Grant
Dalton confirms Kostecki rumour (06/10/03)
(source
: NZ
Herald)
"I have been in talks with John (Kostecki)," Team
New Zealand head Grant Dalton said, adding he met Kostecki
in the United States last month.
The American is now expected in Auckland this month
for a second meeting with Dalton and skipper Dean Barker.
"We are planning further talks with him later this month,
when he will meet Dean and me", Dalton explained.
An Olympic silver medallist, two-time America's Cup
tactician (on Young America in 1995 and on America One
in 2000), 10-time world champion in a range of one-design
classes and Whitbread veteran, Kostecki would be a huge
boost for Team New Zealand.
His most recent success was in the 2001-02 Volvo Ocean
race, in which he skipped German entry Illbruck to first
place.
His leadership and sailing skills would strengthen Team
New Zealand's inexperienced afterguard, which was heavily
criticised after the 5-0 loss to Swiss syndicate Alinghi.
But Dalton said he and Barker had met several sailors
and designers in the past month and hoped to announce
key appointments in the next three to four weeks.
John
Kostecki to sail Black boats? (06/09/03)
(source
: Scuttlebutt)
"We are giving ourselves until this spring,
likely May, to make it happen", John Kostecki said
last month. "If not, we're going to stop raising
money".
Now, we're in June and Sailingscuttlebutt said : "The
widely circulated rumor that John Kostecki has joined
Team New Zealand is apparently true".
Lion Breweries insists it has "an open mind" to
Team New Zealand after signing a long term and lucrative
deal to strengthen its association with the All Blacks.
Lion Breweries sponsorship boss Graham Seatter felt
it was too early to dismiss the link as Team New Zealand
seeks funds for a 2007 challenge for the America's Cup
after losing the Auld Mug to Alinghi this year.
"We have not made a decision regarding Team New Zealand
and we will assess that in due course," said Seatter.
Lion Breweries, which says its sponsorship of Team
New Zealand "is up in the air", said yesterday it was
about to announce a significant new rugby investment.
This heightens the chances of Lion greatly reducing
its involvement in Team NZ or leaving its family of
five sponsorship group entirely.
The loss of a big sponsor would hit the Government's
controversial $33 million investment in Team NZ, which
is based on a $1 contribution for every $2 it raises
in other commercial sponsorship.
The brewer's corporate affairs and sponsorship director,
Graeme Seatter, yesterday confirmed the sponsorship
agreement with the New Zealand Rugby Union. He has yet
to meet new Team NZ boss Grant Dalton but said Lion
is conducting a feasibility study on its involvement.
That, however, has been hampered by uncertainty over
whether Team NZ would be competing and where the yacht
racing would be held. Some parts of Europe ban alcohol
sponsorship.
"We've made a decision with rugby. We haven't yet made
a decision about Team New Zealand. But the two need
to be taken in isolation," Mr Seatter said. "We want
to see what develops (with Team NZ's future). It's hard
to make a decision when you don't know what you're making
a decision on. There's too much up in the air at the
moment."
The break-up of the family of five was anticipated by
Team NZ. Communications between America's Cup Minister
Trevor Mallard and Team NZ, obtained under the Official
Information Act, show the loss of key sponsors was discussed
with the Government during talks that led to its $33
million investment in TNZ.
A sponsorship proposal from Team NZ to the minister's
office dated February 25, 2003 said "initial indications
are that a couple of sponsors will renew their current
commitments at higher levels . . . others have indicated
that they are unlikely to renew their commitments at
a lower level or in a different form, eg: as a supplier
of product".
Lion appears to fall into the latter category. It has
also been strongly suggested that Telecom is set to
put its money behind rugby. But company spokesman John
Goulter said a decision had not been reached on Team
NZ.
The company had a long history of involvement with rugby,
but he was tight-lipped on its new plans. "We have not
ruled anything in or out," Mr Goulter said in relation
to Team NZ.
The remaining trio in the family of five are Toyota,
Lotto and software company SAP.
Polemic
around the Government's contribution (05/09/03)
(source
: Xtramsn.co.nz)
Sports Minister Trevor Mallard yesterday confirmed
the Government had made a contingency in next week's
Budget to spend up to $33.75m to assist Team New Zealand
(TNZ) with an America's Cup challenge in Europe. In
March, the Government dished out $5.6m to help TNZ
retain its crew members.
Mr Mallard said the $33m would be purely for TNZ to
spend as it saw fit – marketing money would be additional.
The extra money would probably come from existing
Tourism and Trade NZ budgets.
Tall
Blacks coach Tab Baldwin believes the subsidy is a
waste of money. He questions whether there are vested
political interests driving the decision.
He says if New Zealand still held the cup, the decision
could be justified, but he believes in this instance,
it is a case of the rich getting richer. The basketball
coach predicts five years from now, the cash injection
will be seen as a big mistake.
The head of New Zealand's Olympic and Commonwealth
Games Association is also unhappy about the decision.
John Davies says other sports should get government
funding on the same basis as Team New Zealand.
He says the Tall Blacks could have brought back
huge economic benefits from the world championships
last year, had they received funding. And he cites
the swimming team as another example of a sport struggling
to finance a trip to the world championships in Barcelona,
which could do with Government help.
Mr Mallard defended the proposed funding as a worthwhile
investment: "It is about building on the trade
and tourism opportunities, which come about by having
some of the richest people in the world – people we
want to attract to New Zealand. This is the route
to get to them."
Tourism Association chief executive John Moriarty
said $33m was two-thirds of the total budget Tourism
New Zealand received to promote New Zealand overseas
every year.
Mr Mallard said the money was conditional on a marketing
case, and other financial partners, and would be in
the form of $1 for every $2 raised by private sponsorship.
"We're not going to be the first cab off the
rank." A cup challenge is thought
likely to cost TNZ a total of $150m.
Grant Dalton, the managing director of Team New Zealand
Dalton believed a European-based America's Cup will
benefit New Zealand more than a domestic one. He said
television coverage of the regatta will be shown during
the day in the northern hemisphere rather than in
the middle of the night, which will be beneficial
to the promotion of New Zealand.
National MP and former America's Cup minister Murray
McCully said he was at a loss to understand how the
Government could claim an event held in the Mediterranean
could possibly have the same economic spin-offs as
one held in New Zealand.
Mr McCully said that while Mr Mallard had previously
derided him for spending a fraction of $33m on an
earlier America's Cup defence, the Minister was now
risking taxpayers' money on a positive Team NZ performance.
"For that sort of money, you'd want them
to win the America's Cup, and hold it for a long time,"
he said.
Team
New Zealand boat builder Mick Cookson yesterday said
he warned the syndicate of flaws in the structures
of their America's Cup boats months before the match
against Alinghi, but was ignored.
And
Cookson, who remains convinced NZL81 and NZL82 are
the best America's Cup boats he has built, also hit
out at the performance of Team New Zealand's sailors,
saying that "average sailors can make a good
boat look bad."
The design and the performance of Team New Zealand's
black boats with their controversial hull appendages
came under fire this week when the syndicate released
a report reviewing the disastrous defence.
It revealed the design-led Team New Zealand
campaign suffered a major "catastrophe"
when training boat NZL81 suffered "crippling
hull and deck structural damage" in early December,
and then again just before race one.
That damage meant the syndicate had nothing
to trial their race boat NZL82 against, and undermined
their confidence in their race boat.
The cause of the failure has yet to be determined,
but it is understood to be related to the compression
from the load of the rig which caused a buckling effect.
Cookson, who built Team New Zealand's 2000 cup-winning
yacht NZL60 and its sister yacht NZL57, said the failure
of NZL81 could have been avoided.
The North Shore boat builder, who was also involved
in the New Zealand challenge in 1992, admits he had
concerns about the structural elements of the boats
which he raised with Team New Zealand designers.
"They double checked all their numbers
and came back and said it was all right," Cookson
said.
However, still concerned, Cookson took the issue
up again with the designers, but to no avail.
"The failure of NZL81 came as a surprise
to the boys that had done the numbers. It didn't shock
me because it was the area that we had questioned.
I know what could have prevented it happening and
I told them.
"But they are the numbers people. It was
frustrating at the time to have to send boys in there
to work all night trying to fix it."
On reflection, Cookson said there were a number
of things that could have been done differently.
"You would never design a boat for heavy
conditions in March. The boat was designed
for typical March conditions. There was a small chance
conditions were going to be heavy, and we were unlucky
that we got a big blow".
"There are things they should have done
differently, and there are things we could have done
differently in general, but I can say that out of
it came the best America's Cup boats we have built.
We have taken boat building to a new level."
In the review it was highlighted that Team New
Zealand felt they had to take a major step forward
in boat design and therefore worked on a number of
revolutionary concepts.
We knew we were going to need something special,"
Cookson said. "Even though there was
depth in the sailing team, a lot of them were not
hardened cup sailors. Good sailors can make an average
boat look good, and average sailors can make a good
boat look bad."
The
report claimed the delivery of the boats was late
possibly due to the complexity of the design, which
meant the testing and trialing period was severely
reduced. NZL82 was never tested in extreme conditions
until the match. As a result the boat failed to finish
two of the five races through gear failure.
