup, I imagine we'd
be looking at the next event being staged in Auckland
in three years time," said Stead. "But if victory goes
to Alinghi or Oracle - who I rate as their biggest challengers
- timing is up to them".
"It may take four years and the event would be staged
in the Mediterranean (Alinghi) or off the California
coast (Oracle)".
"We won't know until the end of February."
British
and French are ready for the next Cup (11/18/02) (Sources
: BBC&
NZ
Herald)
While the Swedes broke out the bubbly after their
win in the quarter-finals of the Louis Vuitton challenger
series, supporters of France's Le Défi Areva
and Britain's GBR Challenge yesterday struggled to hold
back tears of realisation that their America's Cup dream
was over.
For the French, semifinalists in the last series, this
event has not gone anywhere as smoothly. Their fluorescent
green yacht FRA69 was always down on speed and they
were unable to cement a strong afterguard.
Off the water the French struggled to find funding -
their budget was small - and, when they did, their Areva
nuclear sponsorship got them offside with Greenpeace,
whose inflatable protest boat collided with the yacht
at its launch in Lorient, France.
Le Défi head Xavier de Lesquen confirmed his
team’s interest in challenging again but added that
it was too early to make a definite commitment.
Indeed, it is too early to know where or when the next
America’s Cup will be held. The winner of the Cup, whether
Team New Zealand or a Louis Vuitton Cup challenger,
will decide the venue and the time frame.
"It has been wonderful to be part of this regatta. We
have been late with our programme for sure, but now
we have to think about the future," he said. "We know
to compete with the other teams we have to be better
prepared."
Undeterred, GBR Challenge boss Peter Harrison said his
team was ready to go anywhere in the world in its quest
for the Cup, whether it involved challenging or defending.
He insisted that Britain's first America's Cup entry
for 15 years had laid solid foundations for future success.
Despite the disappointment - and the massive outlay
of cash - he was determined to take GBR Challenge to
the next America's Cup.
"I'm planning on continuity, definitely," he said. "I've
taken lots of decisions within the team, which will
enable that to happen. The key thing I wanted to do
was kick-start Britain back into what I call the World
Cup of sailing".
Businessman Harrison stumped up £22m to revive Britain's
involvement in the competition but he stressed it was
money well spent to help put Britain back on the America's
Cup map.
"The only disappointment is that we didn't bring GBR
78 here early enough and were always going to be a one-boat
programme", He said. "So if there's any lesson
it's to start early and to get your boats here early.
But we'll have a better opportunity next time."
"The key to continuity is hopefully we have shown,
where we've got major global companies and British companies,
that there is value in supporting and backing us for
this World Cup of sailing".
"Given that, I am prepared to put in certain additional
monies and carry the campaign on. But I do need partners
and sponsors to join me."
Harrison said the GBR team would stay in Auckland until
December 31 and start preparing for the next cup.
