Grant Dalton fears New Zealand may never again
challenge for the America's Cup if a 2007 bid isn't
confirmed.
The new Team New Zealand boss is charged with investigating
whether a tilt at getting the Auld Mug back from Swiss
syndicate Alinghi is viable. But in his mind it's now
or never.
He believes escalating costs and exiting the technology
race would be fatal to New Zealand, especially without
the luxury of a billionaire benefactor.
"If we don't go we're gone . . . it won't happen again
in our lifetime," said Dalton as he began number-crunching
for a campaign in Europe. He cited Australia's slump
after losing the America's Cup in 1987 as an example
of what could happen.
Weak challenges since then had slowly dissolved with
no Australian presence in Auckland last year, an absence
lamented by leading yachties across the Tasman when
an opportunity was on their doorstep. Now the Aussies
face an expensive catchup on the other side of the world
if they want to get back in the game.
Dalton has to sign key staff with no guarantees beyond
the end of the year. But in his mind Team New Zealand
is challenging.
"Between now and Christmas we have to set the foundation
stones for the future. If we get these wrong in any
shape or form, there is no show of winning the America's
Cup."
With the 2003 review to be made public tomorrow, Dalton
meets with Team New Zealand's family of five sponsors
from the last campaign to outline plans for a challenge.
By
waiting for the verdict
... (04/30/03)
(source
: NZoom)
The report outlining what went wrong in the 2003
Team New Zealand campaign is due to be released to the
public in a matter of weeks.
Newly appointed managing director Grant Dalton has seen
the draft and told TV One's Good Morning on Wednesday
that it doesn't hold any surprises.
"I don't think you're going to see a lot in the report
that you couldn't have seen just from watching television,"
Dalton said. "You observed we had a boat that wasn't
strong enough, you observed a dysfunctional crew sailing
it in parts, and a design team that was really pushing
outside the envelope a little too much."
Within the onboard crew Dalton says deficiencies existed
in the afterguard and trimming, and they will be targeted
areas for new blood, but that the grinding and bow areas
on the boat worked just fine.
"We will not necessarily ditch them [the afterguard
and trimmers] out of the team but we may ditch them
into other areas."
And although Tom Schnackenberg has been retained, Dalton
says he will not be the head of design again.
"Tom Schnackenberg will stay in the team and rightly
so. He is now Mr America's Cup, but there will be changes",
Dalton said. "He's better in a roving capacity, putting
input into all areas of the campaign not just design."
Dalton believes the syndicate needs a "name designer"
someone to fill the role such as Bruce Farr has within
the challenger of record - Oracle.
"There has been a lot of talk about hiring a new design
co-ordinator who actually brings it all together and
can filter through the numbers and get to the nut of
the problem, which Russell Coutts is so good at doing,
and that's what we're certainly doing at the moment,"
he said.
While funding the campaign is a high priority, so too
is securing key people and Dalton is confident there
are enough good people available to combat the strong
quintet of New Zealanders within Alinghi.
"If they're not within the team now or within the defectors,
or in New Zealand we'll take them from offshore," said
Dalton. "There are five key guys that work for Alinghi
and everyone else in on the market."
Team
NZ already wooing sponsors
(04/29/03)
(source
: NZoom)
Early details of how the next Americas' Cup challenge
is shaping up will be revealed to Team New Zealand's
sponsors when they meet next Monday.
The sponsors will hear about what went wrong with the
disastrous 2003 defence and meet the new managing director
Grant Dalton.
Team New Zealand is already canvassing a wide field
of prospective business sponsors to back their next
campaign. Team New Zealand's family of sponsors are
weighing up their future with the America's Cup challenger
amid talk that the 2007 campaign could cost more than
$140 million.
Sponsorship specialists say that at least half the money
will come from offshore. Bob Gill, the area director
for international sponsor broker Carat has worked on
previous Team New Zealand campaigns. He doubts the so
called family of five will remain intact.
Without the live atmosphere of the America's Cup village
and the participation of spectator boats on the course,
Gill says it will be a lot tougher attracting domestic
sponsors . But high on sponsors' check list is local
television coverage.
Lion Nathan says it wants to see a tangible plan from
Team New Zealand before it decides its future but says
there are limited benefits to flashing the Steinlager
brand around in places where you can't buy the beer.
Telecom is saying little about a new deal but its target
market is Australia and New Zealand. However, Gill points
out that Telecom also has a position to protect as the
local leader in telecommunications. He believes it's
the global brands that are mostly likely to lead the
charge from New Zealand.
Team New Zealand executive director Tony Thomas is already
out talking to multinational companies like previous
backers SAP, Omega and American Express. No new deals
have been signed but he's hopeful.
Thomas is also talking to Tourism and Trade and Industry
New Zealand bosses about what public money they will
contribute, in what sponsorship experts see as crucial
to keeping the campaign afloat .
Meanwhile, TVNZ is standing in the queue to bid for
the broadcast rights. Dennis Harvey, head of production
and sport, says the organisers are focussed on finalising
the venue before they turn their attention to television.
Team New Zealand expects to make public its investigation
into the 2003 loss early next month, while details of
the businesses willing to front up with sponsorships
will not be known until later this year.
New Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton, a veteran
of six round-the-world races and a two-time winner,
sees value in the men in black contesting the 2005-06
Volvo Ocean Race before they move to Europe for the
2007 America's Cup challenge.
But he stresses the image of Dean Barker at the helm
deep in the Southern Ocean would only become reality
if the race could benefit the team and enhance its chances
of winning back the Auld Mug. Auckland would also have
to be made a stopover, something Volvo organisers are
debating.
"Timing-wise it's possible and I believe it's something
that needs to be put on the table and looked at",
explained Grant Dalton. "Team New Zealand is not
about doing lots of different things, it is about trying
to bring back the America's Cup. But anything that can
enhance that needs to be investigated".
"It's often been said that all the top America's
Cup guys have come from a background of round-the-world
sailing. They learn things about why booms break and
how masts stay up and those sorts of things. It's the
toughest racing environment where you learn things about
yourself and your team".
He said any Volvo campaign would be guided by money
as the search for the big dollars starts.
"If it was damaging the budgets, you wouldn't do it.
But a team project that encompassed both the Volvo and
the America's Cup could be more attractive to an overseas
sponsor".
"The Volvo hits a lot of different markets around the
world over a long period of time. The Team New Zealand
brand can be enhanced by being part of a bigger picture."
Dalton has already made calls to his contacts in Europe,
sounding out interest".
Dalton wants Barker and his sailors keeping active as
a team in the lead-up.
"The team has to get big boat experience. They have
to be able to push a big boat in 20 knots as hard as
they can upwind and know how to sail it fast without
breaking it."
Grant
Dalton to usher in new broom (04/24/03)
(source
: Stuff.co.nz)
As expected, Grant Dalton was appointed managing
director of Team New Zealand, although the syndicate
hasn't confirmed if it will compete in the 2007 regatta
(A decision on whether the team will challenge will
be made by October).
The veteran round-the-world yachtsman was named as the
team's new managing director, charged with assessing
whether another cup challenge is viable, trying to find
sponsors and signing on key sailors.
Dean Barker, skipper during the team's disastrous 5-0
loss to Alinghi this year, has agreed to stay on as
skipper. Dalton, 45, lived up to his reputation as a
straight talker during a media conference yesterday.
"When Dean wakes up in the morning when there's sailing
and racing, he can't feel too cosy. So into the team
we must bring people into his sailing squad that are
after him too. Four years is a long time."
He and Barker planned to sign on key sailors in the
next fortnight but would also be looking offshore to
find people with the right skills. However, Dalton said
it was a different situation compared to 2000 when top
sailors like Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth were
lured to the Alinghi team by Swiss billionaire Ernesto
Bertarelli.
"It isn't 2000. There are not people walking down syndicate
row with cheque books whipping people out as quick as
they arrive at work. However, it is about people and
if you don't have the right people you don't have a
chance even if you have the money."
Dalton said he had already approached one sailor involved
in the so-called defections of 2000 but refused to name
him. He was also clear that all jobs were on the line.
"No one has a right to be involved with Team New Zealand
. . . the right people will be re-employed and the wrong
people won't be. Of course that's a tough call to make
on people's lives but it's a call that must be made
because in the end the objective is to bring the cup
back to New Zealand."
Barker said he and Dalton had worked out a list of more
than 10 people that they were keen to retain. The Government
has given the team $5.6 million to retain key staff,
which the team has said would be refunded if it decided
not to go ahead with another challenge.
A proposal for a sailing director to be appointed alongside
the role of managing director had been scrapped but
Dalton said design head Tom Schnackenberg had expressed
interest in staying on as had executive director Tony
Thomas and chief executive Ross Blackman.
Their actual roles under the new regime will probably
be determined after their contracts expire in June.
